Since I’m not going to be using Facebook as much, I thought I’d turn the comments back on.
Author: Phoebe Gleeson
Sourdough
I have conquered sourdough baking! I successfully made a sourdough starter from flour and water and have been using it to make bread with no added yeast. Here’s how.
2 wide mouth quart Mason jars
Flour
Water
I use 100% wheat flour, the kind often called bread flour. I think you could use all-purpose, but I haven’t had good luck with it in the past.
Put one cup of water and one cup of flour in the Mason jar. Stir it up. Let it sit on the counter, covered loosely. The next day, stir it up and pour out half. Add a half-cup of flour and a half-cup of water, stir it again, and pour the whole lot in the second jar. Cover it loosely again and put it back on the counter, then wash the first jar. Keep it someplace between 70 and 80 degrees, if possible. Too cold and it’s too slow, and anything much more than 100 degrees will start to kill it.
Keep repeating the process of discarding half and adding new flour and water for several days. You don’t have to switch to a new jar each time – it just looks tidier. Do switch every few days though. After a few days, you’ll probably see some separation when you tend to the resting starter, and it will begin to smell like sour beer. The golden brown liquid on top is hooch, and it’s alcohol produced by the wild yeast growing in the starter. That’s good – it means the yeast is getting strong!
After a week to 10 days, the starter will probably be strong enough to make some bread. I make three loaves at a time but you probably won’t want to do that to begin with because if your starter is too weak it’s a lot of bread to waste! Here’s a recipe for one loaf.
The night before you want to bake, pour the cup of starter into a clean jar and add a cup of water and a cup of flour. Cover it as usual. The next morning, combine 1 and 1/3 cups of the starter with 2-3 teaspoons of sugar, a heaping teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of oil and finally 2 cups of flour together in a large bowl. Stir it up as well as you can, then scrape it out on a clean floured surface and knead it for a few minutes. You may need a bit more flour. If you know how bread dough *should* feel, use your best judgment. If you don’t, then just go with the 2 cups. It’s pretty forgiving stuff. Save the extra starter – that’s to keep the cycle going. Put a half-cup of it in a clean jar and add a half-cup flour and a half-cup water, as usual.
Put it back in a clean oiled bowl and cover the bowl. I usually just set a dinner plate on top of the bowl. Then put it in the oven (with the light on, if your oven has a light) and let it sit there until it rises to around twice the size as before.
This can take a LONG time. Much longer than a quick yeast rise. Just saying.
When it has risen, take it out and punch it down, then put it in an oiled loaf pan if you like, or shape it into a round or oblong loaf on a baking sheet if you don’t, and cover it with a damp cloth. DON’T USE TERRYCLOTH. Use something smooth, like a floursack towel, or a piece cut from an old tee shirt. If you use terry the loops tend to catch in the dough and it’s not pretty. If you don’t have that you can use clear plastic wrap.
Then put it back in the oven and let it rise again to about twice the size. When it’s risen, take the cloth off and turn the oven to 350F. Let it bake about 30 minutes. When you take it out the hardest part is waiting for it to cool.
If the dough just doesn’t rise, keep feeding and dumping the starter and try again in a few days. Once you get the starter happy, you can keep it in the fridge and you only need to feed it about once a week.
If you don’t refrigerate it, this can generate quite a bit of waste as far as pouring out the starter goes. Once you have a feel for how much starter you need to make bread, you can save a much smaller amount back, a half-cup or even less, then make all the finished amount of starter you need the day before you bake. So if you need 5 cups of starter to make the batch of bread, and you have a half-cup of starter to begin with, add water and flour in equal measure until you get to 5 and a half cups the night before. This should work with reasonable amounts of starter. I think you’d have to make a massive amount to dilute it enough to need more than 12-16 hours pre-baking.
If anyone sees any errors please email me – the address is in the sidebar.
Day 8
Day 8! Wow. I’m impressed with myself.
It’s not easier, exactly, but, in the words of my friend Tabitha, “it’s less worse.” I see how the next level will be needed because if I kept this level up for more than ten days I’d stop working as hard.
I’m still scared of level 2.
It’s supposed to snow next week, which has my children excited. I’ve been frantically finishing mittens so they can play in the snow. The snow is supposed to hit Tuesday, so we’ll see if I make it. I have two and a half mittens to go.
still going
sourdough, books
I made a sourdough starter last week – did I mention that? and it’s looking good! It will get its inauguration tomorrow. Mmm, sourdough!
I did Day 3 of the shred. Whew.
I’m reading the sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society
It’s great too. It was my Christmas present from my awesome niece Sophia.
After that, I have
which is excellent, if the Kindle sample is to be believed.
I also read
which was riveting and heart-wrenching and very satisfying.
Gosh, lots of books.
Fencing continues apace. I’m practicing my footwork. I need a rapier! Have to wait for the tax refund.
day 2
Day 2. A little easier. The jump rope style bouncing eats my calf muscles. Ow! The reading I’ve done says that this thing burns 225-250 calories in 20 minutes! Hot diggity.
I baked bread today. I was going to make sourdough but I didn’t allow enough time.
I’m pretty boring! I just wanted to log that I Shredded.
tremble
I did Level 1 of the Shred today. I’d say I learned I’m weak as a kitten, but that would be insulting to kittens who I’m sure they are much stronger than I am.
Both Bede and Gloria (who is three today!) were very distressed by the whole affair. I think they were freaked out. I persevered and they seem recovered now. With any luck they won’t mind it so much as I continue.
The hardest things were jumping in place as If I were jumping rope and also the push ups. My abs aren’t as trashed as I thought, yay!
I’m going to stick with Level 1 for a while. Dude.
so I guess this is turning into a fencing blog
I went to practice #2 last night. I was outfitted up in some loaner gear (it was pink and rose-covered) and learned about judging the distance between myself and my opponent. I was better at it than I thought I would be, what with my lack of binocular vision. I have a tendency to keep one thing good while letting the other six things I need to do fall apart. I expect this will improve with time. Like, I parry a blow but in the process get my blade tip off in South Texas somewhere and pfft, I’m dead. Or my feet will be placed correctly but I’m slouching and lifting my back foot up. Etc.
It makes driving a stick shift seem pretty easy.
I’m worried about how hard I’m hitting. Surprisingly, I’m hitting too hard. I think it’s due to my weak little arms. In order to get there (even remotely close) at all, I have to use most of my strength, and so I bang! too hard. I don’t have anything left to contribute to controlling the power of the blow. At least I hope that’s it. I’m shooting wild. In any event, I’ll get better at that too. Either I’m right and strength will help it, or I’m wrong but time will help it. Or both!
Strength will help with the slouching too. My core is so trashed. Probably every pregnancy and definitely the last three my abdominal muscles unzipped themselves to accommodate the baby. I’m not sure if I can repair them, but I can strengthen what’s left and also work on my lower back muscles.
I asked about the cost to get outfitted in this gig because I can’t really tell from online sources. I don’t know what length of blade I need, or which manufacturers to avoid, or, well, anything. I hope to find someone who was in my position a year or two ago who is ready to sell his noob gear. The Marshal (person in charge of rapier) said he’d make me a price list and give me some sources to buy from. I found this Practical Rapier – 37 Inch Blade and think maybe it will be okay?
I also need a helmet/mask, a gorget (neck protection) and gloves. And armor, such as it is. This is unarmored combat, so the armor consists of puncture and abrasion resistant clothes. I can make that.
Wow.
whimper
Ever vulnerable to the effects of peer pressure, I, along with many of my friends in flabby mommyland, have purchased Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred
I’m scared! Hold me! Don’t hurt me, Jillian!
En garde!
I’m baking bread today. Tomorrow is the First Day of School here, since it worked so well to go with Sean’s semester last year. It would have been today but I want to tidy up the kitchen and dining room and also make bread. Abaigeal requested a knitting refresher course s well, so I’ll get out some needles and re-teach her. I think I’ll see if she wants to make some of these cute little bunnies.
I didn’t mention that I started rapier combat before just jumping in to the getting-in-shape part. Well, I did. Start rapier combat, that is. And I love it! SCA rapier is in the round, not on a straight line like Olympic fencing. And of course there’s no electronics to see who made a touch, either, you have to call it as you feel it. I don’t know much about sport fencing, but I don’t think it allows cuts, just thrusts, and SCA rapier allows draw cuts as well as thrusts. No chopping cuts though, those are for the heavy armored combat. The rapier cuts involve placing the blade and pulling it away.
It’s REALLY AWESOME. Here is a charming email + photos of a rapier practice from a Canadian Scadian (how poetic.)
If you have Netflix streaming, you can watch a cool documentary (is that an oxymoron) about the history of modern swordsmanship, called Reclaiming the Blade. Faith and I watched it last week and we give it two thumbs up.
I was given a new sewing machine by my dear mother! So I have no excuse not to sew garb.
I better go bake that bread. And get the stuff for school tomorrow – William the Conqueror! Da-dum!
Gilbert’s Mittens
If you think round is funny
I’m trying to strengthen my old, tired body that has birthed six children into a lean, mean rapier-fighting machine.
It hurts.
I can do the following, pitiful amount of exercise:
10 sit-ups
30 seconds “invisible chair”
Several minutes of squats
5 full-leg push-ups
10 knee push ups
I also held a 3/4 pound weight at full extension for very little time before my arm screamed at me.
Ugh!
I’m fairly convinced I’m doing most of the footwork drills wrong, so I’m sticking with the two I think I’m doing right. I don’t want to unlearn bad habits later.
I’m going to look back on this and be amazed. Right? RIGHT!
skoolin, churchin
I’m ready for the next semester to start! Sixteen weeks, here we come. I’m going to use Famous Men of the Middle Ages along with A Child’s History of the World, and only sparingly dip into Our Island Story. The anti-Catholic bias is becoming apparent the closer we get to ‘Enry VII.
I went to Latin Mass again! I missed it so.
Oh drat, a child is coughing.
december
We passed a stressful December. Sean, Faith and Abby made an unscheduled trip to Chicago to see Sean’s family and were gone for nearly a week. That was tough. While they were gone, Gloria fell ill with influenza which has been working its way through the rest of the family since. Bede is sick now and the rest of us are done with it. Thank goodness.
Christmas was nice though! We celebrated Christmas here and then went to my parents’ house for Boxing Day and an extended family party. The children are pleased with their gifts, I think, which were selected with care and love. I don’t have many pictures of it though.
Gilbert got this neat-o racetrack, Neo Track. It has a bajillion pieces but it’s bendy and easy to use. Highly recommend. Even though Bede’s favorite thing is to take it all apart. They also got one of those spring-steel insta-tent things that’s a big hit. Many (many!) books, Toy Story 3, lots and lots of blocks, wooden railway, hmm, did I mention books.
![How to Be a Pirate [HT BE A PIRATE]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002HLZL72&tag=gleesonus-20)
And there must be more.
tricky memory
This morning, Trixie popped up next to the computer here, clutching at my arm.
“Mama! Come see the party Gloria and I made for the toys!”
I obligingly got up and followed her, feeling how small her hand still was in mine. I was led to the little kids’ room, where an extravagant fete was laid, with block lemonade and blanket cakes.
She beamed at me.
I oohed and aahed, and while I did, I thought, she won’t remember this. Because Faith and Abby don’t remember all the hundred times I did the same for them.
So it’s my job to remember for both of us.
Gloria and the Crimmis lights
sisters
One of the best things I ever did was have children.
And one of the best things I did regarding having children was have these two fifteen months apart. At the time, everyone thought I was crazy (many still do, no doubt!) but I knew it was going to be awesome.
(Here they are giggling and chattering and discussing things of great import, such as snoring and Adam Young’s hair.)
These two kids are inseparable. They are different, in looks and in interests, and in personality. Abby is reserved, but with a bubbly sense of humor beneath the surface. Faith is a person of deep and outspoken passions, and a total goofball. Together they are a set.
I’m so happy to have them.
today
What I’m doing instead of peeling spuds
I should be making the mashed potatoes. I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe – it’s below – and man are they good. They get made tonight and get plunked in the fridge until tomorrow afternoon, at which point I reheat them. They are amazing mashed potatoes.
But instead I’m, well, now I don’t quite know what I was doing, because since I started this post I’ve been called away from the computer several times. Once to start a child’s shower. Once to end a child’s shower, and dry off said child. Once to discuss with the oldest child exactly how her life is filled with uncertainty and pathos because she has not yet seen the latest episode of Hannah Montana. Answer – it is not, actually thus filled (cf. Haiti, Afghanistan, Korea). Ah but look, now! She is brushing her teeth without reminder! Woohoo!
So I guess I best get hoppin’ on those potatoes.
Here’s the recipe.
Apple pies
still more whinging about internet addiction
I know this is tiresome. Don’t read it if you’re bored with me.
It’s already happening. I went back to Facebook, like, a few days ago and already my brain is fragmented. I can’t handle it. I forget things in the time it takes to walk to another room or to boot a computer. I know some of this is normal and human but there is a striking difference in my abilities.
Also, I’m such an addict, and I don’t use that word lightly. I feel anxious about not using the internet. I get a little happy surge when I do. This is bad.
In just days I went from 20 minutes to a few hours wasted on Facebook and that nefarious new-stuff-bringer, Recommended Items in Google Reader. The sad thing is there is so much good to be had from the internet but I can’t keep the bad away from myself. I haven’t got the will.
I think that’s it then. Do I have the guts to deactivate Facebook entirely? Let’s see.
playing with filters
wall timeline
Here’s a few pictures of some timeline items.
Ha, ha! The fall of Rome (by Abby)
Mouse Guard! (by Faith)
This one is a personal favorite (by Faith)
It’s a long strip of masking tape, marked every five inches, from 4000 BC to AD 2100. The BC dates are by millennium and the AD dates are by century. When we get back around to the Ancients we’ll need to alter the BC scale, but that shouldn’t be a problem – there’s more wall left.
deciphering the spoken word
Me: Did you have fun at the store with Dad?
Bede: Um. Yes.
Me: What store did you see?
Bede: Yes. Spongebob Squarepants.
Me: What was the store named?
Bede: Bede Gleeson.
Me: (slower) Was the store Crest or Walmart?
Bede: Oh. Um. Crest!
The above demonstrates why it is best to think carefully about what words to use! Bede seems to hear about the last third of a normally-paced spoken sentence – maybe it takes him a good three to five words before he begins to process it. So that means he heard something like this:
Me: noisenoisenoisewordnoise at the store with Dad raisedinflection?
Bede thinking – must need a response because her voice rose – store with Dad – I went to the store with Dad. Yes. I did.
Bede: Um. Yes.
Me: noisenoise see raisedinflection?
Bede thinking – response again – say ‘yes’ – wait, this is easy, though, who lives in a pineapple under the sea!
Bede: Yes. Spongebob Squarepants.
Me: noisenoisenoise ..ore named raised inflection?
Bede thinking – My name is Bede Gleeson.
Bede: Bede Gleeson.
Me: noise the store Crest or Walmart raisedinflectionthennormal?
Bede thinking – Oh! She wonders what store we went to! It was C-R-E-S-T. Crest!
Bede: Oh. Um. Crest!
That’s with no other noise either, we were in a room alone. More difficult to get with any other sounds, especially speech. Honestly it’s amazing he does so much! He wants to communicate, to understand and be understood. Just like everybody else. What a great guy he is.
(Bede this summer)
Nine things, in honor of Mom.
1. I am legally blind in my left eye. That means I can’t see 3D movies. So far my life has not been tragic because of this.
2. I know how to juggle. But the first thing everyone says is “Can you do four?” If you want to please a juggler, say “Wow!” and leave it at that.
3. My favorite color is blue.
4. I have six children and I have been pregnant for four and a half years. In related news, I have been breastfeeding for ten years, seven months, and counting.
5. My favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip.
6. I secretly love Doctor Who fanfic. I ship Doctor/Rose. Some of it would scorch your eyes.
7. I’ve always wanted a border collie. I haven’t gotten one because I figured it would be like having another child. I’m weakening, however.
8. I’m mildly autistic, and fall somewhere around the Asperger range. I often wonder how my school years would have been different if I would have had support.
9. I’m nearly always barefoot.
coming out from under a rock
The sickness is still here. I’m almost better. i was ableto clean the living room (big girls helped) and dining room today, which were so messy. It was crazy how messy. And then I made bread, which is on the second rise and aalmost done. I’ll probably be able to turn the oven on after I finish this post.
We, well, only me so far, made a timeline today. It consists of ten feet of wall with marks five inches apart. I’m going to label them from 4000 BC to AD 2100, then we’ll all put stuff on it. I think it will be fun. The BC portion gets five inches to the millenium and the AD portion gets five inches to the century. There’s room on the wall to give the BC portion a bit more room when we come back around to the Ancients.
Gilbert and Abby just gave me an impromptu recital, in part:
G: Pussycat pussycat where have you been?
A: I’ve been to London to look at the Queen.
G: Pussycat pussycat what did you there?
A: I frightened a mouse from under a chair!
And so it goes.
Pachydermery
Mostly what I do is clean things.
I make things and clean up. I clean up what other people mess up. It’s tiring.
Sean gets things. It’s got to be a similar sort of futility, to be bringing home, oh, milk every week. Didn’t I just buy milk? he is heard to say. We’re out already? Really? Yes, I say. Already.
Our food budget is high, I think. It averages out to something like $80 per person, per month. I feel like that’s high. I feel like I should be able to get it down to $70, or even $50. $50! Wow. Imagine that.
But that means I have to make more things. Even more things. And it’s not the making as much as the cleaning-after-the-making that is wearing me down, man.
My usual response to this feeling is to get rid of stuff. Because if it isn’t a source of good it’s a source of pain, and I’m anti-pain. Especially stuff-related pain. I think a clearing of the house is in order.
sickness, homeschoolers
Everyone is sick with a cold here. Gloria and Bede were the worst hit today, feverish and wan on the couch. Faith was very bad off yesterday but is much improved. So far I have not succumbed; I hope for the best.
It brought homeschool to a halt though. I did nothing today. Faith is reading Beorn the Proud and Abby is reading How to Train Your Dragon, and they both spent an hour or so reading, so i guess that’s countable.
We have the movie for How to Train Your Dragon but neither I nor the older girls and G-Lo have seen it. We would have watched it with everyone else but instead we went to a homeschool event on Saturday. It was a discussion followed by a hands-on demonstration of solar panels and wind generators – but we didn’t watch that part. The kids were far more interested in the dozen-plus homeschooled kids on the playground, so I wandered thataway instead. I talked with a charming homeschooled teenager named Chris and another homeschooling mom named Kara. Kara also has six kids, the oldest aged ten and a girl – who was playing with Faith and Abby as we spoke.
I was yet again struck by the ease and grace the multi-aged children exhibited in their social actions. I so rarely see that in groups of institutionally schooled children. Within minutes these kids, most of whom had never seen each other before, were playing with abandon. The younger kids were included and tended to if they got knocked down or squished. The difference between this Saturday and the last event we attended with institutionally schooled kids was very plain. Not to say that nonhomeschooled kids are mean, but they are stiffer socially across age groups, and slower to socialize. Maybe because they have been rebuffed in the past, whereas homeschooled kids generally have more positive experiences? Who can say.
It’s ironic that homeschoolers are badgered about “socialization”!
Also noteworthy was a visit from our friends the Roykas. Yall need to come more!
