via flickr.com Not that anyone is maligning tea … although I did for a long time, so perhaps I’m defending it from myself. For years I disliked tea. Most of my experience with it was iced tea and tea in Japanese or Chinese restaurants. When we were in Thailand last year I was given a cup of lemongrass tea. I politely sipped it … and discovered it was awesome! (Mary informed me later that it was also loaded with sugar, which helped make it so good). But it broke down a lot of my resistance. A year later, Mary got Read more…

You may have heard that millennials in the workplace are lazy and “entitled,” but sociologist Moen says that’s a bad rap. She says young workers simply don’t want to wait decades until retirement for their quality of life — an attitude that has been reinforced by the recession, as they’ve seen parents and boomer relatives lose their jobs. “They no longer believe in the myth that working in rigid ways for long hours necessarily pays off,” Moen says. “That’s a real change.” via npr.org I think I might be slightly older than what is defined as a “millenial” but I Read more…

After some notable failures last year, I put my no-knead breadmaking on hold for awhile. It was disheartening not to get the great bread I did when I'd started. But I picked it up again this weekend and once again loved the process. And things seem to be a little more successful too! The first loaf was still a little doughy, but the second loaf goes in the over in a couple hours (thanks Mary!) and it looks light-years better already. I'm coming to realize that one of the things I appreciate about baking bread is that it's something fun Read more…

This year’s Christmas tree has a pretty simple theme of red and silver. This is a result of timing mostly–I just didn’t have enough time to make the ornaments I wanted to. Still, a simple theme can be very nice. And the main thing is just having a lot of lights to curl up with. WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Hmm. After re-reading my post it looks like I’m curling up with the tree. That’s not right at all. What I meant to say was that I want to have lots of lights for when I curl up with a book. And this Read more…

See the full gallery on Posterous Again, here’s the link to the recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html#

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. via nytimes.com Bright and early tomorrow morning my bread should be ready for the oven … We’ll see. Considering I’ve only ever made bread once before, this might not turn out Read more…