Baking

My maternal grandfather was a baker. I never saw him as that, he was always just this old guy, with thick glasses watching baseball games on the TV and cheating at over-sized crossword puzzles. My mom would tell me of times, when she was about my age, how she'd go to the bakery with her dad and he'd show her how to make rolls. She needed both of her hands to create one roll and it often was a big blob, whereas her dad would roll dough in each hand and turn out two perfect rolls in seconds. My mom would get so upset, not understanding how his were perfect and her roll was not. He explained that he spent everyday making these, that over time and with lots of practice she too could to the same. Thing was, to the best of my knowledge, she had no interest in that and so never pursued it.

My mother hates cooking, at least that's the impression I've always had. When Christmas time grew near and it was time to bake cookies and decorate the tree my dad would take my brother and me to a museum or other such place for the day so mom could have the house to herself. I never learned to cook or bake from my parents. It was something I discovered on my own.

My first attempt in the kitchen was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. This was a complete failure. I added the cheese powder to the water when I first started boiling it, then the noodles. I noted it was time to drain the water, and there went all my "cheese sauce" down the drain. The noodles were naked and pathetic. I was undaunted by this and grabbed a bunch of Kraft cheese slices and unwrapped them from their clear little envelopes. They didn't melt as I had hoped so I had a rather globby mess of noodle goo. My brother Zak, about 9 or 10 at the time, was astute enough to point out, "That's not how mom does it."

My second attempt at "cooking" was when I was about 13. I tried making chocolate chip cookies. Mom was NOT home that Saturday, I don't recall where she was, just that I had to finish my chocolate chip cookie experiment before she returned. I gathered all the necessary ingredients and began my first baking endeavor. I unwrapped the butter stick and melted it in the microwave, then I added the eggs. They stared frying in the butter. I thought, "oh boy, this isn't good." Somehow I knew that wasn't quite right. I tried removing the fried egg from the melted butter, but it was useless. I think I just continued on as if nothing had ever happened. Needless to say the cookies didn't turn out. If my mom ever wondered what happened to the butter or eggs she never said anything to me. Either I covered my tracks well enough or she took pity on me.

My mom, who hates to cook, can make Macaroni and Cheese and cookies, but me, a twelve year old kid, couldn't even manage that. I learned that you have to read the directions all the way to the end. There aren't any shortcuts when learning to cook or bake.

I left the kitchen wizardry to my mom for the next eight to ten or so years. It wasn't until I was living on my own that I attempted to cook or bake. Single, living alone in a $350/month rent studio apartment, where I was completely responsible for the groceries, I once again gave cooking a chance. Recalling my two previous kitchen experiences I decided baking just wasn't in the cards for me. I tried my hand at pasta. I figured enough time had passed that now I should be able to boil water, cook some noodles, and enjoy them without having to toss it in the trash. Fortunately it worked out. I discovered that pasta is very forgiving. You can test it along the way. Try a piece as it's tumbling about in the roiling water. Crunchy? Let it boil some more and try another piece in a minute. Not crunchy? Great! Soggy, uh oh! But, with time and experience, like grandpa said, you will get better. He was right, I did.

However, it was several more years before I attempted baking. Still single I figured baking would be a cheap source of entrainment. Basic staples like butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and vanilla aren't too expensive to experiment with. I had an old cook book with a banana nut bread recipe. Not sure what inspired me to try it, but I did and was successful. Again, reading the directions all the way to the end is key. I baked banana nut bread so regularly, out of habit more than anything, that I developed a great intuition for how the batter should be. I began trying different things and found that as long as the batter has the consistency of being just a bit sticky, not runny, not stiff, somewhere in the middle, it will almost always turn out - assuming the oven temperature is even and accurate.

Now, over twenty years after my first disastrous chocolate chip cookie experiment I still enjoy baking. My chocolate chip cookies and various breads usually turn out perfectly. I like to think I inherited something from my now deceased grandfather. I only wish I had this interest in baking while he was still alive. I'd love to ask him about his baking experiences, what kinds of mishaps he had in the kitchen, what his favorite item to bake was. For me, it's a variety of different mini-muffins. It used to be banana nut bread, but then I tried an apricot, white chocolate chip, macadamia nut muffin that's really fantastic. Then, I made some lemon blueberry muffins and I think, "No, these are my favorite!" But, it doesn't really matter what I bake, it's actually the process and the smell from the oven that I enjoy, and of course sharing baked goods with friends and family.

Rain

It rarely rains here, so when the weather folks report a 30% chance of rain I ignore it. 30% are you kidding me? Why bother reporting such a thing? However, this time they got it right, it's actually raining. Not a MO, TN, or WI rain which I'm used to, no this is a soft, light rain that seems to linger. A pretty rain. A rain I enjoy, but one which terrifies the dogs! Oh how they wanted to go outside this morning, only to realize to their horror that the ground was wet?! They slinked around as close to the house as they could, attempting to stay dry. Finally they gave in to their bladders demand to be relieved and mustered up the courage to set a few paws on the slick grass. I'm amazed they survived it. Now Sassy's cuddled up next to me on the love seat and Karma's sprawled out at my feet, while Jordan attempts to lay on me, which makes typing difficult. Ginger's watching all of this with complete indifference. Oh to be one of my pets! If only for a day. Rain or not, I think it would be just splendid to experience a day in the life of one of my goofy dogs or cats.

Museum of Tolerance

Last week I went to the Museum of Tolerance as part of the Diversity Committee at work. I'm still struggling to find words to express what I experienced. The hands-on exhibits were great at getting one involved with the issues we're facing today and from our collective past: child slavery, the history of the world good, bad, and indifferent, and the Holocaust, among many other exhibits.

We only had time to really explore the Holocaust exhibit so that lingers more freshly in mind. I thought I knew about the Holocaust, I read about it in text books... but to experience it through the eyes and words of the survivors, to see actual displays of items that belonged to survivors, this truly brings it to life. At one point each of us was handed a small plastic card with a child's face and name on it. This card worked similar to an ATM card, when slid into the computer it brought up more detailed facts about the person. At the end of the tour I slid my card into a different computer and this time I received a print out of the personal information on the child. I asked the tour guide how they came to know this information about the little boy who's card I had. He was murdered with millions of others, how could they know anything about him? The guide explained that surviving family members in the states had provided the photo and other records.
It is sickening to think that this adorable seven year old, Bronislaw Honig, was murdered simply because he was Jewish. It's something I'll never be able to comprehend. 3,000,000 Polish Jews were murdered. 1,100,000 Russian Jews. I don't recall the exact numbers of the other groups that were exterminated, but the rough total is 6,000,000. SIX MILLION people murdered.

During one of the exhibits a screen played various images while a woman described what she witnessed. She was visiting a relative who had just given birth to a baby girl. Then many trucks arrived. Men from the trucks evacuated the patients from the hospital and drove them away. Visitors were turned out onto the street. A final truck remained with an open bed. A window from above was opened and a small object was tossed into the truck bed. This woman and others on the street weren't quite sure what they were watching until another, then another and another baby were tossed from the window. The people on the street, upon this realization began to scream and cry. They were completely helpless and unable to do anything but breakdown.

How any human being could treat another in this manner, toss it out like trash, is abominable. And yet such atrocities are happening today. Countries trying to do an ethnic cleanse, cocoa farmers enslaving children, terrorist attacks, the trafficking of people... the list of atrocities seems endless. I don't know what the answers are. I don't know how to stop it. I'm still in a state of disbelief, shock.

Trader Joe's to the rescue!

We had plans to go to LACMA (Los Angles County Museum of Art) with a friend who is an Assistant Curator there, but the fires made passage unreasonable. We weren't willing to take the detour routes, we'll go another time. Instead we invited our friend (the curator - she was already in the area) over for dinner. This of course meant we had to figure out what to make on short notice as we originally planned on dining in LA.

Trader Joe's to the rescue. We went there for inspiration and left with a meal waiting to happen. The hubby made gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, arugula salad, and butternut squash apple soup. It was all divine. For dessert we wanted to do chocolate fondue with TJ's marshmallows, biscotti, and apple wedges for dipping. However, we ended up with a chocolate fondon't. It just didn't turn out right, but that's ok because we had the foresight to also purchase TJ's Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels which are amazing! We ended up having a fantastic dinner and leftovers for lunch today. Yum. Thanks TJ's!

Voting by mail

What a fantastic idea! But, even better is that I actually voted via mail - weeks ago! No standing in line, no wondering why this guy is letting a bunch of strangers vote in his garage, no worrying that I'll be late to work. Wish I had known I could vote by mail years ago, what a time saver. Now, hopefully it doesn't get lost in the mail.

Desert Rain, Weekend Thoughts

It rained most of yesterday, which was nice. The grass is all glistening and clean, which of course the dogs do not approve of.

Today the sun is back, which I'm all for! I don't mind a day or two of cloudy skies, but days, weeks, months of bleak, dark skies just puts me in a bummer mood.

Yesterday, to celebrate the rainy day, we had pajama day. It was fabulous. And, with Day Light Savings Time ending the extra hour of sleep was much appreciated. We even showered and managed to leave the house before 8:00 am?! On a Sunday?!

Hopefully the Packers beat the flaming thumbtack dudes, that would make this a perfect weekend.