There are fails in life, and then there are EPIC fails. Mine seem to fall into the latter category. I should write a book entitled What NOT To Do.
It was another lovely day in the desert, just like we all expect when we come down to get a suntan in the winter. Okay, we NEVER expected this!
It didn't start out too bad, but in no time it was so black and oppressive, you felt like it was sitting on your shoulders. It's all good ... the desert always needs the rain. Boy did it rain ... buckets!!! The flowers will be amazing to see this spring (if it ever gets here) and so will the weeds. I can look forward to hours of cleanup work when I return in the summer, but the desert will be a gorgeous shade of green.
With no bread on the horizon ... and I do LOVE bread ... I drug out my old bread making machine. You can't go wrong with this baby. You just throw all the ingredients in there and it does all the mixing, kneading, rising and baking for you. Oh the smell of fresh baking bread!!
Here's where the epic fail comes in. After four hours, I opened the lid and saw all this white ... WHAT THE HECK? This doesn't look good .... but I took it out and plopped it on the rack ... like a rock!! I'm pretty sure something went wrong here, but I don't know what yet.
It's French Bread that I've never made before ... maybe it's supposed to look like this. I sliced off a small piece and put a little butter on top. Fresh bread and butter ... it doesn't get any better than that.
OMG I spit it out. It tasted like something I left on the porch for three weeks. Even the coyotes won't eat THIS! The investigation was on to determine what happened.
Big sigh ... it didn't take long to find the answer. I just bought this yeast last week at Safeway. Doesn't anyone know they are supposed to check the pull dates? Does ANYONE pull their products based on those dates any more? I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was. My mouth was SO looking forward to fresh bread. What a waste of 4 cups of flour!!
I went back to the sewing room and finished up this quilt top. It's number one in my to-be-quilted pile. All the pieces really are straight and square ... it just looks wonky in the picture.
With the rain still coming down, I switched into overdrive and finished up THIS quilt top. It's going in the I-don't-know-what-to-do-wth-it pile. It needs backing, but I don't want to spend a fortune since it is a queen size. Regular fabric will cost around $80 so I'm looking for an alternative.
Just as I was finishing up that quilt, the Chance house called to invite me to dinner. Never EVER turn down those invitations. This time it was to have some of the best fish EVER. Culvers serves up fried Walleye every so often, and only for a short time. We partake every chance we get. This stuff is DELICIOUS!! I brought home half of it for dinner tonight.
Today I'll be out with my clippers trimming up bushes that are rubbing up against the house. It's the perfect time ... wet soil means the small ones can be easily pulled out.
The excitement just never ends in the desert!!!
Bummer about the bread. We go to Culver's quite often but have never tried the fish. I'll have to do that next time.
ReplyDeleteI think they have it pre-Easter every year. It's pretty tasty!!!
DeleteDo you ever use a flat cotton bed sheet for backing - I have and it works great, and much cheaper than fabric, as in Manitoba, Canada, quilting fabric runs
ReplyDelete$20.00 to $30.00 a meter.
Yikes Louise!! THAT is PRICEY!! I never thought of sheets ... sounds like a very good idea. Thank you!
DeleteYeast is a funny thing...too much yeast and it bubbles and bread goes flat. Too much 'rising' and it will have a bad taste. Inactive and it ends up with a Rock that even Jonathan won't touch in fear of breaking his beak.
ReplyDeleteRight you are Dave ... and this was a ROCK!
DeleteI'm so glad you said the picture was "wonky". I thought my vision was wonky...lol. I'm have read so many complaints about "buying out of date" items. I forget to check since that wasn't something we had to do in the past. I think there's a Culver's in Yuma. I'll have to check.
ReplyDeleteI always check dates on salad, but forget about everything else. I guess I better pay more attention.
Delete"...just like we all expect when we come down to get a suntan in the winter." Actually there is supposed to be a secondary rainy season in the Sonoran Desert in winter. So the expectations you are referring to might need to be adjusted.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations are ALWAYS being adjusted!! Seems Mother Nature is never on the same wave length as I am.
DeleteI didn't know stores had pull dates. I just found out you're supposed to throw away bread when it has a little green mold. I always, just dug deeper in the loaf and cut out the green. That KaBLOOnie ruined my day. I was hoping this crummy weather would be gone tomorrow. Nice quilt anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat's what we did back in the day when there WERE no pull dates. Now I try to check to make sure it will last, only having ONE person to eat it.
DeleteTo me, your bread story just doesn't add up. Dry yeast just doesn't go bad because the date says so and it will way outlast the date thingy. And the bad taste doesn't add up from yeast not working, so there seems to be something else going on? :O)
ReplyDeleteLooking at the fish, they really know how to get the coating just right, much better than I do. I'm still working on that one.
Bobseyes
I don't know Bob ... it's the first time I've ever had it go that wrong. The flour was fresh ... unbleached even. Salt and water ... that's it. Maybe it's just my karma! LOL
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