A day in the life of dohhead

It's a big deal......

Today is not a day that I will be talking about bakery items......Or a day when I drone on about  a new ingredient I've discovered.  Nor will it be a day to peruse some new bakery porn....My brother in law, David Locke is having some important surgery performed. It is a SERIOUS operation, that will require a very skilled surgeons hand,  that hand-picked this case.   In all sincerity, I would ask you to drop a short line to the man upstairs, just a "God please help" , will suffice.....the format matters not, it's what's beind the thought....I thank you on behalf of my sis, Andrea, and her family......Have a great day,  eat well  and  celebrate life....

Some blog stats, am I surprised!!

I was doing a little tweaking to my blog yesterday, and decided to give it a thorough scouring/going over.  I have a website widget  provider, that also performs up to date, ongoing analysis.  One of my options was the reader demographic which is, and I feel should be CRITICAL to ones blog.  My presumptions/assumptions about my readers were DEAD wrong!  With the type of blog that I currently maintain, my belief was that it appealed to 50 something,  female professionals or homemakers, with the occasional good 'ol boy, (thrown in fer the fishin' posts!).   Here  are the ACTUAL demographics.....I am still smiling in disbelief(guffaw).

• 59% of my readers are male
• 77% are between 18-34 years of age
• 99.6% are caucasian
• 96% have no children
• 73% earn between $60,000-$100,000
• 76% are college graduates.

 

Now, I don't know where you're from, but I can only deduce one thing from these stats:  I, dohhead, appeal in HUGE part to.....YOUNG, UPWARDLY MOBILE, WHITE BREAD, CHILDLESS, SOON -TO-BE VERY WEALTHY UNIVERSITY EDUCATED GAY PROFESSIONALS!

I am both flattered, and perplexed......It was my understanding that WOMEN are the primary  perusers/purchasers of eats.  Ideas for recipes, and ogling of food porn,  surely would be pounced on by females right?  Apparently not.....Perhaps I need an overhaul, or should I just take some pics of my biceps, and abs??   Your ideas are welcome, and much appreciated to appeal to a broader spectrum. Thanks, I am dohhead, and I'm out. 

So what if it's whole wheat?

I'm on a bit of a WW kick lately......It's always a challenge, because generally stuff with WW gets the back seat of the bus.  It's either too small, or too dense, or "I just don't like the taste".....Hmphhh!  Bugger, I say.  It rocks...You just have to treat it a little differently....Don't over knead, use a little more  water in your dough, and above all a little  TLC. That being the order of the day, I fashioned some croissant dough, and promised my auntie some "European inspired bakery items" for her ladies luncheon on Monday next.  I love the rustic look that WW has  after baking, it looks like  "Old food" , in a good way......I will let the pics take you to a little Konditerei, in an unnamed plaza, somewhere in the old world where life was so much simpler.....Don't be shy, don't ignore the whole wheat flour!

 Before.............

 

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 After.............

  

 

 

You're serving what for your dinner guests?

Mom likes to have folks over for dinner. With dad the way he has become, adult conversation, from caring neighbors, is almost a necessity. Friday's are the day when most neighbors are available to break bread, or share a meal and some stimulating banter. On Wednesday, rather than ask her son if he would mind making dinner for her guests, she arbitrarily declared: " Now I've bought meatballs from Costco, and some Newman's spaghetti sauce....We'll just make some macaroni and meatballs, what should we have for dessert, ice cream?"  I didn't know how to respond to her declaration/query/rant....Rather than rehash the conversation, which began with "For goodness sakes Ma.....", I'll fill you in on how I tweaked dinner into something pretty tasty.   "PASTA AL FORNO" is supreme Italian comfort food...Nothing else matters.
First, the Newman's own "sockarooni" sauce, was combined   with some plain tomato sauce, and to it was added: White wine, garlic, pepper, paprika and some pork stock. Next the precooked Costco meat balls, found themselves doused and immersed in the mix. The sauce/meatball mixture simmered for about 2 hours. The pasta (whole wheat), was par-cooked, and combined with the simmered sauce mixture, some grated 4 cheese blend, and a little sour cream. This was then poured into a pyrex baking dish, gratineed with some more of the 4 cheese blend, and baked covered @ 350F , for 30 minutes, another 10 minutes uncovered, to caramelize  the cheese topping.  I had used up some capers, garlic and white wine added to some butter and made a "beurre composee".
 Very tasty with the WW/OAT dinner buns I baked at lunchtime.  For the finale, a "Splenda-ized" peach cobbler, using them "Abe Epp" Ontarier peaches that are so juicy, they wet yer forearms when you bite in!!
 I also made a little creme fraiche to cut the sweetness of the cobbler,  as a nice alternative to ice cream...The warm chicken/mushroom/apple and whole lot more salad that our neighbors brought was a meal in itself, and a myriad of tastes, textures, and temperatures....Delish with just a balsamic/olive oil vinaigrette...
So, (burp), this is how it went down in the village by the Arboretum, on this friday nite in September, ayup...I took some photos of Mum's roses.....I particularly like this life and death pair, that sat side by side watching the sun set......

 

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Mom's hurried whole wheat....

My mom is frenzied. She cannot operate at a moderate pace....From the time she arises at 0730, till her eyelids flutter during the late night news.....She is in high gear.  Today, was no exception...She had to go to the hospital, to tend to my dad, and realized in a panic, that her only son wouldn't have bread unless, c'mon girl.....She made some before heading out to begin her quest to cram as much into a day as possible.  In her haste, as she hurriedly dumped ingredients into the bread machine, yes, you read correctly.....She forgot to attach the dough arm to its base, located in the center of the cylindrical aluminum baking mold/mixing compartment that make up the business part of a bread baking machine.  She apologized, (huh?) and headed for the hospital begging me to "tend to the bread this time."  I dumped her ingredients into the bowl of MY kitchenaid stand mixer, added a little more flour, water and salt, and made these puppies.  They received a 2 hour fermentation, were placed in the cooler for 3 hours, and then baked at 375F, for 70 minutes. NO muss, no fuss. Hurried whole wheat, made because mom is always in one!

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Beagle camp....

Anybody that knows me, knows I love dogs.....Any dogs, short legged and stout, long legged and athletic, strong jawed, tight lipped, furry,woolly,hairy it's all good!  One of the best things ever to happen to my beagle, is "Montreal dogs".  Anyone that has ever owned a beagle, will nod knowingly when speaking of their animal..... Especially to other beagle owners. They are high-maintenance, emotionally needy, s--t disturbing little bundles of energy.   On the trainability scale, they rank poorly, on a problem solving level they rewrite the definition of creativity!   As aforementioned, Montreal dogs has been a Godsend to this little bugger. It must feel like summer camp as were pulling into the parking lot.....He'll begin howling before we've even darkened the doorway......All I have to say, when pulling out of OUR driveway is:  "Djoo wanna go to the doggie park?"   " AWOOOOOOWOOWOOOWOOAAAAHHHHH, is the response. When I go to pick him up, a couple of days later, he's been freshly bathed, and his ears willl smell of vanilla cupcakes. He is usually quite content to catch up on his sleep for a couple of days afterwards....Can you say doggie workout?  I will now end this shameless plug, and post this incredible video of "Sofia", a particularly innovative beagle. Enjoy.

http://www.montrealdogs.com/

 

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