Oatmeal philia

I wrote a while ago about my Oatmeal phobia. My friend the ProFussor emailed me about oatmeal that would change my life.

He was right. I had been exposed only to the horrible instant rolled oats variety of oatmeal (cardboard with a hint o' ass). This morning I tried his preparation with steel cut oats toasted in butter before simmering. It's oatmeal with bite and teeth and not a hint o' ass or cardboard anywhere. I didn't need a fried egg to cover up the flavor because the oatmeal was nutty and flavorful.

Pate a choux

Better known as the pastry dough that forms cream puffs and eclairs, I tried out a savory version with chives,sprinkled with gruyere, and stuffed with fenugreek mashed potatoes.



I've really learned a lot in my 8-week intro baking class. Prior to the class, I didn't think much about baking, but now I have a whole new appreciation for this art which creates such a variety of different products from a handful of standard ingredients.

Prior to this class, I also used to think I was a nice person, but after 8 weeks of dealing with classmates who had the mental capacity of a peanut, I realize I will probably go to hell because I have so little tolerance for idiots. I am chock full of horror, bitterness, and a little bit of shock. Raised in the Asian way, I believed if you worked hard enough, you'd learn. Work problems over and over and eventually, you'll know how to do calculus. Basically, I was taught nurture over nature. Now, I don't know. A lot of it is the luck of the genetic and socio-economic draw. There is a lot of nature involved. I find this very disturbing and contrary to the American way of thinking.

Maybe it's not so good to have this American ideal of achievement when so much of American society is stacked against the odds of having nurture overcome nature.

Bread

New loaf, same aesthetics. For some reason, this loaf turned out drier than the last.

Dammit.

I suspect I baked it too long. The internal temp was upwards 205 Fahrenheit when I took it out of the oven.

Home-made Bread

My first two attempts at a sandwich bread loaf in the last two weeks have tasted fine, but have looked unappealing - lopsided, too brown on top, too light on the bottom.

Today, I used a different "recipe" (from Michael Ruhlman's book RATIO) and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator so some lethargic yeast could lazily munch on some sugar in their slowed metabolic state. I also brushed on some egg wash halfway through the baking.

MUCH better looking and better tasting!

Cross-run

Now I'm just getting ridiculous. Crossing in a panic = running forward and back on the board like a chicken with its head cut off.

Do chickens surf?

Backward

Cross-stepping forward is getting slightly easier.

Backward is non-existant as I shuffle-hopped back to the tail only to lose it and have the board shoot out from under me.

Cross-step

I did a few honest-to-goodness cross-steps this weekend instead of my usual sideways bunny hop.

Now I just have to learn how to do it at the right time instead of at the end of the wave when I just sink the nose into the water.