ELAINE IS HERE!!!!!! (not to be confused with patrice)

elaine ruth simpson is finally here!!! she came into the world on april 13, 2010. she weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 19 inches long. she is named after her mom's mom's mom (elaine), and (i'm not sure: everyone has a ruth in their family). she has a little bit of brown hair, is absolutely beautiful.

now, i want to be sure that everyone knows that if i ever had a not-beautiful child or grandchild, i would freely admit it. i just never have had a not-beautiful child or grandchild. elaine looks a lot like her mother as a baby (beautiful).

okay, look at her yourself and YOU decide: is she beautiful or not?




cletus calls her "baby ruth"

"tempus fugit, baby.....

"...oh, the cruelty of the passport [driver's license] renewal [ or at my age, any picture of me taken before the age of 40]. The last time they took your...picture, back in the day, you were okay-looking, even in that ghoulish post office fluorescence. You didn't think you looked okay at the time, but it turns out that you were incorrect. you should have appreciated what you had, the medium-attractive looks you had. Standard rather than "interesting," but, you know, so what."

jenny allen, "Lost and Found," In the Fullness of Time: 32 Women on Life After 50.

update: chicken science project

just wanted to let everyone know that my broody hen who was setting on duck eggs spent three or four days with her head down and her butt up on top of those big fat eggs. then she got disgusted and abandoned her duck eggs and grumbled on down the line to one of the other nesting boxes, and is now being broody there. what can i say? yet an other science project down the pipes.

stirring information

stir up your sourdough starters, ladies, i have two kitchen tested recipes for you to try.

in case you missed the post about how to make sourdough starter, here is a recap: put equal parts of water and unbleached flour into a quart sized mason jar (or other glass or plastic container). stir together. most sourdough recipes call for 1 c sourdough starter, so start with at least 3/4 c flour and 3/4 c water. let it sit on the counter for any time up to a week. i like my starter pretty sour, and i leave mine out about 4-5 days. when it has some alcohol on top and has a pleasant sour, or beery, smell, cover and put in the frig. (be sure to cover with something NOT metal. so that means no lids and rings. i use a sandwich-sized zip-loc bag laid over the top of the jar and secured with a rubber band.)

when you're ready to use it, pull it out of the frig and let it come to room temperature (about 8 hours). after you measure out the amount you need for a recipe, feed with 1/2 c unbleached flour and 1/2 c water. stir it all together and let sit out overnight, then back in the frig until you use it again.

this is a nice mild sourdough-flavored bread. i use it for sandwich bread because it slices so nicely and stays soft. (i call a bread "sourdough-flavored" if the recipe uses yeast besides what's in the sourdough starter. that's pretty much what i make, because the natural sourdough yeasts are S-O S-L-O-W.

sourdough sandwich bread

1 1/4 c sourdough starter
1/3 c warm water
3 T sugar
2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 t salt
2 t yeast
3 c flour (my favorite way is with 1 c freshly ground whole wheat and 2 c unbleached white)

mix all ingredients except flour in mixer. add flour until the dough is smooth and firm but not dry or hard. grease, oil, or Pam a bowl. put in dough and flip over so whole ball of dough is coated with oil. put in a warm place, cover, and let rise for about 1 hour or until double in size. punch down well, put in greased bread pan and let rise again until bread rises about 1 inch above side of pan. bake at 350 for 30 min, then tent with foil and bake 15 min more. remove from pan immediately, brush with butter if you wish, and let cool. yum.

onto julia's wonderful french (fransh) bread tomorrow.

the parable of the ducks

the duck mistress of the farm had three ducks. every day she fed them and filled up three water vessels for them: two small vessels for drinking and one large one for bathing and swimming. every day as she was filling the vessels with clear, clean water, she would call the ducks to come and drink. instead, the ducks were dabbling in the mud and drinking from every stagnant puddle they could find. even though she called them again and again and called them any number of unattractive and perfectly true names, they wouldn't come.

finally one day they tripped over the vessels and said, "oh, look, clean water." one refused to drink. one took a tiny sip to wet his tongue. one plunged in, swam, dipped and drank his fill. and the duck mistress was happy.

preview of coming attractions

i am testing my own version of julia child's wonderful french bread which adds a little bit of whole wheat flour and sourdough. the first couple of versions had various problems, but i think i've got it (by george!). i am also experimenting with making yogurt in a slow cooker (well, in a jar in a slow cooker).

my new science project

this is my new science project: i took four eggs out of the ducks' nest (they lay eggs in there, but neither of them has shown any inclination to actually set the eggs), and stuck them under a broody hen who has taken her stand in one of the nesting boxes and hasn't seen the light of day for a week. for those of you who are city people*, a "broody" hen is one who suddenly takes it into her head (where, believe me, there is p-l-e-n-t-y of room) that she HAS to have babies or die. so she lays eggs in the nesting box (or under a bush) and insists on sitting there day after day after day, waiting for them to hatch. my broody hen will wait a long time, since she's never even SEEN a rooster in her life. there's a chance that the duck eggs are fertilized, so i guess we'll see what happens.

*we have lived in the country for exactly two years.