Bonus Health Update!

Well, I just had my physical...

 

And apparently I'm healthy!!

 

I had a health Screening back in January which said my Cholesterol was 231...not good!  So I made a change or two to my diet, and Have been running 6 days a week since then.

 

The results:

Total Cholesterol: 192

LDL(Bad cholesterol): 109

HDL (Good Cholesterol): 73

Ratio: 2.5

 

These are awesome numbers!

Also, my resting heart rate is 54...Nice!

Health Update for February

It’s time for another update:

Weight on 1/31/2011: 167
Weight on 2/28/2011: 164
Weight Change : -3 pounds!  Not as much as last month, but I've included more fiber in my diet, and have been really trying to not be starving myself.  I've pretty much lost my spare tire, but there's always room for improvement!

Total Miles Run this Month: 66.14 Miles

Total Milage for 2011: 127.23 Miles ...That's a lot of miles!

Total Workout Minutes This month: 728  I think I might have missed a day or two here...as it is way less than January...but the Milage seems right.

Total Workout Minutes for 2011: 1980

Total Calories burned from Working out: 8356

For the second month into this, I've definitely noticed a difference.  By altering my eating habits, and including more Fiber and greens, my Calorie intake has leveled off, and that has helped keep my weight fairly constant.

I've also added some basic Strength training a couple days a week.  Nothing too fancy, just some pushups, dips, and Plank(ing) to help improve the "T-Rex" arms as Robyn calls them ;)

 

All in all, Going well and I'm really enjoying it.  I've slipped a few days as far as tracking my intake, but I think I've got it down to a fairly good science: I don't change up my eating too much and stay away from Sweets...I've really started paying attention to portions, and ensuring my "helping" of food really isn't four or five.

 

Here's to another good month!

 

Weekend Activities

This weekend has been pretty low key.  After dealing with some "plumbing"  emergencies the past couple of weeks (Base board heat pipe leak and shower engager break) I am happy to NOT have to play with Piping.

I took advantage of the calm and bottled the All-Grain IPA I brewed back in January.  I was going to write up that experience, but...reference plumbing experiences referenced above.

I started by running the beer through cheese cloth to help snag any residual Crud.  I discovered that there is a vast difference in cheese cloths:  This one didn't seem to catch much.  A test glass was very cloudy.  After letting it rest in the Bottling bucket for a few minutes it seemed to clear up a bit, but I didn't have a good way to re-filter the beer again so I had to make due with what I had.  I suppose I could have put some sort of filter on bottle bucket spout if I had more time or didn't have beer anxiously waiting for bottles. :)

I need to devise a good way (or find a pre-made solution) to filter beer.  I'm thinking a two stage filter: A first stage that stops "large" crud from even leaving the carboy, and then the second stage that catches any smaller/fine crud before it enters the bottling bucket.

I already have the second stage, a funnel with Cheese cloth..I just need better Cheese cloth.  For the first stage, I"m thinking a steel "balloon" that  I can attach to my tubing.  This would make it easy to clean/replace.

Now to find some decent cheese cloth..

 

I'm thinking I"m going to tackle a small water related project this weekend.  I need to move our washing machine about three feet.  Currently, it sits right in front of the Utility Sink in the Laundry space...this makes it really hard to use said utility Sink.  To move it, I need to get slightly longer Water line tubing.  I think I can handle this.

 

Well, Anya is asking for food, so I'm off to feed the baby!

 

 

new fun!

Yesterday I came home from work to a surprise...

A cr-48 was delivered to me!!!

I was completely shocked when I opened the box, as I thought they either gave them all away or wasn't "googly" enough for it..

So far, I'm really liking it.  I treat it like a netbook/iPad replacement, and it does well...in fact there are a few things it does better than the iPad ( and a few that I wished it did like the iPad)

I hope to try to get a "review" of it up, just to get me to really put it through its paces, and to help loosen the writing fear/block I have.  The only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice....or something :)

But for now, off to see how it does with more multimedia type things!

Health update!

I'm not sure who many people will care, but it's my blog damnit! So here are the updates from this month:

I've been using sparkpeople.com for about a month, and it's time for an update:

Weight on 1/1/2011: 178
Weight on 1/31/2011: 167
Weight Change : -11 pounds! (I think this might be a bit off...I'm not super confident in our scale, but I have definitely lost some spare tireage)

Total Miles Run: 61.09 Miles

Total Workout Minutes This month: 1252

Total Calories burned from Working out: 8315

All in all, I've felt good! Tracking my eating has shown me that there are days that I do not eat enough...So I'm working on incorporating more nuts and greens to help bring up the Calorie count, yet not adding too much in the way of Cholesterol or anything.

All in all, Going well!

Weekend House Projects 2

Well another weekend, another few projects done!

Saturday found me lurking in the garage trying to organize the "gift" the previous owners left us: a loft filled with random wood scraps. I pulled it all down, and sorted it into keep and throw piles. While sorting, I discovered a full box of the flooring they used in the kitchen! This could come in handy...I stacked the wood up in the loft, and managed to put Robyn's Tires and our non-sleeping camping supplies up there along with the Chairs I need to fix (which I think I can with some of the gifted wood!!) at some point. I then threw away the broken baby swing they also left behind. After all this work, I then began trying to see if I could fit both vehicles in the garage AND still be able to pull the snow blower out....turns out I can! There is just enough room at the front of the garage to park the snow blower between the vehicles and be able to open the doors without hitting anything! I'll admit, it kind of felt like a losing game of Tetris for a bit...but then finally getting the long piece needed! I have some finishing touches (like hanging the bikes on the wall to free up the front right corner) but for this coming brewing weekend, We'll have plenty of room!

I then moved on to our bed that needs some more bolts to complete it. I found that the bolts are hard to find! The original bolts are 2 1/4" in length, while the closest I could find at Lowes was either 2" or 2 1/2". I decided to go with the 2 1/2" screws. I used them to secure the head/base boards to the frame, and utilize the original bolts for the canopy. I ended up using one of the new screws in the canopy, and it fit nicely.


The next project I tackled was the mirror on Robyn's Dresser. The mirror was not put on when we moved because one of the support wood blocks had split at some point and time. I decided to use some of the scrap wood I organized from the garage to replace it. I measured the good block and set off sawing, chiseling and sanding the block until it was as close to the original as I could get it. IT wasn't a clean piece, but it was usable!

I drilled the holes for the screws/bolts and secured it to the back of the dresser. Low and behold! The mirror was supported! I tightened down the bolts, and angled the mirror so it rested against the wall to give it a little more support.

After that, I consulted with Robyn about our Dryer Dilemma: Our Current dryer vents out the opposite side of the house with a 50 foot run with about 7 90 degree turns...This might be one reason why things never dry!

We talked about it, and decided that the best answer would be to move the dryer to the pantry, so that way the dry run is about 2 feet. I took a look at our current dryer electric line, and realized I could safely disconnect power, and thread it through our closet into the pantry. This will require drilling two holes, but I think it is doable. After that, I can use a standard wall dryer venting kit, and should be all set!


All in all, another successful weekend! This coming weekend will be brewing weekend, so probably no project updates, but who knows? Maybe Sunday I'll feel like drilling test holes...

Spark People

I decided to do a better job of tracking my health this year (I guess it's a resolution). I joined the site SparkPeople.com as a way to track my activities.

If you want to follow along, go here!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=mpeterson221

Weekend House Projects

Well, after the fun of the Boiler last week, I decided to keep our house projects to a dull roar. I mean, as much fun as it would be to start tearing down walls, or installing new lights, you kinda need capital for that, and the boiler sucked most of that dry, like are nice WARM air! (Heat is a great invention :) )

The original plan was to put plastic on the windows, to help cut down on the drafts. Notice the use of the words "original" and "was" in that sentence. Those priorities soon changed. Friday night, as I prepared for bed a new, more pressing matter came up:

The Toilet handle.

Through the use of my sheer manly strength, I managed to snap the mighty plastic handle at the joint where it meets the resistant plastic handle the lifts the rubber stopper in the water tank. My original idea was to replace the entire tank mechanism, until Robyn pointed out that the toilet works, just the handle is broken. I wasn't if Lowes/Home Depot would carry such an exotic product like that...but we took a gamble.

Who knew they sold just toilet handles! :) And the amazing thing is: Handles are WAAAY cheaper than the entire kit! Crazy!

So, after finding that, I was feeling good. So good in fact, we took another gamble that there may be a replacement drain for our tub. The tub used to have one of those Push down drains that doesn't have a strainer. Notice the use of the phrase "used to." That's right! We replaced the push down with a strainer AND a rubber stopper! After two Anya Tubbers, it appears to be holding up fairly well. No leaking, and the strainer is catching hair and debris (chucks of soap mostly) that normally would just go down the drain and potentially cause a problem later on.

I was feeling really good at this point. So good in fact, I went down to the basement and grabbed the storm window for the kitchen window that never go put on for some reason. I set it in place, tightened the screws, and marveled at...well me!

We also managed to de-christmas tree the house (which involved a lot of needle sucking/sweeping) and put the canopy posts back on our bed. We're short a few screws, but I took measurements and plan to pick some up this weekend, along with the raw materials to fix the mirror on our Dresser. One of the wood supports has split, and I plan on replacing it with all new pieces. Robyn and I also started planning for the big bathroom re-do that will hopefully come to fruition sometime later this summer/fall.

All in all, a fairly successful Home repair weekend...granted they were all small, but baby steps people, baby steps.

Home adventures!

In my previous post, I mentioned I wanted to write about the adventures of owning a home and the projects I will be working on.  I had no idea the first project would require an entry so fast!

Yesterday, I get a call from Robyn saying the house is cold.  Our house is heated by Baseboard water heaters with a fuel oil boiler.  I figure it must have tripped a breaker or just needed to be reset.  I had her go down and check it out.  Unfortunately, it wasn't that.  Her dad stopped over to take a look, and said the pilot light wasn't on and it appeared to be dead.  Hmm...this can't be good.  I really don't have a real firm grip on how the boiler system works, so I was out of my element for sure.

I did what any Semi-handy guy would do: I freaked out and called a professional.  Little did I know how much fun that would be!

I learned very quickly that to work on Fuel Oil Systems, you need to be certified...and not many people are.  I also learned the two big heating companies in the area are not, which filled me with such....dread that I was out of heat until I spent thousands of dollars (which I don't have).  Thankfully, our oil company had a recommendation for a company and they agreed to come out and take a look (at after hours pricing of couse!).

Well, I'll bore you with the details, but suffice to say I learned a lot about Fuel oil and boilers last night.  I also learned the "cleaning" we required before purchasing was just that: A cleaning that was apparently blind to nagging issues.  Freaking great!  But now, we have the correct size nozzle and a new relay, which wasn't as bad as I expected...but still a nice punch in the gut.

At least we have heat!

Happy new year!!

This year, I will blog about bread and beer more and also my various home remodeling/upgrades

2010 Holiday Newsletter!

That's right, it's our kinda annual Holiday Newsletter!

ChristmasNewsletter2010

Our decorated tree!

Here is our first decorated tree in our house!!

Almost looking like home...

It is almost there...

Slowly but surely...

We are marching towards indebtedness Homeownership!!

Got the final ok from the mortgage company and the lawyers. Closing date confirmed!

Uhhhh...

I have no idea...

Pretty cake!

Now who to eat it with? :)

Letchworth

Abby enjoying some red osier at letchworth art festival.

Mental block

Some mornings, I have mental block about bringing my lunch...I wish I knew why. Do I secrectly not like my lunch?  No, I actually love my new lunch routine.

Best part?  Everyone un my team brought their lunch today. 

This is an interesting phone...

DroidBerry Phone!!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/05/motorola-droid-pro-first-hands-on/

I might have rethought my X purchase if this was out when I was looking for a new phone.

This week's lunch

So I've given up on deli meats and sub rolls for lunch.  I wanted more greens in my diet, and the thought of just adding lettuce did not sit well with me.  This week, I decided to take Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic, ground Mexican Chiles, a dash of Cumin, and chicken and sauté them up in a little bit of EVOO (Thanks Rachel Ray!).

I think it came out pretty good!  I put it on a bed of brown rice and call it a meal!

For snacking, I've got mixed nuts, raisins, coffee, and water.   I think it is a bit healthier than white bread, deli meat, cheese, and yogurt.

Dinner for sunday

Tonight it was cider brined porkchops with apple onion cider glaze and cranberry sauce. For sides we had homemade italian bread (from a biga starter) and rosemary oven roasted seasonal vegetables.

All on all, a delicious supper!

Pictures were an afterthought. I will remember next time!

Bottle time!

I think it is as ready as it is going to be..

Cranberrysauce

Is done!  Onto bread and porkchops and a side of beer bottling!

Soon...

Thee will be bread!

Not so fast!!

Well, it looks like there's a holdup.
The radon came back too high and will need to be remedied before we move on.

House passed inspection!

Well, the house Robyn and I placed an offer on and was accepted has passed the home inspection!  The 160 year old house is in remarkable shape, and no major projects are looming over head.  Now we wait for the radon test to come back, and hopefully then we can continue on the road to owing a lot of money home ownership!

Robyn on the couch!

Robyn on the couch!

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

Robyn on the couch, not sneezing, and surrounded ;)

New loveseat!

Robyn found a great deal on a comfy loveseat!

Early breakfast

Early breakfast

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

Anya enjoying an early breakfast at T's.

Oscar found the cake...

Oscar found the cake...

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

Well, now i won't feel bad about the diet food...

Anya's attempt at kisses

Anya's attempt at kisses

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

I love my little girl.

Anya

Anya

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

Anya telling us about her stick.

Oscar in the yard

Oscar in the yard

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

He found a stick.

From our walk

From our walk

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

This was taken during our Saturday morning walk.

contentmediaexternalimagesmedia83

contentmediaexternalimagesmedia83

Originally uploaded by psychoandy

New Phone Mark!

So I haven't updated in awhile, but I thought I would pass along some (techy geeky) exciting news!

I have broken up with my Storm 9530, and have picked up a Droid X!

I ordered it on Launch day, and got it a few days later.  So far...I love it.

While I got used to the quirkiness of the Storm, I was noticing the annoyances that finally got me to pull the trigger on a new phone:

1. Not being able to load up more than 5 apps in the shared RAM/app storage memory.


2. Not having Wi-Fi for those times when I'm not in a good data range, like half the areas in URMC.


3. Not having good Exchange support OUTSIDE of using BES.

I'll write more later, but now I'm getting tired from driving back from Albany in the crazy rain!

Testing video upload.

Testing android upload of video

My little girl

She makes me smile

Latest Loaf

Here's a look at my latest loaf. It is a celebration challah loaf that I put together last night. I am calling it leaning manny loaf.

I am really thinking about starting the challenge back up, but right now I don't have the time to be baking all weekend. Maybe I'll modify it so i am only making corn and dairy free instead of that plus the exact recipe. We'll see.

What's Proofing

Here's a quick look at what's on the schedule for tomorrow's baking:

• Sunday dinner bread (Biga prepped)


• Biga for Daily bread (Biga prepped)


• Pizza dough for calzones


• Cranberry scones

It seems like a lot, but I should be able to knock the four loaves of bread (Sunday/Daily) at once, and the pizza dough will take about 15 minutes, and then into the fridge it goes!  The scones will be interesting, as it will be my first attempt at them...I think they'll be tasty!

I still need to figure out what to do with the giant bag of frozen cherries in my fridge...suggestions?

Baking Update

I know it has been quite some time since I updated with baking news, but I wanted to let all (three?) of you know, I BAKED this past weekend!

I ended up making some Italian bread (using a Biga) and some Cherry turnovers on Father's Day. (Hey, some dads want to relax and have a cold one, while I prefer making it nice and hot in the kitchen first).

I think both came out fairly tasty.

I think I'm going to tackle scones and sandwich bread this weekend...as I am craving one and needing the other.

Move successful!

So we survived the move! We are slowly adjusting to life back in our hometown. It is weird to se many things that I remember growing up either surrounded by new buildings or just missing.

The stress of the new job and getting used to the new place has me a bit on edge. I'm hopping that in time, it will get better. I baked a few loaves of weekly bread on sunday and that was good. I plan on researching a new brew that I hope to start next week.

Here's to making a new brew and continuing the BBA challenge!

lack of posts

Well, as you may have noticed, there has been a significant lack of posts lately. I assure you, there is a good reason...

I got a new job! This new job is in my old stomping grounds, which means I need to move! We've been furiously packing and getting ready for move day (friday/saturday). Next week, in the chaos of unpacking, I'll try to get some updates in.

See you on the other side!

Back to norm next week?

With Easter and a bunch of work and other thing popping up, I haven't been able to get blogging bumped up in the prioirity list. Hopefully after this weeken things will return to normal.

I will also comment on the htc incredible....dreamy!

Crazy week!

This week has been non stop fun.  Lots of work "things" happening, trying to recover from Easter weekend makes for a tiring week.

I had a really great time at my Mom's for Easter.  I actually ended up baking a challenge bread without really meaning to, so I'll get that written up tomorrow (I hope).

The plan for this weekend: Get a new Bed!

No challenge this week

Howdy Bread lovers!

There won't be a challenge this week, as I will be out of town for Easter Fun!  I will still be making bread, but not in a challenge-y way.

I will be making Lambropsomo, Lefse, and hopefully dinner rolls.  I will get some pictures and post them..as long as the loaves turn out ok :)

I made the list up BEFORE I checked the weather forecast.  Thankfully, most of the breads take a few hours to proof, which means I'll be able to spend some time with family outside, and make delicious foods for our easter dinner.

See you next week!

BBA Challenge Round 8: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

The Challenge Bread

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Mmm...Delicious bread of nutty raisin-y goodness"][/caption]

This week, we're making Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread!

Round 8 is done!

Well I finished up the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread on Sunday, and I'll get the post up later this week.

I think I might slow it down a bit, as baking a challenge loaf every weeks means I don't get a chance to make "normal" bread.  I'll still try to post once a week, but I'll probably start talking about the challenges I'm facing (bread not rising as well as it used to) and how I plan to attack them (check yeast, ensure good kneading).

Hopefully, this blog will not only talk about what I'm doing with bread baking, but about baking in general and how to fit it in to a busy lifestyle.

Bread on!

BBA Challenge Round 7: Cinnamon Rolls

The Challenge Bread

This week, we're making Cinnamon Rolls!



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374" caption="What's left of the Rolls after ONE day..."][/caption]

BBA Challenge Round 6: Ciabatta

The Challenge Bread

This week, we're making Ciabatta.

A Little History

I first remember having Ciabatta about eight years ago, when I ordered a sandwich and they asked me if I wanted it on Ciabatta...not knowing what it was I just agreed that is sounded good.  It is now one of my favorite breads to eat (and now make!)

The Ingredients

I went with the Poolish version of this recipe, as I haven't really made anything with a poolish yet:

• Poolish
  
  
  
  • Bread Flous
  
  
  • Water
  
  
  • Yeast
  
  
  
  


• Bread Flour


• Salt


• yeast


• Water

Corn/Dairy Free changes

Since this a Primary loaf, there isn't much to it, hence no corn or dairy.  The taste and character comes from the baking.

The Shaping

The night before the baking, I made up the poolish and let it ferment in the fridge overnight.  This allows the yeast more time to break down the flour into delicious gluten.  The next day, I combined the ingredients with the poolish.  The dough is very wet and can be hard to work with.  The wetter, the harder, but the bigger the air pocket are.

Once I was done kneading the dough, I transferred it to the Generously floured counter.  I shaped the dough into a rough rectangle.  I then sprinkled another generous portion  of flour on top of the loaf.  Then, grabbing opposite ends of the dough,  I picked it up, and let it stretch to about twice the original size.  I placed it back down on the counter, and folded it up like a letter.  I lightly misted it with oil, covered it in plastic, and let it rest for 30 minutes.  I then did another stretching session.

After the stretching, I took a heavy Towel and setup a couche: a floured towel used to create crusty breads.  I let the loaves proof until they had "noticeably swelled."

The Baking

I preheated the oven to 500 degrees.  I put a cookie sheet on the topmost oven rack, while moving the other rack to the lowest setting.  Once the oven was up to temp, I put a cup of hot water into the steam pan, and put the loaves on the lowest rack.  After 30 seconds, I opened the oven, and sprayed the sides with water to generate more steam.  I did this twice more at 30 second intervals, and then turned the oven down to 450 degrees.  I baked the loaves for 10 minutes, and then rotated them 180 degrees and continued to bake them until they reached an internal temperature of 205.   I then placed them on a cooling rack for about an hour.

Results and My Final Thoughts/Notes

The end result was good.  The crust was fairly crusty, but not too hard.  I didn't get as big of air pockets as I wanted, but they were pretty good.

Again, I think one of the main things I learned this week would be timing.  I think I let the dough sit more than 30 minutes, as it kind of swelled out and almost off the pan!  Then, I think I over compensated and didn't let the loaves proof long enough on the couche.

As the saying goes, there's no bad homemade bread....unless it burnt.

Up Next…

Next week, we're making Cinnamon Rolls!

Comments? Suggestions?

So what do you think? Sound good?  Anything I should change/do better?

First BBA fail!

I had my first fail this weekend with regards to the challenge! This weekend I was attempting to make ciabatta and bought yeast since I was up in Rochester for the weekend. I left the loaf in the sun for a couple of hours to let it rise. I came back and reized the loaf had not changed shape or size.

So here's my tip of the week: check the date on your yeast BEFORE you start baking.

I'll be making a second attempt this weekend to NOT h e a fail.

Stay tuned!!

Let's go Ciabatta!

I'm working on the Ciabatta right now, so hopefully I'll have some news shortly!

BBA Challenge Round 5: Challah

The Challenge Bread

This week, we're making Challah.

A Little History

Challah is a Jewish celebration bread.  It is braided and sometimes a braid will be placed on top of a larger braid for a big celebration loaf.

The Ingredients

This one is pretty straight forward:

• Bread Flour


• sugar


• Salf


• yeast


• Vegetable oil


• whole eggs


• egg yolks


• Water

Make sure to save the egg whites to use as an egg wash later on.  I just put them in a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator while I prepped the loaves.

Corn/Dairy Free changes

There are no diary or corn ingredients in this bread.  No changes!

The Shaping

This is the first loaf that has required "real" shaping.  On the first non Giant celebration loaf, I took the dough and split it into three equal pieces.  This is where the scale was handy: Just because two pieces looked about the same, they often weren't.  I took the pieces, and shaped them into Boules, and let them rest for ten minutes under a towel.

After the mandatory rest period, I began shaping them into nice, long ropes of dough.  I started by rolling them on the table, slowly pushing them out from the center of the dough mass.  I that mostly worked, but I experimented with other methods as well.  I tried holding the dough "upright" and rubbing my hands like I was trying to warm them up, letting gravity pull the dough down.  That didn't work as well as the horizontal roll, but it wasn't bad.    The last method I tried was holding the dough with my hands at nine and three o'clock and slowly shaking the dough like you to a vending machine trying to get your stuck Doritos to fall.  While shaking, I slowly pulled the dough out, eventually ending up with my hands about three to four feet apart.  That seemed to be the best method on that day.

After I had three equal length ropes, I began my braiding from the center of soon-to-be loaf.  I braided down until I couldn't effectively make more cross over manuvers.  I then rotated the loaf and did it to the other side.  When I flipped the loaf, I needed to invert my braiding method: instead of taking the rope on the left and brining it over the top of the middle rope on its way to the right side, I needed to put it under the middle rope to keep the braid looking neat and not end up with a funky bump in the middle.  It took my brain a couple of attempts before I finally got it right.  I think it ended up looking pretty good for my first attempt.

The Celebration was very similar, but instead of one braid there were two: one on top that was half the size of the bottom loaf.  I did this by taking the dough and cutting it into three equal pieces and then combining two of those pieces.  I then took both lumps and cut them into three dough balls to make a total of six dough ropes.  I formed the bottom braid and put the smaller one on top and gave it just a little pinch to keep it from falling off.

I then gave the loaf a quick egg white wash, and let them proof under plastic wrap for about 2 hours, or until the loaf just about doubled in size.  I then gave the loaf another quick wash and let it rise until it was double the original size.

The Baking

I preheated the oven to 325 degrees.  I baked the loaves for about 45 minutes, until the internal temperature of the loaves reached 190 degrees.  The crust also turned a nice golden brown.  The curst wa

Results and My Final Thoughts/Notes

I really liked making the Challah.  Even though my shaping skills are not up to the level I would like them to be, I think I will be adding this into the normal rotation of breads.  It serves as a nice break from my "basic" loaves, and gives me a chance to try making "arts-y" bread.

Up Next…

Next week, we'll be tackling Ciabatta on the road!

Comments? Suggestions?

So what do you think? Sound good?  Do you have any butter/milk replacements that I should try?

Holy Missing Post!

Alright.

I admit I've fallen behind on my BBA Challenge post.  I have started the Challah entry, but this week got away from me.  I've been working on Anya's Site, which is still not quite ready, but I promise: Today you will have your Challah post!

Ciabatta is coming along alright...I think ;)

Challah is done

I managed to get the Challah finished yesterday. There wasn't any overnight Fermenting going on, so it came together pretty quickly.

I'll give you a sneak peak at the post: There's half a loaf left!

Nut Brown Update

I took the Nut Brown and transferred it to the 5 gallon Glass carboy on Sunday. It was in there for about 8-9 days before the primary fermentation settled down. While I was transferring the brew, I caught a hint of the hops...and I am happy to report that this will not be a super hoppy beer! Hooray for not using the same hops every single time!

BBA Challenge Round 4: Brioche

The Challenge Bread

This week, we're making Brioche: Rich Man's Style!

BBA Challenge Round 3: Artos: Christopsomos

The Challenge Bread

This week I tackled Artos which is greek celebration bread.  I chose the first variation which is Christopsomos.

Winter Nut Brown Ale!

Along with the BBA challenge this weekend, I also took it upon myself to brew another beer. This time up: Nut Brown Ale.  I went with nut brown to brew something that isn't a stout.  The hops that is called for were very low on the Alpha Acid level, which hopefully means the strong Hop taste that has been overtaking my brews won't be as present.

I'll also get this written up this week, so look out for  more posts!

BBA Challenge Round three is done!

Well I just took Round three out of the oven.  We'll see how it is tomrorow!

Quick thoughts:

• It's a little darker than I would like, but not burnt.


• The smell is amazing.  This is my first time baking that I really had a hard time not "sampling" as soon as it came out.


• Always check your Parchment paper supply BEFORE shaping your loaves.

That's it for now!  I'll get the post and hopefully some pictures up shortly!

The BlackBerry saga

Here's the saga of my former smartphone, the blackberry 9530. It is not a pretty tale and it involves money, reboots, missing apps, and a lot of swearing.

The Issue

It all started when my screen started acting up. My screen would occasionally not recognize a tap or a press.  At first, I thought it was a mistake I made: my hand was too cold, I pushed too quickly, or some other crazy sounding thing.  I would attempt to click on the PodTrapper Icon and get nothing…It didn’t happen frequently enough to warrant sending the unit in for repair, just enough to keep the embers of irritation glowing.  I do seem to have a slight calibration issue.  It is definitely an issue that has cropped up overtime.  While that is an annoyance, the bigger problem is stability.

The App Problem

The one thing I love about the BlackBerry platform over other platforms is the openness. I am not reliant on one company to bless, anoint, or whatever religious analogy you care to use an application.  Granted, there are pros and cons to both styles of thinking.

On the Open-Plus side, I can run whatever I want.  IF want to search for an app that will replace the included apps, such as a replacement web browser, or email application, I can.  As of right now, the only web browser that is available for the iPhone OS is Mobile Safari.  Yes, Opera is working on the Opera Mini browser, but it hasn’t been submitted for approval yet.  On the Non-Open-Plus side, I know the apps that have been approved work.  I haven’t really seen an iPhone/iPod Touch app crash that wasn’t related to the app requiring a data connection, and said connection leaving without leaving a note.  I’ve had a couple of bomb outs on my iPod Touch, but it always brings me right back to the home screen.  I’m getting on an apple rant, so let’s look a the downside of Open-Apps.

On the Open-Minus side, I can run whatever I want.  Since the code isn’t tested by RIM for Operability, You can get some pretty bad apps that crash.  on my BlackBerry, I currently have about 14 apps.  I don’t keep them all running all the time…mostly because the Storm 9530 has a small application memory size.  I am getting a message about once every two days on my storm saying it is out of application memory, and that to remedy this, I should delete some apps.  Seriously?  why is my application memory so small?  I have an 8 gig SD card in there that is 75% free?  Can’t I dedicate some of that to applications?  Granted, I am frustrated by this, but I think this gives way to the penultimate reason…

I am a Cheap Geek

I really am.  I agonized for over a year about getting a smartphone.  I was practically drooling when they announced the Moto Q back in May of 2006.  I eyed that baby for a long time.  It wasn’t until the close of 2007 that I finally took the plunge and picked it up.  It took me another 6 months before I finally got a data plan to really use the thing for more than a glorified calculator.  I held onto that thing until February 2009 when I got the Storm.  I really loved it!  At the time, I could justify the $29.99 a month, as money was a bit more freely flowing with both my wife and I working.  With the birth of my Daughter Anya in December, it really made me rethink my Mobile Priorities.

Don’t get me wrong, I still really like the storm!  SmartPhones in general are still my go-to Gadget dream scenarios.  I can just think of a better thing to spend the money on.  I’m sure I will venture into the SmartPhone arena again, but for now, I’m experimenting to see how I do without 24/7 Internets.

Does that mean I’m completely happy NOT connected 24/7?  No, but I still get all the stuff I want out of my iPod Touch that is on loan.  The question is, when I have to give up the touch…will I get my own?

It has been fun blackberry...

I had a longer post that I just erased like a n00b. I will rewrite. Just not tonight.

I don't know how else to say it blackbery 9530...it's over. We had a good run, but I can't live this lie anyore. You just aren't Meeting my expectations.

BBA Challenge Round two update

Well I completed round two of my BBa challenge and it was interesting. I will write up a full post tonight but a quick teaser: delciously dense

BBA Challenge Round 2: Bagels

For the next round of the BBA Challenge, I plan on making cinnamon-raisin bagels.  The next recipe in the book is Artos: Greek celebration bread, but the recipe calls for a bram (starter) and that can take a few weeks.  I will make the starter next week, and will hopefully get it going in time for Easter.

The bagels will be fun, as I haven't ever made them before.

Look for more posts this week about ingredients, techniques, and my game plan.

Bread on!

BBA Challenge Round 1: Anadama Bread - Baking and Results!

Well, I've finished round one of the BBA Challenge!  I think I'm off to a good start, and I think my Milladama bread is a mighty fine substitue.

BBA Challenge Round 1: Anadama Bread - Pre-Baking

Today is baking day!  I'm in a holding pattern right now.  The Original Recipe Anadama bread is proofing, while the Milladama is in the sponge stage.  I worked out the different steps I need to follow to complete one Recipe and discovered from start to finish it is about 5 hours...lots of Proofing time in there.  I decided to offset the baking by a few steps.  Here's the chart I made:

BBA Challenge Round 1: Anadama Bread

The first bread in the BBA Challenge is Anadama Bread.  Thankfully, it looks like it is starting out on a lighter note and should be a manageable first challenge.  I picked up the supplies I need this morning:

• Coarse Ground Cornmeal (Polenta)


• Bread flour


• Instant Yeast


• Molasses


• Shortening

I couldn't find the Brer Rabbit Golden Molasses that Peter Reinhart suggests, so I went with Plantation Blackstrap.  Yes, it is going to give off a more potent Molasses flavor, but I enjoy it.

I started to prepare for tomorrow's baking by creating the "soaker" of cornmeal.  I just need to let it sit  overnight, so the cornmeal will soften a bit, and release of the sugars trapped in it.

Mark's Corn/Milk-Free Alternative

As part of the BBA Challenge, I want to attempt to make all the recipes so my Wife can enjoy them as well.  She is allergic to Milk, and sensitive to corn, so I will be replacing these when They appear in the recipe.  This will help me discover my abilities as a baker, and find alternatives that will not affect the characteristics of the loaves too much.

The only ingredient we need to repleace i the cornmeal.  I did some searching, and decided to try Millet.  IT seems to be the "go to" replacement.  I found a couple of Tasty sounding Millet-instead-of-Corn-bread recipes that will have to try at some point.

The only trick I've found so far, is Millet can be hard to find in some supermarkets.  I found Millet next to bird-type seeds in the bulk department, so I suggest starting there.  The Millet was whole, so I decided to try soaking it untouched, and soaking it after I ran it through a food processor to open the seed husk, while preserving the coarse texture.

You can see the pictures I've taken on my Flickr BBA challenge page located here.

Tomorrow is baking day.  I plan to take more pictures and write up as I go.  Maybe I'll even ustream it!

I wish this was real

The BBA Challenge!

So I was doing some research on baking, when I came across the pinch my salt website.  It's a good site about baking and such, but what really caught my eye was the BBA challenge.

The gist is this: To bake every recipe in the Bread Baker's Apprentice book by Peter Reinhart.  This will push your bread baking knowledge to the limit and more.  It appears the challenge has been going on for a few months, but no time like the present to start!

I decided that just baking the breads wouldn't be enough.  I plan on taking each recipe, and where applicable, making them corn and diary free!   I want to compare the two loaves to see how closely I can mimic the flavor/appearance.

We'll see how this goes, as I bake my first loaves this weekend!

Baking Folly, Part Two

I made a loaf of Italian bread using the pre ferement biga, and learned the value of planning ahead.  If you want to read about how it went and what I though, just click that read more do-dad!

A couple of follies in baking bread, Part One

This week had a few interesting Occurrences when attempting to bake bread.  Here's tale #1

Here's what I've learned today

1. The Biga preferment is identical to the pate fermentee, save for salt.


2. Attempting to make a quality loaf of bread when you get home from work is possible...as long as you don't mind going to bed at 11:05.


3. The iPad is still a "less than optimal" product name.


4. I would love a chance to play with an iPad for a week or two to see if it does or does not do enough for me.


5. I need a baking stone.


6. The Dell Streak is shiny


7. I think I've given up on attempting to watch TV.


8. I like to end lists on an even number.

The iPad!

So Apple just announced the iPad.  Horrible name aside let’s get down to it!

Good/bad news

I got a call from the Vet today.  Time for a round of good news...bad news...

I couldn't wait..

I broke into the Deep Winter Stout..

I was amazing.  It still has a bit of the pine, but the flavor has mellowed.  I think it tastes like Guinness extra stout.

Let's see what happens when it fully carbonates.

Bread baking can make for a long night

I am still up.

I'm waiting...

Waiting for bread to bake.

Note about pre-ferments

So I should have known this.  But then again, I"m just starting out and got a little excited.

Anya Update!

So Robyn took Anya to the pediatrician this week.

Miss Anya weighed nine pounds, five ounces!  Gaining weight like a champ!

Slight Delay for Bread making

I didn't get a chance to make my pre-ferment today.  I got caught up with Beer bottling and watching Anya Sleep!  She went down around 4:45 and slept until after dinner which was about 6 or so.  By the time I bottled the beer, ate dinner, cleaned up after dinner, wrote my beer post, and checked out the latest Geekiness it was eight.  I'm not staying up another three hours to put my pre ferment in the fridge!  I'll just make it tomorrow night.

Who knows?  Maybe it'll be a busy blogging week!  This is my second post tonight!

HopHopHop

I bottled my lasted beer tonight.  The recipe came from the Brewer's Bible and was called Deep Winter Stout.    The brewing itself was done on New Year's Eve.  I thought this was a great way to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another...way better than consuming too much beer/wine.  Read on for my Recounting the tale of the best two dollars ever spent and my love/hate with Centennial Hops.

The Challenge

Alright,

So going forward, I am challenging myself to blog at least once a week.

I'm not putting any kind of length/topic requirement, but I would expect a blog at least about baby Anya, beer making, bread making, and/or Gadgets.

You've been warned!

What I plan on doing next week!

I've been baking bread like a madman the past few weeks!  I've really got the "basic" wheat loaf down.  Having a scale to weight out ingredients is awesome.

Pre-ferment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Oh great...

I've been on Parental leave for almost 5 weeks.

Just got an email saying that people were waiting for me to come back...and "had been saving things for me to fix."

Really? But...that's why we have a team!

well...at least I won't be bored when I get back :)

frustration

Just found out that our not even two year old puppy might have heartworms. While we are going to get a second test to confirm, I am aleaft kind of freaking out. What really gets me is that we've done everything we were supposed to do: we stared him on heartworm medicine as soon as we got him. Total suck.

Totally True

Hey Girl

I love you Anya Sage.

Who knew editing MSIs could be so much fun!

One of the joys of my job is getting crazy funky software to work.  Recently to get some software to work, I needed to modify the MSI package so when it was pushed out to the domain, it would apply all the required settings.

This has given me the pleasure of using the free MSI editor from Microsoft, aptly named ORCA.  It really does feel like I'm attempting to interface with a killer whale...and the Program Icon reflects that as well!!

Strangely, I kind of enjoy it...it feels like I'm editing a file in Windows 3.11.

Holy Retirement!

I'm a bit of a Vikings Football fan...and I was not that pleased with the prospect of bringing Favre this season.  I was mostly concerned with his age, and after watching the way he played with the Jets last year, I was preparing myself for a pretty bad football season (my other Team is the Bills...Let's not go there..)

But I got to admit, ever since he arrived in Training camp, he has been a class act.  No temper tantrums that I have noticed, and he has been playing like a real assassin!  He does have a good O-Line protecting him though...

Pump Man Found!

Well, the Well pump man was found!  He came in, and about 30 minutes later, water was flowing again!

Looking back on it, I feel bad for our Landlord.  Each time I called her (four times total) for status updates/whatnot, it sounded like she was on the verge of breaking down, or had just completed a breakdown.

...Then again, I was without running water...a basic necessity of life.  If I had reacted as I did (not letting up until I had an answer that was workable) over...I dunno...a dent in the fridge or a loose door frame I would think I was overreacting.

I think Over think things too much and I should get back to talking about gadgets...

Our current apartment...

Is in an old house...and it appears to be falling apart.

The Well pump just went out....this was after the basement flooded because the drain in the basement was plugged....so now we have no water and the landlord is getting a hold of the "pump guy real quick."

I'd like to have faith in my landlords...but considering every project they have done to the place hasn't been finished...I'm worried that i won't have water anytime soon.

unfortunately, I haven't documented my on again off again love affair with our place...so I'll have to leave it at:

I don't have water right now....

I blame...stress?

So I almost bought a DROID today...

I came to my senses before placing the OVER $500 order...

I then thought buying a Storm2 was a stellar idea...

Thankfully I came to my senses again before placing the ALMSOT $500 order...

I think work and Baby Peterson 1.0's imminent arrival are to blame...

But still...I haven't compulsorily bought anything that expensive since...1997!

I think it is time to unplug for the night....Before I buy something really cool and REALLY expensive.

3g VZW femtocell?

This could be interesting...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/samsungs-ubicell-cdma-base-station-going-3g-in-2010/

The one thing that really irks me about my current is that it doesn't have 3g...but since CDMA doesn't use EVDO for voice I wasn't too concerned...until I got my Storm...and I would LOVE To have this since I don't have wi-fi.  Then I can be lazy on the couch and still check a quick site or two!

Converted!

I am known at work as the gadget guy.  I'm the one that everyone turns to when they want to know what's new in the smartphone world.

Recetly one of the guys was looking to replace his palm TX and Verizon Dumb Feature phone.  I talked with him and he narrowed it down to the Storm2 and the Droid...

I pushed him towards the DROID...and now I feel bad.  Although, it really came down to The droid will talk to the exchange service directly, while the Storm will require either hooking up to the BES or using NotifyLink: the two supported options in our workplace.  I think he'll like the physical keyboard...I hope :)

App development….

I think I want to get into app development for smartphones…but I am not sure where to begin.

 

And by begin, I mean which platform?  I have a blackBerry, but I am very curious about android…

I think I’ll start with BlackBerry and go from there..I mean I can test apps on my BB for now.

Played with the DROID

So I got a chance to get down to the local Verizon store to play with the Motorola DROID.  First impressions follow!

Skunks

In the morning I like to go running.  It is good exercise and I’d otherwise just sit around waiting to go to work drinking coffee…at least I can justify it after my run.

With the approaching season of Winter, it makes running very interesting. The air gets colder, it takes longer for it to be lighter, and Animals start acting crazy.

Baby Gadgets?

Many you probably know, but I am expecting my first child in just under a month!  I thought I would put out a question to everyone:  What are some good/useful baby tech gadgets?  I know it is a bit soon to get little bean her first Smartphone (needs to be at least 6 months old I think :) ), but are there any worthwhile baby gadgets?

Anyone have a suggestion to help keep family that is far away updated on baby's status?  I plan to publish updates to this blog an also update my flickr stream, but I just want to make sure that I'm taking myself out of the lack of baby updates equation.

Holiday Brew!

So I like to brew beer.  I'm not quite to the total grain "I make my own Extract" type of brewing but I hope to get to that point when I have the space.  My latest Brew was a holiday themed brew that had potential for disater.  Did it?  Read on to find out if it is all Silver Bells and Dumplings or if I ended up with Coal Beer

Same phone, yet different abilities?

I'm going to rant a bit about phones in the US vs. Their world counter parts.  You have been warned.

What I want in a phone

It's getting down to the holiday shopping season again.  This means that the Cell phone carriers are putting out their holiday deals and newest devices.  While I think the smart phone industry has come a long way in the past three or four years, I always feel like I'm see-sawing between what parts of my phone are great, and what parts aren't

This post will serve a reminder to me about the type of Phones I have had and what I did not like about them, and what I wished as different.  Hopefully I'll remember this and not get blinded by all the shiny things.