Friday Things #371
Fresh haircuts! And both boys totally melted my heart this week…
1. At dinner one night, Joseph asked if he could have more; I told what we still had and asked what he’d like. He said, “You can pick, mommy. I’ll eat whatever you want to give me. You can pick because you’re so nice to us.”
2. While tucking Dominic in, he gave me a massive bear hug and was patting my head. He said, “Do you know why I’m doing that? Because I love you SO much and you’re my BEST friend.” Gahhhhh can they just stay like this forever?!
3. When Isabelle goes down for a nap or gets ready for bed, she puts all of her dolls and stuffed animals face-down on her dresser and says, “dolly go sleep”… “Minnie go sleep”… “puppy go sleep”… 💖
4. This type of product might be old news, but it was new to me when I saw it on Ari’s Instagram last week – an over-the-sink colander. MIND. BLOWN. I ordered one immediately. It’s back-ordered, but no more moving dishes out of the way or trying not to get water to kick back up from the sink. I can’t wait for this to arrive!
5. Have you tackled any big kitchen projects over the last couple of months? I’d love to hear about the best recipes you’ve discovered!
6. Are you craving any spring or summer dishes? I could totally go for this no-bake banana split dessert!
7. We appear to have at least one (maybe more?) ravens that have appeared around our house over the last couple of weeks. We have multiple red tail hawks that live in the woods behind our house and we see them flying all the time, but these new ones are MASSIVE blackbirds, holy cow.
8. I finally managed to get some rye flour and am going to try my hand at a sourdough starter. I’ve done this twice before and been unsuccessful; if you’ve done it and have any pro tips, I’d love to hear them so please leave them in the comments below!
9. TV talk! We’re still loving The Last Dance, and we started watching a Dateline-esque series on Netflix, The Staircase. Love me some crime drama!
10. TGIF! Most nights when I get ready to brush my teeth, Judith jumps up and stands at the counter next to me. She’s such a snuggle bug ❤️️
Hi Michelle, I just adore your blog. Your family is just beautiful. It brings me back to when my daughters were little. Hmmmm…..little no more but just as fantastic! Sue is 50 years old and Nancy is now 48 but both look like they are 25 (God bless them). So you can imagine how old I am (shhhhh…I’m not telling LOL).
All kidding aside. I have tried to be a good baker for many years and never really achieve exactly where I would like to be with that. But…still love it.
Your recipes make everything give me hope. They are easy to follow and come out great. I am going to try my hand at bagels this weekend. Wish me luck LOL.
Sending hugs.
They have tons of these over the sink colanders on Amazon (in stock). They have ones just like the one you ordered as well as collapsible ones. You might get it faster by getting it from them.
I used the sourdough starter recipe on King Arthur Flour’s website and it is still going. It uses whole wheat and all purpose flour. It takes time and patience. 😊
Also, Joy the Baker’s website has a good one too.
Good luck! 🤞🏻
Hi Michelle, I saw the sink colander and I think it is great. I may order one. I love the idea of Isabelle putting her stuffed animals to bed. Your Tiramisu recipe looks good and I may make it for when I have guest over for dinner. Judith like to have attention when you are getting ready for bed. She is a lovable dog. Love hearing about what is going on with the family and keep posting recipe. I have made some of your recipes but don’t remember which ones. Take care and stay safe.
I bought the colander at Bed, Bath and beyond quite a while ago. It is a great idea, but is so huge and doesn’t collapse. It has been living in my garage for a year. Not enough space to store it, and it is not used daily. Wish I could drop mine off for you too. LOL The children are adorable. Words to melt any heart.
Your children’s thoughtful gestures and remarks are precious….they must be learning from wonderful PARENTS! Good job! Beautiful rewards!,
I am kinda obsessed with these books by the “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” duo. I have not tried their sourdough starter but when I do I think I will try their method:
https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2020/04/20/easy-sourdough-starter-with-new-troubleshooting-tips/?fbclid=IwAR0A5CSdq49mQ7j9lpGpxODx9u7i5pv316Mz9qiPy5XjR_RxgoookJVe_G0
I have one of those colanders that I don’t use. I’d be happy to send it to you. 😁
I love how much you love your dogs, it warms my heart. Love your blog and I use many recipes you post, their very good! Your children are ADORABLE
I just successfully made a starter using the instructions on King Arthur Flour as well! Mine took almost two weeks to be ready, so be patient. I used mostly white flour, but I did feed it with whole wheat flour a few times. KAF also has a few good recipes for using the sourdough discard.
Your kids are adorable!
Regarding bread, I just read a great book that you might like. It is about a lady who owns a bakery and she also shares some of her recipes. “It is How to Bake a Perfect Life” by Barbara O’Neal. I found it on Kindle after reading her newest book “When We Believed in Mermaids” — loved it too. I love reading about your kids so much! Enjoy, they grow up way too fast.
Your family photos and stories are the best! Thanks for sharing the love, Michelle! 💗
Hi! We have King Arthur’s starter and love it. It is very forgiving if you accidentally leave it out longer or get busy and forget it in the back of the frig . They have wonderful recipes like sourdough pancakes, burger buns, carrot cake etc. you use or used to use them. I just hate that they don’t carry the 25 lb bag anymore. Have fun and of course pls share! We love the rustic bread, pancakes and carrot cake….just sharing that. Have a great weekend
I had to have missed an update!!!! You have a new fur-baby?? Your son is wearing glasses???? I feel like I missed a family get together!!!
Haha! Dominic got glasses about 2 months ago :). But Judith we’ve had for over 2 years now!
Check out Christina Lane on Dessert for Two. She makes sourdough all the time.
Make sure the water you use in your tarter isn’t highly chlorinated. Filtered water works great.
We had success last month with starter using King Arthur Bread flour then switched to KA all purpose. I read that home beer making rinsed equipment with a baking soda solution, of course rinse again. Filtered water can be helpful also to keep a starter going.
I have a different over the sink colander. It’s collapsible plastic. I really like it!
Cultures for health has a freeze dried starter that I’ve used several times (started one for my mom and restarted mine when I moved)
I was able to bake bread with it within a week of starting it.
I suggest feeding it at least twice a day and keeping it at 100% hydration. Thicker starter won’t rise as fast.
I also find that sourdough breads turn out fluffier if you fold them several times throughout the day rather than kneading it once.
Rye starter won’t work as well as whole wheat for wheat breads. Rye ferments much faster, so your rye starter will have trouble eating the wheat. I’ve always done whole wheat starter and it works to make rye or wheat breads.
I’ve been doing sourdough for over six years and have started 4 starters😂
Three with cultures for health starter and one from scratch (just flour and water!)
I bought a colander similar to that about 3 years ago from IKEA. I love it so much and bought one for each of my kids at the same time.
A friend and I who are both working from home decided to try our hand at sourdough starter, following the KA guidelines. We used AP flour since we couldn’t get our hands on any other. Mine worked within 5 days. My friend had to keep feeding for nearly two weeks before she began seeing activity. And now we are both baking delicious breads regularly. So fun.
Feeling jealous of Isabelle’s hair. My great granddaughter is 2 1/2 and still waiting for her hair to look like more than a wind blown hay stack. I know eventually it will lengthen and fill in, but she is still adorable. Doesn’t every GiGi say that ?
Try A Virtal Vegan sourdough starter. She recommends using rye flour. I had to use whole wheat and it still worked for me.
Good luck
Thank you for such cute photos! It’s nice to have a smile and see your little ones and dogs.
When mine was little, he would always get a sip of water at bedtime and we would have to pretend to give a sip to however many stuffed friends were in bed with him at the time.
Such precious children! I love this blog! If you haven’t checked in with King Arthur Flour.com for help with all things sourdough related, I highly recommend it. Wonderful website, blog and IG presence as well. They are my go-to for any question I have and they have a telephone hotline open 7 days a week! Good luck! Sourdough is so fun!
For the most successful starter, make sure you are using a strong flour(bread, whole wheat, rye…). Do not use any flour that has been bleached or bromated. Try feeding 1:1:1 a couple of times each day. I also keep a starter in the refrigerator. Feed every week. If I’m going to bake with it, I feed it for a few days and use straight from the fridge!
You can see many if my sourdough bakes on Instagram @want.and.knead
Would love to hear your feedback❤️
This is hands down the easiest and most reliable way that I know of to make a sourdough bread starter:
https://tasty.co/recipe/how-to-make-homemade-sourdough-bread
Although you may think it is cheating to use an active dry yeast, it really works and the starter sours over the five-day fermenting process.
Good luck.
Line of duty on amazon prime is super good…. just finished season 5. Hoping for season 6