Newest endeavors....

I made peanut butter cookies today. I love peanut butter; I could live on it, and have while living in China. But these cookies are special... they are my first attempt at putting to the test the things I'm learning from I'm just Here for More Food: food x mixing + heat = baking by Alton Brown. I love to cook and bake, but since getting married I mostly cook. This is my time to start baking again. I like learning why you do what you do when you bake... for example, why cream the butter and sugar together first, then add other stuff. Why not just put everything in the bowl and start the mixer? I know from experience that this works with chocolate chip cookies (just wait to add the chocolate chips till the rest is mixed together), we did it more than once. What good arguments can I offer Hubby as to reasons for waiting for cookies to cool slightly before eating (He declares the mouth feel is better when they are really hot... I don't buy it, but then its not my mouth). I must say, the peanut butter cookies are a success, please witness for yourself!

Behind there is my yeast starter. AB declares that bread will be better with a starter (not just dumping your yeast in and going to town). I think I believe him... he offers some good reasons. So, I"m giving it a try. I put it in an old spaghetti sauce jar and on the dryer (warmest spot in the house), but it overflowed all over the dryer. That was a mess to clean up! I'll give it the 24 hours it needs, and I'll make bread tomorrow. Well, start it tomorrow. AB states that an overnight rise in the fridge will produce a softer bread, which is what I like... so I'll try it. Its spring break, how can I not be willing to try!

Oh, yes... weather.com states that Waco got 1.13 inches of rain last night. The buckets that started empty held at least 4 inches of water this morning, which means, I think, we got about 4 inches of rain. The garden plots look good tonight. We spent 30 minutes bailing water from our backyard to the front yard and over the hill into Taylerville, and today the ground is sopping wet, but its soil, not water on top. I can see little onion seedlings, the lettuce looks okay and, of course, the garlic grew another inch today (or seems like it!). Its been sunny in the mid-70s (open windows all around!) today. And ya know, I never imagined I'd be annoyed by bird calls, but when you hear the same call (bwu, bwu, ha ha ha ha) over and over again gets a bit old after several hours.

I love spring!