Calm Before the Storm

We awakened to a pretty pink sky this morning.

Don't be fooled by these calm skies. We're heading over to Cape Disappointment this morning, and we're expecting rain pretty much 100% of the time. Oh well. We've had some lovely weather for RVing this year, and you can't get what you want all the time. (Or can you?)

My first task yesterday morning was to get the rising bread into this round banneton for its second rise. This is my second attempt at this bread, the first being nearly two years ago. When I made it the first time, I noted that the oven temperature in the recipe was set too high, and so I lowered the temperature this time around. What I didn't note (maybe from lack of experience at the time) was that it's a very wet and floppy dough. I kept putting flour on the board, my hands, and the dough itself to keep it from sticking. I was trying to form it into a boule, but it was much too floppy for that. Finally, with the use of my hands and a board scraper, I managed to get it into the banneton without too much damage. It was the consistency of pudding.

Phew! Now I've noted to reduce the water in the recipe and try again another time.

So, now it needed another hour to rise before I was ready to turn on the oven for preheating. I used the time to machine sew the binding onto The More the Marinarier. I'm taking it with us so that I can do the hand-sewing while we're away.

And there was plenty of time for showering and getting dressed. The bread hadn't risen much when I checked it again, and so I gave it another half hour. Still, not much action, but it had risen a little.

I went ahead and preheated the oven, and it takes a while to preheat the oven and the Dutch oven I use for baking to 475°. I'd say the bread was given a full two hours to rise before it went into the oven. My fingers were crossed for some good oven spring. When it came out of the oven it was beautiful!

From there, it was best to leave the house for a while to avoid cutting into it right then and there. There was still sourdough stuff going on inside, and so the prudent baker will wait for at least an hour.

We had some errands to run, and we dropped off that unruly Big Bertha at the shop for repair...hopefully, but not optimistically. Mike helped me carry the tub o' lard into the shop. I'd rehearsed what I wanted to say so that I could avoid (for once) throwing myself on the floor three-year-old style and kicking and screaming about how THEY HAVEN'T YET FIXED THIS PROBLEM EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN IN THE SHOP EVERY YEAR SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME!!!!! No, I didn't do that. I used my best smiling face and good humor to explain (AGAIN) the problem.

Mike stood by quietly until he piped up with this: "And if you can't guarantee 100% that you've fixed the problem, then make us a screaming deal on a trade-in for a new one." (Holy $$hit!) Well. It would be an understatement to say I wasn't expecting that, but there you go. Straight from the horse's mouth. I wish I'd had my recorder on. So anyway...that happened. I don't know about you, but I'm on the edge of my seat now.

When we picked up the mail on the way home, I found yet another tube of needles had been delivered. My friend Wendy and I made sure I got the right ones this time. They're packaged by Primitive Gatherings.

Sold by the Fat Quarter Shop...and there you go. Size 24 Embroidery Needles.

As it turns out, the last ones I got were for cross-stitch...and what do I know? Cross-stitch and embroidery seem like the same thing to me...and I've done both...but apparently not. Probably I've done my cross-stitch projects with an embroidery needle. It amazes me how I get through the day sometimes.

And then...it was safe to cut the bread. It was a little flat as loaves go, but very pretty inside, and oh, so yummy. I think this will warm our innards on our rainy RVing trip to come. I made sure to pack a full jar of Carrot Cake Jam. It's going to be so good toasted with butta and jam.

So, Mr. Smitty went missing for about an hour yesterday afternoon. I looked for him all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, in closets and cupboards, and in every room, and couldn't find him. We called and called outside, and let me tell you, I was getting worried. Mike finally said, "He has to be in the house." And so he went to the far side of our guest room. The bed in the guestroom is a makeshift storage facility with blankets and tablecloths stored underneath on the farthest side in the deepest reaches of the farthest corner of the house. Looking underneath, he saw this.

Doesn't he look demure there with his paws all folded up? That red reindeer tablecloth is one Mike's grandmother gave us when we'd been married about two years...as if we needed such a thing at that point in our lives. She was one of those elderly people who started giving away her treasures before she died so that she could see our happy faces upon receiving them. Yeah...we were really happy about that tablecloth. (Not.) I told you I needed to purge, didn't I?

So anyway...I guess Smitty is tired of Halloween and ready to move on to Christmas because the tablecloth was packed in a box. Apparently, he got it out himself and decided it would make an excellent napping spot. (You don't suppose it was Molly's poltergeist, do you?) He stayed there for another hour or so before deciding to grace us with his presence.

So I have just one more thing to tell you before signing off. I tried a great recipe last night for a Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwich. The recipe is from A Taste of Home, which was my mother's favorite cooking magazine. You brown the onions in a skillet, although you could probably get away with adding them to the slow cooker raw. Then you add a bottom round roast and some other mixings...water, an envelope of Lipton onion soup mix, and a couple of other things. Then it cooks on low all day and you have yourself some very tasty sandwiches and dipping soup by day's end.

We had some sweet potatoes from our last CSA share, and so I made those up into this Sweet Potato Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing. It's one of my favorite ways to use sweet potatoes. The dressing is delicious, and it also uses sugar snap peas and sliced green onions. So good. I worried that "French" Dip sandwiches might not go with this "Asian" inspired salad, but my worries were for naught. The two dishes played well together. We're taking the leftovers along for dinner while we're RVing.

So that brings me to today. There's just a little packing to do before we take off. The food is packed, but I need to check the situation with my clothes and toiletries. Most of that stuff lives in the RV full time, so there's never much to do after the food is in. I don't know if I'll be blogging while we're gone. As always, it depends on whether I have internet access and whether I have anything to say. With several rainy days ahead, that is highly doubtful. So anyway...you might see me and you might not. If not, I'll be right back here on Saturday. There should be a couple of finishes by then.

Have a Happy Halloween! I'm not sure, but I think this might be Cinderella's RV.