Trying Live Writer on a Saturday

I woke up this morning trying to remember something I intended to do today. I’m sure it was important, like cleaning out the closet or dusting the bookshelves. But since the thought escaped me, I sat down at the computer to check my email, which, by the way, is not at all unusual for a Saturday morning.

One of the first that I opened was a feed from Today's Creative Blog extolling the beauty of Windows Live Writer and since I had nothing better to do and am always looking for an easier way to format a post here or there, I asked my husband to download it while I fixed another cup of coffee.

I may like this. It looks good so far. Now I need to play around with photos and new text, maps, tags, etc. Oh, I may be in trouble here. Surely, that closet can wait until next Saturday!

I call this little ATC “Cherish Mary Pickford” ~ I’ve been playing around with Photoshop this past week and have really enjoyed it. Just wish I had time and energy to do some scrapbooking.

Technorati Tags: ATC,Mary Pickford,Windows Live Writer

Tasty Brioche and Sally Lunn Bread

Several days ago I decided I wanted to try Terry Thornton's bread. Although I was not all that excited about dragging my large bread maker out of storage in the pantry, I was excited about trying Terry's recipe. Well, turns out I couldn't find my bread maker. Bob and I looked and looked. We poked into corners in this house and the attic that I forgot were there. But no bread maker to be found. I'm sure it's somewhere ~ surely I wouldn't have put it in a yard sale ~ would I?

No problem, I still have the dough hook that attaches to my counter-top Kitchen-Aid electric mixer, so I figured all is not lost. I should have tried Terry's recipe first, but instead I decided to get a little more adventuresome and picked a recipe out of my cookbook, A World of Breads, by Dolores Casella Ms. Casella had written in an introduction to Loaf Breads that "not many women make a yeast-raised Sally Lunn any more." So that's the one I decided to try. Just had to follow directions for making bread that came with my Kitchen-Aid and I should be alright. Right?

I placed it in one regular loaf pan and as the dough was rising, I realized it should have gone into two pans. It started coming over the sides and I had to cut some of the excess off before I actually baked it. The Sally Lunn was a little too sweet for me, but it was a good bread.
Here is Ms. Casella's recipe:

SALLY LUNN
(Yeast)

This is the yeast version of this famous English bread which has been popular for several hundred years. (The cookbook also has a baking-powder version.) Serve the bread for tea or afternoon coffee, with bowls of fresh fruit, or at breakfast with butter and plenty of homemade jam.

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup scalded and cooled rich milk
1 cake yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
3 eggs, beaten
4 cups flour, sifted

Cream the butter, sugar, and salt. Add the cooled milk. Dissolve the yeast in the water and add to the creamed mixture along with the beaten eggs. Add the flour a little at a time, beating thoroughly between additions. Cover and let rise until doubled. Then punch down and pour into a well-greased loaf pan or small tube pan. Cover and let rise again. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and tests done.

NOTE: To bake as buns pour the batter into well-greased muffin pans, cover and let rise. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until done.

In the Rolls section of this cookbook, Ms. Casella includes a recipe for Brioche with several variations. Two days after my Sally Lunn adventure, I decided to try Brioche. I must say, the results were great. I shared rolls with my neighbor and my granddaughter and both raved about them. I had enough dough to make 2 pans of rolls and 1 loaf of this very versatile bread.



Here is Ms. Casella's recipe:

BRIOCHE

Brioche is typically French. Some authorities believe that it was named for the town of Brie, where it supposedly originated, and that originally it was always made with Brie cheese. It is a rich basic dough with many uses. This recipe, my favorite, is based on the one given in Catherine Owen's Culture and Cooking, or Art in the Kitchen (1881 edition), which she said was from the Paris Jockey Club.

1 or 2 cakes or packages yeast
1/4 cup warm milk or water
3 tablespoons sugar
7 eggs, or 6 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups soft butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon cream

If dry yeast is used dissolve it in the warm milk or water along with the sugar. If fresh yeast is used, cream it with the sugar and add the milk or water. Add the 7 whole eggs, or the egg yolks and eggs, and stir well to blend. Add 2 cups flour, the salt, and the butter and beat thoroughly. Add the remaining flour, blend, and beat well. Beating Brioche dough is very important, as it is too soft to knead. Either beat it is a heavy-duty mixer, or else pick up the dough in your hands and slap it down on a breadboard. (This will become frustratingly sticky, which is why I beat the dough in a mixer, very thoroughly, before and after adding the last 2 cups flour.) When the dough has been well beaten, brush the top with melted butter, cover the bowl, and let it rise until doubled. Then punch it down, cover the bowl again, and place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly. This will take at least 12 hours, so it is best to made Brioche dough the day before it is needed. It will keep in the refrigerator for several days. When needed, remove from refrigerator. Handle it quickly, as it soon becomes too soft to use. Brioche dough can be shaped in various ways. You might braid small pieces of dough and place the braids in small, buttered loaf tins (these are fluted tins available in specialty shops). Or make small loaves, or regular-sized loaves, or buns to be baked in buttered muffin tins. In any case, let the shaped dough rise until doubled. Glaze with egg yolk and cream. Bake rolls or buns at 400-degrees for 20 minutes; large loaves at 375-degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.

NOTE: If desired add another 1/2 cup flour to the dough. Shape it into a crown or large round loaf and place on a buttered cookie sheet. Let rise until doubled and bake in a 375-degree oven until browned and done.

Next I'm going to buy some small loaf pans and try Terry's bread recipe. I'm just very afraid mine won't be as pretty as his turned out to be!

Sources:

Website:
Thornton, Terry. A Weblog: Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi, "I'm Baking for the Sale at Itawamba Historical Society." http://hillcountryofmonroecountry.blogspot.com/ :accessed June 10, 2009.
Books:
Casella, Dolores. A World of Breads. NEW YORK:David White Company, 1966.
Photographs:
My Brioche, Digital Format. Privately held by Judith Richards Shubert, 2009.

Wordless Wednesday - Grandchildren & Geese

Photograph taken by Judith Richards shubert, (c) 2009

The Virtual Dime Museum

Brooklyn Caps and Mad Hatters

Reminded me of my post about the Fort Worth Cats!

Fun at Fort Worth Cats Baseball Game

Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Fort Worth Cats vs. Wichita Wingnuts
Exhibition Game at LaGrave Field

Dodger
the official Cats' Mascot

Can you find Bob, Peggy, Justin, Caroline, and Mac in the crowd?
I know where they are!

#21 - Kelley Gulledge
Catcher



#13 - Joel Kirsten
Pitcher



#11 - Dustin Cameron
Pitcher
Last played for Pensacola

#44 - Lee Gwaltney
Pitcher

#33 - Jae Jung
Pitcher
Last played for South Korea

Terry Thornton is Baking Bread

Mr. Terry Thornton, author of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, has written a great post in which he shares his bread baking techniques. Entitled "I'm Baking for the Sale at Itawamba Historical Society", he tells us "there is no big mystery about yeast bread - after all, your ancestors have for generations the world over, made risen breads with the most primitive of equipment." Terry shows us in a Photo-essay how to make this delicious and nutritious food.

Terry is a writer and the publisher of numerous genealogy and cemetery blogs. He is a member of: Itawamba Historical Society and Association for Gravestone Studies, the Founder of The Association of Graveyard Rabbits, and Columnist for MONROE JOURNAL.

He has succeeded in making me want to drag my bread machine out of the back of the pantry and get busy. I'm going to Sam's and bake some bread! How about you?

Pillsbury graphic from June at Art Freebies.

Surfside Beach, Texas - Postcard Friendship Friday

Surfside, a Texas coastal city offering miles of unspoiled shoreline, coastal marsh, rivers and bays. It is a great place for a retreat such as my sisters and I had a couple of weeks ago. It is laid back and comfortable and is a favorite of beach lovers and bird watchers.

It is only an hour and a half from Houston. Towns named Angleton, Freeport, and Clute will point you in the right direction.





Participate in Postcard Friendship Friday
hosted by
Marie Reed
Cpaphil Vintage Postcards

And the winner is . . .me!

I won the most fabulous earrings from Boutique By Bonnie April 16th! Her Tax Relief Giveaway ran from March 20th through April 15th (tax day) and I, as the winner, got to pick my prize from the two pairs of earrings pictured here. Bonnie chose the winner on April 16^th by random number generation.

The little package arrived in my mailbox Monday and I've barely taken them off since. They are perfect.

Bonnie lives in the foothills of the Rockies in the beautiful state of Colorado. Her passions include photography, making jewelry and writing. She is a very popular artisan who has combined all of her talents online. I hope you'll visit her blog and her Etsy store, BoutiqueByBonnie, often to see what's new.

Dale’s Spicy Beef Casserole

2 ½ pounds boneless rump roast

¼ cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon all-spice

1/8 teaspoon salt and pepper

1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce

½ cup burgundy wine

½ cup beef broth (Campbell’s)

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Cut the rump roast into 2-inch cubes. Combine flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and all-spice. Dredge or coat the meat with the flour mixture.

Place meat in a 2 quart casserole dish, or better yet, a crock pot.

Pour the remaining flour mixture, if any, over the meat.

Stir together the tomato sauce, wine, beef broth, vinegar, and Worcestershire Sauce. Pour this over the meat and stir it together. Cover and cook for 3 hours at 325 degrees – or all day on slow in the crock pot.

HINT:

If the meat is slightly frozen, it will be easier to cut into 2-inch cubes.

From Secrets of Better Cooking, published 1973 by The Reader's Digest

Cuts of Meat for Roasting

RUMP - a superb roast for flavor, this is a large even piece of meat, found just above the round. The whole rump weighs from 10 to 15 pounds. It is expensive as a whole roast unless many portions are required. It is generally cut into smaller roasts, and sold either with or without the bones. It is best when cooked by either of the following methods.

First method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.; this will take about 15 minutes. Make sure there is a natural coating of fat on top of the roast. Add a thin layer of chopped fat if the meat is lean. Roast for exactly 15 minutes to seal the outside pores of the meat and preserve the natural juices. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees F. for the balance of required time.

Second method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and roast the meat at this temperature for the entire time. This is the easiest method. The shrinkage is less than the first; the meat is always tender and the top is crusty brown.

Graphic by June's Art Freebies

Girls' Weekend 2009 - Surfside Beach, Texas

Wow, we had a great time at our annual Girls' Weekend! This year it was sister Peggy's turn to choose our destination. We usually put our names in a "hat" and draw for the privilege of deciding where our group of 5 Goddesses will venture to next.

Usually, we try to go in April or May. Because we don't really like the heat that seems like the best plan. Next time maybe we'll wait until the first "cold snap!"

Peggy lived in LaPorte near Houston for several years and said she missed the beach so much she chose Surfside and a neat beach house just steps from the water. We stayed at the beautiful Beach Retreat, at 215 Carlton Avenue owned by Tom Warren. It had all the modern amenities that we like to find in our home away from home, but with the beach atmosphere we were craving.

Ann, Sue, Linda Kay, Peggy and moi' packed our overnight bags and left North Texas behind as we climbed into Ann's large truck and headed south. Right through the hill country in the better part of bluebonnet and wildflower season. Well, actually, I guess we didn't go right through the Hill Country because we veered southeast after hitting Walnut Springs. But we saw plenty of bluebonnets none-the-less.

We drove through rain for the better part of the trip and Shubert kept calling us and telling us we were in a "tornado watch-box!" I guess he wanted us to get out and lie down in the ditch somewhere, but then my new Birkenstocks would get ruined! We had to stop for a little while in the little town of Brenham because Ann said she couldn't see through the wall of water. So we took a break with all of the other travelers and then carried on toward Bellville. As it turns out, Shubert called us as soon as we landed at the beach house to tell us the Houston news stations were reporting a tornado in Brenham with "trees down but no loss of life!" Whew! That was close.

Before Brenham and the worse part of the rain we stoppped for lunch in the little town of Meridian. The Cactus Grill at 120 North Main Street is a treat, to be sure. Raul y Vernonica Contreras, Chef and Owners, have created a wonderful little grill with lots of character and fantastic food! I ordered the Cheeseburger with fries and it was one of the best I've ever tasted. Everyone got something different. The portions were gigantic and the prices right. You'll have to stop in on your next trip through town ~ or why not make a special trip just to eat at the Cactus Grill?

After getting to the beach house and unwinding just a bit we decided on the Red Snapper Inn for dinner. It was indeed a seafood lover's paradise. The atmosphere was laid-back, casual and comfortable. We felt we could enjoy our meal and each other's company. Again, we each ordered a different entree with our love of fresh seafood uppermost in our minds. I remembered the east coast shrimp and oysters that I loved when living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and so I ordered Owner/Chef, Lin Biar's fried shrimp and oysters. I definitely was NOT disappointed. The Red Snapper Inn was only a mile from the beach house at 402 Blue Water Hwy.

The next morning Ann, Sue, and Peggy had breakfast ready for Linda Kay and me when we woke up. We are the two late risers of the group and they are the "early-birds."


After a trek to the beach with sunglasses, hats or sunscreen, and cameras in hand we thoroughly enjoyed the water, sand, and birds. Then we went back down the Blue Water Hwy. in search of Bingo. Bingo Boards is a little shop that has been renovated after Hurricane Ike's destruction and we found the owner and staff to be friendly and interesting. We enjoyed hamburgers and fries and a visit from the owner and creator of the colorful Bingo Boards! The surf-shop with beach apparel and knick-knacks is at 18 Fort Velasco in Freeport, Texas.

Needless to say, food is a big part of our Girls' Weekends. Peggy cooked a special dinner for us one night ~ a fantastic shrimp boil. It was absolutely the best thing ever. Ann prepared her famous Reuben Sandwiches for us the next evening. Served hot with sauerkraut and swiss cheese on rye. Yummy! I might be able to persuade them to share the recipes with us for the next post. I'll work on that!