Bike and Wine days 1 and 2, Oregon July 2019

Bike and Wine days 1 and 2, Oregon July 2019

Bike tour!  I have always wanted to go on a 'real' bike tour.  One where you pay people to do the planning for you.  Finally some good friends invited us on a tour they were taking.  Biking through Oregon wine country.  Woo hoo!  

See how someone else has done the planning and the driving and is providing all the food?  Love it!  

We get to stay at this gorgeous B&B and they pick us up and drop us off everyday.

Lovely views of the wine valley.

Local interest

Our small but intrepid group.

Pit stop at the local park.

Can't pass up play time.

One of the neighbors was on a walk and stopped to show us his old time harmonica.

At the chocolate-making monastery.  I didn't even realize that there were still monasteries around.

Quiet space at the monastery.

Owner of the art gallery showing off his working goggles.

Even on gravel roads the riding was lovely.  I didn't grab a picture of the blackberries because I was too busy stuffing my mouth.  Wow, our timing could not have been better, just stop and pick out the best berries.

Some of the wine you buy so that you can drink it with dinner.

At the Maysara winery they have gorgeous art.

Even their barn is aesthetically pleasing.

The B&B hold a live music/dance night and the locals show up in droves.  I did not expect so many people, nice to see though.

Good times.

Crafting catch-up, April 2020

Crafting catch-up, April 2020

What am I doing at home in addition to baking?  Crafting of course!  I found photos of many cross stitch projects from the past decade.  There were not enough for a post of their own but now that I've ramped up my crafting I hope to have a shorter time between craft posts.

One of my favorites, I did this as a wedding present.

From multiple decades ago for a special aunt.

Shaun the sheep!  

I bought Subversive Cross Stitching book and made a bunch of little pieces with a friend.  I've always used a pattern so going out on my own even a little was new to me.  Worked just fine!

No backstitching is super nice.  When you are done stitching you are done!

Loved making this!  Bought it during our 2013 (!!) Yellowstone trip and gifted it to Green-Eyed Girl who inspired and organized the trip.  I just looked back at all those photos.  Wow!  Seriously, Yellowstone is the most awesome national park.

From a couple years back.  The only reason I finished it so fast is that it was almost done when I got it ;)   Inherited a stash and this only needed a couple hours of work.  Super cute!

Other craft!  Recovering a bench.  Original fabric was ho-hum flowers so I replaced it with a bold jungle-green with chameleon print.  Super fun!  After 20 years in the sun it needed a redo.

Ordered this sugar skull print from Spoonflower.  Love it!!  I used the extra fabric to make face masks ;)

Shaun the sheep again!  They came in a two-pack and this was a ton of fun.  This is the final product.

But I enjoyed showing my progress to my craft group.  I left the french knot eyes until the last, made for some zombie sheep.

:)

Another recovery project, actual work done by E-

The original blue ripped, so we picked out fun fabric!

Finally current!  Got this kit from a white elephant 2019.  I plan to finish it and put it into next years white elephant!

Basic cross stitching.

Back stitching adds definition.

All the back stitching and french knots.

washed and pressed

I am proud of my backs, looks almost as neat as the front.

The final product, mounted on the tin the project came in.  Woo hoo!!

Baking while staying in, March 2020

Baking while staying in, March 2020

Like a ton of others right now I'm obsessed with baking warm comforting carbohydrates :)

I have a sourdough starter in the fridge and have been using it off and on for at least a year now.  Bread and crackers are my specialty.  But even those I haven't been very good at.  Luckily, just out of the oven bread is good even when it is not exactly correct.  The crackers have been getting better and I may have the hang of them now.  Turned out the oven is not the temperature it thinks it is.  Getting an oven thermometer has helped.  Measure everything by weight!  Practice practice practice.

Anyway!

Now that we have lots of time I've decided to try my hand at other bread products.  I may have gone overboard in the beginning.  I was keeping the starter going and making something every other day.  I have since settled down to once or twice a week.

Pretzels made with some discarded starter was a no-brainer.  What to do with the leftover starter is a sticking point of mine, I hate just throwing it away.  

Easy dough.

Not too hard to shape them approximately.

They didn't brown, but the taste was good.  Made these a second time and may soon do the third.

Trying different bread recipes.

This one proofed in the bottom of a tupperware so I could measure the rise.

Worked out well enough.

Oh man.  This has become the favorite.  I combine it with the 2019 King Arthur cheesy pizza recipe.  It proofs in the fridge for 12-72 hours and is super easy.  I do think the Pizza Dough Flavor is important to the taste.

We prefer a thiner crust, so spreading it out into two pans has been ideal for us.

So good!  We finished off in no time and I quickly made more dough.

To balance out the cheese and sauce it takes 3 batches of dough, 2 pizzas each batch.  As of this writing we just finished round three....18 pizzas!  So yeah, love this recipe.  

And finally, cinnamon rolls.  O.M.G.  These are sooooo good.  I'm very pleased with my square, even dough.

mmmmm cinnamon sugar

Roll it up, cut slices, arrange and proof in the fridge overnight.

Next morning!

Sloppy icing job and we dug into them so fast I forgot to take a picture until it was almost too late.   I want to make these again on a day when I know this is all I will eat-LOL!  (or a cinnamon babka, so many good options!)

Final pictures are cakes from 2019, all with the neighbor TT.

Plain yellow cake with caramel frosting and apple slices.  So good we made it a second time.

The winner of Battlebots gets a giant nut.  For the opening show we wanted a cake.   It took a bit of math, but we turned a round cake into a hexagon.

Gray is a hard color to make :)