I'm not so sure a 70% goal, or ANY specific percentage goal, is all that relevant any more. (And note, that number did NOT come from the epidemiologists!) The Delta variant is said to be 5 times more communicable than the earlier variants, and while the vaccine seems to have some effectiveness against it, both in terms of preventing and ameliorating infections, there seems to be a growing concern that vaccinated people can be spreading a virus they don't know they've got.
I expect before the end of the year we'll start seeing programs to get booster shots to fully vaccinated people (that's already beginning in other countries), and that may become an 'every six months' sort of thing for some years to come.
Tomato and salami sandwiches for dinner here.
I'm thinking I might buy an electric slicer so I can get more even slices, especially good when you want thin slices for Italian Beef. I've looked at a couple online, they get mediocre reviews because they tend to have plastic gears and other load-bearing parts in them that can break. (I went through that problem with stick blenders.)
If I lived as far north as you do, chocomouse, I'd want a greenhouse to extend the growing season. When we were in Scotland back in 2006 (near Glascow), many houses had a small glass greenhouse in the back yard, maybe about 6 x 8.
We had a nice thick ham steak with pineapple for supper, I had some steamed cauliflower, my wife had some lettuce.
It would be SO dangerous for me to live within driving distance of their store!
Other than my five 4th of July plants, which are one of the earliest varieties available, I think I've gotten 2 Rutgers, 1 Brandywine and 1 Italian heirloom from the other 19 plants. I think by next weekend we may be getting ripe fruit on another dozen or so plants. The Amish Paste tomatoes have a nice crop going, but none are showing color yet. They are determinate and tend to be an 'all at once' variety, big pear tomatoes that make great sauce.
We've gotten 2 or 3 eggplants and there should be a few more shortly. (My wife doesn't really like to eat eggplant, except occasionally in ratatouille, but she likes to watch it grow, so we have two plants and will probably give nearly all of it away.)
I picked 5 pounds of 4th of July tomatoes today, each one weighs about two ounces and is around 1.75 inches in diameter.
We're getting more 4th of July tomatoes than we can eat right now, even though we've given a number of them away. I may have to start blanching and freezing them, I don't think I've got quite enough to justify trying to make tomato juice or sauce.
Today I picked a couple of Rutgers and a Brandywine. I've got a First Lady turning color. If we get some cooler weather, we may still get a bountiful harvest in September.
We had left over spaghetti and meatballs with fresh semolina bread, and a Rutgers tomato from the garden.
One of the local grocery chains started carrying King Arthur AP flour the other day, but at a price higher than the other local/regional chain. And I can buy it for a lot less at Costco, where I can get it for under 50 cents a pound, half of what it costs elsewhere.
My plan is to make semolina bread today. I was going to try a mixture of semolina and durum flour, which I thought I had a container of, but I couldn't find it the other day. And I know better than to try to find it locally.
I am using a 60/40 blend of semolina and bread flour again today, and I'm using some non-diastatic barley malt instead of sugar, just to see what happens.
Diastatic malt has diastatic enzymes in it, those help to break down the starches in the endosperm into sugars, mostly maltose.
Most yeast strains prefer glucose or fructose over maltose, though they will use maltose if that's the only sugar available. But the yeast activity is more vigorous with glucose or fructose. That suggests that a longer/slower ferment is desirable when the primary sugar available will be maltose. Whether it is best done in the refrigerator or at room temperature is debatable, both have their positives and negatives.
Kind of hot for it, but we had spaghetti and meatballs today, it just sounded good.
I have always been underwhelmed by Whole Foods, and it hasn't gotten better since it was purchased by Amazon.
