A Division of Labor

Mr. Hunting Creek today: get up at 630am, let the dogs out, make coffee, bring caffe latte to grateful spouse (me), let dogs back in, go out to the grocery store to get dog food (because yesterday Trader Joe had no dog food), call grateful spouse from grocery store to advise what he was buying (but really he wanted to say - hey I found standing rib roasts on sale - SNOW DAY SCORE!), go to hardware store to fill up propane tank in case power goes out, get Snow melt stuff for sidewalks, come back, unpack groceries, sit down read paper, drink coffee, (this is all before 8AM)work remotely all day, then call daughter at work, tell her she better spend the weekend here instead of snowed in her apartment alone on Capitol Hill. Drive to train station at 5p to pick up daughter. In Blizzard (what dads do). Make standing rib roast (If you were stuck anywhere in the snow, you'd want to be stuck with Mr. Hunting Creek. His motto is Be Prepared. He told me today that this runs in his family: his ancestor had advised the Donner Party not to cross the Sierra Nevada when and where they did. His ancestor crossed into Oregon with all of his oxen and family members uneaten. They are a practical bunch, his people.)
Mrs. Hunting Creek today: Drink caffe latte, work, tell Mr. Hunting Creek he is a Snow Day Genius to get Standing Rib Roast for dinner. Bake oatmeal bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (it's fabulous, and yes, actual work was under 5 minutes). Set table. Eat dinner made by Mr. Hunting Creek. (Mr. Hunting Creek is a great cook.) Make dough for sticky buns for breakfast. (It's a Snow Emergency, People!) Watch Trashy Westerns with family.
I think I like snow days.

Get out your bowl and spoon

And I mean a BIG bowl. I made no knead bread yesterday and again today and my son says it is the best bread I have ever made(and I bake all the time.)
I bought this book back in November called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
I have to confess that I scoffed. I set the book aside as I was super busy in November and December, but earlier this week, I read it again and tried their basic recipe. (I have linked to the King Arthur Flour version, as it is awesome too.) It is amazing. The crust is crusty and crunchy and the crumb is moist and delicious. This is so easy to do even a beginner could do it.
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone, and I hope you all spend the day as our founders desired - picnicking and celebrating with family and friends.

I've been thinking about personal independence days as well. By this I mean when I learned how to do something that allowed me to be free to make my own choices, culinarily, stylistically or otherwise. Here are a few of mine, which I will be privately celebrating today:

Bread Baking Day! Way back when I was a student at Berkeley, the future Mr. Hunting Creek and I used to combine our resources and cook together. We were always broke, but had high culinary standards. I decided to teach myself how to bake bread. In true Berkeley style, I went to the University Library and checked out books on this subject and read all about it. My first attempt was disappointing - somewhat like a brick and ugly too. However, with further study and a little practice, on my second attempt I made bread that looked and tasted like BREAD. There was no turning back. I was then able to make our own rolls, pizza dough, pie crust and sandwich bread for pennies. I felt like a goddess.

Making my first blouse: I wanted to learn how to sew, so my mother took me to visit a friend who had a teenage daughter who sewed. She felt like I would learn better from someone my own age. This girl was older than I, and one of the cool kids, but she was nice enough to show a ten year old the basics. However, her working style was somewhat slapdash, and when we got home, my mother cast a critical eye over the finishing details on the inside and said, "that's not the right way to make a blouse!". My young teacher had just had me sew the seams together with all raw edges everywhere and no finishing, right in style now with many avant-garde designers, but anathema to my mother's generation. Out came the seam ripper and we redid everything until it was done right according to my mother's high standards. To this day I am unable to do anything in the "quick and dirty style"; even a costume has to be finished correctly. I'm sure Dr Freud would have plenty to say about this! Once it was done correctly, even a sullen preteen had to admit it looked better. Thanks, Mom!

Learning how to fit: after I had had my children and was a busy working mom, I was unhappy with the way patterns fit. I was no long the young skinny thing who could make patterns right out of the envelope, but I was unhappy with the patterns made according to my measurements. They were sloppy looking, too big or just plain wrong. Then I discovered PatternReview and read a few reviews by women who were also large busted. When I read the tutorials they had added showing how they did the full bust adjustment, you could have knocked me over with a feather - OF COURSE! That's what was wrong! There was a secret I didn't know! Cue angels singing and the trumpets blowing! I would especially like to credit Ann at Gorgeous Things , Debbie Cook and the Sewing Divas for their generous tutorials.
After that, there was no turning back. I could make my own clothes that fit correctly. I was no longer a slave to RTW.

Happy Independence Day!