I was wondering.……

[RiversideLen]

I was wondering if the forum might be more active if we changed the "What did you bake the week of.." which is the previous week, to "What are baking now". So, if you bake something today you can post it now instead of waiting a week when it would be more of a distant memory. Same thing for the cooking thread. Any thoughts, yay or nay?

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[Mike Nolan]

I can see advantages to both methods. I often have to think back to remember what I baked nearly a week ago. A weekly recap means starting a new thread each week, whereas a 'what are you baking now' thread might go on for weeks.

I also find if I bake or cook something truly new and interesting, I may not want to wait until next week to write about it. But sometimes my opinion of a dish changes after a few days. (For example, if nobody wants to eat the leftovers, that says something about it.)

[BakerAunt]

I actually keep a Baking and Cooking Log and write in it every time I bake or cook. I then paste it into the threads (sometimes cutting out extraneous material or adding clarification) that I start each week. However, if I'm fascinated with something I've baked and want to share it quickly, I do not wait but start a separate discussion on it--as with the Buckwheat-Oat English Muffins on the wood stove. That also happens when I have the kind of problem that came up with the Pecan Sticky Buns.

I rarely have time while I'm baking or cooking to be writing simultaneously about it. However, pmiker (I miss him) often did threads on the Baking Circle that discussed his bread baking projects and experiments--with pictures no less--over the course of the day or several days, and I enjoyed following them. Maybe if someone is doing that kind of project, he or she could do an extended thread on it so we could follow the process and comment.

[Mike Nolan]

I used to keep a log of recipes I was tinkering with, along with our thoughts about each iteration, but I haven't done a lot of tinkering lately.

However, my wife tends to enter any new recipe I make into My Fitness Pal's recipe analyzer, and I can usually remember any tinkering I do with a new recipe long enough to dictate it to her.

I should probably start keeping a log again, if only for weight control purposes.

[Mike Nolan]

pmiker is another of the KAF BCers who joined here but hasn't posted, I think he wrote me once that he was having trouble getting a password to work.

[BakerAunt]

I have a thought about Riverside Len's suggestion. I could begin the thread at the start of the week--that is, on January 15, start the "What Did You Bake the Week of ...?" for the week of January 15. That would allow people who wished to do so to post what they are cooking and baking during the week right after they cook or bake it, and anyone who wants to wait until Saturday to do a re-cap could do so.

We can experiment with it this week. My husband and I are headed back to Texas on Thursday, so I will start the thread for the week of January 8 tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll check out how the response is on Sunday, and if it is moderately good, then I will begin the January 15 thread on that day for the current week.

I like having it in weekly segments because it is easier to locate discussions. It also is a way to look at data and show trends in baking and cooking among members.

[chocomouse]

pmiker is active with the Facebook group "Around My Kitchen Table." He is still experimenting and sharing his results, good or still a work in progress, enhanced with terrific photos.

I am one of those who cannot remember two days later what I baked earlier in the week!! And, I'm very negligent about logging in and commenting here although I read what others have posted about once a week. Today is a non-baking day for me, a rarity. Instead, I've begun the task of organizing/sorting/throwing from the 2 foot high stack of recipes I've collected over the past year. What fun! I bet some of you can relate to that.

[luvpyrpom]

I have no preference how we post our meals/recipes. Chocomouse, what I do is I have a Word document open in my mini pad and just add a quick note after each dish I make. Then I just copy and paste and edit the posts. And then there are weeks when I just don't do any cooking or baking.

[chocomouse]

luvpyrom, I do have a lot of my recipes in Word documents, and that is a good suggestion to go back and edit after baking -- but I'm apt to forget to do that. I do print each recipe to take to the kitchen, and hand-write comments. But I have a 2 foot high stack of printed recipes piled up on my desk! Triple copies of some of them! So I'm filing, in paper form, sorted by category, the recipes I seem to use over and over again. I should be able to quickly find the recipe I'm looking for. This will save a ton of paper and ink, and maybe some time. This is also helping me to toss out many many recipes that looked interesting when I printed them, but seriously, I'll never make them. I'm sure lots of us have these piles - just as knitters stash yarn, quilters stash fabric.... Maybe when this job is finished, I'll tackle the stash of ingredients in the pantry!

[luvpyrpom]

chocomouse, my downfall are cooking magazines. I used to subscribe to 2-4 mags and just collect them all. I've now cut it done to one and I haven't really cooked out of them so it may be time to stop that subscription, too. I craft, too, so have stashes of fabric, yarn, floss, beads, etc. I think if I ever have to down size to a smaller living area, it would take me years to do that.

[chocomouse]

I'm tossing recipes! But not nearly enough, nor fasting enough. I have stashes of the same things you have. But haven't we had fun!!

[BakerAunt]

And I hope to continue having fun, although my husband keeps looking at my collection of cooking and cross stitching magazines and reminds me that we are moving in June. I was a bit late in my try "at least one new recipe per week" last week, so I need to identify one to do this week. I've got my eye on the KAF Heart of Winter Loaf, although I'd bake it as a single loaf not as two--or else make it with two loaves in the same pan, like a sharing loaf.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, I think I've not seen or at least paid any attention to that recipe. I'm going to check it out and make it tomorrow morning if I have everything I need. After all, it is the heart of winter, and we have a Nor'easter forecast with sleet, freezing rain, and six inches of snow. Some schools are already cancelled for the day. Thanks for the idea!

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