Dark, unstormy night

Twilight, not night. I waited too long to go outside today, missed the "heat" of the day and I saw a huge, wicked bank of fog rolling in as I carried my kayak down the Wishkah ramp behind WalMart. No sun during the paddle, just the final light of day to push me upstream against an ebb tide. Since I wasn't caught in the act there must not be a law against peeing on the bank right after paddling.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, in Olympia, the sun shone brightly as it arced across a blue canvas. Then, shortly after 5 p.m., the hills above East Bay Road sucked it down. From members of the rowing club came news of a whale sighting near Gull Harbor--I almost got there before deciding I'd have to turn back. They didn't make themselves known to me.

a 400 gm lump of 50/50 dough fits just right into an 8" dish, making a loaf about 3" high.

Sometimes I know how to paddle.

Mostly I just think I know how. I went kayaking in Budd Inlet in Olympia 10 days ago. As usual, my technique included the paddle blades throwing water onto my head and torso. One of the rowers coming in at the same time asked if I fell into the water. I said I was a sloppy paddler.

A couple days later, I put the boat into the water again, vowing to whip the problem. I changed the plane through which the recovering blade moves so that it didn't include me. That plane is parallel to the long axis of the kayak and almost vertical. It took 8 years for me to get this right, but I got it right. No one ever pointed out why I was so wet after kayaking. Formerly, I thought paddling wet was a given condition of using a wing paddle. I used to finish a paddle workout totally wet with water in the cockpit even using a spray skirt. Now, if I get a few drops on me, I know how to correct with the next stroke. mostly, now I'm wet from perspiration. I forgot my spray skirt a few days ago--not too much water in the cockpit. I know how to paddle. Until tomorrow.

Six Seater Loaded

Brady's Oysters. Vern, Janet, Keith & I loaded the boat onto 900 lb trailer borrowed from Bela K. We followed & observed the boat as Vern drove it back to his house. steady as a rock. small bumps negotiated without any untoward wiggles.

Paddling between squalls

We (Vern & Janet Heikkila, Keith Lile & I) had planned to put the 6 seater into the water today. Vern backed out, citing relentless rain all day long. I rode my bike into town, for a few small chores. Rode over the Wishkah river, saw the water rising. rain had mostly abated. I rode home & got the kayak onto the car. got out the single blade paddle. voom! what a great night! FLAT water! NO rain, just humidity about 58 degrees.

We have a weird pattern where it rains during the day and whenever it pleases at night. When it doesn't, you gotta move quickly getting the boats into the water. It's probably better if it's already raining when you first get into the water & it stops while you're out paddling.

Artisan Bread N+2

Artisan Bread 8/19/2010

Biga 1045 a.m.

2.5 Cups Whole wheat

1.0 C water

1/4 tsp yeast

Dough made

1.25 tsp yeast

3.25 c water

All the biga

4 tsp salt

6.5 c organic whole wheat

1 c bread flour

Dough looks right. This time 9 cups of organic whole wheat from the Marketplace, Aberdeen, WA & 1 cup of bread flour.

rising on counter for 2 hr then into fridge overnight.

1/4 of dough (615 gm) taken out left to rise some more in bowl. Remembered after t hr that I didn't knead it. So stretch and fold x3 at 30 min intervals. left to rise on a floured towel in perfed colander & covered with a bowl. at 1.5 hours, turned onto parchment paper, using a disc the size of the dough to keep it from dropping and collapsing.

into the oven? Yes. The 1st loaf turned out at 8" diameter and 3" high. Found a thermometer in a drawer & stuck it into the the loaf--200 deg.

Found two books online: The Bread Bible and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain baking. Library had both.

From Wikipedia: A banneton is a type of basket used to provide structure for the sourdough breads during proofing. Proofing baskets are distinct from loaf pans in that the bread is normally removed from these baskets before baking. Traditionally these baskets are made out of wicker, but many modern proofing baskets are made out of silicone or plastic.

Hey, bannetons cost $20 each! Do I think I can find a basket for less at Big Lots, Cost Plus or Ross Stores?

The Bread Bible says I can use a colander, of which I have two. Let the bread rise within, When it's finishing rising, invert onto parchment paper with a disk underneath that matches the size of the dough so it doesn't fall and collapse.

Artisan bread again

This time total of 6.5 C bread flour, 3.5 c whole wheat flour

4.25 cups water (1 c water for the biga and 3.25 c for the dough).

process started 2 days ago, making the biga.

Yesterday a.m. I made the dough.

@1500 dough is wet but not as wet as 2 days earlier. Stretch and fold x 5 @14 minute intervals, shaped into long loaves. Placed on sheets of parchment paper on flimsy disposable baking sheets 2 loaves to the sheet. Wet towels around and in between loaves to keep loaves from spreading. covered with wet towel. The loaves still want to spread--after rising a bit, they spread.

On counter top to rise for 1.5 hours

Into fridge

two loaves removed from refrigerator at 1600

1800 oven turned on, stone on shelf. water in pan

towels removed, loaves slack and pretty flat. Baked on baking sheets.

final size 14" x 5.5" x 1.25" high--flat, not much lift. Same great crust and crumb as two days ago, but needs a push up bra.

Next, how else to keep the creature from spreading out? a metal fence? Replace more bread flour w/ whole wheat flour?

Aug 19 1515

2 remaining loaves removed from fridge, looking pretty flat. placed into baguette pan. Pan placed into cold oven with oven light on and instructions to rise.

Must remember to poke top of loaves before baking.

Left: one of the baguettes. crust & crumb ok.

Original recipe was for 3.25 cups water and 10 cups of unbleached flour. I started by using Eagle Mills (Costco) Ultragrain flour which is essentially whole wheat. Going to bread flour 6.5 c + whole wheat 3.5 c makes the dough more slack and liable to spread. I forgot that rule going from white to wheat: add more water--the reverse applies going from Ultragrain to white bread flour.

I'd get lost by myself

Mountain bike ride w/Marc Tomlinson & John Forrester around logging trails above Lake Aberdeen.

5 p.m. great time to go .

About 70 deg. F (21 deg C) good shaded double track trail, mostly smooth, not too steep going up anywhere, uphill grinds short.

Artisan bread N+1

Artisan Bread
Going back 2 nights, I made preparations to bake bread. That is, for baking either the next morning or afternoon.

Here's the recipe.

But wait, first I had to make the Biga or Starter

@ 11 p.m. I made the biga using bread flour instead of all purpose.

At 8 a.m. the next day, I made the dough, using the entire biga and using

4 cups of bread flour &

3.5 cups of whole wheat flour.

Being a bit adventurous, I used 4 cups of water instead of the 2.25 in the recipe. I'd tried 2.25, but (because I mix by hand?), I couldn't get all the flour moistened. 3.25 cups worked pretty well in the past.

at 11:30 a.m. the dough went into the fridge because I had to go out.

@ 10 p.m. I returned, splitting the dough into four and did 4 or 5 stretch/folds on each lump with 10 min between S/F's. No kneading--this is not meant to be work.

In between stretch/folds, I made four bottomless boxes from cardboard--4x10x3" high and cut parchment paper to fit the bottom and run up each side.

after final S/F each lump of dough went into each of the boxes (above).

At noon, I turned on the oven 425 deg. a ceramic tile on the lowest shelf. After 30 min a pan of water went into the oven below the stone. @ 60 min I lifted the boxes & tried to slide 2 loaves of bread off the baking sheet onto the tile. No go, the dough refused to budge. It also went flat. I shoved it on and got two loaves of bread like you see below. It's more Ciabatta than Pugliese, but what do I know? I googled the difference and I am still befuddled. Nonetheless, the bread had a good crust, was soft and chewy inside and tasted great! Great means great whether plain, w/butter, w/olive oil +/-balsamic vinegar, etc. We ate half a loaf in 10 minutes

With the 3rd loaf, I pushed a baking pan up next to it and got slightly taller bread, more like a traditional french loaf.

I don't have a pic of that 3rd loaf as Daughter #2 absconded to British Columbia with it at 3 p.m., but the 4th loaf went into (8 p.m.) the oven. I slid the baking sheet holding this loaf into the oven, & then slipped the cardboard box off. The 4th loaf has maintained the torpedo shape imposed by the box.

This is loaf #4 on the left, fresh out of the oven. Below, a view of the bread sliced in which I can see that I forgot to poke the top of the dough to rupture the big bubble on the top of the loaf and to enable the bread to rise a bit more in the oven. The crust is decent, the crumb decent & the taste is outa this world.

This loaf had its start almost 48 hours ago.

My evaluation of my efforts.

1. I have used the entire biga after the first few efforts because it doesn't take much yeast or flour. The recipe says to measure out 13/16th cup biga--no can do.

2. In the past, I had used rolled up wet towels to keep the dough from spreading (effective) and they didn't stick to the dough. I liked the bottomless boxes which served well to keep the dough from spreading flat which gives a flat bread. The reluctance of the loaves to slip off the baking sheet surprised me. they also stick more to the parchment paper. The towels are effective and more dependable than the boxes and when used with parchment paper, slide without issues.

3. I didn't like the wetness of the dough, because it wanted to spread over the work surface while it rested between stretch/fold events.

4. The bread flour and whole wheat flour replaced Eagle Mills Ultra Grain flour (Costco) This is great bread but not good science, changing so many variables at once.

Svea 123

What fun! I found a really old Svea 123 backpacking stove in a box. It's about the size of a large can of tomatoes only a bit taller. It was missing one of the pot support wires. I found a short length of 1/8" steel rod, bent it and shoved it in. Then I prepared to fire it up. I poured in an ounce or two of fuel, put the stove in the refrigerator with the valve open, then a bit later, pulled it out and cupped it in my hand. Soon a little fuel flowed up and drooled down into the little depression around the fuel pipe. I closed the valve, lighted the fuel and in a little bit the stove began to hiss. A few seconds later, while the flame was still going, I opened the valve and half a flame came out, striking the dispersing shield.

I ran the stove to empty and removed the burner jet & poked at the orifice with a pin. I added fuel to the tank and fired it up again. This time a full flame blossomed from the jet with the familiar classic motoring noise that every Svea seasoned camper knows. I began the rehabilitation of the stove with a mind to sell it on Ebay, but I just can't sell a piece of backpacking lore. It's really quite small, so I want to keep it.

More information at Wikipedia

a Smaller house?

If I could live in a smaller house how small could it be? What would it have to do?

a place to cook, regular size stove/oven, fridge. double kitchen sink or a really big single. Table and 3 or 4 folding chairs. a bedroom, a bathroom. place for a sewing machine to swing out of a cabinet?

place to put food, dishes, pots pans, baking stuff.

A place to put my skis, my camping gear, my bikes, my kayak/outrigger canoe, my tools. gardening stuff. hm. A garage for all that stuff?

Guess I wouldn't have but a couple of chairs, practical AND comfy of course. A table.

Desk for my computer and printers, etc. Place to put my camera gear.

Gorge Games outrigger canoe paddling

Great downwind running on Friday. Vern fell out of boat twice--great affinity for the water--I backpaddled until Vern swam up and climbed back on.

Then bought fixin's for salad. lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, walnuts, red peppers, raisins, dressings. brought out my Pugliese bread/butter to go w/Jan's great spaghetti & sauce.

brought out the fiddle to play some Klezmer from book. did the Bach Gavotte in Rondo (don't know anything else, do I?) Played some Joplin rag. Some of our kids played chess. Jon served up some of his home brewed beer.

Saturday. Breakfast of pancakes made by Sue Zimmerman. I threw in blueberries, but forgot to add the walnuts. most xlnt. Wakinikona mixed team race started, then after one lap, returned to dock. Jon Wallace, steersman for my race gave us a prerace talk. I took seat 4 with Bryan Pule, Keka Ichinose, Jason Zimmerman, Mike Anderson in 1,2,3,5 . I am such a sophomore in the OC6. Mike and Jon kept me straight and synchronized. Jon also kept the boat straight. we made the turn from upwind to downwind and cued by Jon, we caught waves and surfed, fast long and hard, passing several boats. Coming upwind again, the Autumn Rose boat caught us, but once again on the downwind leg, we overcame, leaving them behind for good. I'd almost run out of gas, shortly before the last turn. I forgot to take the branched chain amino acids offered by Jon. We did not catch or lose any more places, finishing respectably in the middle. Would do it again today.

Saturday p.m. Dinner by Jason. Stag brand chili from the tin. hm. maybe people under 30 don't cook. I think I did, though. After a few hours, all was still good, when the heartburn had dissipated.

Sunday a.m. breakfast of granola & blueberry cereal. small boat race at 10 all downwind after a traverse to Oregon side of the Columbia. I paddled in the double with Vern in front. We caught some big waves, burying the bow, Vern leaned back, but I didn't see the bow, so I kept paddling hard and fast. Boat would begin to broach on occasion, as the rudder popped out of the water--I corrected using my paddle to poke. Big fun.

Today

Played some fiddle. Did housekeeping stuff.

Attended a talk at the Woodworking club, re: building musical instruments, spec mandolins and ukuleles quite interesting.

Bread in breadmaker with poppy seed, turmeric, pepper--hot & seedy, yumm!

Got email from Marc Tomlnsn that A. Eric Erickson died of injuries in ATV incident on Sat. Spoke to him just 2 weeks ago. Going to miss him. What do we do with those things--we can't legislate common sense--will someone propose seatbelts and rollbars?

Summary of trip to Olympic NP part i

Wow, what a tough hike up to Flapjack Lakes. Wednesday July 7, 2010, about 2 p.m. I figured I could drive to Staircase Ranger Stn arrive ~4 p.m. and get my wilderness permit. Wrong. No one at the entrance booth & no one at the ranger stn. The permit stand outside the door of the stn said, no self registration for Flapjack Lks. I wandered a bit, then saw the entrance attendant in a truck crossing the Skokomish R. & then the Ranger. Finally got my permit at 5:20 p.m. On the trail at 5:35 walked the first 4 miles in 1:15 then turning sharply uphill & saw that it would take 3 more hours to get to Flapjacks--2400' climb over 4 miles. Arrived just before total darkness. was able to set up camp, clean up a bit and slip into bag & sleep. A.M. brought clear skies & bright sun after it cleared the bowl surrounding the lakes. Met neighbors, Doug Terry & nephew, meetup.com hiker Lee.

Great day to explore toward Gladys Divide, but we came up against soft slushy snow and steep terrain. Were pretty sure of our position, about 3750 ft due N of Mt. Lincoln at 4400' elevation.

Back to camp to wander around the lakes in my flip flops, stubbing a toe on a branch and losing a few ml of blood. Some housekeeping. Love my stove, sleeping bag. Love iodine water purification tabs. Love my MSR Missing Link tent. Just cannot understand how I carried big loads with camera, tripod, etc in past at Ansel Adams Wilderness, and at Kings Canyon. Forgot to bring sleeping mitts for my hands and didn't leak test my REI water bag/pillow. Not at all sure how I'd handle something like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. I will need a few more

Shared some of Doug's bounty of indiv wrapped cheese and sausage--energy food! brought my dinner to sit w/Doug, Lee, et al. I read aloud from The NY Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, bringing laughter to all.

Up Friday. Love granola from the Marketplace, Aberdeen. dry mild is a-ok. hike back to car. Met Doug etal in Burger shack in Hoodsport. Home to Aberdeen. Gotta go out again!