[skeptic7]

I called up a friend to whine about my ceiling. He had a comforting matter of fact attitude toward the hole -- things happen -- ceilings are often fragile -- you should have seen my hole. He also told me how to fix this and why my proposed method -- drywall clips -- wouldn't work well. However he also admitted that he personally hated drywall and working with it and fixing holes and had called in expert help to deal with his ceiling problem.
It was nice to hear from a friend who didn't think "BIG DISASTER" "Careless stupidity", but more "poor you, that is going to be messy. Its a irritating fix not a disaster. Common mishap"

[skeptic7]

I like this! It has much less fat than the King Arthur Flour Breakfast cookies. I'll have to try this when I have time. Thanks for sharing.

[skeptic7]

I have been having attic repair problems. Tuesday I was crawling around on the attic when to get further under the rafters, I decided to crawl on the drywall ceiling instead of on the joists. This would get me lower to the ground and hence I could get further under the ceiling and toward the edge.
The ceiling promptly cracked under the weight of my knee and sent my spray bottle and some dry wall into the room below. I looked at the hole -- realized that the ceiling had shown evidence of previous water damage and cracks and determined that I should make the hole bigger and try to put a drywall patch in.
After 4 attempts. my ceiling is now partially patched and I have learned several methods of not patching a largish hole in the dry wall. a) don't expect to cut a drywall patch the exact size and expect it to stay in place while you plaster it in -- gravity is not your friend
b) don't expect fiberglass tape and patching compound to hold it in place -- gravity is not your friend and wet drywall compound won't hole anything in c) when trying to cut out a nice smooth hole near already weak and cracked dry wall don't expect the hole not to grow bigger d) your nice piece of plywood cut for your existing hole isn't long enough for the new hole
Anyway it was way too hot to bake for most of the week, but by Friday I was desperate.
I did a quick bread for the first time in a crockpot. It cooked on high for about 3 1/2 hours and was moist and tasty. This was my normal whole wheat scone thing with 1/2 cup blueberry jam for flavor and color and sweetener. I guess I can't call it a scone as it was much more cake light in texture and color but it was good.
Saturday I did whole wheat buttermilk bread with a cinnamon swirl in the crockpot. About 4 hours, 2 hours on low and 2 hours on high and cooked to 190 degrees. Much better than no bread and great with hot chocolate. It was a soft dough just a little better than a batter and I didn't knead it very much. Slightly too moist but great toasted and the cinnamon sugar gives a nice sweet surprise in the bread.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
Cute idea with the small mason jars! I like the idea that you don't actually bake in the jars which could crack. How was your last festival? Is your oven working better now?

I like the idea of using English Muffin rings rather than Mason jar rings. I reuse my mason jar rings and many are rather dented and tarnished.

[skeptic7]

Missed this one too

[skeptic7]

I stir fry asparagus. Break it up into 2-3 inch pieces and stir fry with a little oil. Well with me its more of a braise. I add a little garlic or ginger for flavor. Heat oil until hot, add asparagus, stir around a bit and then add some water and cover the pan. Stir occasionally but mainly let it cook till its at the texture you want. The first frying in hot oil acts sort of the same way blanching does and improves the flavor and color in a way that boiling won't.

[skeptic7]

Oven thermometers are wonderful. I was told to get one after a cake domed up when I was trying to bake it. I found that oven ran 25 degrees too high. My current oven says its finished preheating when its about 50 degrees off -- it will eventually reach the proper temperature if you wait long enough.

I baked an apple slab pie last Tuesday with Winesaps and Gold Rush apples which had spent the winter in my refrigerator. The apple slab has more pie crust than a round pie and I was hankering for the crust.

[skeptic7]

I did individual chicken pot pies last night to use up some leftover pie dough. I keep forgetting how time consuming this is to cut up the celery and carrots and onions even when the pie dough is ready. But it tastes so good, even when you have other things that should be done.

[skeptic7]

I baked whole wheat English Muffins Sunday morning and took them to Maryland Sheep and Wool to share some with chocomouse. She was in a little booth in the big barn selling yarn and crochet hooks.
I also baked some pumpkin cranberry quick bread to share with my other friends. Chocomouse was being good and avoiding sugar so she didn't want to taste any. I was sharing food with people since I had done so very little knitting this year. I only had one simple hat to show off.

[skeptic7]

I got it!

[skeptic7]

When I was making fat-free biscotti, I used to beat the egg yolks with sugar until fluffy, and serately beat the egg whites until fluffy then I would gently fold the flour into the yolks by thirds, alternating with the egg whites. This made them lighter and fluffier and less hard.
If you are adding oil to biscotti, you can add it to the egg yolk and beat it till fluffy. Start by beating the egg yolks until fluffy and then add a little oil at a time.
One of the reasons I went over to doing full butter biscotti was because it was so much easier. I could do everything in one bowl with a good mixer.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
I hope to be at Sheep and Wool on Saturday. I'll stop by and see you in the morning. I will be broke this year due to attic insulation, car repairs and dental bills but I will look forward to meeting friends and eating lamb sandwiches.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
Are you still going to Maryland Sheep and Wool? What is the name of your booth? Unless something drastic happens I will be there and would like to meet.

[skeptic7]

I wish I was baking. I'm spending my spare time sealing holes in my attic prior to filling it with insulation. This was all suppose to be done on the first week in April. I had the insulation removed and called the Electrician in to install a new bathroom fan and secure the junction boxes. However we quarrelled about how to vent the fan so I had to look for someone else to do that, and I decided I didnt trust the insulation people to seal all the holes in the attic prior to putting in new insulation so I am doing that myself.
I have made a couple of pizzas but that isn't the same as Easter baking. I make those to eat not to give away and not as part of a long tradition. I did make a cheese bread that I will mention in a seperate thread.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt; The chocolate sounds wonderful. Its a gift, that shouldn't count right?

I was too busy to do much cooking but I did a cheese pizza on Friday. Had three types of cheese, mozarella, provolone, and cheddar.
I haven't made any Hot Cross Buns yet, it doesn't seem like I have any time. None of the quicker versions taste acceptable so its going to be the full time consuming long rising and kneading version or nothing.

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