Pain…

…and the art of making bread.  

After making my first whole-wheat bread last weekend, I moved right along to the next page in the book and tried a slightly more complicated recipe that called for milled hard-wheat flour. Since I didn’t have any, I used the same flour as before. I need to research the exact difference between the two. I am assuming one is more coarser than the other. I ended up adding 1/4 cup of ground flax-seed for texture and nutrition.
This recipe called for 2 risings, totaling about one and a half hour. The baking however was very short…just 30 minutes. And as you can see my patience paid off at about 11:00pm at night. Aren’t they just gorgeous!

Every recipe going forth in this book yields at least 2 loaves of bread and requires longer rising time. I’ll need to start early on Sunday nights if I plan to have bread for the rest of the week. And to keep myself from eating 2 loaves of bread each week, I’m bartering it with Neel who has promised soup in return. If you have anything to trade, get in touch.

In other news:

I’m recovering from a bad cough and cold. After taking some expired Tylenol PM (Dev says it’s okay), I feel much better. I took a swig again this morning before leaving for work. Needless to say, the PM is messing with the AM. I’m on my second cup of coffee already.

I pushed myself to run 3 miles everyday (except Jan 7th) despite of feeling a little under the weather. I couldn’t run above a 6.5 speed on the treadmill because I was too congested to breathe. I also didn’t run outside because my lungs were burning just trying to breathe inside. This week’s goal is to increase the mileage and squeeze a morning run.

My graduate classes start tonight. The pain is offset by the fact that this is my last semester. I’ll get through in no time. right? Right.

I am leaving for Chicago on January 16th. This is my first trip to my favorite city in America during the winter months. The weather forecast for Friday is bleak…13 for the high and 3 for the low. This is the litmus test that might just end the nepotism I suppose.

I am finally getting a camera. So be ready for more pictures on this blog.