Mike Nolan
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I thought about buying a cherry pitter, but I'm pretty fast pitting them with a knife, and the reviews of the cherry pitters I read online were not encouraging, they break easily.
We use a bobby pin for pie cherries, but that doesn't work for dark sweet cherries.
The peaches were more of a problem last night, they're California clingstone peaches and Diane had trouble getting the skin off and cutting them off the stone. But they smelled good in the store and the one she ate she said was pretty good.
Ah, Maine. Lobster rolls that actually have a visible amount of lobster in them. (When we were there some years ago, we actually got a decent lobster roll at an Arby's, though the ones we got at a cafe in Rockport were better.)
I'm planning pizza on the grill for supper tonight, trying a new thin crust dough recipe. Hoping the weather will cooperate, there's rain in the forecast for early afternoon and after 8PM, but not around suppertime.
No, I'm sure I've never over-kneaded by hand, I haven't taken one all the way to structural collapse in the mixer, either. I'm told it essentially curdles at that point.
I just printed out a recipe for chocolate buttermilk zucchini cake, made in a 9 x 13 cake pan instead of a loaf pan. It calls for 45 minutes of baking time. I should have two zucchini to pick by Saturday, I'll probably make this one next.
The two I have already made both freeze very well after slicing, a cake might be a little more challenging to cut and freeze
I had a tomato and salami sandwich on semolina bread, Diane had a ham and cheese omelet and we both had the first of the local sweet corn.
I bought a lug of dark red cherries the other day, we're finishing off processing them today, making some cherry and peach conserve (not as much sugar as there would be in preserves or jam, and no pectin), which she is freezing. We did over half of the cherries a few days ago, she thawed one out as a test, it was pretty darned good and the the liquid was very good with some angel food cake.
We did get the lawn mowed today, thankfully.
We had steaks on the grill with sauteed mushrooms and baked potato tonight.
My wife has been having problems with green peppers and lately with red ones as well, so stuffed peppers are pretty much off the menu here, unless I want to eat them all.
So far I've still been able to make piperade (peppers, onions and tomatoes) as long as it's not the main ingredient in something. I haven't tried the piperade pizza yet.
And I can still put a small amount of red pepper in Thousand Island dressing.
The guy who cuts our grass is supposed to be here today to do the lawn, he works the overnight shift at the railroad shop working on diesels, lawns is a side job. Not sure if the yard is dry enough to do it with a riding mower, but he's got a big non-riding one, too.
I've been increasing the amount of time I knead breads in the mixer, and it makes better bread.
It is possible to over-knead bread in a mixer, but it takes something like 30 minutes to do it. At some point the gluten structure just collapses. I've actually read one book that suggested you do it--once--so that you know what to watch for.
I think that same book said it isn't possible to over-knead bread by hand, you will collapse before the gluten structure does. 🙂
We had sandwiches tonight.
Getting more rain this evening, our yard looked bad before all this rain, too many weeds and not enough grass; we were hoping to reseed this spring with microclover and buffalo grass seed but decided to wait until September due to the drought-imposed voluntary watering restrictions. If I'd have know we'd have two weeks of monsoon season, I might have gone ahead.
And with all the rain, it hasn't been cut in two weeks and looks just awful. I'm going to start cutting it even shorter in the hopes of killing stuff off.
Yeah, I was thinking I'd do a temperature test rather than the toothpick test the next time around. We've given away 4 zucchini in the last two days, all in the 12-18 ounce range. There will be more to pick in a few days and I don't know how long this variety will continue to set fruit, possibly well into September.
I made semolina bread today. The last batch came out very dense, I probably didn't final proof them long enough. I was on the phone dealing with a customer support issue when the timer went off during final proof today, and as a result they got a little over-proofed this time. But they aren't bad looking about 5 inches wide x 3 inches high (at the peak) by 15 inches long, with a very open crumb. Taste good, too. I told Diane these loaves will probably be half the carbs per slice of the last batch.
I haven't done a pizza on the outdoor grill yet this summer, gotta plan on that.
I think I understand why mini-loafs of things like zucchini bread and banana bread are so popular at farmer's markets, they're easier to get baked all the way through without having the edges be unacceptably over-baked.
One other factor: This 8x4 zucchini bread weighs about 35 ounces, which is quite a lot. I plan to cut it into slices and freeze a good portion of it, like I did with the cinnamon/nutmeg/chocolate chip one I made a few days ago.
I might also try this recipe in a muffin tin. I'm guessing it'd make at least a dozen muffins.
This was baked in an 8x4 pan. Both of the zucchini bread recipes I've made in the past week have been underbaked, I just don't trust the toothpick test for quick breads, especially zucchini bread, which tends to be relatively heavy.
IMHO farmers markets have never been a way to save money, sometimes I even doubt whether its a way to get the best and freshest produce.
But it is a way to support farming.
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