OK, well its finally day 10 in my bootstraping of some sourdough starter. I’m proceeding under the guidance of

“Nancy Silverton’s Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur” (Nancy Silverton). I’ve started with some organic grapes, water, and a good bit of unbleached bread flour. I’ve made it through the early bubbly stages where it looked safe (shown below). And then have now moved past the alcohol mystery liquid on top phase.

Now I’m finally at the “oh my god this thing is so needy” last phase of feeding this little monster 3 times a day. I’m gonna have to spring for the 25 lb. bag of flour next time because this little guy is bleeding me dry with all this flour I’m about to start pouring into him. But if he can bring me some tasty loaves of bread then I’ll feed this little Audrey Jr. as much as I need to (look out neighbors and visitors).

My next mission is to score some fire-bricks to try and turn my lame ass suburban electric oven into something passable for baking bread. I’m also hoping to find something that I can pass as a proofing basket at either World Market or (heaven forbid) Ross/TJ Maxx. Now to go try and rid my hands of this alcoholic/yeasty smell.

I recently stumbled upon a recipe in “Pickles to Relish” (Beverly Alfeld) for lime pickles that made me think of my grandmothers pickles. I have fond memories of the treat of putting one of these insanely green pickles that had a ton of flavor and sweetness and such a nice crunch. Don’t matter that normal food shouldn’t be that color green. Since this is the summer of Bub (part 2), I took it upon myself to take a shot at making some of my own.

A key part of the pickles is the use of ‘Pickling Lime’ to get a nice crunch out of the pickles. This turned out harder to find then I originally thought. I hit my Penzey’s, my go-to spice provider of choice and a few other grocery stores and places that sell canning gear but to no avail. Of course buying them online would be way too easy and considered cheating. The ferreting of obscure goods is at least half the fun of most all of my home projects. I finally came upon my pickling lime at a local Latino Market as apparently its a common spice used in a few dishes.

The other ingredients I was missing was oil of clove and oil of cinnamon. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get these items even if I could find them. They just sounded expensive and something that would gather dust in my spice cabinet, and besides I already had a fairly sizeable stash of whole cinnamon and cloves. I think my guestimates on how many cloves are equal to a given amount of cloves (and also cinnamon) were a bit off (on the strong side). But that just means more darker flavors for me and I’m fine with that.

The process itself is actually not bad at all. The 3 days of soaking and preparing on the cucumbers were definitely worth it. It was also nice to sample things along the way to see how the pickles changed and morphed over the entire process.   The final product turned out pretty decent. I’m planning on taking some back to my parents and siblings later this summer to see how they think they measure up.

A few weeks ago, I finally left my day job. It had been 8 years and while I really enjoyed working there, there was definitely something missing. Plus, I was becoming the “old curmudgeon” who would tell the young wippersnappers what things were like in the old days and why things were the way they were and why its next to impossible to try and change them. I think losing the ‘fresh eye’ in terms of features and what can be done was the thing that really pushed me over the edge. When you look around and see more problems than opportunities… then its time for a change.

Of course, its probably not the best time in the world to leave a steady job with nothing lined up, but I’ve been feeling a sense of urgency to things lately. Time is starting to move by way too quick.

So its Summer Of Bub so far. decompressing, going to the gym, baking bread, making jam and pickles, learning Sichuan cooking (am totally addicted to Sichuan Peppercorns). All the basics. I think my blood pressure has already dropped by 20 points. I’ve recently been visiting with old co-workers and friends and am consistently getting things like “You look so relaxed…”. Jeez, I guess I didn’t realize what a little stress ball I had become.

Now that de-compression is going well, the next step is to start poking around to find “The Next Big Thing”. I’m gonna start by going to the Apple WWDC conference next week… maybe it will be there.

Well, I finally garnered enough motivation to drive into San Francisco yesterday to try the highly anticipated coffee made from a Clover Coffee machine (link) I went to Ritual Roasters in the Mission to give it a taste. I liked Ritual alot in terms of a coffee shop, definitely alot of apple laptops floating around that place… and a nice laid back feel when ordering.

We went with the Baristas choice in terms of beans. The coffee was very tasty with lots of rich dark flavors and a clean taste. It got better and better as I kept drinking it and by the end it was really delish. I still think that Philz Coffee is my #1 choice for coffee. The Clover is a strong contender but its a little too automated for me. I need someone constantly stirring my coffee and whispering happy thoughts to it telling it to taste delish and be a nice warm hug.

Here’s a shot at the yummy coffee:

I have to say that I’m a sucker for mathematical fruit and veggies. So when I say this at the San Mateo Farmer’s Market this morning, how could i resist. It was $5 so I’m gonna need to get my money’s worth before eating. The grower said that some people say it tastes a bit sweeter than normal cauliflower.

So strange yet totally cracks me up. its a photoshop world out there folks. link (via)

Just saw this today (via) and I have to say it looks pretty cool. For one, I really like that somebody created a realistic looking shell inside of a web browser… and then of course I like command line utilities so having one to a search engine just seems useful… even if I probably will never use it.

I’m a sucker for visualizing information and this online mindmap tool is pretty cool. Of course, its not gonna help me get to level 8 or plan my world domination strategy. just another example of the rise of webapps.

Just thought I’d post a pic of a flower from the garden