Between Friends New Address

I have moved! If you follow my blog you can find me here with my newest post:

www.strawhatshutterbug.blogspot.com

See you there!

Travel by Rail

There is something of the nomadic in me that my husband does not understand. He jokes that if the car is leaving our driveway I want to be in it and I don’t even need to know where it is going. He is pretty close to the truth. I love to travel. I love a road trip. And right now, as I write this, I am loving a train trip.

I have only flown for 12 years. I missed my brothers wedding when I was in my 30’s because I was afraid to fly and had never flown. (I am ashamed to say it, but it’s true). I took a job in 2000 that I had no idea involved any kind of travel outside the state and as it turned out after I accepted the job I was told I needed to go to D.C . on my first day. With 3 kids still at home and a need to get out there and get back in as short a time as possible, I booked a flight. I was terrified and the tale of that trip is a story all its own. Had I know there was air travel involved when I applied for the job, I probably would not have applied but as it has turned out, I have travelled by air a couple of times a year over the last 12 years to fulfill my job responsibilities. I have also travelled to Italy and Chile to see 2 daughters whose choices have stretched mine. And so I have proven that I can fly but though I have flown when necessary, I have never really come to like it.

That is why this morning at 7:30 a.m. when the snow began to fall in Minneapolis, I was watching the beauty of it from my coach seat aboard the Empire Builder. That is why today I have crossed and followed the Mississippi River for miles looking out the window of the lounge car at small towns like Columbus MN and Red Wing WI. And large cities like Milwaukee WI and Chicago IL. And all this while knitting on a wool vest for my husband and talking to dining car seat mates about the eagles we have been seeing. And comparing our train travel stories. That is why this trip to DC finds me on the Capitol Limited in my sleeper car gazing out my private window into a dark sky with a huge orange moon waiting for my dinner reservation at 8:00 after which I will return to my room where my bed has been made ready for my sleep. And where I will either knit, or read a book or watch a movie on my laptop until I am sleepy.

So far my travel by train has been alone. Do I like travelling alone? Yes, I do. Would I prefer travelling with my husband? Yes, I would and I await the time when it is his choice to travel by train with me. I would love to be sitting opposite him in the lounge car sipping wine and playing cribbage. I would love to nap with my head on his shoulder when I get drowsy after my bowl of corn/shrimp chowder for lunch. I would love watching him read a book or listening to him chat with a stranger. He probably expected that I would confirm train travel as my preferred mode of travel. But he may not have expected that I would be passionately in love with it.  He knows now. And he has been finding out all day as I text him exclaiming over everything from the falling snow to all the cute little features in my private room. And he will see this picture of my first class lounge in DC while I waited at my gate on my return trip with free coffee, baggage storage, and internet access.

Someday I am certain he will take a train trip with me. But meantime, I will continue my journey through the night and into mid-day tomorrow and then next week I will board the train again for my return home, happy to be there and happy to plan my next trip by train!

Inspired?

I guess I don't get inspired very often to blog and I'm not sure I am now but I have either had too much coffee or too much work and I feel wound tighter than a drum. I will try to channel that energy.

As I write this entry in my on/off blog (I guess you would call it that when I go 7 months ignoring it) it is snowing beautifully outside. Let it be said that we have had an awesome winter so this snow can count as beautiful. Not an awesome winter if you sell snow mobiles or if you ice skate but if you are a mover of snow and you like to take walks in decent weather, it has been awesome. Anyway, whenever it snows and I'm home and I have a fire I get to thinking ... about lots of things but mostly about food, and coffee, and reading, and knitting, and good movies, and good friends. I need more of all 6 but I am pretty blessed over-all.

This week is my Mardis Gras week of cooking. I have made chicken gumbo, beignets, and am set up to make Louisana Red Beans and Rice this weekend. Why Mardi Gras inspired me I have no idea. I have never been to Mardi Gras but it sounds pretty fun. Anyway it just takes one little idea to launch me on some tangent and I am entertained for a whole week. Never let it me said that I am high maintenance!

The one time I was in New Orleans with a few hours to sneak out of meetings I went with acquaintenances to Cafe Du Monde and we had beignets. You cannot eat these without being covered in powdered sugar. Try it. Pictured are the ones I made this week. They are heavy on the powdered sugar. So just to be safe, I eat them with lots of coffee.

The Guy from the Back Room

Several years ago I wrote a column for the local paper and one of my columns was a celebration of the local hardware store and their small toy room. I wrote that it was reminiscent of my own childhood Gambles store where I remembered going to the back room where the toys were and pulling the light string as a child to look at the shelves full of toys. When my column came out in the paper I was moritified to see a typo in my column and it referenced me going to the back room where the boys were. Thus the title of this blog ... it really is about (well sort of) a guy in a back room in a store. It is (well sort of) about Algona, a little big town not very far from me.

I guess Algona is up-scaling! I've always liked that little town but for some reason I've never gone there much and I'm not sure why. They have a Fareway and a K-Mart and those are pretty good reasons to go if you live in a town where you can't buy an onion on the day you need it.
I discovered a few years ago when my youngest daughter was taking her ACT test that they also have a very cool coffee shop. Very cool ... big city cool, wireless and sandwiches and ambiance. Then in eary July I heard they had a chocolate shop. Within days I was on my way and they do indeed have a chocolatier. And I was, well, I was like a kid in a candy shop, I guess. I had a wonderful piece of a turtley cheesecake and then returned an hour later and bought 6 truffles as a "souvenir". Wish I had a picture of them. They were beautiful. But, alas, I didn't take my camera and I don't have the truffles anymore.
Here is some chocolate to gaze at that I just happen to have in my food photo files.

Anyway ... on with the story of Algona. I walked a short ways just passed the chocolate shop and there was a bread bakery of some sort ... maybe called TheDaily Bread ... I don't remember; but I had to go in and see if they made real bread. It appeared that they were more of an organic food store than a bakery and apparently they were out of bread already. But I caught a guy walking out from a back room carrying some stuff and I asked him what kind of bread they made. And what I found out made my day ...

What they make is NOT sourdough bread with a hard crust and a chewy crumb but it turns out the guy from the back room does make that rustic bread at home. And turns out he has some starter that is linked to the civil war that he will share with me the next time I am in Algona. And it turns out he has a link to a bread baker in San Francisco that is going to send him some starter that dates back to Gold Rush days and the famous San Francisco sourdough bread. AND ... he will share that with me too. I might be in love. (Didn't get his name and he looks to be about 20 years younger so the love part isn't really relevant.)

Anyway, I am a new fan of Algona and plan to go there more often so like my other posts about Cedar Rapids Czech village and Des Moines East Village this is my celebration of Algona. And the guy that came out of the back room.

I may have an obsession. I continue to try to make authentic rustic bread and this is the closest I have come so far. So here's the story ...

One day I posted on Facebook that I wanted a wood fired oven and a friend immediately loaned me The Bread Builders; Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens. The first 1/2 of the book was really about bread baking and leaven chemistry and I became so frustrated that I almost gave up on baking rustic breads at all. Then I made myself read some of the last 1/2 of the book about building ovens and soon figured out that having my own wood fired oven made no sense. I won't go into what I learned that lead me to that conclusion but suffice it to say that I could not keep one used often enough for it to make sense.

So back to square one ... learning to make rustic breads using the recipe that had been working so well for me but now with a few new ideas and knowledge about how the crumb of the bread is supposed to look, how to slice the bread deep enough to get the curls and multi-colored browns, and how to raise the bread in baskets on linen eliminating my frustration with the corn meal and peel method!

Last week I was ready, I thought, to bake a few loaves for the local farmer's market and that was my plan with a vendor willing to take my 2 loaves as a trial run. Alas on Wednesday it was becoming obvious to me that my leaven had died and I had to back out. Failure! Again!

But not to be discouraged I started a new leaven and baked some bread for home use. Tuesday this week I took a cup of that batch I had stored and created those beautiful loaves you see in the picture. I have improved. I have learned from my failures and I have trumphed ... at least this week. And today those 2 loaves are going to the market.

So what's up with the brick you see in the picture? Well that is the most fun part. To simulate the wood fired oven, I use stones, pre-heat to 500 degrees and bake with a brick that is saturated with water. That creates the humid conditions that help make the process successful.

I may not sell a single loaf and if not all the better ... I will take it back home and we will eat it. But at least today I can hold my head up and my obsession has paid off!

An Unusual Photo Job

It is has been a gray rainy week here in northwest Iowa for a most unusual photography job that I shot this morning. It was my first funeral job and I don't expect there will be many more. This was a unique request from a daughter who planned, for her deceased mother, a last ride behind a team of horses. That ride was to be from her memorial service at home on the farm to the Pikertown cemetary north and west of Rolfe surrounded by a small group of people whom she had loved the most. Her last ride was across the beautiful Iowa landscape with the cool blowing breezes of a typical Iowa spring morning just as we have moved into summer. I was privileged to be a small part of it by seeing it through the lens of my camera.

The gray skys proved to be my biggest challenge and if I could shoot the job over I would slightly over-expose ... maybe. My task was to take pictures of the team of horses as they left the driveway of the homeplace and then again as they approached the cemetery a few miles away. I prepared 2 cameras. I thought through my settings thoroughly and consulted with my photographer daughter inviting her suggestions. I arrived early. I made note of where there was a stop sign or a parked car to crop out. I positioned myself and took several test shots. I changed my mind on settings. I changed my mind again. I finally decided to shoot for aperature priority instead of shooting on manual because I figured I had no lighting situation to over-ride and I wanted to control my depth of field; or so I thought.

The team of horses began to emerge from behind the grove and I was ready. But they were moving and they were moving fast. I got in about 4 shots and it was over. They had about 2 miles to go and now I needed to respectfully wait for the procession before I headed out on pavement to go the long way around and arrive ahead of the horses! I lit out right after the last car and off I went. I arrived in time to position myself again and watch the procession as they travelled west on the gravel before turning north to come past me. The road sets higher than the edge of the cemetery so I knew I would be looking slightly upward with a lot of sky behind them when they entered my camera's field of vision. I liked the way it was turning out.

As the buggy began to emerge around a tree I began to shoot. I knew this time how little time I had, so I shot fast and furious for probably 15 seconds before I quickly moved myself along the south edge of the cemetery as discreetly as I could to try to get a few shots of the buggy as it headed back east on the cemetery lane. Later back in the studio at the computer, I was to learn that by this time, my best shots had been taken.

As it turned out the gray sky was a little over-bearing and letting the camera decide the exposure, I lost some detail in the horses faces. As it turned the speed at which I had to work meant that playing with my depth of field did not happen. I keep thinking about what I would like to do different if I could re-shoot the job. I know I would like to over-expose those shots that had a lot of sky, but would I have had time to re-set for those shots that had a lot of dark evergreen trees? I know I would like to have shot close-ups of the faces of the horses but what shots would I have had to sacrifice that were taken zoomed out, as a trade-off for horses faces? I know I would like to have shot more pictures with the second camera but how many of my precious few seconds to shoot would have been used up switching cameras?

So over-all I am happy with the pictures and while I know they could be better I know, given the conditions under which I was working, they could have been a lot worse. I hope that my intent to convey the heavens opening up was successful by keeping a lot of sky in the pictures and I hope that my inclusion of lots of horizon captures the essence of this deceased farm wife, mother, teacher and friend of many who was iconic to the community. This was a woman whose legacy will include her love of the land, nature, family and the simple pleasures of cooking and gardening. I was part of a group of carolers at her house more than once over the years, and you didn't get to leave without eating something. She will be missed by many.

My Rustic Bread

I have been making rustic french bread this winter using my own starter. I can't go in a bakery without wanting to go home and make bread like the professionals. Of course I think that the harder a recipe is the better the end product would have to be so I searched for a recipe and landed on this 3 day process that requires a starter. It is really only the 3rd day that you have to commit much time to as the other 2 days are about the starter doing all the work. So here is how I do it.

Day 1: Mix 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of tepid water with the starter. Let this set covered in a cool dry place over-night.

Day 2: Remove 1 cup of the sponge and store in a jar in the fridge. To the remaining sponge add a cup of tepid water and 2 cups of either barley, rye, whole wheat or white flour. Mix thoroughly with hands and cover to let rise in a cool dry place overnight. (I use a spoon but I should do the hands thing. I bet this is about the natural spores or something contributing to the raising!)

Day 3: Add 1.5 cups tepid water and 7 cups white flour. Knead this for at least 10 minutes before covering to raise for 2-3 hours. After first raise, punch down and divide into 3 loaves shaped anyway you like. Place these loaves on the bottom of a cookie sheet generously sprinkled with corn meal. Let this raise at least 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees with the stone in the oven from the beginning. When ready to bake, slice the loaves diagonally with a serrated knive about 1/2 an inch deep and then slide them off the back of the cookie sheet onto the stone. Bake 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees for 20 - 30 more minutes. I have trouble getting all 3 loaves in the oven so the 3 rd loaf usually raises longer while the other 2 are baking. When they are pretty brown I take them out. If the loaves are long french loaves it takes less time than if the loaves are round heaps.

So this is a very crusty bread. Now you can add a little salt but I don't because the recipe came from my Mediterranean cookbook and the Mediterraneans don't add the salt. It takes some getting used to after the American bread recipes but I think of it like getting use to 85% chocolate after growing up on Hershey's candy bars. I want to like this bread so I have learned to! About the sliding to the stone process... this can be nerve racking and sometimes I don't use enough cornmeal and it sticks to the back of the cookie sheet and then I push it off and I'm sure I've ruined it. I bake it anyway. After 3 days of taking care of this bread I am not going to call it a failure!

Now you need to know how to make the starter ... So the first time you make this bread you put 2 cups of very warm water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of yeast. Add to this 2 cups of white flour and stir until mixed. Then let this set over night to rise. The next day you remove a cup of this mixture to be the starter for the next time you bake bread and follow directions for Day 2 and Day 3 above. For this batch of bread you might have slightly smaller loaves because you short yourself a little of the sponge by saving it, but in the future you will always have your starter in the fridge.

According to my book this recipe was in the New York Times in 1990 and the editor of Food & Wine magazine tried it and said it was the best bread he had ever baked. That was enough to sell me.

One thing you should know. The recipe in its NY Times version does not suggest you use white flour on the 2nd day. It just suggests the barley, rye or whole-wheat. Because it makes so much I just wanted a french bread that I could dip in oils or turn into French Toast, so I decided to use white flour and turn it into a french bread on my own. I have thought about splitting the recipe on day 2 and making 1/2 of it whole wheat or rye and the other half french but I haven't done it yet. If I ever do I will have to either make 4 small loaves or 2 very large loaves since the recipe is for 3 loaves. I guess I could also divide the sponge into 3rds on the second day. It just has seemed easier to do my own thing with it and make it french. I rarely allot much time to day 1 and 2 often mixing it up before leaving for the studio. Call me lazy or dis-organized but I challenge you to find fault with this great bread!