The Purpose Of Blogging

plasticann: So, how was your day?
Adam: Oh, it was good, blah blah blah. I made myself some lunch today. You wouldn't want to know what was in it.
plasticann: [grimacing] Was it reeaaallly old food?
Adam: No, I chopped up the leftover chicken and rice from Blue Fin, fried it up with pieces of the bacon waffle from last night and pieces of the last scallion cheddar biscuit.
plasticann: [long pause, slightly unsure] You know I love you regardless of what you eat.
Adam: Yeah I know. Brian walked into the kitchen while I was making my lunch and gave me a weird look.
plasticann: Did he ask you what you were cooking?
Adam: No. I'm glad he didn't though because I was kind of embarrassed.
plasticann: Maybe you shouldn't eat it if you're embarrassed about it.
Adam: It looked weird, but it tasted good.
plasticann: You know that this is blogworthy.
Adam: Don't blog about this. You should blog about how I made bacon waffles last night and how they were good.
plasticann: Perhaps, you've missed the purpose of blogging.
Adam: To make fun of me?
plasticann: Exactly!

Adam made bacon sausage waffles for dinner last night. Waffles with bits of sausage and bacon inside. The hybrid dish was pretty good I must admit, but I must draw the line at super hybrid dishes where hybrid dishes cooked with other foods.

Kabob Factory

The weather on Thanksgiving was awful, it poured all day and we got soaked on the way to dinner. Fortunately, Friday was beautiful and sunny so we had to get out. We walked over to Inman Square hoping to check out All Star Sandwich, but the line was too long and chaotic so we walked back to Kabob Factory for their lunch buffet and it was delicious. Not your average Central Square Indian buffet, Kabob Factory had little cups of chai, little bowls of spinich soup on top of all of your usual buffet favorites. The naan came fresh in a little basket. "Yum-O" as Rachel Ray likes to say annoying.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adam and I decided to pass on making Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, we went to Excelsior for their turkey dinner with some friends and decided to save our energy for the holiday brunch we hosted today [more on that later]. We feasted on the following and splurged on the paired wines. One of my favorites was the delicious warm chocolate cake:

Maine Lobster and Sweet Potato Bisque Cranberry Beans, Ham Hock and Basil Pistou Alma Rosa ~ Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County 2004

Oak Leaf Lettuce Salad Fuji Apple, Vermont Goat Cheese and Pole Beans, Vanilla-‘Hard Cider’ Dressing L’Aventure ~ Roussanne, Paso Robles 2005 Roast Organic

Amish Raised Turkey Wood Roasted Chestnut, Turkey Sausage and Semolina Bread Stuffing Foraged Mushroom-Giblet Gravy Anise Honey Lacquered Autumn Vegetables Brown Buttered Brussel Sprouts Buttermilk Mashed Bliss Potatoes Cape Cod Cranberry Relish Fess Parker ~ Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara 2005

Warm Valhrona Chocolate Cake Pumpkin Ice Cream, Spiced Caramel and Candied Pecans Grant Burge ~ 10 year Tawny, Barossa

Adam Bakee

Last week, Adam discovered that his coworkers' kids are fixated on his name. Andrew and Val, who had just given birth to son number three, were driving their three boys to the Arboretum when they called Adam so he could experience the extent of their fixation. The following is a reconstructed conversation by way of Adam. Note that the kids are all under the age of five and "Son 1" happens to be my favorite introverted child:

Val: Hi Adam, we're on our way to the arboretum with the boys and we thought you might like to hear this. Maybe you'd like to talk to them.
Boys: [in the background] Adam Bakee Adam Bakee!
Adam: Hi, where are you guys going?
Son 1: We're going to the arboretum. I'm in the car with mommy and daddy, little brother and baby brother who just came out of mommy's belly.
Son 2: [in the background] Adam Bakee Adam Bakee Adam Bakee!

Val and Andrew have tried to explain to the boys that Bakee is not actually Adam's last name, but Bakee is apparently much catchier and easier to chant.

Grendel's

I met up with Wheezy for lunch today at Grendel's. She's adjusting to her new job at the Kennedy School. I ordered the french dip sandwich from their 3.95 lunch special menu and it was quite tasty. Crusty baguette, roast beef and a bowl of au jus. I even splurged for some ginger ale. Wheezy got the falafel wrap which looked tasty, but was not a 3.95 lunch special.

Kashi Is The Man

School has become an occasional source of in class embarassments especially when professors poll the class. This morning's discussion on the cereal industry was "classic:"

Prof.: How many of you occasionally eat Kashi cereal?
plasticann: [raises her hand along with a number of others]
Prof: Ann, why do you eat Kashi?
plasticann: Um, my husband likes Kashi and sometimes I run out of Lucky Charms so I have to eat the Kashi.
Prof: Okay...now is there anyone who voluntarily eats Kashi?

True, Kashi Go Lean is not my favorite and for good reason as I learned today, it has an obcene amount of protein and fiber and no sugar. Unfortunately, I've now been pegged as someone who only eats Lucky Charms, which isn't entirely accurate. I really enjoy a bowl of Lucky Charms every so often, but I do eat other slightly more redeeming cereals. Somehow, I had a mental block when called upon. I wanted to say, "Raisin Bran Crunch," but I ended up saying "Lucky Charms." Raisin Bran Crunch is no Kashi Go Lean, but at least it's not associated with screaming temper tantrum throwing six year olds. On another note, I also learned that Kashi got bought by Kellogg so for all of you who buy Kashi partially to stick it to the "man," Kashi is the man. No one can escape the [cereal] man!

It's Good To Have Friends

Last night, I had an interview downtown and my friends Steve and Kathleen were also interviewing at the same time. In some ways, it's an amusing situation interviewing for the same job with your good friends, but in other ways, it's really nice. I was the last candidate to leave last night and when I got down to the lobby, Steve and Kathleen were both waiting for me. It was really awesome to see two friendly faces. Go BIT solidarity...it's good to have friends who root for you even when you're all sort of competing in a way.

Ruby + Dash Baby Clothes

Adam forwarded me this new online baby clothes store from his coworker Angel who received it from her husband Chris who in turn received an e-mail from his brother and sister and law, who are the folks in charge of Ruby + Dash. A long story short, check out their site, they've got cute onesies and shirts and such. Too bad they don't make bigger people clothes, I could go for a red polka dotted rhino tee...I do like polka dots.

Success

I was determined to bake bread before I left for NYC this weekend for a school trip and to visit MGDub. The recipe called for at least 12 hours of dough proofing, preferably 20 hours. I went with 14 and the results are pretty good. The bread it self is tasty, a bit bland, but the crust is very crisp and delicious. According to Laurel, proofing it longer will improve the taste so next time I'm planning on the full 20 hours. True to the recipe's word, no kneading.

[Slowly Baked] Homemade Bread

I've always aspired to bake bread, but I'm utterly intimidated by the entire proposition so I got really excited when I saw this article on easy foolproof bread baking in the nytimes today. It takes a really long time so it's high on patience, but low on actual work. MGDub and GJDubya have a Ukrainian phrase they like to use for these types of projects which essentially means something like, "why bother." Unfortunately, the entire bread baking process takes nearly 21 hours and I can't figure out how I'll manage to schedule this bread baking without having to rush home in the middle of the day to work on my dough. Without rearranging my current schedule and disrupting my beauty sleep, I can only practically start the process of baking bread on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. All other days, I'll be stuck at school at a critical point in time when I need to be home. Given that each loaf is 1.5 pounds, I shouldn't have to bake bread more than twice a week in order to feed the two of us.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street BakeryTime: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Not The Neatest Bears

Adam and I may be pretty smart bears and very hungry bears, but we are not the neatest bears. We're motivated to straighten up when

a. things have gotten utterly out of control and we no longer have clean spoons
b. we have guests coming over
c. all of the above

The state of Bakun-land's clean spoon supply has been especially bad ever since we moved to an apartment with no dishwasher. However, our bank statements are very organized and our bills are paid on time thanks to Adam Bear.

Why would someone go to Newark or JFK?

The following is a reconstructed in class discussion about airlines and aiports in the NYC area:

Prof: So, on the weekends, the price from Boston to Newark is more expensive than Boston to La Guardia. Why is that? Why would someone prefer to fly to Newark or JFK instead of La Guardia on the weekend?
[baffled silence]
Prof: Come on guys, what do you think?
Student: Because Newark and JFK are gateways for a lot of international flights so maybe people have to fly there to make a connection.
Prof: That's true, but gateways aside, why would someone want to fly to Newark or JFK?
[silence]
Another Student: I'm not sure, but maybe for the "Jersey Shore?"
Prof: [Exasperated] Yes! People live in New Jersey and they vacation in New Jersey so they want to fly there. There's this place called Queens, ever heard of it, a lot of people live there. You people think that Manhattan is it, then there's San Francisco and maybe there's Chicago somewhere in the middle. People not only live near Newark, there's this whole state called New Jersey.