Month: October 2020

The weather is changing here, and the leaves are beginning to fall. It reminds me of being up North. It is my second favorite season of the year.

Here, the mornings are a cool fifty five degrees Fahrenheit, rising to the mid seventies by early evening.

The smells, in the morning, are so clean and fresh, I have to open the windows before Ivan thinks it is warm enough to do so. I try to go in another room so he does not get too cold. It is a wonderful way to start the day.

We are on our way to have some coffee and breakfast with Enrique. Going to get some more points at Toks. Plus, I do not have to do the clean up. Yay.

I am having the scrambled eggs with really, really tender skirt steak. OMG. The steak does not even need to be chewed, it is so tender.

While we have breakfast, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Remember the loaves of bread I was baking? They did not turn out well for sandwich making. They did turn out well for croutons, or, bread crumbs however. Let me show you what I mean.

They should have looked like beautiful “hearth” loaves of bread; rectangular beauties, risen to about a three inch rise, with a beautiful medium browned crust. But, no! They are little batches of croutons, before anyone knew they were making croutons!

Let me tell you that I have been making the best croutons ever! Does this mean that I have made some not so beautiful loaves of bread recently?

Yes! Yes, that is exactly what that means. These days, I consider it a “learning experience”, because I am so much older now than when I started.

Nowadays, however, I am able to see that not every loaf of bread is going to be perfect; some, like the above photos, are visual proof. When one does not pay close enough attention to what one is doing, things happen that one does not anticipate, or, expect, or want!

Alas, that is exactly what happened to the bread in the photos. They over proofed, and were incapable of rising any further. Poor things. They did not line up to become croutons, but, by the lack of care from their maker, that is just what happened. That, or, the much dreaded, but never talked about, bread crumbs!

I enjoy baking bread more than just about anything that I do. Does it always work out the way I expect? Of course not. Every loaf, however good, or bad, is utilized. Nothing is discarded!

Well, not since the the very first loaf I of bread I made, that is. It was the most heart breaking, horrendous, inedible thing I have ever had the misfortune to have made. EVER! (Not withstanding the Mexican meatballs I made for Ivan the first month we were married! But that is another story all together!)

We do not discuss it. We do not refer to it in any way. I did not write about it here, either. If discussed in my presence, I will deny it ever existed! (It was, quickly, discarded, with much laughter, and only a few tears.)

While I get ready to make two loaves of stunning quality, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe! Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Have I got something to show you!?! These:

I bought these felt pads, attached to a silicone cup, from a FB advertisement. It is funny, though, they just came today, because Ivan asked me yesterday when they were going to get here. I told him that anytime I ordered anything from FB, it took forever to be delivered. They are here now, and they are amazing.

We just had Enrique over the other night for conversation, a bottle of wine, what have you, and every time one of us moved our chair it sounded like the entire condo would be able to hear it. Now, we can move the chairs, pick them up and let them go, and nothing. I mean, seriously, nothing. No sound what so ever!!

If you have chairs that make noise when moved, consider getting a set of these things. I do not remember what they are called, but they are amazing. Worth every penny, though, they were not expensive.

I bought the brown ones, though there were, I believe four choices: white, black, brown, and clear. Do not hold me to that, however. My mind, you know!!

Am baking a couple of loaves of bread, so I have to go. While I am away from my computer, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

You will be happy to know that traffic, here, is back to stop and start; each car moving only about four, or five car lengths per light change. Yippee

It would not be so bad except that the temperature rises in the afternoon to the mid to upper seventies. Right now, it is only sixty six. It feels like eighty when stuck in traffic traffic with the sun shining on you, through the open car window.

When we finally got back to the condo, we put the groceries away, and tucked into a couple of bottles of Kombucha, over ice. I finally got them put into the fridge but not before holding two of them back, for us.

Here is how they looked after opening.

This is our fourth batch, and, the best of them all. It is a pineapple and blueberry combination; our favorite.

I also had a chance to quickly plant three of the five basil plants I started from some of the basil we bought at the store. When the planters get here, next week, I will plant all of the basil together. Right now, they are in a styrofoam cup. Yikes.

While we wait for the planters, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Once again, we are out and about; footloose and fancy free. On our way to Toks for coffee, and breakfast. Yay.

We joined their “club” yesterday, which will give us one point per peso spent. At the rate we go at Toks, we should have a free meal soon.

After we eat, we are going to look at Christmas trees, first at Sam’s then Costco. The one I like is at Sam’s but the one I can live with is at Costco.

Until we decide which to bring home, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Post script: we are going to order the tree from Costco and have it delivered. The box is too large to fit in the car. It is the tree we will make work for us.

I am in Heaven, figuratively speaking.

We are waiting to go to see our favorite dentista, sitting outside our favorite café, Café Arbol, enjoying our favorite drink, a large Café Americano, with our favorite friend, Enrique. The temperature is a brisk fifty eight degrees Fahrenheit, the sun is shining, and it is a perfect day.

I expound because it feels like it has been months since I was outside, though it has really only been a week. This absolutely recharges my internal batteries to the fullest.

This is exactly the weather I thrive in. Cool in the morning, warmer in the afternoon, then cool at night. We love to sleep under a beautiful duvet, with a medium weight comforter inside it.

Getting up, in the middle of the night, to run to the bathroom, and run back, is a bit of a challenge, however, as the floors are all tile, and, as cold as outside.

We are off the the dentista, so, while we are on the way, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

I am still here, plugging away, but having just a bit of sluggishness from this computer. Several weeks ago, maybe longer, I do not recall, “someone” spilled cranberry juice on the keyboard. We got it wiped up quickly, and, used my hair dryer to finish drying it, but the poor thing has never been quite the same.

I Googled how to clean sticky keyboards, so I tried Isopropyl Alcohol, as suggested. That seems to have eased things a bit. Onward, and upward.

I have been up to my chin in bread baking recently, now that I have a beautifully active starter. I am baking bread every other day, sometimes daily. My sister-in-law, Mayra, is kindly sending me the baking supplies that I recently ordered from King Arthur Baking Co. I will then have four bread pans, of the same nine inches by four inches, enabling me to bake several loaves at the same time. This will save me time, and, money, in the long run.

I have discovered, recently, that I can make one loaf of bread, using instant yeast, which allows it to rise quickly, and make one loaf on my sourdough culture, which takes several hours to rise, all on the same day. And, with only one loaf pan. Am anxious for the new pans.

Right now, I am buying my flour online, as none of the stores, here, have the organic flour for which I am looking. (I do not want to take a chance that Customs will keep it at the border, as you cannot ship food products across the border anymore. Bummer).

The bread is turning out very nicely, however, and, I am very encouraged by that. I am going to start venturing out into the world of sweet things, like small cakes, pies, quick breads, etc.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and, protect your loved ones.

Post script: you may be interested to know that I removed, and cleaned, and successfully replaced the return, the right shift, and, the space bar keys. They are, once again, fully functional. Yay me.

Post script two: Vote. Find a ride, if you need one. Find a carpool, and ride with them. Do what you need to do, but VOTE. There is NO excuse, other than a life threatening illness, God forbid, so get out there and VOTE. If you do not vote, you can have NO OPINION on the results.