daidoji_gisei (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
daidoji_gisei) wrote2008-03-25 02:39 pm
daidoji_gisei) wrote2008-03-25 02:39 pm
Entry tags:
Adventures in Domestic Science
I've spent what seems like a lot of today cleaning. Sadly, I don't have much to show it because today's target was the bathroom, which means that the more public areas of my apartment are still disheveled. But I moved out everything movable, took the shower rug outside and beat it, swept and mopped the floor, sorted through the shelves and pitched or rearranged as necessary, then moved everything remaining back in. Oh, and I also got all the cobwebs down, of which there were many. (Housekeeping is yet another area in which a fail at being a girl. *sigh*) I still need to scrub the sink, but on the whole the place is now shiny and pine-scented.
My kitchen (yesterday's target) is not so clean, mostly because I keep going in and cooking things. Today I managed to limit myself to a batch of bread that I just had to make because I had decided this morning that if I wasn't going to eat the leftover hot cereal (a mix of steel-cut oats, barley and brown rice) I had to find something else to do with it. So I heated it up, added some extra water, threw some yeast and flour-type stuff in and mixed well. Tragically, after all was done and baked I discovered that I had forgotten the salt but it is pretty good tasting for all that.
I have started to experiment with ways of getting lighter-textured homemade whole grain breads, and I have no complaints about today's batch. Using my hand-mixer to do some of the kneading helps a lot, because it stops me from compulsively adding more flour in the early stages when the dough feels very sticky. Doing housework in another room while it rises also helps, because it short-circuits my impatience and gave the bread a good long time to rise. (My baking personality as a hobbyist is completely at odds with my professional one. I cannot account for this.)
Having finally had a late lunch (green beans and roast chicken, reheated under a blanket of Parmesan cheese), I'm now trying to decide that to do next. Part of me is lobbying for more cleaning. Part of me is pointing out that I have a long night of bread-making ahead of me and I should take it easy--maybe even have a nap! I might split the difference and do a sink or two of dishes--that would improve the kitchen and leave me time for a nap. Decisions, decisions.
My kitchen (yesterday's target) is not so clean, mostly because I keep going in and cooking things. Today I managed to limit myself to a batch of bread that I just had to make because I had decided this morning that if I wasn't going to eat the leftover hot cereal (a mix of steel-cut oats, barley and brown rice) I had to find something else to do with it. So I heated it up, added some extra water, threw some yeast and flour-type stuff in and mixed well. Tragically, after all was done and baked I discovered that I had forgotten the salt but it is pretty good tasting for all that.
I have started to experiment with ways of getting lighter-textured homemade whole grain breads, and I have no complaints about today's batch. Using my hand-mixer to do some of the kneading helps a lot, because it stops me from compulsively adding more flour in the early stages when the dough feels very sticky. Doing housework in another room while it rises also helps, because it short-circuits my impatience and gave the bread a good long time to rise. (My baking personality as a hobbyist is completely at odds with my professional one. I cannot account for this.)
Having finally had a late lunch (green beans and roast chicken, reheated under a blanket of Parmesan cheese), I'm now trying to decide that to do next. Part of me is lobbying for more cleaning. Part of me is pointing out that I have a long night of bread-making ahead of me and I should take it easy--maybe even have a nap! I might split the difference and do a sink or two of dishes--that would improve the kitchen and leave me time for a nap. Decisions, decisions.