February 2022 – Page 2 – Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

Puzzles

Rompecabezas, in Spanish.

I have become quite addicted to doing puzzles on my laptop.

All of the pieces are going the correct way, thank God, though, I can change that to have them be shown all scattered around, as in real time. No thanks.

They are also separated as to the edges, and body of the puzzle pieces. Again, thank the Lord. I play them in the 440 pieces per puzzle, the largest quantity available on the app I use, which, usually takes me an hour and a half to upwards of two hours to finish a puzzle, depending on its complexity.

I really enjoy the puzzles that have the slight color variations, as in the puzzle I am working on currently.

The different shades of colors, melding into the next, the sublet gradation of one color into the next; I cannot get enough of them.

For me, it is so relaxing to start a new puzzle; I put in my earbuds, put on an Audible.com™ book, and can continue, as such for hours. And have. Like there is anything else to do during the day!?!

While a loaf, or two, of bread rises, I can listen, and do the puzzle. While a load of clothes is in the washer, or the dryer, I can listen, and do a puzzle. While waiting for the rice to cool, then cook, or the beans to soak, then cook, I can listen, and do a puzzle. It is almost as addictive as watching “Rachel cooks with love™, on YouTube.

The app I use is called Jigsaw HD. I do not remember how I got to the stage I am in, but the puzzles are quite beautiful. In this app, I can add photos I have taken, that are available on my laptop, and convert them into puzzles as well. I have several black and white photos of the land across the creek from our house in Iowa, taken just after the last snow we experienced, and they are breathtaking.

Whatever you do to take up the endless hours of confinement, I hope they are as pleasant as they can be. Make them so. Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: this one took me almost 4 hours, off, and on. So much green.

Another update

It has been awhile since I showed you the pantry acquisitions.

I know; not very exciting, but we have not been out of the apartment in at least three weeks, so there has not been much to tell you.

Now, however, I am at whits end; looking for something interesting to write about. I have chosen to tell you about the pantry. Lucky you.

The top two shelves are holding our Mexican cookware, and the bottom two shelves contain our dried herbs, and spices. The middle row has some of the empty Bell jars, waiting to be filled with something fun.

Up close and personal with our dried chiles. We have acquired ten different chiles so far. They are as follows: (of *course* they are alphabetical), ancho chile, chile de árbol, cascabel, chile chilhuacle, New Mexico chile, (dried Hatch chiles), below are chile chipotle, guajillo, morita, pasilla, and puya.

I have tried to keep the type of chile and the Scoville Heat Units they each contain, on the side of each jar, though the liquid chalk does not stay on very long. This way, while I am learning to cook Mexican sauces, I will be able to choose the correct amount of heat, and flavors I want.

These are some whole spices we have been collecting; comino, whole stems of oregano, tomillo (thyme), anis, and dried verdolagas (purslane).

Here we have, in the back, mejorana, (marjoram), hojas de aguacate, (avocado leaves), epazote, and flor de Jamaica, (hibiscus flowers). In the front are anis estrella, (star anis), pimienta gorda, (whole allspice), and sal de la mesa, (table salt).

Beans, black tea, perejil, (parsley), romeritos, (rosemary).

That brings this exciting episode to a close. I am learning different combinations of the leaves, herbs, and spices, making more interesting foods than I have ever made before. Thankfully. I need more time to master any of them as there are only two of us to eat whatever I make.

Ivan has been very encouraging, too. He helps me by telling me if he thinks it needs another little bit of this, or that. Usually, however, I just need to add more salt. Fine by me. There is rarely anything left on his plate when we are finished eating; always a good sign.

All of this plus the homemade tortillas, or bread, beans, and Mexican rice; a complete meal, homemade, start to finish. I love being retired.

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

A cold front

Brrrr.

Need I say more?

It has been any where from 8ºC/ 46ºF, in the mornings, to highs around 18ºC/64ºF, in the afternoons. My hands are so cold that I am finding it difficult to type. My shoulders are up around my ears, trying to keep my neck warm, (I wonder where I put those turtle neck shirts I bought a couple of years ago?) to no avail.

I know that is not really anything emember, there is no central heating or cooling here; either the windows are open, or closed. We only have the bedroom window open, at the moment, but it feels like I am in a refrigerator. Nude. (Yikes. That is an image you probably will not be able unsee. Hahaha.)

Having said that, yes, we are dressed in multiple layers of clothing, mostly in the form of pajama’s, as this is a weekend day as I type this. As we no longer have to go to Costco every two, or three weeks, (spending hundreds of dollars per visit), we do not have to get dressed on the weekends. Loving retirement.

I guess, now that Brandon’s baby blanket is finished, I need to start back on some of my other knitting projects; my Celtic shawl, dish clothes, fingerless mittens. I think the mitten may need to take priority.

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

Back in business

I am back to baking bread again, and I absolutely love it.

I enjoy baking so much more now that I am retired; I have all day to spend mixing, kneading, shaping, resting, and baking. In fact, I have been baking two loaves of bread, weekly, for the past two, or three weeks. I found a large two kilo bag of whole wheat flour on the top shelf of the pantry that I had forgotten all about. So, I have been making the best bread with 1/3 of the mixture as whole wheat and the rest bread flour. The loaves are soft, and tender, with the delicious, nutty flavor of the whole wheat.

I have never had any luck baking bread with whole wheat, but this has been turning out better than even using just the bread flour. Let me show you what I mean.

This was the first loaf, two weeks ago. I split the top, which is just dumb.

This is the first soft crust sourdough bread I made the other day; before I buttered the top. Yummy.

A denser crumb than normal, but it made good sandwiches.

I have learned, over time, that sourdough bread, with the wonderfully dark, crispy crust, and chewy crumb, is a Northern thing. Folks here do not care for the crispy crust, or all of the airy holes in their bread. The most common bread here is called Bimbo, and is very much a white Wonder Bread™ bread. Soft white bread without substance, but is easy to eat.

I have settled for the whole wheat version, and it is lovely. I just thought to take a photo of it before it was all gone. Here it is. The hole in the middle is from the temperature probe I use to check the temperature, making sure the bread has reached a final temp of 195º internally before calling it “done”.

It is so soft and nutty flavored. We really enjoy it.

All I can say is it is too bad that you cannot be here for me to make you a loaf too.

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

Rearranged

Again.

I was up half the night a few nights ago, and came up with a better arrangement for the kitchen counters. This is what I mean.

In the first photo, before I rearranged them, everything was opposite of where they are now. The oven was facing forward on the far left, and the coffee maker, the coffee grinder, and the paper towels were where the oven is now. That was great ‘cuz I use the oven most days, especially when I bake bread.

In the next photo, I cleaned most everything off of it so I could keep the Vitamix blender on the counter, as I have been using that more frequently of late, making sauces, etc.

In the top photo, you may be able to see that there is a lot more counter space than before. Now, I can roll out dough for tortillas, or pie crust without having to move half of the stuff around. I also put the electric kettle away, as I have two new stovetop kettles. Each kettle holds three liters of water; one kettle to wash dishes, the other to rinse.

Here, you can see all of the counter space plus the new kettles. I bought the red one first, but, as I kept using it, I kept burning my fingers where the red plastic handle meets the metal part. Duh! So, in order to save my little piggies, I bought the second one. It is by Pykal, a very popular brand in Australia, if I recall correctly, and it has a “stay cool” handle and a wider base. Both whistle, so when I am in the bedroom, on the computer, as I am now, I can be summarily summoned to the kitchen to do the dishes.

Speaking of the dishes, here is the set up I was telling you about. There are two red Rubbermaid™ heavy plastic bins in the sink, one to wash, the other to rinse. Then, with scalded hands, I set them in the drainer, on top of the washing machine. A lovely use for the machine, if I do say so myself.

The black thing hanging down on the left is the paddle for the wind chimes I have hanging there. The breeze, lately, has been playing beautiful melodies.

Well, that is about all I have to tell you for today. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: I read on FB yesterday that Ivan’s aunt Gloria passed away this past week. Yesterday would have been her 95th birthday.

Winter Olympics

My sister Martha texted me the other day to see if we have been watching the Olympics.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to watch them “live”, but, after her text, we discovered that we could see certain events on YouTube.

Most pointedly, the young, twenty two year old, skater from México, Donovan Carrillo. I found some of the events he had skated in and was duly impressed.

He has been skating since he was a small boy, usually at the skating rink in a mall not far from his home. He has, however, moved, with his coach to a larger city, and is skating on an Olympic sized rink.

He is also, we have been informed, the first skater from México to perform at the Olympics in thirty years. We are all very proud of this young man, and the difficulties he has experienced, to get to where he is today.

He will not earn a medal this time, but, maybe, in one of the future Olympic Games, he will. Who knows? Only time will tell.

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

Tres leches

Today, I made not one, but two tres leches cakes.

The first one, unfortunately, I forgot to add the egg whites. I was supposed to beat five egg whites to soft peaks, then add one third cup of sugar, mixing thoroughly, adding to the flour mixture. I baked the aforementioned mixture, (without required egg whites) which rose about an inch, and even poured the sweet milk mixture over it, thinking it was all that. Yuck.

Then, I reread the recipe, and discovered that I was supposed to beat the egg whites to soft peak, add the sugar, then fold them into the flour mixture. Really??

I squeezed all of the sweet milk out of the first cake, (the tres leches) into a bowl, re-made the blasted cake, the right way, and poured all of the sweet milk over the corrected cake.

It is cooling in the fridge overnight, to be covered with a whipped cream topping, sprinkled with powdered cinnamon, and served with fresh sliced strawberries; tomorrow.

Let me just show you a bit of the work I went through. (Really; read the recipe totally before you start.)

This recipe required that we have sweetened condensed milk available; nope. We have evaporated milk, but not SCM. So, I made my own. Labor intensive? Yes. Satisfactory for use? Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

It does not look like much, but it is thick, and very sweet; like the canned version.

This is what the first cake looked like, without the egg yolks folded in, but, soon, the tres leches were poured over it.

After I drowned the cake with the sweet milks, and reread the recipe, (it just did not look right), I let the above cake rest, then, squeezed all of the milk from it, reserving the milk mixture, until I could figure out how to use it for the second attempt. (Really, I did not want to think about making another batch of SCM.)

So, four, or five hours later, I finally, made the cake, with egg whites, and it came out exactly as I thought it should. I poured the “reserved” milk mixture over it, covered it with plastic wrap, and placed it in the refrigerator, overnight, to be covered, tomorrow, with whipped cream, and powdered cinnamon.

The second, and better attempt. It is actually about 3” thick. Amazing.

While we wait to see what it turns out to be, here is what my bread looked like.

I gave this one away, but made another one that was just like this for us. It is delicious, soft, smells amazing, and toasts like you want. I cannot wait to grill a sandwich; well, I have to wait for some more tomatoes before I can grill a sandwich.

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