Bloomer Bread

This crusty English bread is a favorite. The bloomer loaf is a cylindrical English bread with diagonal slashes on top. The term refers to the way the loaf is shaped - allowed to rise free-form.

I ordered a lovely duck egg mayonnaise sandwich on brown bloomer bread, served up with rocket salad and crisps, from the fabulous chef at Crowne Plaza Reading. Hearty homemade bloomer bread is quite common in England and I was lucky enough to find a recipe from a BBC Food recipes website. This recipe below comes to us from BBC chef Paul Hollywood, who reveals the versatility of breads from around the world.

Next was the smoked cheddar and pickle sandwich, made at the Cast Iron Bar & Grill in Breadsall Priory Marriott Hotel in Derbyshire. The Priory was first established in 1266 by Sir Robert Curzon and dissolved in 1536 by none other than that rascal King Henry VIII, who removed over 800 monasteries in his quest to erase Catholicism from England. Through the years, the Priory was remodeled as as family estate, country club, and finally, a hotel, officially, the oldest Marriott in the world.


Recipe for White Bloomer Bread
Ingredients: 1 lb. 2 oz. white flour
pinch salt
1 packet instant yeast
11 1/2 oz. cold water
1 1/2 oz. olive oil
Extra oil and flour for kneading

Add oil and 9 oz. water to dry ingredients. Knead dough on oiled surface for 5 to 20 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl to rise, cover with cling wrap until tripled in size. Knead again, shape loaf into rectangle. Roll up the sides to create the bloomer shape. Place on a tray lined with parchment paper and let double in size, about 1 to 2
hours at room temperature. Lightly spray with water and dust with flour. Cut 4 diagonal slashes across the top. Bake loaf on middle shelf in pre-heated 425°F oven for 25 minutes. Place a pan of water on the lower shelf (this will steam the loaf as it bakes.) Lower temperature to 400°F. Bake another 10 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on a rack.

1) https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_bloomer_84636
2) https://www.bbc.com/food/programmes/b01rhdgt
3) https://savortheflavour.com/bloomer-bread/

Child, Boy

Zoey picked a tag off the tree which read "Child, Boy" and a description of what this homeless child could receive: boots, coat, hat, scarf, gloves.

We were going to go to Target to buy everything, but I got an e-mail saying that if we ordered online, we would get a special early Black Friday deal and they'll send everything to the house by the end of November.

We aimed for size 6 in nearly everything. Small older boy or larger younger boy, we figured.

Ty helped me pick everything out (with Zoey's approval) and insisted we get a larger hat, because a little kid could wear a bigger hat, (and grow into it) but if it was too small, he wouldn't have a hat!

I cried the whole time we selected clothing. Picturing this sweet little boy, homeless. Ty said he would be in a shelter, but I explained that often, they must leave the shelter by 8 am, returning in the late afternoon, hoping their bed was still available. It is just heartbreaking.

So, what's the solution for homeless people? When we were in San Francisco, they were EVERYWHERE. On every corner, on every street. Begging. For food, money, friendship.

And now our thoughts are with Child, Boy. Walking, wandering, looking for his next meal or next bed or next hope. I hope someone brings him to school and feeds him. I hope someone will love him. I hope someone will give him hope. And that he won't be homeless for too much longer.

Is Zero Waste Possible?

I was a Girl Scout and totally grew up on the 3 R’s: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. I was horrified - absolutely horrified - at the scene in Mad Men where Betty Draper picked up their picnic blanket, waved it in the breeze, scattering all the paper items in the wind to settle on the roadside. I literally screamed at the sight. But back in the late 1950s and early 1960s that’s what people did. Just threw used paper products on the lawn, the roadside, out the window. GAH.

As you may well imagine, garbage has been around as long as time: where there are people, there is trash, although ancient trash differed greatly from what we have today. In 200 A.D. in ancient Rome, actual garbage men were hired to collect trash from the streets, toss it into a cart and haul it away.1 Those smart Romans. (Except for that unlucky lead-in-the-water thing.) Ancient Crete dug large pits to hold refuse. The Middle Ages found villages and cities throwing their garbage right into the street, attracting rats and vermin, generally inviting the black plague to come in and decimate over a third of the population, an estimated 75 to 200 million people.2

It wasn’t until February 1965 when (First Lady) Lady Bird Johnson started her “Beautify America” campaign that people began to focus on their environment. That was the same year the federal government enacted solid waste management laws.3 Trash cans began appearing in public, in fields, at roadsides and in later years, on beaches.

Lauren Singer, a woman living in Brooklyn, New York, has been “living zero waste” since 2013. Her environmental science studies at New York University really struck a chord and she began a gradual transition. Her blog, Trash is for Tossers, and her business, The Simply Co., reinforce her beliefs, as she encourages everyone to have a positive impact in their everyday life.4 She has 5 simple steps to get you started:
1. Make a grocery list and plan your menus in advance. Shop in season. Buy fresh and not in plastic.
2. Buy clothing second-hand.
3. Invest in reusable products.
4. DIY - beauty and cleaning products can be made at home for a fraction of their store-bought price.
5. Just say “no” - to plastic, disposable silverware, new clothing. It’s really a challenge, but if you really question your purchases before they are made, you can make an overall positive impact.

Consume less, consume smarter is Singer’s mantra. Her “Package Free” shop sells wonderfully practical sustainable, reusable, refillable items and everything is shipped in 100% recyclable, 100% compostable packaging. You can subscribe to her newsletter or sign up for her mailing list at https://packagefreeshop.com/

So, I definitely do the three Rs in our household. Minimal food waste: Stale bread is made into bread crumbs or bird food. Sour milk makes incredibly moist homemade scones. Extra dinner portions become lunch for the next day. Nearly all our clothing is recycled. Old towels and raggedy T-shirts are made into rags. Fabric scraps are made into quilts. I must admit though, my beauty and cleaning products are still purchased in plastic. I do buy new clothes.

I may not achieve zero waste, but I’ll always be a big fan of the three Rs.



1 https://medium.com/@trashcansunlimitedoutreach/the-history-of-the-trash-can-and-all-its-dirty-secrets-b12c6853e81b
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
3 http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/shattereddreams/shattereddreams_report.html
4 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-woman-saves-big-living-waste-free-lifestyle-142636952.html

Space Junk? Yeah, it’s a thing.

The first launch of metal into space was the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1. Its transmissions could be picked up by amateur radio operators around the world. This tiny artificial satellite orbited Earth for 3 months, finally burning up in Earth’s atmosphere on January 4,1958. 1 Not every piece of metal reenters Earth’s orbit and burns up. Sometimes, it just stays in space.

Right now, there are more than 1100 satellites flying over our heads. Some are 4-inch cubes weighing about 2 lbs., while others are the size of a school bus, weighing 6 tons. 2 Half of those are in low-earth orbit, like the Hubble telescope, observation satellites and International Space Station, which is about 260 miles above us.3 Global positioning systems are in Medium-Earth orbit (which we shall now call Middle Earth orbit - and of course you already know why this is my favorite term), or over 12,000 miles straight up.

Low-Earth, or Near-Earth orbit has many more pieces floating than functional satellites. Space debris includes LEO (low-earth orbit) dead satellites, which have a whopping life expectancy of 5 years, GEO (in a higher, geostationary orbit) satellites (life expectancy of 8 years), leaked coolant, paint chips, bolts, upper stages of launch vehicles and pieces from space collisions. In fact, most of the debris comes from accidents.That’s a hundred thousand pieces of anything, whipping around the earth at the astonishing speed of 17,500 miles per hour. That’s enough to slash through your shuttle bus to the moon.

So why can’t we just send someone up with a vacuum and trash can? The cost is exorbitant. Who’s monitoring all this debris? NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) has an Orbital Debris Program Office which logs the movement of every piece of debris bigger than a softball. ESA, the European Space Agency, looks to the US Space Surveillance Network, who catalogs items (currently numbering about 15,000, not including 1000 satellites), but ESA Member States contribute information from research radars and telescopes. There is also input from the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

And now the latest in terror: China’s unmanned 18,000 lb+ Tioangong Space Lab is scheduled to return to Earth some time between October, 2017 and April, 2018. They don’t know when. They don’t know where. They think it is “highly unlikely” that the falling debris will cause persons or property to be damaged. And caution: There’s a highly toxic substance on board that will most likely survive re-entry: hydrazine.4 So you know what that means, right? DON’T TOUCH IT. And you know what else that means? It most likely will fall IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. In my backyard. On something valuable, like our grill or our picnic table. (sigh) So . . . there’s that.

So, my creative scientists, let’s think of a solution to clean up our space (nod to Tim Gunn). The backyard grill you save could be mine.

Photos that may interest you: Screenshot of space junk:
https://www.popsci.com/now-you-can-see-all-space-junk-floating-around-earth-real-time

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2523271/Image-reveals-disused-rockets-abandoned-satellites-orbit-Earth.html

This is an awesome podcast with Fraser Cain and Pamela Gray that discusses Space Junk.
http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/e/7/4/e74c4f7c1c62a346/AstroCast-080331.mp3?c_id=1379386&expiration=1508417010&hwt=5a40ce285acc2352c6a90c61580ff5e1


1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

2 https://www.universetoday.com/42198/how-many-satellites-in-space/

3 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/idealab/satellites-earth-orbit

4 https://www.space.com/37691-china-tiangong-1-space-lab-uncontrolled-re-entry.html

Are they really listening?

You know how you suspect people aren’t actually listening to you? (Husband, children, pets) Oh, they say they are, and really want you to believe them, but you then find out . . . well, here’s how it all transpired:

We were having breakfast, something like toasted Bruegger’s bagels swathed in cream cheese, with turkey sausage on the side. Yum! We were having our second cup of coffee and my darling husband was typing, typing, typing on his laptop, trying to get ready to teach his next chemistry class.

As I’m reading the morning paper, I casually asked him, “Are you still hungry?”
He said, not looking up, “Yes.”
I wasn't sure he was still hungry and said, “Really?”
His eyes glued on the laptop, he immediately responded, “Yes.”
And I said, “Should I make you something more?”
And he stopped typing, looked up at me - like I was asking him to tie my shoes - and said, “Yes?”

So back to the stove I went . . . making a fluffy omelette with veggies and popped some bread in the toaster. About five minutes later, I presented this Second Breakfast (as in Hobbit-Second-Breakfast) to him, presenting the plate at the same level as his eyes on the laptop. He stopped, looking at me with a slightly amused and quizzical expression. I declare triumphantly, “Ok, here it is. Second breakfast.”

He hesitated for only one second, took the plate, thanking me, still with that little amusement in his eyes and I started laughing and insisted, “You just said ‘yes’ because you had no idea what you were saying ‘yes’ to.” He started to laugh and said, “You think I wasn’t listening to you.” And I said, “THAT’S RIGHT. You weren’t listening.” And he started laughing harder and said, “Oh, I’m never gonna live this down.”

He’s right, of course. He will never live this down. But he did eat the omelette. And the next time I think he’s not really listening, I’m going to make sure he says “yes” to a trip to Ireland.

A Delectable Dessert . . . from the 16th century

In a recent BBC television show, a special Ana von Kleve torte was made in honor of Anne of Cleves 500th anniversary. This was not an historical recipe, but a new recipe created in 2015.

Most likely, Anne of Cleves would not have had cake at all. Some of the dessert recipes featured in the 16th century would have been A White Leach (a.k.a. Sweet Cubes of Jellied Milk), Posset Curd, Apple Moyse (Apple Mousse) Trifle, Fruit Tart, Custards or Bread Pudding.1 Flaky pastry was unknown, and a tart could be either sweet or savory, depending upon available ingredients. A description of “fine cakes” or cookies would yield more along the lines of a small cracker.

Tudor Cookery by Peter Brears, first published by English Heritage in 1985, features transcribed recipes from The Good Huswifes Jewell,1 published in 1585. Although Anne was born in 1515, a good 70 years before, these recipes would undoubtedly be handed down from parent to child for many decades before being printed in book form. Most European "cookery books" did not change much from the 13th through 16th centuries.2 By comparison, back in America at Martha Custis Washington’s first marriage in 1750 to Daniel Parke Custis, she was presented with a handwritten cookbook from her mother-in-law, Frances Parke Custis. Frances was born in 1685, and those transcribed included a recipe for mead, a fermented alcoholic beverage described in the epic poem Beowulf, believed to have been written between 925 and 1025.3 Although our palates of today prefer entirely different flavors, Medieval and Renaissance foods were quite similar.

Some 16th century recipes were gleaned from letters written by Katerina Lemmel, a nun forced to leave her German monastery by a peasant uprising in 1525.4 The food she describes includes Apple Pillows, Cheese Buns and Krapfen (doughnuts) and marchpane, a mixture of almond paste or a marzipan-like creation of colored sugar-paste, also called sugar plate. Most dough recipes were fried in palm oil or steamed first, then partially fried, and steamed again. Rudimentary techniques of the time include cooking over an open fire, thickening sauces with bread, crushed nuts or hardboiled eggs,2 whisks made of a bundle of twigs, spices - still used today and many now unknown or out of favor - used judiciously, payste, paest or paste (dough) to cover meat or fruit, then steamed or baked.

In the 15th century, A Boke of Gode Cookery, contains a recipe for Bryndons, small cakes served in a sauce, which are small strips of pastry fried in a skillet. 5 There is also a Frutowr for Lentyn, a fruit and almond milk cake, which is actually a fritter, fried in a pan. Another popular item was the Sambocade, an elder flower cheesecake cooked in a pie crust. Preparing any of these dishes - thanks to the translations of many authors and the ability to convert recipes into a more modern language - will truly give one a taste of history.






1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Huswifes_Jewell
2 http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
4 https://asunow.asu.edu/content/16th-century-recipes-still-tasty-today
5 http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec44.htm

A Whiff of History

Ok, this sounds strange, but I got to smell George Washington yesterday.

Picture this: You are in Philadelphia in 1787 at a lively party. You’ve had a glass of Madeira, and several glasses of the spiked fruit punch-1. The musicians are playing, the crowd is rowdy and suddenly you find yourself standing behind a very tall, imposing man - at 6 feet, two inches he stands head and shoulders above everyone else. It’s General George Washington who will be elected the first President of the United States in just two years. He will most likely have his wife, Martha Custis Washington-2 by his side, and he’ll be tapping his feet, ready to dance a minuet as soon as he hears one.

He’s most probably dressed in brown wool, with matching breeches that end fashionably at the knee and white stockings-3, and suddenly you catch a hint of fragrance wafting away from him. You lean forward, inhale, and smell the fresh scent of a gentleman in the 18th century: lavender with citrus-y orange mingled with other aromatics. How do we know it’s Caswell Massey’s Number Six cologne? Because the cologne first landed on the market in 1780 and George Washington presented a bottle as a gift to the Marquis de Lafayette, his good friend and loyal patriot fighting in the American Revolution-4. Lafayette fought with George at Valley Forge, and even managed to ward off an insurrection among George’s troops-5. Now, that’s a good friend, deserving a special gift just for getting through the war.

I’m a history buff. I love Williamsburg and Monticello. Even our Village is modeled after 19th century Connecticut Western Reserve architecture. How could I resist buying my darling husband a bottle of Number Six? How could I resist buying him TWO bottles of Number Six? This past Valentine’s Day, he spritzed some on, and smelled divine. So, my handsome James, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette all have something in common.

And I got a whiff of history.


1 http://www.neatorama.com/2014/02/26/George-Washington-Knew-How-to-Party-Hard-Heres-His-Bar-Tab/

2 http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/george-marthas-courtship/

3 http://georgewashington.si.edu/portrait/dress.html

4 https://www.caswellmassey.com/products/number-six-cologne-spray-3-oz

5 http://www.ushistory.org/Valleyforge/served/lafayette.html