Lately I have been baking bread. Like every week. I was inspired by reading the book Sourdough, but then I took it to a whole new level. I went to a website called the fresh loaf and read their handbook. I became fascinated by baking ratios and obsessively checking my dough with the windowpane test. I bought a proofing bowl and looked up what to do if you over proof your bread. I am now immersed in the details the small motions and the way you make bread matters. The ingredients are few and simple but the process matters. How you take flour, water, salt and yeast or starter can have dramatically different results. I have always loved bread and I baked rolls for thanksgiving when I was young. In middle school cooking class, I remember feeling like the ability to make homemade pretzels was just magic. I started baking loaves of bread in college, more out of necessity than by choice. Bread was cheap and could easily be topped with butter and honey for an exciting treat. Also my roommate had started baking bread and it gave me the idea. Sometimes my bread didn't cook all the way through but the mistakes made the successes all the sweeter. When I started hosting Thanksgiving, I made a whole wheat garlic and rosemary focaccia version of bread. Although I determined last year, I think it should be a day before Thanksgiving tradition, because I bake it ahead of time and it is better fresh. My current bread obsession has become more technical and precise. I weigh all my ingredients. I try to ensure I follow the proper steps for bread making. I consider how I do things and why I do them that way. I alter and tweak and make changes. I am not done, and I am not sure I ever will be. After mastering my basic sourdough loaf, I have been moving onto different varieties. I have to say this whole process has improved as I have done it more, you know what they say practice makes perfect. I would say there is no such thing as a perfect loaf, but I am enjoying the dramatic improvement over the past years.
I love baking bread. I love the way it takes three whole days. I love the slow methodical kneading. I love how it forces you to be present, to think about this loaf as it's own unit. The only downside to my bread obsession is sometimes it is hard to eat all this bread throughout the week. My husband and I have managed it so far, but I am not sure that will keep. Also a side note, almost every book you read about bread tells you to wait for it to cool for an hour before eating it, which makes sense if you want to keep it around in the long term, but I have to be honest, there is nothing better than fresh bread straight from the oven, still warm with a little bit of butter. It never tastes the same the next day even if you haven't cut into your loaf. The one exception is from my current favorite bread book, Tartine, Chad Robertson acknowledges that this is nothing like freshly baked bread. I met with a friend a while ago and told her about my bread obsession and she called it passion. I think this is true, I love the practice, I love the research, I love the repetition and altering small things along the way. I love baking bread and it is something I am passionate about. I care about each loaf. I take the time to be present with each loaf. I enjoy it all. Recently, I have been adapting my bread to test different varieties, today I will be baking two walnut loaves and I am thrilled to see how it goes. I have tested a different walnut loaf before, and I find it interesting because the tannins in the walnuts turn the bread purple, the purple streak looks odd, but also magical. What are you passionate about? Are there any foods you have deep dived into because you love them so much?
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This is my first official things I love Thursday and I am so excited to share with you what is bringing me joy this week. Tidying Up With Marie KondoI did my own version of her Konmari method a few years pack and watching this has made me just want to clean and organize our home. She was the gateway for me to live a more minimalist lifestyle and I am so glad I could not imagine going back. BakingThis week I have been baking up a storm, meaning testing and resting one recipe for chocolate chiffon pie, which I only today think I have gotten right. I love the challenge, it has been quite a while since I felt that and I am enjoying it now. A HaircutI do not often get my haircut. This is the first time in a little over two years, but this haircut made me feel ready to start fresh this spring. I realize as I get older that most of my haircuts previously were because I was ready for my life to change. I figure I will write a post soon to share the hair through the years. Nike Run ClubI love using an app to plan my running and I appreciate how easy and adaptive this app allows me to be. I also find seeing my progress to be quite motivating. SpringThis year spring has meant quite a lot for me. Probably a bit too much for me to write about here, but maybe in a separate post. I am feeling this spring to be a time for beginning again and starting over.
What are you loving this Thursday? Anything you are especially grateful for? I am not sure if I have shared this before, but over the last year I have become a serious meal planner. I figured I would share with you what I do when I meal plan so it might help. I use a form that you can get if you sign up for emails from this website.
I used to just add meals randomly but I have developed a method that works for me, although it may not work for anyone else. I will share my basic premise as follows. I like to cook new recipes constantly. I have a few tried and true ones I make for company but when it is just me and my husband I cook new things all the time. I like to expand my horizons and I try not to get bored. The only things I tend to avoid are seafood. I use this meal plan to plan out five dinners, which usually make enough for the two of us and leftovers for lunch, three breakfast ideas, and depending on how light the dinners are I add in a lunch idea or a few for backup meals in case we run out of food. I also usually use the snack section to make a dessert for the week, because I have a serious sweet tooth. I I like this form because it allows me to write my grocery list for the week right on the plan and I take it to the store with me to go shopping. Although sometimes my list ends up at the bottom and the back of the page depending on what is currently in our house. One other thing I do is at the top I put a note and star things I will need to do ahead of time, whether it is freeze a banana or cook a chicken breast or whatever needs to be done before I start the recipe to make it easier. These things I typically tackle on Sundays. This means I am reading recipes ahead of time so I know what will need to be done in advance to make my life easier. I start by thinking about what I would like to test for the blog this upcoming week. Then I look at the cook books I am currently cooking my way through, which I wrote about before. I am currently cooking through Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, which I am surprised at how much I am enjoying. I made chips last week and nothing burned! I typically favorite the recipes that are seasonal and start there. My lunch ideas are typically my go to we ran out of food recipes, fried rice, dragon noodles and turos csusza. Other formats for meal planning have included
I have found that by varying my cuisine by day of the week I have found I enjoy cooking more and I am excited about the variety of my meals. Hopefully this inspires you. I have to say meal planning changed my life and has made me able to really budget. One thing I am realizing though that played a larger role in my budgeting than I realized was shopping at Trader Joe's. I appreciated mentally having a smaller selection and not having to make as many decisions, but I also appreciated that because there are less items the cost is lower. I am excited to say that a new Trader Joe's has opened up close to where I live and I am hoping to be able to find budgeting easier by going there again. I am working to plan out future content and I figured who better to ask for thoughts than my current readers. What do you prefer I write about? Any topics you want me to cover? Here is what I have mostly written about in the past -food, books and reading, travel, exercise, and my thoughts on life. If you have any specific ideas please share them below. I just went to Japan and could write about that experience, I could also review local restaurants. I am working on more food and recipe posts but because I do not have an infinite budget and testing takes me quite a bit of time until I get it right, I do not share recipes daily, it just does not currently work for me, but I can work on specific recipes or share what I am cooking or working on? I also can share about other food or book related topics or about my life in general, just let me know below in the comments and I will work on it in coming weeks.
Any questions you want answers to or want me to look into, please leave them in the comments below! I like to believe that since Julie and Julia, the fact that I cook through cookbooks in their entirety (seafood excluded) is a dated fact. But, I find when I tell people this they give me an awkward side eye look and say, "Wow, that's impressive", my guess is that in their head they are thinking Wow that is so weird, but are too polite to say that to my face. I have only done this once before and have been jumping around between cookbooks, but I think it is time for me to return to this tried and true method. The first book I cooked through was Giada at Home, by Giada De Laurentis. My husband chose it for me from the many, many cookbooks I own because I like Italian food and he thought well, why not? I did enjoy cooking through it and found that it had some duds and some gems, which I think is most likely the case with any cookbook, some recipes hit the mark and others, well not so much. Next I started to focus more exclusively on my family recipe's because I wanted to keep all my favorites and to ensure I tried them all first. I then moved onto Shauna Niequist's Bread and Wine, a food memoir, and Chrissy Teigen's first cookbook Cravings. I feel like reading a cookbook cover to cover and cooking through it you get to know the person behind the food and from their cookbooks. Shauna seems like the person I am on the inside and Chrissy just seems like a ton of fun. My new cookbook adventures include Barefoot Contessa's Foolproof, Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, and The Minimalist Kitchen by Melissa Coleman. I have enjoyed most of what I have cooked from Foolproof. Robertson's Tartine Bread is delicious but also labor intensive. I personally love Melissa Coleman's mindset and have only made a few of her breakfast recipes.
The most interesting thing is that by cooking through someone else's cookbook you can see the world of food through their eyes. You learn their go to ingredients, their methods and food become more layered than it has been before. Do you enjoy cooking through cookbooks? Any ideas of cookbooks or food memoirs you would love for me to cook through and test out for you? The picture below shows all of my cookbooks/books with recipes, if you have suggestions let me know. As I have read through cookbooks, I have noticed that each chef has a veritable pantheon of ingredients, and techniques they favor. Typically in the beginning of most cookbooks the author will tell you tools or ingredients they swear by. One thing I do know about the way I cook is that I love spices. I love them so much I use an entire cabinet in my kitchen dedicated solely to spices. I am not in love with this current organization, so if you have any ideas of how I could improve it please share below. My favorite spices at the moment include: Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend, Garlic Salt, Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt (a.k.a. Krazy Salt) and Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Most of these spices are things my mom used in cooking as we were growing up. When I went to college I realized that the funny thing about spices is you cannot always find them everywhere. Specifically I was unable to find Krazy Salt in Portland, OR when I was going to school. I was so upset by this that I told my grandmother who proceeded to buy a few jars and mailed them to me. I was ever so grateful. Also when I recently went to Japan I noticed they had Krazy Salt in their store, I was surprised and excited! On to the topic at hand. I have always loved garlic salt, growing up I ate it on croutons and garlic bread and I bought it at the grocery store frequently. This all changed last Christmas... Underneath my Christmas tree my dad sent me a bottle of homemade Garlic Salt. I waited until my normal jar ran out and then proceeded to use his. It completely changed my world. As my husband likes to say I could replace salt with Garlic Salt and be completely happy. Homemade garlic salt may seem like an extravagance, but it really has made all the difference. Since last Christmas we have gone through two jars alone and I proceeded to try my hand at making it at home. It did not go well, Yes my house smelled like garlic yes I did make usable garlic salt, but it turned green. I researched and realized that it was most likely because of the age of my garlic, a week or so old, and the low temperature garlic salt cooks at, so I tried again and had much more success. I will still be using my green garlic salt, because the flavor is still amazing, but if you care about color use new garlic from the store. To make garlic salt, preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat; mine is this one from Amazon. Then take 2 heads of garlic, about 24 cloves and peel them, if you want to save yourself time you can buy them pre-peeled at the grocery store, but I do not mind peeling while watching TV so I usually just buy regular garlic. Once your garlic is peeled add it and 2 1/2 cups of salt to a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is thoroughly mixed the texture of damp sand, and there are no visible pieces of garlic. Next spread the mixture onto your prepared tray. I use a butter knife to help make it thin. Then place the tray in your preheated oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until it is crisp when tapped with a nail. Then allow the mixture to cool completely and reblend with your blender or food processor until the mixture is the texture of cornmeal. Then store it in an airtight container and use on everything. Also I typically use old spice jars but otherwise I buy them at Bed Bath and Beyond and they are relatively inexpensive. Garlic SaltWhat are you loving? Small or big what is making your life great! I find sharing this to be one of my favorite parts of the week because I appreciate all the little things that make my life great and I start to see the beauty in the daily. Fresh FoodWe went to Japan a week or two ago and although we ate some yummy food, specifically ramen and udon noodles. We came back home and all I wanted to eat was a salad. Upon arriving home we filled the fridge with produce and salads have been just want I want to eat on the daily. BooksI am finding my love for reading again. It had not really gone, but I am just loving listening to audiobooks and reading books I currently own. At the moment I am listening to The Book Thief on audio and loving it. I am also reading How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, which I already owned and am finding is useful in daily interactions with everyone not just kids. FriendsAfter our trip, we returned to LA with a long layover and an old friend of ours picked us up at the airport and hung out with us for many hours. I found it so comforting to hang out with friends who I knew and who I did not feel like I had to impress. I am finding that joy in just being myself and being accepted as such. A Large FridgeIn Japan, grocery shopping happens every few days. I love having enough space and a large enough fridge to shop once per week, to cook and have leftovers to eat for days and to really be able to cook in bulk as I see fit. I am not sure how I would live in a place without the space for food, not that I do not cook often, because I do, but there is joy in simply knowing I do not need to cook. Being UnpluggedOne thing I learned from visiting Japan is that I do not need to have constant access to my phone. I had no cellular service the entire trip and I have found calm in not having to stay connected in that way. Taking the time to be just with myself has shown me that sometimes it is just as fun to sit down with a good book or just be with those around you rather than constantly trying to research (one of my larger obsessions) or trying to stay informed. What are you loving this week? If you have any suggestions for me I would love to hear them below in the comments.
The past month I have read a number of unremarkable books. I have read two though that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The first book was one that had been on my list for quite a while. The book, Cinder, is a modern retelling of Cinderella with a dystopian element. I found the book to be different enough to still keep my interest and I just grew to love the characters. I could not put this book down and I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the sequel. I did listen to this on audio and really appreciated that part of it. Book Rating: 5/5
The second book was also one I listened to on audio. The book, Talking as Fast as I Can, is a memoir by Lauren Graham. I was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls growing up and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book is read by the author, which makes it wonderful. I found that surprisingly Graham seemed like someone I would actually want to know in real life. I appreciated her point of view and her strengths. I also found her writing to be a good mix of funny and real emotions and I loved reading it. Book Rating: 4/5
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed each book. Both had been on my to be read list for a while and I was glad I took the time to read them. What books are you reading lately? Any suggestions?
This is my weekly opportunity to share with you things I am currently loving and enjoying. I love using this as an opportunity to reflect on what I am grateful for in life and to find the best parts. This week we are doing this on a Tuesday because Thursday is PIE DAY! Small StepsOne of my realizations last year was that I tend to have a rhythm of going all out and then falling apart because I overdid it and I find myself needing a break of a day or two before I am back at it. This year one of my goals has been to make small sustainable changes. I have been trying to make changes I think can be permanent that will improve me for the long haul. In January, I started with drinking warm lemon water every morning. I have slowly added to that- increasing my steps by 1,000 each week until one week I will be up to 10,000, drinking enough water, giving up snacking, and paying attention to portion size. My most recent goal is to eat vegetables with every meal. I am finding it to be more challenging than I initially anticipated. I do not reach for vegetables with breakfast, but I am finding if I am intentional about breakfast the rest of the day is easier. I feel like all these small steps help me realize I am in this for the long haul. I am not overwhelmed and needing to rest but am instead building better habits. Fuzzy SocksI have been wearing my especially fuzzy socks because my floors are cold and this simple act of self care has been making a world of difference. If my feet feel warmer I feel warmer in general. Daily WritingI have been taking the time to write daily, simply for myself. I write 1,000 words per weekday. I started this to cultivate the habit in a more serious way than in my journal, which I typically write in late at night and can be either insightful or rambling depending. I focus my 1,000 words in the morning around a topic if I have one although at times they can be rambling. I have found as a verbal processor that surprisingly at times writing fulfills my niche. I am able to explore and ramble and ask myself questions about what I am doing. I question my motives or explore things that are troubling me. I am finding that this dedicated time is useful for finding answers. Even if it takes a few days of dedicated writing, I am able to get to the bottom of why I am doing what I am doing and how to change in areas that need it. My CoatI bought this coat this year and I really struggled making the purchase. I am pretty sure I have never spent that much on a coat before and although I loved it I questioned if it would be worth it. I have since worn this coat practically everyday and I love it. I find it so warm and it was ultimately a worthwhile expense. Alternating Date NightsThis year I was inspired by Jordan Page to switch up how we do date nights. My husband and I have done a weekly date night for a few years now. We typically use it as our one meal out per week and we try new restaurants. I find not having to cook or do the dishes to be a nice time and it is a space for us to remember being just us. This year though we made one change, rather than having us decide jointly we split the responsibility. I am responsible for choosing one week and my husband the next. I love the excitement of not knowing where we will go and I feel like there is less pressure because I am not making all the choices. What are things that you are loving this week or things that are working for you?
This week, as I share these things I am loving, I hope you share below what you are grateful for and love. TravelAs you read this, my husband and I are currently on a trip to Japan! I am so excited and I know that it will be amazing. We love to take trips and we are willing to scrimp in other places to do so. I have found that even though there are ways travel can feel hard, it is always worthwhile. My ultimate bucket list travel destination is Egypt, but not this time, hopefully someday soon. Oh She Glows AppOne of my goals this year has been to be healthier. I know for me personally this means food, my exercise and movement has been a routine, but I tend to overeat and eat foods that do not make me feel good. Part of my goal was to eat healthier and in an effort to do so I purchased this app. I have made at least one recipe per week from the app and or website. I have found the app to be great because she updates recipes there first and adds content that is not on the blog. I have also found that if I start with a healthy breakfast I feel like I make better choices throughout the day and she tends to have great breakfast recipes, like the chia bowl above, YogaI have found the fun in yoga lately. I am enjoying trying new yoga poses and am finding joy even if I cannot do it all perfectly, seeing the beginning steps take hold is so magical and makes all the work I have done feel worthwhile. Cheese Plate FridayI have started this a few weeks or months ago. In an effort to turn appetizers into a meal, with fresh food included. I have created what I call Cheese Plate Friday. This is replacing Pizza Friday, mostly because I now have a pizza recipe I like and therefore I do not need to test it weekly. Instead I now make a cheese board with fresh bread, a cheese or two, fruit, vegetables, nuts, an appetizer and crackers of some sort. I have found this to be a low key dinner option that my husband and I both look forward to. Fridays feel festive again and we both are enjoying testing out new types of cheeses and new appetizers. If you want me to start sharing our weekly cheese plate and how I determine what goes on the plate, let me know because I would be more than happy to share in a post and reflect on our favorite cheeses or recipes we would eat again. Hot TeaI have found the weather to be quite cold as of late and I have enjoyed drinking herbal tea to warm me up. Our current favorite is this one. I am not sure I have actually mentioned it before, but we have quite the tea collection. I enjoy drinking tea daily. We tried all of the Trader Joe's teas our favorite being their Chai. We are currently in the process of testing many of the Celestial Seasonings brand teas. Trader Joe's is too far away so we are using it as an opportunity to explore. If you have any good recommendations I am always up for testing out new tea. What are you loving this Thursday? I would love to hear. Please comment below!
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About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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