breads

For a long time I've wanted to be a baker of breads but have been intimidated. I'm still intimidated but after working with them in a limited fashion when I was kitchen help at Camp, I found a bit of courage. This week I used yeast for the first time. Monday night I made pizza crust! It was yummy. I don't think I added enough flour to make working with the dough as easy as it could have been, but the end product was great. The next night we had spaghetti since we had some Italian-seasoned meat left from the pizza project. So I thought I'd try bread sticks. Since the pizza crust recipe was out, and I'd had some experience with it, and I also wanted to try to improve on it, I just made them with that recipe. I realized it probably wouldn't be as good for bread sticks, and the texture of them ended up more toward soft pretzels than softer, lighter bread sticks, but they still tasted good. I'm thinking of attempting deerocks on Saturday. And, yes, I am quite pleased with the clever name I came up with (we have a lot of deer meat that needs to be used).

not vacation

Though I did take vacation hours to be able to do it. Last week I volunteered in the kitchen at Camp Mennoscah. I got there late enough that Olivia put me up in the Retreat Center for my first night. There was a time I would have resisted such surroundings at camp, but I thoroughly enjoyed my private room, private bathroom, private shower, and private AC. Here I am in my swanky abode (I am amazing at the self-portraits, as you will see later in one of my vacation posts).

I cooked Thursday breakfast through Saturday breakfast, and I had a wonderful time. And I ate way too much. All breads/baked goods (and almost everything else) are made from scratch...my favorite. It was totally exhausting – I was in the kitchen from 6/6:30 am - 9/9:30 am, from 10 am - 1:30/2 pm, from 3 pm - 7 pm, and again from 8/8:30 pm - 10 pm. Pretty much every chance I got in between those times, I was napping, even if I only had 10 minutes. Sleep-y. I did skip some nap times to make ice cream with Olivia, go to the pool with Olivia, go to the post office with Olivia, and go to campfire. I also managed to finish a book I'd been anxious to finish since vacation. I had just a great time. I'm planning to go back to volunteer next week too. Here's everything [I can remember] we made in that short time I was there:

• coffee cake
• little smokies
• mashed potatoes with roast beef gravy
• corn
• I do not remember what our lunch dessert was
• taco salad
• kolaches
• verenike casserole
• zweiback
• green beans
• peach cobbler
• bierocks...I got to brown like 25 lbs of ground beef at once, plus fill them!
  
• pudding/Oreo dessert
• cinnamon rolls
  

catching up

Good day. I've been on vacation for a while, but before I get into all of that (and it may not really be "all of that" since I didn't take notes along the way of what I wanted to blog about), here are a few pre-vacation events.

The week after we were in Pittsburg, we took off a day and a half and went to Manhattan, Topeka, and Lawrence. Brian spent some time doing cicada research at both K-State and KU, and I spent some time hanging out in the university towns drinking coffee, reading, and walking around. It was great. It was surprising how just a short break felt like a big break when one has not had a vacation in a while. When I was in Lawrence, I met up with a high school pal for lunch and a driving tour. It was fun to catch up with her after being out of contact for a number of years. Dave and Shelley hosted us in Topeka, and it was fun to hang out with them, finally visit them before they moved from Topeka, and be entertained by the antics of their cat.

The weekend after that, we were back in Manhattan and Topeka, this time for graduation ceremonies. Brian's cousin-in-law Jen graduated from K-State and had a lovely reception at a camp afterward. After a yummy Indian dinner, we headed to Washburn for Dave's graduation from law school. This was a first non-undergrad ceremony I had been to, so that was interesting. Here's a pic; I'm sure you can tell several cameras were trying to get the shot at the same time.







Washburn Law hosted a sandwich/cheeses/fruits/wines/beers reception following the ceremony, and that was awesome. After the long day it had been, I went immediately for two glasses of wine and downed them like Kool-Aid. Yep, classy.

The next week, I had the opportunity to catch up with another high school friend. I had not been in any contact with him since h.s. graduation, so I enjoyed catching up with him too. Ah, the wonders of Facebook. Unfortunately I failed to get my camera out for either of these reunions.

interesting statement

A guest on npr's Day to Day had this interesting take on the Democratic hopefuls:

"Clinton is the better candidate, but Obama is the better movement."

To overuse the word, I found this interesting to think about. For additional context, the opinion of this guest is that it's time for Clinton to drop out of the race.

down in the pitt

One of the exciting weekend trips we took this month was to Pittsburg to FINALLY visit Mark. We got in late Friday night and took in some delicious fried portobellos at Chatter's. Saturday morning, Mark cooked a yummy breakfast for us, and then we went to Big Brutus. It was my first time to see this beast, and a beast it was. Pretty much every new thing we saw was responded to with, "It's so big!" Because it just is. It's so big. I wish it still drove around. Here we are with one of the tracks and in the bucket, a nicely coordinated pic of Mark jumping inside the bucket, and a shot of the whole thing. I recommend a visit if you've never been. We were lucky enough to be visiting on Mark's birthday; he put on an amazing barbecue of various smoked meats (some in homemade marinades) and other great eats. I was also excited to see Sarah! and finally meet Colby. They are cute. I think this sibling shot turned out particularly well.

intercollegiate bowling championships

A while ago (I couldn't believe just how long ago when I looked at the date on the tickets), we met Alissa and Jon for the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships. We got to see the Wichita State men's team bowl a round (they later ended up winning the championship). Brian and I had a brief, brief foray into bowling a few years ago (until we realized we just weren't getting any better), and sometimes when bowling at Northrock we'd see WSU bowlers practicing, and they were so impressive, so it was fun to see an actual competition. Also, I wasn't expecting the crowd response that there was — just as loud and rowdy as any other sport. WSU had a large — supportive and respectful – crowd, which was pretty neat.

We ended the evening with a fun supper at Bangkok, which has the best yellow Thai curry I've ever eaten. It's a favorite place of ours.

personalized shoes!

I have a lot of things to update about, and I will someday. But in the meantime...
This website is so much fun, and I think I will not always be able to resist the temptation of buying a pair of shoes with my name on the back of them. Also, I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but was there a mod prediction something like "will create 'The Dream' shoe"? If so, I will dutifully fulfill this prediction and name my creation "The Dream."