It Started with a Journal

Well, it will be a miracle if the kalamata olive loaf comes out well. ( Sigh. )

Trader Joe's is no longer selling King Arthur flour!! This is a bummer for me because they always sold it at the lowest price of anywhere I've found. They've replaced it with their own TJ brand of flour. I'm sure it'll work fine (I'm going to give it a try) and it's cheaper, but still, I don't know, I like my KA. However I've always had to buy bread flour elsewhere, because TJ only sells whole wheat and all purpose.

My cousin has STILL not replied about which dinner plan she prefers. ARGH. The reason I don't just make a decision is because of her pain in the ass husband, who's a vegetarian, so I feel like I need to make something that he will eat, or can contrive to eat (say, eating just the pasta if I make a chicken and pasta dish) ... and yet, if he's fine with taking care of his own meal and eating a turnip or whatever he does, then I can make something that is a very meat-focused main course. They've said that I can make something with meat in it if I wish since he never makes it for my cousin (and she's recently had a baby so she could use the protein) -- which, am I supposed to take that to mean make something with meat in addition to something we can all eat, or make something with meat for her and me, and he'll figure something out on his own? Honestly, is a little clarity too much to ask for?

So, in the absence of her input, what option do you guys think I should go with?? ( My suggested menu choices. )

What would you do if you were me? I'm leaning toward #1 or #2 I think, though at times I'm like, I should make #5 just to spite her husband.

Edit: Okay, she's gotten back to me. She would like Indian food and cheesecake. I've now created an itinerary for Friday and Saturday, planned down to the minute, because it's going to require that to make sure everything gets done on time. I'm going to make the cheesecake Friday evening, because it requires no less than 6 hours in the oven (most of it cooling off), plus time in the fridge.

Since it was starting to get warm this week (ha, what a joke, it SNOWED this morning, just to spite me -.-), I brought my sourdough starters out of hibernation. Thought I had forgotten about them? No! Every time I opened my fridge and saw them sitting there, I thought wistfully of the time I'd get to make my own bread again. Supermarket bread just isn't cutting it anymore, I need my homemade artisan bread! The problem is, it's really hard to deal with yeast during the frigid winter. I ended up making the tough decision to toss out 2 of my 3 starters. I couldn't do it before because they were like pets to me. (Yes, it was easier to cut the cord when they'd been out of sight for months.)

I ended up making a garlic parmesan loaf that came out spectacularly. I was a little nervous about baking bread again and having to relearn everything as it's been so long, but it's like riding a bike, I guess. More details about the sourdough starters and the specifics of the bread I made at my food blog, but the bread looked so awesome I had to share the pictures here as well.

( Can you believe I made these? )

Okay, I've now decided that reason #1 to bake bread, other than it being fun, is the smell of baking bread in your house. Ohmygod it's so good.

I finally baked bread! And it's good!! Very soft and fluffy ... I was so afraid that my first effort would yield results of, well, a rock. For my first attempt I didn't want to do anything complicated (to up the chances of it turning out well), so I made a simple "World Bread" recipe that's basically just a white loaf.

( A pictorial of sourdough culture to actual bread! )

My next project is either going to be a cheese-onion loaf or possibly a free-form loaf (like French bread), assuming the stuff I ordered arrives by the time I want to make it.

Today for lunch I went to a Cajun-style restaurant called Alligator Soul. A week or so ago, I interviewed a woman from Louisiana. After the interview portion we got to talking, and crawfish was mentioned. It's been something I've longed to try, because I love seafood/shellfish, but have never been to the South (except for one day in Dallas, but I'm not counting that). Doing some research online, Alligator Soul was the only place even remotely near me that served actual whole crawdads (as opposed to bits of it in a gumbo, or jambalaya, or whatever). It seems that every other Saturday they do a crawfish boil during the lunch hour, so I went today.

The place itself is a little run down, but that kind of added to its charm. The service was really friendly. And the crawfish plate for one that I ordered came with 1 pound of crawfish, along with some fixings. I also ordered a "side" of catfish, because I love fried catfish. When the food came I was stunned at how huge the portions were. I know crawfish aren't that big, but I wasn't expecting THAT many in a pound. And it came with two corn on the cob, three huge red potatoes, two halves of a roasted garlic bulb, and two good-sized spicy sausages. And all this for $10.95. O.o The side of catfish was basically a deep-fried filet with some really yummy tartar sauce that was great too. And it was only $4.50.

I wish I had brought my camera so I could have taken a pic of the giant platter of crawfish that arrived at my table, but oh well -- maybe in two weeks. :D They were good, kind of a cross between shrimp/lobster, but their shells are so hard that my fingers were hurting part of the way through from opening the shells. The pics that follow are my leftovers, because it was just too much food for one person. Look at how much is in my leftover box (which was really deep)!

( If you don't like seafood, or pictures of red, bug-looking creatures, don't continue. )

Saw The Dark Knight yesterday with corianderstem and leiliaxf after stuffing ourselves with delicious sushi. ( My spoilery thoughts. )