Spencer's Claim to Fame

Let's take a look at the June 1988 Cosmopolitan Magazine. Here's the cover:

That article on the right, "Attention Feminists! Why Some Smart Women Are Getting Off the Fast Track and Going Home" sure looks good. Let's flip to that page.


Who's that handsome child in the yellow jacket?


Oh wow! It's me at one and a half years old, next to my mom and sister.

(In case you're wondering, the caption says "Sharing a library job is Valerie's solution.")



Fierce! I bet even the world's first supermodel, Janice Dickinson, didn't have a photoshoot in Cosmo before the age of two.

P.S. The editor for this issue was the inimitable Helen Gurley Brown, in case you were wondering about that, too.

Out of the Darkness and Into the Oven

Okay, so when I came home and my mom was raving about this new method of breadmaking that she hadn't tried yet, I was skeptical. My family, it seems, adores miracle products. Not ones that you have to spend actual money on, mind you, but miracles all the same. This last Saturday was my dad's 60th birthday party, which resulted in many elaborate baked goods in his honor...
Quite fabulous, as you can see. For the feast, my mom decided to finally test her magic bread recipe, and to our amazement, it really was the best bread we've ever made - no exceptions. Due to the unique no-knead method, it manages to have the most amazing crusty/chewey quality reminiscent of the artisan breads of old. And now, having hyped it to such a great extent, I will now give you the magic recipe:

No-Knead Bread:
(copied from the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dec. 7th)

Makes 1 1/2 lb Loaf
Ingredients:
3 c. All-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 tsp. Instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp. Salt
1 5/8 c. lukewarm water
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

To Mix Dough, Let Rise: In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water. Stir until blended (note: dough will be shaggy and sticky). Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise 12 - 18 hours at warm room temperature (approx. 70 degrees) or until dough surface is dotted with bubbles.

To Fold Dough: Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on surface. Sprinkle with a little more flour. Fold dough over on itself once or twice, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

To Shape Dough: Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat cotton towel (NOT terrycloth!) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put dough, seam side down, on towel. Dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel. Let rise for 2 hours or until dough is more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked.

To Prepare Oven, Pot: At least 30 minutes before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put 6-to-8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats.

To Bake Dough: When the dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide hand under towel. Turn dough over into pot, seam side up (Note: It may look like a mess, but that's okay. Shake pan once or twice if dough
is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes). Cover with lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 15 - 30 minutes, or until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on rack.
In our experimentations with the recipe, we've found that rye bread is a very tasty variation: simply add as much as 1 cup of rye flour (or any kind of flour that suits your fancy - whole wheat, oat, etc.). Experiment to find your favorite flavor, and please tell me how it goes!

Good Lord!

Last night, we had a huge windstorm here. At about 11:30, this tree fell over and managed to become suspended on a wire (fortunately not an electrical wire) about 12 feet off the ground. The police and a fire truck came, but all they did was put up tape around the intersection. The tree is still there this morning. This is right across the street. That stop sign is on our parking strip. The first picture is from our front porch, and the second is from our driveway. This tree made it difficult to sleep last night.

In other Good Lord! news, I direct you to this article about Martha's latest adventure.

UPDATE: I decided that those two pictures could hardly give you the full effect the amazing suspended tree. So I made this video. Please forgive my horrible camera-work. I don't have a steady hand.

Civic Duty

I'm afraid that when one thinks of Martha Stewart and the courts these days, one thinks of a certain insider trading incident. But I'm sure that Martha would still be very enthusiastic about fulfilling her civic duty were she summoned for jury duty (were she not, you know, ineligible on account of her criminal record). I know that I was certainly excited to serve my community when I was recently summoned for jury duty.

The timing was very convenient, as I needed to be available to serve this week. All I had to do for class this week was go to a half-hour long meeting with my faculty, who did a series of workshops this quarter on citizen participation in government. Obviously, she was very enthusiastic about my jury duty and willing to be flexible on the timing of my meeting. My boss was also very understanding, and just said to let him know if I wouldn't be in. (Did I ever tell you that my boss is a male secretary? It's very inspirational).

So, right at 6:00 last Friday I called the jury hotline and learned I would have to come in Monday morning at 8:00. I was very nervous. For example, what do you wear to jury duty? I ended up wearing a nice sweater and cords. Right before leaving, I started to worry that I should have worn a collared shirt, but there was no time to iron anything. Fortunately, I was not underdressed. Many people there, who were much older than I, were wearing jeans. One man was even wearing jean shorts and a hooded sweatshirt! This was very unfortunate, as the Washington State jury duty pamphlet I received after checking in at the courthouse was quite clear on shorts being unacceptable attire, along with swim suits and tank tops. I didn't see any of the court employees take this man aside to berate him, however.

After checking in, we watched an informative video about jury duty. The best moment was when it explained, "Defendant and plaintiff are two words you'll hear a lot around here." Our bailiff then escorted us into an empty courtroom and entertained us with stories about how different our city was when he was a child as we waited for the judge. There were 37 of us, so 24 would be dismissed during jury selection before the trial even began. However, when we finally were herded into the proper courtroom, we were informed the honorable judge that the defendant had just changed her plea to guilty and that we could go home.

He did tell us about the details of the case. Apparently the defendant was a young woman who tried to steal $1500 worth of merchandise from Fred Meyer. When she was apprehended by the security guards, she gave a false name. This turned out to actually be someone's name, however, and this woman read about the incident in the newspaper. Obviously a bit surprised, she called the authorities to inquire why the newspaper said she had been arrested and was in custody when clearly this was not the case. The judge informed us that fingerprints had come back and it was clear the defendant was not who she had claimed to be. It seems that the case was pretty clear anyway, so it may not have been very fun to sit on the jury.

They told us to call in each night because we might get called again. However, last night when I called in I was informed that my jury service was officially over. In the end, it seems that I didn't really help out my community at all, but at least I got a somewhat interesting story out of it.

Ciara vs. Sierra Update

Ciara's excellent new CD, The Evolution, just debuted at number one on the charts, beating the new CDs by Eminem and Gwen Stefani. It sold over 300,000 copies. Watch your back, Sierra.

Invasion of the Cultured Youth

Due to my flying home for the holidays, Spencer and I have the opportunity to gain valuable parental insight into baking, decorating, and any other pearls of wisdom that they care to dish out. For me, it has already started: the age-old mother/daughter debate over traditional braces, versus the newer, flashier 'grills' that you see on the hip-and-with-it youth of today. My mother firmly believes that they are the same - that grills are simply a more ostentatious form of the celebrated staple of the dental industry. I however, believe the contrary. Braces are called in when real dental reworking is required; grills, however, have no mechanical use whatsoever, and are simply installed to look phat.
The tiebraker? Spencer, always ready to dispense pop culture wisdom when called upon, agrees with my version: grills are simply cosmetic, and work more like a retainer, rather than being bolted onto the teeth themselves. To demonstrate the difference, I have included the Wikipedia links to grills and braces. Enjoy!

And as a further tiebreaker, one must always think: "What would Martha Wear?" Despite the prison time I still think she'd opt for braces, though she could probably do some pretty creative grill detailing with miniature snowmen or christmas trees...

Snow Day!

... well okay, not really. But the rare occasions when it snows in Olympia are definitely cause for celebration!

Nice, isn't it? But for real snow, one must head to the mountains...
This is from Sunday's trip to Mt. Rose where I got to learn some snow travel techniques from Ian. On this particular ridge, the snow ranged from 3 - 5 feet deep.

Martha would be proud.

This thanksgiving while Spencer drove up to spend the holiday with his family on Whidbey Island, Celia & I celebrated the holiday penguin style (at the penguin house, that is!). It was epic, to say the least. All of us holiday orphans banded together to execute the kind of feast that becomes the stuff of legends. Days went into planning. Wine was made, potatoes were mashed, yams were carmelized. Oh, sweet Jesus, it was good.
I somehow managed to forget to take pictures of the feast itself, but here are some photos of the extensive preparation:
Wednesday night, Celia made some fabulous Arroz con Leche (adapted from her dad's recipe), & two delicious fritattas from the Moosewood Cookbook's New Classics. Both were delicious, and very popular at the feast.
We also made rolls using the oatmeal bread recipe from the Tassajara Bread Book, which (apart from James Beard & The Coyote Cafe Cookbook) is pretty much the most amazing bread book I've ever used. To keep the dough in roll-form, we experimented with baking them in a greased muffin tin, along with making some free-form on a baking sheet.
The finished product - aren't they lovely?
Can't get much more wholesome than that!
Altogether, there was so much food that the evening ended lying comatose on the sofa watching movies. Some brave souls went for a walk to hasten digestion, but for the most part, exercise of any kind was postponed until the next morning, when we were feeling more active.

The Great Thanksgiving Feast menu:
cranberry sauce
garlic mashed potatoes & gravy
green bean casserole
creamed spinach
macaroni & cheese
candied yams
vegetable fritatta
chestnut-celery stuffing
20 lb. Turkey
pineapple baked ham
buttermilk biscuits
oatmeal rolls
pear sauce
arroz con leche
two pumpkin pies

Sierra vs. Ciara

This post is a digression from our usual subject, the domestic arts, but it is a question that must be answered. Who is better? My roommate and fellow writer of this blog, Sierra, or the R&B/pop singer Ciara.











VS.














I will compare some of the important arguments in favor of each:

Ciara made me like an R&B ballad ("Promise") when usually I do not. On the other hand, Sierra made me a calzone for dinner the other night.

Sierra often makes goodies (such as the molasses cookies she made the other night). On the other hand, Ciara made "Goodies."

Sierra will sing along to "Fergalicious" with me. On the other hand, every single Ciara has put out except "And I" is better than "Fergalicious."

Sierra is a real person with emotions and a sense of humor. On the other hand, Ciara is a wonderful unfeeling robot who is probably made of metal.

Well, I guess it's a tie. And the only tiebreaker is who would win in a fight. I think we all know that is Sierra. I will post a picture of her beating me up as proof.


Sorry, Ciara, but Sierra wins this one. I guess you will have to be content with being a famous millionaire.

Cataloging and Cookies

Tonight, in true Martha fashion, I made molasses crinkle cookies. The recipe is an old favorite, taken from Molly Katzen's Still Life With Food, which is currently filed under 641.5636 in accordance with the Dewey Decimal System. Because the cookbooks had to make room for cupcakes at the party last night, Spencer got the extra treat of re-organizing the reference and cooking shelf:

(Watchful readers will notice that Spencer is shelving The Joy of Cooking)

We have since coined the term "have a 640 day!", which is the code for domestic arts and sciences. The cookies turned out very well, and taste great:

Don't let the picture fool you - I'm really enjoying myself...

If you decide to make these cookies, do NOT skip the last step of rolling them in sugar - this pushes the cookies from delish to divine, and adds some sparkle for bonus presentation points.

Mrs. Buerschaper's Molasses Crinkles
Prep Time: 25 min. Bake Time: 12 - 15 min.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 c. Butter
1/4 c. Blackstrap Molasses
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Allspice
1 tsp. Ground Ginger
2 c. Unbleached White Flour (also works to use half whole wheat)
1 - 2 tbsp. sugar

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
2. Melt the butter in a glass bowl, add wet ingredients and stir until combined
3. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients (except the additional sugar), then add to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.
4. Form 1-1/2 inch balls of dough, roll them in the sugar until coated, and place on baking sheet.
5. Bake 12-15 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool and enjoy!

If anyone makes this, tell me how it goes - I'd love to know!

Cleaning Comes First

Last night, we had the closest thing we've ever had to a raucous college party. There were a bunch of people crowded into our kitchen and dining room, there was loud music, there was even dancing. Needless to say, it was a mess afterwards. But did we leave it for the morning? Of course not! Celia and I knew we just couldn't sleep if the house was a mess. Here are pictures of our kitchen and dining room a mere 15 minutes after the last guests departed.




I'd say that's pretty good. Maybe it's not perfect, but neither are you.

Marthalicious!

In the spirit of all things domestic, I began to wonder why we haven't posted a photo of our 'marthalicious' house yet. So here it is (taken on a rare sunny day), the lovely yellow house on the corner. Come and visit us sometime, and we'll bake you cookies!

Also, here is a picture of our kitchen, where we devote entirely too much time to random acts of domesticity:

A Treat for Cold Weather

okay, so as an obsessive knitter (a title that anyone I know will verify), I tend to go a little overboard. The latest manifestation of this has been a ridiculously easy yet extremely gratifying pair of fingerless gloves, found in the summer 06 edition of Knitty (the best online knitting magazine EVER!). For the gloves I was feeling cheap, and instead of the cashmerino blend advised (which admittedly felt like a dream) bought a skein of Lamb's Pride worsted weight yarn in avocado green which is a personal favorite. As an added benefit, I have so much of it left over that I might just make another pair! There was some cabling involved, but it is minimal and easy, and the end result is pure magic. The pattern can be found here, and is definitely worth the effort. The only thing I modified was to extend the knuckles to accommodate my hefty hands, and that was done by repeating the last five rounds again (including the cable).

Also, please note the "Anthrax Kills" mug that I am holding - Spencer found it at Value Village last year, and it adds just the right sense of doom in the mornings... maybe it wouldn't be Martha's first choice, but it works just fine for us!

Month of Muffins

Last night, Celia, our wonderful other roommate, made pumpkin apple muffins. They were, of course, delicious.



What you should know is that last winter, before Sierra lived with us, Celia and I baked muffins every day for over a month. This phenomenon has become known as the Month of Muffins, and basically corresponded with the 36 straight days of rain we got here at the same time. We used a wonderful and adaptable recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook:

wet ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. plus 2 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla
2 c. chopped fruit, and/or nuts, and/or chocolate chips (or other combinations, see below)

dry ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin tin. Cream together the butter and sugar in a medium bowl, then mix in the other wet ingredients. In a separate large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula. Divide into the muffin tins and bake 30 minutes.

For this recipe, I think Celia put in a cup of pumpkin and a cup of chopped apples. Our favorite from the Month of Muffins was 1 c. frozen raspberries and 1 c. chocolate chips. We kept a log of all the muffins we tried, and here are a few that turned out well:

* blackberry almond
* strawberry chocolate almond
* banana walnut
* strawberry granola (1 c. strawberries, 1 c. granola)
* zucchini strawberry (grate the zucchini)

Zucchini as a muffin ingredient is really amazing. Replacing half the flour with cornmeal also makes good corn muffins. These muffins are also really good when made vegan, just use vegetable oil instead of butter, egg replacer, and soy milk. You won't be able to tell the difference.

Oh, and that's a box of satsumas behind the muffins in the picture. Satsumas are my favorite fruit, and it's the time of year they have them in stores - go get some.

Check It Out!

This evening, I felt like making a coffee cake, so I found this recipe from marthastewart.com. I pretty much followed it exactly, except I used butter instead of vegetable shortening, buttermilk instead of milk, and half whole wheat flour. It turned out really well. Martha definitely came through.

Cutting in the butter:

Stirring in the wet ingredients:

Ready to go in the oven:

Done:

6 Degrees of Separation

In our eternal quest for greatness by association, Spencer and I often swap stories of who in our family knows someone famous. There are the usual small-time associations, but our favorites of all time are the following:

Spencer's mother's friend is friends with Martha Stewart, and
Sierra's great-grandparents lived across the street from Irma Rombauer on Cabbane Avenue in St. Louis.

See? We're clearly destined for greatness.

The Great Waffle Bake-Off

Sierra and I both like to make waffles for our friends, and Sunday morning waffle brunch has become and intermittent tradition for us. In fact, that was how I convinced Sierra to come live with me. My signature waffles are cornmeal waffles that a family friend makes every year when my family visits (for the Logger's Jubilee, in fact). Sierra's signature waffles are made with yeast. She got the recipe from her father. I had never actually had Sierra's waffles before, and we decided that it was time for a bake-off. We invited some friends over and each made a batch of waffles.


Sierra's waffle batter rising in the oven.



Spencer adding buttermilk to his waffles.


Sierra made some hashbrowns in case a vegan showed up.


Just one of many excited guests.

Unfortunately, once the guests arrived, we were having too much fun to remember to take pictures of the finished waffles. In the end, this bake-off resulted in a tie. Every last waffle was eaten.

Spencer's Cornmeal Waffles:

Beat together:
* 2 cups buttermilk
* 2 eggs
Add:
* 1 c. whole wheat flour
* 3/4 c. cornmeal
* 2 t. baking powder
* 1 t. baking soda
* 1/4 c. wheat germ
* 2 T. sugar
* 1/4 t. salt
Blend until smooth
Add:
* 6 T. oil
Cook in your waffle iron.

Sierra's Yeast Waffles

Warm the oven
Mix together:
* 2 c. warm milk
* 2 T. oil
* 2 c. flour (mix of whole wheat and white)
* 2 eggs
Add:
* 1 t. sugar
* 1 T. hot water
* 1 T. yeast
Put into the warm oven for about an hour until it rises, then cook in the waffle iron.

Haloween Costume Biznatch

I was a praying mantis for halloween, and this was the result:

The head was created by covering a baseball cap with green fabric, hot gluing styrofoam balls covered in sparkly fabric onto the sides, with a couple of metallic pipe cleaners to top it off.

Flannel-icious

In my never-ending quest for ways to avoid homework on a rainy Saturday, Spencer's suggestion that I make a donkey out of scrap flannel ended up being taken far more seriously than it was probably intended to be. Instead of following some sort of pattern, I cut pieces resembling a donkey, reversed them, and sewed them together. The legs, tail and ears were sewn individually and attached, with some help from the internet to find out what a donkey tail actually looks like... pretty straightforward, overall.

And I know, it kind of looks like a dog with rain boots, but it totally rocks my socks!

NYT Article about Joy of Cooking

Here is an article from Wednesday's New York Times about the Joy of Cooking. Sierra and I have the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking and bake from it often. We refer to it as "Irma," after the original author, Irma Rombauer. We'll say things like, "These cookies are from Irma." There's a new edition of the Joy of Cooking coming out soon, and this article discusses the various editions over the years. If you don't know why Irma first started writing the Joy of Cooking (hint: it's shocking and scandalous, sort of) or about the controversies over the 1997 edition, you need to read this article. Like the author, Kim Severson, we will be sticking with our 1975 edition, mostly because we're college students and don't have much money, but also because it meets our needs.

Hello

Welcome to the College Student Martha Stewart Wannabe blog. My name is Spencer and I will be writing this blog with my roommate Sierra, who is currently sewing me a tiny flannel donkey. Basically, we are college students who want to be Martha Stewart, and we will write about our journey to becoming amazing homemakers here.