Bread and Fish

My first attempt at ciabatta bread last week yielded a hard, flat loaf. Not the best for sandwiches. I ended up making them openfaced, just putting the filling right on top. It tasted alright. I tried again the next day and came out with a much better result. I had a better idea of what I was doing this time and was able to alter the recipe to fit my kitchen better. I kneaded my dough longer and gave it a warmer place to rise. Tomorrow I will be trying pizza dough from scratch. I have made it once before with sucessful but bland results, and am trying a new recipe this time.

Last night I made beer battered fish. I generally do not cook fish, simply because I am not confident in any technique for making it safe and delicious to eat. I really do enjoy eating it though, so I may use this time at home to improve upon this. The batter recipe I found was excellent, I'd really like to try frying other things in it. I think in my attempt to cook the fish thoroughly I left them in the oil too long and they got a bit greasy. Jeron didn't care, he thought they were delicious. I also made "smashed chips" alongside. They are basically squashed crispy boiled potatoes, and a favorite of mine from Maggiano's.

Beer Batter:

Whisk together 1 and 2/3 cup all purpose flour with 1 Tablespoon baking powder. Make a well in the middle and slowly whisk in 2 cups good quality wheat beer. Mix until thing and smooth. Cover and refridgerate 1 - 12 hours.

We're All Learning Something

It's been a while since I've had time to post here. Since I'm not working now I hardly ever sit down at the computer, but I'm trying so many interesting things lately that I had to share. I've recently been reading through Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. I'm a little skeptical, but have been half way trying to implement his strategies. Lola reached a point where she wasn't napping during the day and would only sleep a total of 8 or 9 hours at night. That seemed unhealthy, so I thought maybe it was time to introduce some structure. The book basically says leave your kid alone whenever you want them to sleep and they will eventually go to sleep. I have been trying this mostly during the day for naps because that is when I am better able to handle the crying. So far it has worked pretty well and she's picked up several one hour+ naps per day with a few minutes of crying before falling asleep. I'm having a hard time setting a consistent bed time for her because she is always tired at a different time of night and has a hard time staying down for the night. I might try picking up a different book at the library next week to get a balanced perspective.

Today I started my adventure in bread baking. I won't know the result until tomorrow as I have to let my biga (dough starter) ferment overnight before making the final mix tomorrow. I decided to cut my teeth on ciabatta, as I was planning on making sandwiches this week but forgot to pick some up at the store. In other culinary adventures, I made chicken enchiladas completely from scratch for dinner tonight. It was a lot more work than just opening the can of enchilada sauce, but I'm positive that it was much healthier. We had our friends Travis and Melissa over for dinner, and everyone agreed that it was good but very spicy. I think it would be easy to make a milder version in the future. I love the spice, but my husband is as bland as they come.

I've also been trying to get into sewing, but have so far been too scared to attempt a project. I picked out two projects to try from a book Jeron's sister got me for Christmas and visited two fabric stores but left both times with nothing. I would look through all the prints and fabrics and ribbons and tools and could never be sure that I would pick out the right one. I'm headed to the Fischer's on Friday for a sewing lesson, so maybe that will get my confidence up to actually jump into something.