Catching up with the baking

 I've been remiss at posting due to the purchase of a new computer. The old one was so old that it was an XP OS before the first SP with only 256 MB of RAM before I hot rodded it up to 756 MB. It was slow. The new computer is a quad core with 8 G of RAM and MUCH faster. All of which means I can make my mistakes even faster than before. Setting up this computer was an instruction in why one should seriously consider paying for the transfer of files by qualified personnel.
I found it was possible, though tedious, by assuming the attitude of teenager and saying to myself, "What could possibly go wrong?" I still have some housekeeping utilities to download and a bunch of bread recipes that belong in my Favorites function but so far, so good.  The top picture includes a couple of improvised loaves that were my recovery from some bad calculations for a potato bread recipe. The dough was incredibly wet, almost a batter, so I changed my plans and started heading in the direction of ciabatta type loaf. The crumb was ordinary but the bread was still good enough that both loaves were finished in short order at a party held in the middle of Council Bluffs, Iowa corn fields. The second picture is a plate of strawberries covered with chocolate and some frosting. The host of the party was justifiably proud of her creation.  

The other loaf of bread is another WWW sourdough loaf following the same procedures and using the same ingredients as the loaf from my last post. The only difference was that I used 120g of WWW instead of 115g. The results are just as convincing and it will probably the formula I use for my submission in the whole wheat category at the County Fair.

Our yard has been invaded by Japanese beetles. They have already devastated a decorative planting that I thought was immune to everything but Agent Orange or tactical nuclear weapons. All the leaves have been stripped and many of the interior vines are dead. Personally, I won't miss the plant since it spreads lots of seeds that take root and are impossible to control with out extensive measures such as using a bulldozer.

However, the beetles have since targeted my tomato plants. I used some organic insecticidal soap on the plants tonight but I'm not sure that will do the trick. I may have to resort to other treatments because the beetles do look like they have determination in their DNA.

Visitors from Ethiopia and Indonesia have taken a look at this blog recently.


Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.