22 December 2015
19 December 2015
Shoes
OK, so pick out the shoes that belong to Mona. (Versus the ones that belong to Iain and Ria.) My little puppies have big paws.
yoinks, they grow!
So, this is how it goes....
Oooh, I've taken soooo many pictures for a blog post, I wanna do a blog post tonight. (William starts up the playstashun and quests up a storm, the cats hold us down maliciously not allowing us to go pee.) And, I start looking through the photos. Oh, look at that, Iain's little mustache was barely there! (Though he points out that its not technically a mustache, its dark thick normal hair, the pediatrician cleared this up..... the real facial hair, thick and wirey, doesn't come for a few more years.) Oh, look! Iain has caught up on height a lot in the last few months! Oh, look! Doesn't she look awesome in that dress! Oh, look.....it's 10:45 already, but I was planning to do a blog post!
You really don't know how MANY nights go like this....not really tons, but one every month or 2. You never see the posts, they don't acutally happen. But look! this one does!
Oooh, I've taken soooo many pictures for a blog post, I wanna do a blog post tonight. (William starts up the playstashun and quests up a storm, the cats hold us down maliciously not allowing us to go pee.) And, I start looking through the photos. Oh, look at that, Iain's little mustache was barely there! (Though he points out that its not technically a mustache, its dark thick normal hair, the pediatrician cleared this up..... the real facial hair, thick and wirey, doesn't come for a few more years.) Oh, look! Iain has caught up on height a lot in the last few months! Oh, look! Doesn't she look awesome in that dress! Oh, look.....it's 10:45 already, but I was planning to do a blog post!
You really don't know how MANY nights go like this....not really tons, but one every month or 2. You never see the posts, they don't acutally happen. But look! this one does!
Iain looking VERY teen, but he's only 12! He doesn't always look quite so....mature!
Monkey Elsa, Ria's pinata. VERY disturbing
Happy Halloween! Iain didn't dress up, he helped me with the candy. Ria was Elsa.
At Ria's walkathon, another mom took this awesome picture of us! You can tell that she's going to be SOOO much taller/bigger than me just from looking at our teeth!
Happy Thanksgiving family picture (Iain doesn't look so old in this one!) PLEASE NOTICE, I'M STILL TALLER!!!! BWA HA HA!!!! I'M TALLER! (In 5 years it will be three 6 footers and one 5 footer, but I'm enjoying three 5 footers and one 6 footer ;-))
Ria dressed for her Elegant Party at school
Gosh, its hard to get pictures of Mr. Nearly A Teen... Here he is plonking around with Fur Elise.
Here is Iain's carrot alphabet.
Oreo has a favorite stuffed animal. This pink mouse (originally from Mormor to Ria) travels around the house. We find it in a different place every morning. This evening she came to W's lap, dropped the mouse in his lap, then jumped up and snuggled.
And Oreo also found that she can climb the tree.
Freya checking out the new wall climbing facilities
And the Japanese maple has a final burst of beauty before giving up her leaves.
22 November 2015
My mind is blown - Gluten Free bread
Yo!
No pictures, sorry -- I owe you.
I'm just being blown away with my most recent gluten free baking experiments. As you all know (because the only people reading this are family and friends ;-)), I've been a bit psycho about GF baking since January this year, with the whole rice/arsenic thing. A ridiculous amount of my brain space has been taken over by variations on sandwich bread loaf recipes.
I'm avoiding rice flour (we'll eat rice that looks like rice, but not hidden as flour), and I hate the smell of xanthan gum (bionic nose), and everyone other than Ria in this family are sensitive to the funky smell of sorghum flour that shows up when it is even mildly old. That kills all the easily purchasable GF bread loaves and mixes. So, homemade GF sandwich loaf bread.
I've obviously (um, obvious to GF bakers only) gone the psyllium husk route. Psyllium husk can act as a gluten replacement, as can xanthan gum, as can guar gum (also a funky smell and aftertaste), as can chia seed and flax seed (though they aren't as impressive as psyllium husk, not good enough for a bread loaf).
We have this GF baguette we love, Against the Grain, which is based on tapioca starch + eggs + cheese, like Brazillian cheese bread. Its a variation of choux pastry. No need for a gluten replacement.
Psyllium husk is awesome for developing a bread structure, but the problem (for me) is that it doesn't bloody well TOAST. Psyllium husk absorbs huge amounts of water, which is what gives you the really good bread texture, together with its gelatinization. However, this makes it nearly impossible to make the darn stuff toast properly. I like things to crunch and toast. Seriously failed in the toast zone. Xanthan gum toasts, but has that funky flavor/smell.
So.... I found out that the woman behind the Against the Grain baguettes, Nancy Cain, had a GF cookbook. http://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-Extraordinary-Gluten-Free-All-Natural/dp/0385345550
So, Ms. Cain works with the gelatinization properties of starch, specifically tapioca starch, and loves this light buckwheat flour that I love http://www.ployes.com/online-catalog/product/3-acadian-light-buckwheat-flour-3-0-lb-per-bag.html (I found her cookbook from a mailer from the light buckwheat flour folks). I've done a number of her recipes from the book (cookies and pancakes) that are awesome, but I wasn't really impressed with her bread loaves based on pre-gelatinization of the tapioca starch....though it is an awesomely fun science experiment to play with varying the temperature of water/oil mixed with tapioca starch and see how dramatically differently the texture is (cold water + tapioca = slurry, boiling water + tapioca = bouncy rubber ball).
So, on a whim, I tried her bread recipe that used the pectin from applesauce (apple butter, actually, but I tinker with everything), but doesn't fully pre-gelatinize the starch with a boiling water/oil component. The "gluten replacement" structure is from eggs and the pectin of the apple butter, which I replaced with applesauce + canning pectin. The batter was basically liquid, but it made bread. I didn't pre-gelatinize the starches with hot water, but it (*&*&%&% made BREAD. Weird structure issues, but bread. 2nd time I followed the recipe more, and used WARM water & WARM applesauce. Heat is a big big factor in this pre-gelatinization of starches, and the loaf was AMAZING. Stretchy, moist, rose, AND IT TOASTS.
My mind is blown away. No gluten replacement really necessary, beyond adding the structure of eggs (which is a huge amount of structure --- think choux pasty and genoise sponge) plus working with the temperature features of the starches.
This is an awesome loaf of bread. Stretchy, tasty, it toasts, and it relies on just eggs and gelatinization of starches. No weird stuff, just temperature.
Crazy weirdness. Make this loaf with room temperature water, it makes a loaf of bread, although very strange in its structure. Make this loaf with warm temperature water, and it makes a loaf of bread with honest to goodness proper bread structure.
Chemistry experiments are FUN!!! Plus, Ria LOVES this bread....
whee!
No pictures, sorry -- I owe you.
I'm just being blown away with my most recent gluten free baking experiments. As you all know (because the only people reading this are family and friends ;-)), I've been a bit psycho about GF baking since January this year, with the whole rice/arsenic thing. A ridiculous amount of my brain space has been taken over by variations on sandwich bread loaf recipes.
I'm avoiding rice flour (we'll eat rice that looks like rice, but not hidden as flour), and I hate the smell of xanthan gum (bionic nose), and everyone other than Ria in this family are sensitive to the funky smell of sorghum flour that shows up when it is even mildly old. That kills all the easily purchasable GF bread loaves and mixes. So, homemade GF sandwich loaf bread.
I've obviously (um, obvious to GF bakers only) gone the psyllium husk route. Psyllium husk can act as a gluten replacement, as can xanthan gum, as can guar gum (also a funky smell and aftertaste), as can chia seed and flax seed (though they aren't as impressive as psyllium husk, not good enough for a bread loaf).
We have this GF baguette we love, Against the Grain, which is based on tapioca starch + eggs + cheese, like Brazillian cheese bread. Its a variation of choux pastry. No need for a gluten replacement.
Psyllium husk is awesome for developing a bread structure, but the problem (for me) is that it doesn't bloody well TOAST. Psyllium husk absorbs huge amounts of water, which is what gives you the really good bread texture, together with its gelatinization. However, this makes it nearly impossible to make the darn stuff toast properly. I like things to crunch and toast. Seriously failed in the toast zone. Xanthan gum toasts, but has that funky flavor/smell.
So.... I found out that the woman behind the Against the Grain baguettes, Nancy Cain, had a GF cookbook. http://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-Extraordinary-Gluten-Free-All-Natural/dp/0385345550
So, Ms. Cain works with the gelatinization properties of starch, specifically tapioca starch, and loves this light buckwheat flour that I love http://www.ployes.com/online-catalog/product/3-acadian-light-buckwheat-flour-3-0-lb-per-bag.html (I found her cookbook from a mailer from the light buckwheat flour folks). I've done a number of her recipes from the book (cookies and pancakes) that are awesome, but I wasn't really impressed with her bread loaves based on pre-gelatinization of the tapioca starch....though it is an awesomely fun science experiment to play with varying the temperature of water/oil mixed with tapioca starch and see how dramatically differently the texture is (cold water + tapioca = slurry, boiling water + tapioca = bouncy rubber ball).
So, on a whim, I tried her bread recipe that used the pectin from applesauce (apple butter, actually, but I tinker with everything), but doesn't fully pre-gelatinize the starch with a boiling water/oil component. The "gluten replacement" structure is from eggs and the pectin of the apple butter, which I replaced with applesauce + canning pectin. The batter was basically liquid, but it made bread. I didn't pre-gelatinize the starches with hot water, but it (*&*&%&% made BREAD. Weird structure issues, but bread. 2nd time I followed the recipe more, and used WARM water & WARM applesauce. Heat is a big big factor in this pre-gelatinization of starches, and the loaf was AMAZING. Stretchy, moist, rose, AND IT TOASTS.
My mind is blown away. No gluten replacement really necessary, beyond adding the structure of eggs (which is a huge amount of structure --- think choux pasty and genoise sponge) plus working with the temperature features of the starches.
This is an awesome loaf of bread. Stretchy, tasty, it toasts, and it relies on just eggs and gelatinization of starches. No weird stuff, just temperature.
Crazy weirdness. Make this loaf with room temperature water, it makes a loaf of bread, although very strange in its structure. Make this loaf with warm temperature water, and it makes a loaf of bread with honest to goodness proper bread structure.
Chemistry experiments are FUN!!! Plus, Ria LOVES this bread....
whee!
12 October 2015
09 October 2015
Dress like a hero day
It is walkathon time at the elementary schools in our district, and the theme this year is "superheros," a topic close to Ria's heart. The 3 Thursdays leading up to the walkathon are "spirit days." Today was "dress like a hero day", and the next 2 weeks will be "pajama day" and "backwards day."
Ria decided that books were her heros, so she was dressed as Super Book, with double bonus cool super powers shirt that she got for her birthday.
The books are some she really likes (although the specific Goosebumps book I printed out the cover of at midnight last night is obviously one she hasn't read yet, which was a problem for her), plus some cute quotes. The non-book ones are:
- a flowchart: "do you really need a new book?" -> no -> you are mistaken -> buy a new book
- "my idea of an outdoor activity is to take my book outside to read", and
- "I'm not addicted to reading - I can quit as soon as I finish this chapter."
heh. ;-)
28 September 2015
And, finally, THIS year's school pictures ;-)
Fall 2015 school pictures:
Iain in 7th, becoming a young man:
and Ria showing her silly side for 3rd grade-- those braces are coming off in 2 weeks!
Iain in 7th, becoming a young man:
and Ria showing her silly side for 3rd grade-- those braces are coming off in 2 weeks!
1st day of school - 2015 (THIS year!)
A bit more prompt, 1st day of school pictures for THIS year (don't they look just freakin' AWESOME! My kids are great!):
Iain starting 7th grade
Ria starting 3rd grade:
Iain starting 7th grade
Ria starting 3rd grade:
A year late -- last year's school pictures
I'm pitiful....
and Ria in 2nd grade:
Here's LAST year's school photos!
Iain in 6th grade:
and Ria in 2nd grade:
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