Last Monday i made a highly satisfactory loaf of buckwheat blender bread. I added rehydrated and blended dried figs from 2022 as part of the liquid, that worked fairly well but the previous loaf with chunks of dried figs and dates held promise.
This loaf included one packet of dated-2015 quick yeast. Maybe that helped a little with the fermentation. I also think i did a better job getting the oven warm enough to support fermentation without overwarming. The first rise of the batter went well, and the second in the pan filled up the pullman pan. The loaf is very moist and probably could have benefited from true baking instead of convection bake: it sank a little in cooling.
I continue to be happy with my toasted buckwheat groats as cereal.
This weekend i made barley out of well soaked and just barely sprouting grain. It's going to be a pleasant preparation for grain bowls, and i can imagine dressing in a minty chimichurri would be divine. I spent some time reading and discerned the easy to get pearled barley is the "highly processed" choice. You can get hulled barley, where the barley is processed to remove the hull, or there is hulless barley -- which come from a number of selections where the grain falls out and threshing and doesn't need to be processed. There's some black and purple versions with various stories behind them. My guess is that like corn and other grasses, the color genes are there to be selected and stewarded in multiple cases. I'm imagining growing a hulless barley someday. Let's get the sorghum seed grown fro dried flower arrangement, first.
The week was disjoint and frustrating with internet outage, an attempt to get a blood panel done that failed due to overworked doctor failing to give good instructions and put through the lab order, and general malaise. I took much of Thursday and all Friday off. I realized that with the nasal surgery, i wouldn't be able to distinguish between a head-cold and a sinus infection. A tele-visit concurred that i probably had a sinus infection, so i have antibiotics and an increase in the asthma meds to help me perk back up.
We have a couch from "Rooms to Go" which is probably a better quality than Ikea, but not by much. We've been using it very regularly for six and a half years, so it's been a bit worn out. I've been thinking about how to improve it. The springs are a little tired, so i've found seating slats that can distribute weight more across the springs. We've installed those: a clear win. I've bought foam to replace the seat and back cushions: that's in progress. I am uncertain about how satisfactory my plans for the back are. It's lines are not well matched to most current slipcovers, so that took a long time to sort out. I believe i have found some adequate solutions in grey. And i bought some spiral upholstery pins that may assist with keeping things from going too askew. So far it looks sloppy and terrible, and i have Internal JudgyJudgyJudgy Voice going on, I'm trying to remind myself that it's not done yet. But, wow, am i self critical.
Friday i met my sister and Dad and we went through some of Mom's jewelry and some of Dad's things. There were pieces that told stories about family: tie pins from one of my Dad's employers and pins and charms from my grandmother's long service with Ma Bell. Pins my grandfather gave my grandmother to show he was a submariner and a similar pin from my SeaBee father to my mother. My parents' wedding rings. Instead of trying to split those up, we decided to pool them and have them all mounted and framed together as a family history. Someday maybe the nephews and nieces will split it, or maybe one will have become the clear family historian.
My Dad apparently was left a little down by it, and i had mixed feelings too. Missing my brother a little, but also the -- frustration and judgement i feel about his family and their sense of care of things felt heavy.
I will try this week to post more often, and more briefly. We'll see! My follow through on self commitments is not what i would like, lately.
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