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Buns o’ Love
I made hamburger buns from scratch last night and they were the most rewarding experience ever. They weren’t super duper healthy full of wheat flour or flax seed or anything but they were from scratch so they had considerably less guar gum and monofalutinwhateveritis. I might just turn out to be a baker after all. Well, maybe. This is a small victory for me.
I followed this recipe and only altered the rising time. I read the reviews at the bottom and everyone said to let the dough rise longer than twenty minutes, so I did. Good thing I started making them early because of course I didn’t realize I needed to allow extra time to the rising time until I was elbow deep in the dough. That always happens to me.
The dough was super sticky and I was sure it wouldn’t turn out. I tried to make balls like the recipe said but they looked more like pudgy balls of skin with disgusting flaps and flour globules. Kind of gross actually. But then I remembered how Bethany reassured me that lemon scones looked ugly and they turned out perfectly. So I carried on. Turns out Bethany was right! Dough isn’t always pretty but it sure bakes up nice.
They were so pretty! And the sound they make when you squeeze them? A perfect spongy crunch just like Colette says in Ratatouille. “A symphony of crackle…” I love that line! If you haven’t seen the movie you must watch this clip. It’s my favorite part of the movie.
I should make bread more often. You know how when you buy hamburger buns at the store there are always too many left over and then they sit around in your kitchen mocking you because they are really good for nothing else except maybe Sloppy Joes or pulled pork and we never make that because Toby hates sugar in his meat (the fool)? And then you end up throwing them out or feeding them to the birds and you feel guilty for wasting? Maybe that’s just me.
Well with these buns I’m glad there are leftovers! There are tons of leftovers and I’m going to have them for breakfast with butter and jam! Yum!
Even Bug liked them. She said they were better than McDonald’s which is very high praise coming from her. Toby liked them too. I was feeling a little cocky after such a huge success so I asked Toby what I should try to make tomorrow night. He said ice cream. I said he could buy me an ice cream maker. Harumph.
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tic tic tic
I’m reading this book because it was displayed prominently at the library. I’m a sucker for a good cover design and I’d heard about it so I figured I’d see what all the fuss was about. Well, now it has me questioning everything I buy at the grocery store and forget about eating out ever again (not that we do that much anyway since Toby has such an aversion to restaurants). I can’t even buy bread anymore without thinking about guar gum and monoglycerides. It’s got me all in a tizzy. Anybody have a good wheat bread recipe?
You can’t really tell in this picture but every morning when I make my delicious French Press coffee I have to stare at myself reflecting in the lid with a bulging double chin. I hate it! In my mind I look just fine and then I look down and say, Ack! Who is that middle-aged person looking back at me?!! Of course I know that I am a three-dimensional person who is more than just the sum of her pudgy parts. But still it does sort of put a small teeny-tiny damper on an otherwise very pleasant part of my morning.
The pinkness is killing me. I don’t know if you’ve heard but Bug is obsessed with pink now. The world is color-coded for her and if you remember how much she loved green then you will realize how consuming this new love of pink is. Hot pink to be specific but sometimes she’ll settle for other shades. Everything must be pink. There were tears involved on the day that you see her wearing jeans and a light pink shirt. Thankfully, she rectified the desperate situation with some pink sunglasses or else I don’t think I’d ever have gotten her to leave the house. She seriously wears pink puffy skirts (not tutus—they’re too scratchy) and a hard pink plastic crown EVERYDAY. It’s been going on for a month now.
I wanted to have a snow birthday party for her this year with a tram ride to the top of a mountain in Palm Springs but I am having doubts that I can pull that off with a hot pink color palette. Hot pink snow boots maybe? Good thing it’s a long way off.
