Tuesday after Labor Day

[magid]

Autumn approaches. The air is cooler, just starting to get a hint of a bite in the morning, and I need a blanket at night. Trees are just starting to turn color, with a few early birds even dropping a few leaves. And the light is changing. I mean, I know that, because candle-lighting is changing about 10 min/week these days. But I still notice it with surprise mid-week, when I get up later and the shadows haven't moved as much as I thought they should, or I get home later and it's almost dark. The best part about the chagim being 'late' this year is that I get almost a whole month of fall to enjoy before the month of madness that the chagim always become.

It's perhaps pathetic how competent it made me feel to replace my keyboard. A simple fix, with someone else having told me what to fix. And yet, I'm still pleased.

Huzzah for an impromptu Farwing visit. It's been far too long since I've seen the whirl of exuberance that is her. ;-)

This morning I made a round rye bread, slashing the top so there would be a 'crown' of four points. I used time bake, and it was done when I got home. I traded it to Dalbino83, for a gorgeous purple paper bowl with red leaves, which is now sitting on my dining room table as I figure out what to do with it, other than just look and be happy. Huzzah for the Bostonbarter community.

Since I was in the Square, I treated myself to a browse through Cardullo's. Overpriced imported things abound (the tins of Lyle's Golden Syrup I got for 99p were $11.99!), but it's fun to look round, and usually I find something of interest that's kosher. This time I got a square of mint chocolate by Chocowit, which includes a "collectible card" with an aphorism on it. Mine is "Appreciation allows gratitude to blossom." Which is nice enough, I suppose, for a chocolate fortune :-).

And I stopped at Beadworks, having thought about what kind of beads I'd like to use for a necklace on the theme everything begins in water. Not that I'll likely finish it in time, and it's unlikely to be of sufficiently artistic quality to make it into the show, but it got me thinking, anyway. Unfortunately, there weren't any blue/green glass fish beads available, nor any of the cool reticulated ones. So I've modified the plan to be blue/green/white thread with silver-tone charms and white shell cross-sections. Or at least, that's what I'm thinking of now. If I run into something else to inspire me before I start, this might change.

And because I'm apparently incapable of making a post entirely without food, I present dinner, in progress. I'm roasting an onion and a tomato with the fennel I never did get around to using in a timely fashion. I'm also toasting cubes of leftover challah with olive oil and lots of garlic, plus some herbed salt. When that's all done, the plan is to toss them together for a bread salad, with the addition of some arugula and cheese (feta or the crumbly cheese).

Oh, plus? A postcard of the Infant of Prague from Bitty and Bubblebabble, an incredibly appropriate choice given the last play we saw together.

Comments

Bostonbarter

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

*cries* I'm so jealous! I wish I'd known it existed sooner! (Like, before I moved.) And the bowl is really lovely - wow!

Re: Bostonbarter

[magid.livejournal.com]

Bbbsg started Bostonbarter not so long ago, based on interest from her friends list. Is there a local community you could gauge interest in? (From how you've described the city so far, I can well imagine it working there, too.)

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the bowl. I do distant trades, too, so keep an eye on my journal and speak up if you see a bowl that you like!

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Will do :)

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

I saw that Infant of Prague play this summer too! I'm blanking out on the name, but it was pretty funny.

Pleasure meeting you - thank you so much for a fun swap!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Laughing Wild, right?

Pleasure meeting you, too. It's great when both people think they've got the good end of the swap :-). If you make a blue bowl sometime I'd love to swap again...

[dalbino83.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the play!

I did make a blue bowl this weekend; I'll post pictures soon.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to seeing the new bowl (though I admit I feel I shouldn't try to trade for another one just yet, knowing how many people want your bowls :-).

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting to post a note to say how awesome you are. I received your snail mail a week or so ago. Love the lady bug. And love the stationery. :) Your note was very sweet and you seriously rock.

I'm intrigued by the paper bowl idea. Hrm...

I'm also intrigued by your bread salad. I think I've discovered tomorrow's dinner. :) (also shredded parmesan would be good on those toasted challah chunks)

Maybe tonight I'll make challah. Hrm. Haven't done that in a long time. Who am I kidding though? It's never going to happen. Sigh. But your breadmaking activities always come really close to inspiring me to make bread. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad it made it (I assumed that sickness kept you from mentioning it, or the post office had been really slow), and you like :-). It was fun for me to do; I kept having idea of other things I could put in snail mail (origami or kirigami pieces, herbs from my porch, etc).

Dalbino83 has a tutorial in her journal about making paper at home. I don't really have space for it (the stuff I'd need), but it still fascinates me and entices me to try...

I'm glad my dinner helped yours. I would've used Parmesan if I had any, but I don't just now. And it's exciting to have turned lots of bits of leftovers and random veggies into something new; I haven't tried anything like that before.

As for making challah (or any other bread), it's really a question of making it fit your schedule, if you have the 15 minutes to put the dough together and knead it in the first place. The other attention it takes is pretty minimal, a quick knead when forming in loaves, putting into and taking out of the oven. What I do is make the dough the night before, then bake it on time bake in the morning. Or in the winter I start the dough before work, and bake it when I get home. I prefer the taste of dough that's had a long rise, though it does mean using less yeast. You can let it rise in the fridge, if you're concerned that it's too long to rise in the kitchen, though I tend not to do this because I don't like working with cold dough.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

Eeet, too, has pointy teeth.

Well, not so much. But it did call out your name. So loudly, in fact, that other people were looking at us funny so we had to get it just to shut it up.

[magid.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

It's not so vocal now. I guess international mail can do that to a... postcard.