Hamburger buns

As a person who prides himself on my baking ability I always feel shameful when I am forced to purchased baked goods.  I feel that with a little additional planning the situation could have been avoided.

It isn't a coincidence that I have similar feelings about cellphones.  It seems to me that 95% of phone calls could be avoided if people made better plans in advance.  I realize the counter argument is, "How would you make the plans in the first place without the ability to talk on the phone?" to which my counter counter argument would be "That is what e-mail and Facebook are for and they don't cost me a dime." I realize by being one of the last holdouts without a cellphone I am becoming an inconvenience to everyone else.  I apologize in advance.  <end rant>

One of the biggest sources of angst when purchasing bread products comes from hamburger buns.  When I purchase them I rarely ever need a package of eight since it is just LJ and myself.  Every couple of months when I clean out the freezer I find a partially used bag of buns buried in the back.

Buns seem like they would be difficult to make because of their unique shape which was one of the main reasons I had avoided making them for so long.  Also the recipes online vary greatly in ingredients and approaches so I was unsure on which direction to go in.  After a lot of searching I finally settled on this recipe, partially because of the glowing reviews online and partially because the author sounded like they had put in some extensive research in trial and error to make the perfect bun.  I also felt confident since the recipe was based off a NY Times recipe where a lot of effort goes in to finding the best recipes.

I made half a batch and found the recipe easy to use.  I skipped the sesame seeds since we didn't have any on hand but that was the only change to the recipe that I made.  In the final shaping process, after creating the four balls, I pressed them down to make them a more flatten shaped which wasn't explicitly stated in the recipe but made sense for what the final product should look like.

These buns made for the greatest hamburger I've ever made.  To be fair though it wasn't just the buns.  I was using grass fed ground beef from Colvin Ranch which provided absolutely astonishing flavor.  The first time we made burgers using these buns and the beef from Colvin Ranch I included bacon and grilled leeks.  When I made burgers the following week again using the same buns and meat the burger only had cheese, mustard and ketchup and it was even better.  This may be the first time in the history of my palate that I would say something was better without bacon.  That is how good this bun and meat combo are.  You have been warned.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Sometimes all you want is comfort food and in the middle of a wet winter in western Washington there isn't much more comforting than a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup.

I use homemade bread for the sandwich and roast a few cloves of garlic to spread on each slice.  If I can get my hands on some extra sharp Tillamook cheddar cheese that is best but will settle for medium cheddar since there is always a baby loaf in the fridge.  I usually add a clove of fresh garlic to the soup along with a spoonful of sour cream for some added richness but would be satisfied with the Campbell's soup straight from the can. Very simple but there isn't much better.

Potato pizza

I'm not sure why I occasionally get the urge to mess with things I already know I like.  I guess it is human nature to think that things can always be improved upon (i.e. the grass is always greener on the other side) even when they don't really need improvement.  This line of thinking is probably what lead to people putting potatoes on pizza.

Since I'm always looking for an excuse to create something to write a blog post about break out the mandoline, I decided to try topping a recent Pizza Saturday creation with some yellow finn potatoes.  I didn't go all the way and make a white sauce which may have impacted the final success of the pizza.  It didn't seem like the potatoes made the pizza better or worse in any way but just added a layer of starchiness to the top.  If I were to try it again I'd definitely go with the white sauce and cook the pizza longer to ensure that the potato becomes crispy.

Challah French Toast

For me, there really is only one acceptable use for challah which is to make french toast.  Since the bread is made with egg it holds up better when battered and fried so the only real difference from making french toast with normal sandwich bread is that the slices should soak in the batter a little longer than normal.

Since this french toast is a little fancier than normal it is common to also top it with fancy condiments.  Though I have never tried it, I have heard lemon curd is spectacular spread across a slice.  We settled for some runny homemade raspberry jam and a drizzle of pecan syrup.

One loaf of bread makes enough french toast for 4 people

Power Outage

Regular readers of the blog (i.e. my immediate family members) may have noticed that we missed a post on the most recent Saturday and Monday.  Please accept our deepest apologizes but we were dealing with an unusually  severe winter weather situation last week that caused us to miss those dates.  Even though LJ had the entire week off from going to work, we weren't able to create any new posts because we lost our internet connection mid-day on Thursday and our power shortly after that.  We were without power for 48 hours and without an internet connection for 96 (which interrupted our attempt to power through Friday Night Lights on Netflix streaming).  Considering that nearly all our forms of entertainment come from the interwebs, that outage was nearly as painful as not having electricity.

Ten inches of snow really doesn't seem like much, but in this area it is practically a once in a generation storm.  The snow combined with freezing rain and high winds caused numerous trees to topple which led to power outages across the region.  We were quite lucky to be without power for such a short time considering that many people lost power for nearly a week.

We also considered ourselves extremely lucky to have a wood burning fireplace in our apartment.  This fall I mentioned to my dad that we were enjoying our fireplace on cold evenings and he suggested that we keep a stash of wood on hand in case we lost power over the winter (almost like he had the ability to see in to the future but I'm going to chalk it up to him having more life experience).  Since we had already run through our small stack of wood we contacted our landlord who was able to deliver a truckload to our backyard.  As soon as we lost power we were able to get our fire started and we kept it stoked nearly the entire 48 hours.  We also set up our couch closer to the fireplace and spread blankets and sleeping bags on the ground to create a bed that was as close to the heat source as possible without singeing our toes.

After the first night, we woke up a little chilly and broke out the camp stove to make a pot of coffee on the patio (I realize it is a cliche but you seriously do not want to interact with LJ if she hasn't had coffee).  We spent most of the day on the couch reading (I finished Soccernomics and started The Audacity of Hope; LJ blew through One Hundred Years of Solitude and Pygmalion) and made Ramon noodles on the camp stove for dinner.

By Saturday we'd had enough of being cooped up so we ventured out to find an open Starbucks for coffee and breakfast pastries.  We assumed we might have to travel 20 or 30 miles to the south to find business that had power but we ended up only needing to travel 2 or 3 blocks.  We realized we were right on the edge of the power outage so we had high hopes for power returning soon.  We wandered around the neighborhood and took a few photos of some of the damage which you can see below.

After patiently waiting for the lights to come back on we gave up and ventured out to one of our favorite pizza places to enjoy Pizza Saturday.  By the time we returned that evening the power was back on.

A few other quick thoughts:

• Having a stash of beef jerky was extremely welcomed, as were the dried apples.
• The overwhelming majority of people I heard or read talk about the power outage commented that the thing they most looked forward to was a warm shower.  It led me to believe that heated indoor plumbing is probably what separates First World countries from the rest in the minds of most people.
• The public library is a truly wonderful place.  I spent a number of hours there to catch up with things online before our internet service was restored.  I had a friend in college that commented once that he would always support levies and taxes for schools and libraries.  I think the more time you spend in either the more likely you are to agree with his sentiments.

The campstove set up outside

Across the driveway from our apartment

In front of city hall

The library

Slow cooker black beans

The process I followed for making this batch of black beans was pretty much the same as when I made refried beans, minus the smashing of the beans at the end.  We used the beans in tacos the first night and had the leftovers in quesadillas over following days.

I used half an onion, two cloves of garlic, four pickled peppers, and a teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder.  I also added cayenne, garlic and onion powder to taste.  This all went in the slow cooker with a cup of dried black beans (without any pre-soaking) and three cups of water (I meant to use chicken stock but already had all the liquid in the crock pot by the time I remembered).  I cooked the beans on high for about three hours and then put them on low so they wouldn't turn to mush before dinner.

The beans make for an excellent alternative to ground beef if you are looking to try out a meatless Monday.

Baked potato chips

There isn't much to what I did to make these delicious chips, though one special tool was involved.  We purchased a mandoline slicer a number of years ago but rarely use it because it is often easier to use a chefs knife.  However, it is the perfect tool for turning potatoes in to homemade french fries or chips.

I was looking for a little snack so I sliced up a few yellow finn potatoes, tossed them with olive oil and seasoning salt.  I spread them on a baking sheet and roasted them until they were crisp.  Easy as that.

Collards Slaw

I had never been exposed to collards before I started volunteering on the farm this summer.  Of course I had heard of the mythical collard greens being a dish served in the South, but that is about all I knew.  There actually have been a number of times this fall that I have confused Swiss chard, collards, mustards, and kale.  To be fair they are all hardy cool season greens that most people Americans never eat.

Most of the hardy greens, including spinach, are cooked to make them more mild and tender.  I have had previous bad experiences with cooked greens (why you'd ever put spinach on a pizza is beyond me) and much prefer to find ways to use them raw.  We usually mix them in with lettuces to create a more delicious salad mix but I was feeling a little more adventurous this time.  After tasting the collards they reminded me a little of cabbage so I decided to try a coleslaw.

I mixed white vinegar, sugar, mustard, and mayo to form the dressing.  I shredded some carrot along with the collards and mixed everything together.  It came together as an excellent side dish.

Bagels

Finally, the long awaited post chronicling my bagel making!  Not that there has been a clamoring for a post (not even my dad has requested one) but I have alluded to making bagels in previous posts so I figured it was time.

Whenever I mention to people that I make my own bagels the typical response is something like, "Don't you have to boil those?" said with a tone of impossibility.  In the future my response will be something like, "Yes, but don't you have to boil an egg to make deviled eggs?" though I guess I don't really know how many people make those any more either.

Once you've made a loaf of bread or some pizza dough there is really nothing stopping you from making your own bagels.  The difference between homemade bagels and store bought bagels is nearly indescribable but I will try with this anecdote.  When LJ and I were visiting family over the holidays we were offered bagels for breakfast one morning.  LJ's simple response was, "Sorry, I can't eat store bought bagels after having Seth's."  High praise considering that one of her favorite breakfasts use to be a toasted onion bagel with cream cheese.

My go to bagel recipe comes from the Melinda Lee website (or maybe it is Me Linda Lee).  I have found the recipe to call for a little too much yeast for my tastes (the first batch I made tasted like fresh yeast, not bread) and usually requires a little more flour or a little less water but other than that the instructions are perfect.

A couple of tips and tricks I've picked up from making these a number of times:

• When pulling the bagels out of the boiling pot it is helpful to get them dry before putting them on the prepared baking sheets.  I flip them over a couple of times on a dish towel and let them cool before moving them to the baking sheets.
• Speaking of prepared baking sheets, greasing them is essential.  I tried a number of times to skip this step (to be honest I just never saw it in the instructions until I re-read them) and just coated the sheets in cornmeal.  Before I could flip the bagels half way through the cooking process they had already stuck to the pan.
• The egg wash and sprinkling with salt are musts in my book, but I do love salt.

I have attempted making some flavored bagels (sun dried tomato, jalapeno and cheese) but honestly have found the salt/egg bagels to be the best.  I also substitute a little wheat bread flour for some additional flavor.

Rub with Crisco or butter before sprinkling on cornmeal 

Just press your thumb through to get the shape started

This is the only time my bagels have ever sunk when boiling

Make sure to get them nice and dry

This spatula is the best bagel removing tool I own

Be liberal with the egg wash and salt