Today I'm trying my hand at sourdough bread and Nutella ice cream. Last week I made my first sourdough starter and I'm excited to see how it turns out. It was kinda freaky having made a sort of alcohol, though. I guess that's what makes sourdough sour, the fermentation. But being the type of Mormon girl that doesn't even use anything slightly alcoholic in her cooking, even if it will be cooked out completely, this has been an interesting experience. I have to keep reminding myself that no one has ever gotten tipsy from eating sourdough bread...
My other worry is that Jeff is going to hate it. Or at least not like it as much as a bread bowl from the Fisherman's Warf. Apparently sourdough tastes different depending on where it is made, so this probably won't taste the same as San Francisco sourdough or Monterey sourdough, and my California boy husband is probably going to tell me it tastes funny. I can see it now... We'll be sitting down for dinner and he'll take a small bite. He'll chew for a second and get a funny look on his face. Then he'll take another bite and I'll see the wheels in his head spinning. Then he'll make a sorry face and say, "It's tastes a little different. It's still good, but there's just something different..." And he'll shrug his shoulders. Oh, well. It's a culinary adventure for my baking pleasure, not his eating pleasure. :)
My other culinary adventure today is making Nutella ice cream. I'm using a really simple vanilla ice cream recipe that we've already tested, so it's not quite as much of an adventure as the sourdough bread. We loved the ice cream, and I think it tasted even better than some brands vanilla ice cream you can buy at the store! Maybe it was just the thought that I made something that tastes professional... So today I did a teeny experiment and added Nutella to the ice cream mix. I'm hoping it will just be a chocolate ice cream, but who knows how it will turn out? I've got quite a bit of toffee and chocolate shavings from making Grandma Carolyn's toffee last week, and I think they'll taste wonderful on Nutella ice cream.
Speaking of Grandma Carolyn's toffee, I made way too much for two people. lol. Even after giving some to my visiting teachers, my visiting teaching companion and the girls I visit teach, we still have a ton! Anybody want toffee?
This was the first time I made toffee at high elevation, but it mostly turned out. It's not quite as crunchy as the batches I made over Christmas break with Jeff's family, but still really good. It's just slightly sticky, so it gets stuck in your teeth a teeny tiny bit. Oh well. I'll have to experiment with smaller batches to figure out the best temperature for making it at high altitude. And Jeff was proud of me for using his family cookbook. Usually I think of something I want to make and then find a recipe with good reviews online. I do use my recipe box a lot, because I write down the recipes I find online so I don't have to go searching for them again...
Man, my ice cream maker is so loud! I feel a tiny bit bad for the people who live downstairs, but not too much because they shout and curse at each other at 5 a.m. and wake me up. I at least am loud at normal hours. Every time I hear their door open (because they open and slam it closed incredibly loud as well) I freak myself out thinking the scary man is going to stomp up the stairs and bang on our door to tell us to cut out the noise. I'm not sure how I would react. When I'm ticked off, I think I'd react by telling them I'll stop making ice cream if they stop cursing at each other all day and all night. I don' think he'd respond well to that.... In fact, my guess is he'd probably cuss a ton at me. The other option I've thought of was to offer them ice cream. Kill 'em with sweetness? I dunno...
Dang it! Our ice cream worker stopped before the ice cream was even hard. And now it won't start. :( Maybe it's over heated or something. I might have to figure something else out.
And look what I made! (And finished Saturday.)
Duh, duh, duh, DUH! My first skirt for myself! There are so many little mistakes... But it's presentable and something I will wear! I wore it to church Sunday. A couple of girls told me I looked cute, so that made me happy. :) I fell in love with the pattern because of the yellow/red/blue colors, which totally reminded me of a French country kitchen or something. I realized while I was sewing that this was probably home decor fabric, just because it was a little thicker cotton, but that's okay. I now know I can't cut rectangles very well and I know what to do to make this project better when I make it again. (Because I will.) I used this really simple tutorial: http://projectsbyjess.blogspot.com/2011/06/tutorial-shirred-pocket-skirt.html The girl who writes this blog also has a cute maxi dress tutorial that I want to try sometime. And she's a reader, which gives her bonus points with me.
Hm... I don't think it's a good sign when your ice cream maker smells like it's burning. Maybe I'll wait a minute and let it cool down before trying again...
Here's another thing I made, but this was two weeks ago:
Madeleines! I think I told you about them, but I didn't show you the picture. Don't they look so delicious and so much like real French madeleines? For something reason they came out a little splotchy. I have to figure out why, although it very well could be my incredibly high-quality oven. : /
In other good news, the women's basketball team is in the top 25!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO! :) I'm so excited. They totally deserve it. The team is so talented. The girls even kept up with Duke! Too bad our RPI is a little weak... We need to build up some of the other teams in our conference.
Well, time to get cleaning. I made a resolution to tidy up better for Jeff, but after last week I'm not doing so hot....
I was so excited to read your post! It just showed up on my blog list today. Weird.
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