I seem to have hit a wall in my energy level. I’m closing in on the end of Sweet Hope and I can’t seem to pull myself up to finish. I took yesterday off to spend time with the boys and we did our annual killing of an innocent Christmas tree. I dreamed of candy last night and this morning I somehow don’t want to face more chocolate.
It could be that I have much less help than last week or that the trusty husband is out of town the whole week. It could also be that it’s friggen cold here, but not cold enough to snow. I hate the super cold rain.
I’m trying to find something to pull myself up with and think that donuts might just do the trick. I am usually not a huge donut fan, but these looked yummy.
Oh, and if you haven’t already discover this little blog you really should check it out. Thing is… the girl who writes it is all of 17 years old. I’ve tried a few of her recipes and hot damn she’s good.
So while the trusty husband is away the boy and I will be making donuts tomorrown morning. Suck it!
Scene: the grocery
Elle: oh, hey. We need to get graham crackers.
Boy: Why do we need graham crackers?
Elle: Because we’re out.
Boy: Oh. I like graham crackers. I like them with butter.
Elle: Butter? Who puts butter on graham crackers?
Boy: Babada.
Elle: Gross.
A few minutes pass
Boy: Mommy, we don’t say gross about food. And we don’t say gross about butter.
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Did you buy chocolate yet? And yes, I will houd you every day until you buy.
Yesterday Suzanne mentioned that today would be “I see what you’re saying day.” (I don’t know why I get pulled into these kinds of things.) And since people hear Vlog and think me I thought I should stand up to my reputation. Truth is the boy and I got bored the other week and decided to do something fun. We filmed a cooking show. (actually 2, but I haven’t edited the other one)
In our “pilot” episode we made bread. This is the bread I make every week for toast and sandwiches. (a foccacia loaf is also shown. I made it that day too, but didn’t film that)
I’m not sure if this is going to become a regular feature around here or not. We had a ton of fun doing this, but it took me 3 hours to edit this little 15 minute video.
The recipe comes from “The Bread Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum, and is the Cracked Wheat Loaf. I have stopped putting the actual bulgar wheat into the loaf because I’m a fan of smooth bread. So that step is omitted. I will also note that it took all day to film this. We started at 10:30 a.m. and I put the bread in the oven at 8:00 p.m. That is why you’ll see my wardrobe change. And please no comments on the pants. I don’t know why I keep them let alone wear them.
It all started a year ago when I was enjoying my breakfast. Behind me on the TV there was a commercial playing. I guy on the screen walking around a grocery buck naked talking about the benefits of sugar. Really? We are to the point where we are freely advertising something that is making us fat? Sugar. Cavity causing, heart disease increasing, obesity making, diabetes inducing sugar.
A few weeks prior to seeing that we (the trusty husband and I) talked about challenging ourselves to removing all sugar from our diets for 1 month. It didn’t work because I can’t get the trusty husband to eat Adams Peanut butter or any other peanut butter without sugar. We let it go.
Last month my newest issue of Wondertime Magazine arrived in my box. I love Wondertime day. Their content has started to slide a little in the past few months, but I always get something interesting from each issue. In this particular case I happened to get this post out of it. For hidden in the pages was this:
Click on it to make it bigger and you’ll see why I’m all in a twitter.
I’ve been researching stuff for this post for a few days now and had planned on writing it yesterday. I just ran out of time. Then, ironically enough, Jen posted something about the same subject today. If you’ll notice… that ad above, the one I pulled out of my Wondertime Magazine, is for corn syrup. Not just any ol’ corn syrup I might add. HIGH FRUCTOSE Corn Syrup.
It claims that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is nutritionally the same as sugar and honey. While that may be true in a round about manner it is so far from the same thing it isn’t even funny. Yes, sugar, honey and HFCS all have 4 calories per gram. But that is where the similarities lie.
The website cited in the ad* claim that all 3 (we aren’t counting “artificial” sweeteners) are natural. I beg to differ. If you cut down a stalk of sugar cane and chew on it it is sweet. If you had the balls to stick your hand into a bee hive and pull out a chunk of raw honey… also sweet. If you pulled an ear of corn off of a stalk that is bound to become HFCS or some other corn by-product, you would spit it out. I know. I’ve eaten it.
True, corn is a natural product. But the stuff they make into corn by-products is so far removed from it’s natural state by the time it gets into that food like substance you can’t call it natural. It takes many steps to convert corn into HFCS. It is broken down, treated with enzymes and other chemicals. Not to mention that the corn itself is genetically modified and two of the enzymes used to create HFCS are also genetically modified. So tell me how that is natural.
If you want to learn more just read this interesting article about how HFCS is made.
The sweetener of choice in our house is honey. I’ll put that out there. Why? Because it is the least processed of the 3. This isn’t to say that I don’t have a bottle of pure unadulterated HFCS sitting in my cupboard (what do you think those Sweet Hope Truffles are made from). I also have a tub of refined white sugar, a package of sugar in the raw and a box of Sweet n’ Lo. But given the opportunity to sweeten my tea or bread I will pick honey. Not that I drink sweetened tea. I also don’t salt most food, but that’s a different topic all together.
I’m just asking you to think about where your food comes from and how it got into the form it is currently in.
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*I won’t link the website advertised.
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time (or anytime for that matter) you will know that I rarely, if ever, do reviews. Not because I’m snooty like that, but because if I think a place is good or bad I’ll come right out and say it. Or rather I’ll work it into a long involved story that in a round about way ends up being a review but without the boring star rating system. Kinda like this post will likely turn out. And as with all of my stories you need a little background.
I bake bread. I’m not supposed to eat the bread, but there is something therapeutic in baking bread. So I bake it and sneak bites when no one is looking. However, I get lazy. Honestly, who doesn’t. Isn’t it so much easier just to run down to the store and pick up a loaf? Especially when I am snooty about what kind of bread can enter our home. Preferably a local bakery (there are none) or at least handish made. Unfortunately the one we found that fits our criteria is over $4 at the super market and the same loaf is over $6 at the vegetable store I shop at. Six bucks for a loaf of bread? Good lord.
Sadly, Tacoma lacks in the artisan bread department. As in (until recently) there were none. At one point I wanted to build a wood fired oven in my backyard and make artisan bread to sell at the farmers market just so this town could have decent bread.
*End of back story*
This afternoon the trusty family decided to take a trip to the Tuesday Farmer’s Market. (we had to bribe the boy with a cookie to get him out of the house. I think he secretly knew his pants were on backwards and didn’t want to go anywhere nor fix them… we knew… we didn’t fix them) As we wandered through our little Tuesday market we (I) spied a bread vendor called the Upper Crust. Now there are a few bread vendors at the Thursday market, but they sell loaf bread. Wholly different than true artisan bread. I’ve thrown my gluten free life right out the window because of the SAD (it’s a side effect, carb craving).
I told the trusty husband I wanted a loaf of bread and the choice came down to Sourdough Baguette or French Baguette. I picked Sourdough. I shelled out my $5 (I know, but hand crafted bread is worth the price). We planned to eat our bread with artisan cheese from Estrella Cheeses.
I’ve seen the Upper Crust Bistro before. They are next door to Dwell on 21st. When we were shopping there earlier this year I noticed the bistro and though we should stop in at some point. We didn’t and the thought passed my mind, like many.
Now here’s where the review part comes in. My $5 loaf of Sourdough Baguette… not so much with the goodness. In fact, the pieces that we both took bites of were promptly fed to the worms and the remainder will be turned into bread crumbs as soon as it goes stale. Why? As a bread maker I know good bread when I taste it and I also know what ingredients have been left out. And my friends… salt is a major ingredient in the creation of bread. This bread lacked any salt. at. all. I am so disappointed.
I was hoping Tacoma had finally risen out of it’s chain bakery doldrums to produce a quality bakery. I guess I will have to continue my quest for delicious bread or fire up my own oven. Maybe I can start in on wishing for that wood fired oven again. Who knows. I just know that The Upper Crust wasn’t the place.
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I tried to find an email address or website for the bistro, but they don’t have one (or I couldn’t find one). I was going to email to complain, but this will have to suffice.
