My amazing husband bought me two more advanced bread making books for Christmas. 
He gifted me Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish and The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I’m not sure his motives were completely pure, as he really like the benefits of having lots of fresh baked bread in the house. Either way, I am thoroughly enjoying reading through the wisdom of Ken Forkish 
and Peter Reinhart, trying out some new bread recipes, and learning new tips, tricks, and techniques along the way.
I couldn’t wait to start baking, so the first loaf I tried my hand at (seriously tried my hand at, the breads by Forkish are all mixed purely by hand) was The Saturday White Bread.
This bread recipe introduced me to using volumetric measurements, all done using a scale I received for Amazon review. Although this bread turned out great, and made my very pregnant neighbor go “coo coo for cocoa puffs”, I found that I needed to invest in some more tools of the trade to really get the best bread. This has been especially true since I’ve started doing bread doughs made with pre-ferments.
The next bread I started the same day as The Saturday White bread was Reinhart’s Pain de Campagne using a pate fermentee overnight refrigerated pre-ferment method .
For these loaves, I documented EVERYTHING, and have to say that I learned a lot, but did not enjoy the process of having to take so many measurements. I think I disliked the data collection as it reminded me too much of my actually profession in the medical laboratory and was less about being a creative outlet. These loves were my British mother in laws favorite, but I struggled with shaping the loaves. In Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, all loaves are shaped into a round boule to be baked in a 4 quart dutch oven, so shaping the loaves for Forkish’s recipes is much simpler. But practice makes perfect, so I will keep baking and shaping until I get it right…maybe with a little help from one of my best friends who happens to be a pastry chef!
The third loaf I mixed up was once again from Reinhart, a Portuguese Sweet Bread. It was okay, but not like the crusty and full of flavor rustic breads I had been making and craving. 
This was more of a brioche like bun dough, and would taste great made into cinnamon rolls, or similar buns because of the sweet citrus flavors of the dough. I did get to use my Kitchenaid mixer for this dough though, and that reminded me of when my husband bought it for me 7 years ago for Christmas and how far my bread making skills have improved.
The last 2 loaves I tried my hand at were Harvest Bread with Poolish and White Bread with Poolish. For the latter loaves, I had some of my new tools in, and was able to raise these in cane banneton proofing baskets. Although the loaves I previously proofed in a large metal bowl lined with a flour dusted tea towel didn’t taste differently, it was less of a flour mess, the loaves had a more uniform shape, and the proofing baskets gave the loaves a more professional appearance with the flour rings. Baking these loaves in the 4 quart dutch oven give them such a nice crispy crust that I was never able to achieve just using my large rectangular pizza stone.
I’m pretty sure my family and friends have been enjoying my Christmas gifts as much as I have. I’ve baked 10 loaves of bread in the past week, so there have been a lot of bread deliveries. 
My mother in law sewed me up some cute fabric bags to deliver the bread so that the hot out of the oven loaves can still let off steam but still be protected for travel.
Currently, I am working on a levain starter…think less “sour” sourdough. It uses naturally occurring yeast to raise the bread and the final loaves can be baked without adding any commercial yeast. 
Husband’s co-workers have pretty much demanded some fresh baked bread, so I plan to mix up Forkish’s Field Blend #2 to deliver them hot out of the oven along with some good quality butter to schmear (Southwestrn Pennsylvanina for smear or spread) over the cracks and crevices of these naturally risen loaves.
The levain will be ready to bake with in 2 more days…but I doubt I can go that long without baking up another batch of bread because I mussgo bake! I find working with my hands very therapeutic and stress relieving, which I definitely noticed this week when I was baking as the notary was here for us to try for a second time to sign our home loan refinancing documents. With all that hassle behind me, I will continue to keep calm and bake bread!
-Mussog Momma
One of these products is 
Once I saw these reusable clear glass bottles, I knew they would be perfect for taking strawberry lemonade along to the picnics. The clear glass allows everyone to see all the muddled strawberries and bits of fresh lemon floating in the lemonade so they know it is the real deal. The plastic and rubber stopper fits on nicely, but the metal fasteners were a little loose and would come unattached from the bottle and fly across the room like a champagne cork even when just popping open an empty glass bottle. The metal that holds on the stopper on was easily bend a little to make it have a tighter fit onto the bottle
. Overall, I love that these bottles are reusable and are decorative as well as functional! I received this product at a reduced cost. All opinions are my own and I in no way guarantee a positive review.
H
ere you can see what I got in the delivery box, plus I had bought some romaine lettuce and avocados at Costco and had a spaghetti squash and some other bits of veggies left over that must go. I wasn’t sure what the long green crooked neck squash was called, but I received an e-mail from from the CSA saying that it was Tromboncino, or little trumpet. All the seeds are in the bulbous end and the flesh is yellow and much denser than zucchini. I also found it to be a little sweeter than zucchini. Its awesome to experience new foods and continue to encourage adventurous eating habits for the whole family. Anyway, here is what I planned for this weeks menu based on the produce that is in season and should be cheaper for you at the local grocery store too.
felt like a whirlwind to me, but the one constant was my CSA delivery and a hungry family to feed.
Things were going pretty well with 2 of us working at it, and we were taking the obstacles as they came…like running out of mustard seed and substituting whole grain mustard to make another batch of pickle brine. Cooking by taste instead of just following a recipe definitely comes in handy and is a philosophy shared by Chef L and I.
Luckily, Baby’s eye was not permanently damaged, but she had managed to get a corneal abrasion while playing. The next day she was back to her normal self, except for putting up a fight when it was time for antibiotic eye drops.
I had never even heard of pickled grapes until Chef L said about making them, but they were the perfect mix of sweet, salty, and spicy with a vinegary kick to make an awesome chicken salad sandwich ( my lunch today actually). Although, I would have to say that the leftover (i.e. Mussgo) pickled onion bits on top of a grilled hot dog are by far my favorite thing we made, but that’s this Mussgo Momma’s style!
Seeing family and old friends was AWESOME, as was taking the kids to my childhood romping grounds! Hopefully, it won’t be another 4 years until we get back to visit again.
I can’t get behind the cleaning, but I am excited to be cooking with what is in my pantry and freezers, as well the fresh produce we get delivered weekly from our 
greens topped with roasted beets, goat cheese, and 
I’m going to be given to cook with. Our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm share has started, so we are getting a delivery of fresh organic produce and eggs every Wednesday afternoon. We first heard about the CSA through Fancy’s Kindergarten teacher, who runs 
But alas, they will try anything with bacon! The salad was an amazing light and fresh accompaniment with the crisp fresh lettuce topped with some dried cranberries and a mango ginger Stilton cheese. I served this up with some lemon and olive oil halibut gifted to us from friends being transferred to Ketchikan, Alaska.
The rock fish was turned into a delicious 
turned out to be so healthy and is giving great rise and flavor to my homemade baked goods. I don’t like to throw anything out, so I’ve been baking with the discard portion of the sourdough starter as well as with the fed starter. This week I’ve used they fruity fermented starter to bake homemade roasted garlic sourdough bread, kaiser rolls, and had a failed attempt to make pita bread…I tuned the oven to give the dough a jump start in a warm oven, but I forgot to turn it off, so I ended up with dried out bread dough that had sat in an oven turned on to warm for nearly an hour. 
I only realized it was in the rising bowl in the oven when I was starting to smell the wonderful aromas of baked bread. Although it smelled delicious, it was very dense and definitely not anything I would be able to make pitas with. Those homemade pitas will be made another day as I have no shortage of sourdough starter or schedule I need to follow for the summer.
chilly start to the summer as per usual in the Pacific Northwest. We say our summer doesn’t start until the 4th of July instead of Memorial Day…and for the past 4 years I’ve lived here it has held true. I’m taking full advantage of the cooler temps, overcast days, or just plain nasty weather…see all that marble sized hail? It came down for quite a while on Tuesday, which was Field day at the kids’ school of course! At least we had a nice day for the last day of school and our Welcome to Summer block party! I’m glad we have such a great neighborhood of Coastie families who get together and do fun things for the kids and each other!
Temps this high make for a nice beach day, especially with the cool onshore winds. We decided to load up the bikes and try out the Discovery Trail in Washington and bike along the beach before stopping to play in the sand. Parking at Beard’s Hollow was easy to find, even for being a free state park day, and much easier to come by than actually driving up to Long Beach. We ended up riding about 7 1/2 miles on Saturday round trip on a nice paved trail along the beach. The ocean breezes kept us cool while peddling, and a little chillier than Fancy and Baby liked while on the beach. 
We had a fun filled day and escaped the heat. I packed us up a picnic made out of mussgo from the fridge to eat on the beach. The chicken pesto sandwiches were made with fresh basil from the living basil plant that I bought in the 
outside for my kiddos. While my kids and their friends were in the fenced back yard playing in the hammock, Brickman fell out and came in crying that he hit his head. Heads bleed A LOT! After husband and I looked at it, it was decided that a trip to the ER was needed, and it was…Brickman ended up with 2 staples in the back of his head. We were quick to make the decision to take him into the the ER and had the car out of the driveway before our the kids’ friends the Wisconsins’ went to get their dad who is in the medical field. He was on his way over to check it out as the var pulled away. It was nice to have that resource nearby, as I have used him more than once to tell my kids they were fine and not sick enough to stay home from school. But alas, their time with us is up and they must go to the next duty station in Wisconsin.
What hit me hardest wasn’t that we were losing friends, but of how hard it was on my kids to be losing their best friends. Both Brickman’s and Fancy’s best friends are in the Wisconsins’ family, so there were some tearful goodbyes all around. At least we got to spend some quality time with them in the week before their move and help them out at the same time. I cooked dinner for them most nights and then some of the kids came over for sleepovers after all their HHG ( household goods) we being packed for their new duty station. After a week of 13 people crammed around our table and all the chaos that goes with it, these past few days our house has seemed so empty. (The picture is of Fancy with one Wisconsin and another one of her best friends that also just left for San Diego. )
Her upper lip and nose were cut open and bleeding profusely…off to the ER for the second time in 5 days for stitches for one of my kids. Baby ended up being a stellar patient and was even laughing as her “kitty whiskers”, as I called the stitches, we being put in. The medicine they gave her helped for sure, but they said she was so laid back and such a good patient that a newer doctor practiced on her before the seasoned doctor finished up to make sure she has minimal scarring.
BBQ dinner outside turned those frowns upside down…for a while. Brickman must be accident prone, as he bit into his lip pretty deep…yep insides of lips bleed a lot too!!! I know that lips heal fast and we don’t need to worry about scaring on the insides of the mouth, so we didn’t run off to the ER. We are keeping a watchful eye on his lip for now and he hasn’t complained too much and has been eating and drinking normally.