DAY ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

 Wow! It has been over a week since I baked for my cooking course.  I did need a break since I was going 100 MPH there for a few weeks.  

Today I started the French Pastry Classics.  This is another one of those multi-day projects.  I already messed it up by forgetting to take the passion fruit and mango out of the freezer last night so this morning I took the passion fruit and put it in the sunshine and let it melt.  It worked.  I am making a Baba Au Rhum.  I have never heard of it but it looks super good.  I hear there is a French version and an Italian version.  Today I made the dough, let the dough rise and rise again, made the passion fruit syrup, baked the dough, and put the baked dough in the passion fruit syrup overnight.  Tomorrow I have about four things I have to do to finish up.  It should look very cool.  

 I did have a problem with the recipe because the ingredient list left one item out.  It was a crucial item: soy cream.  I only noticed it because my dough was dry and on the video his was watery.  I looked at another place and saw the item was left out off the list.  I added it but later on and my dough was not watery.  I continued on and I think they came out okay.  They taste great and look great.  What could I do at that point?? I wrote to the company and told them maybe they need someone to proof read their recipes.  (this is not the first mistake I found and wrote them about)

Lucky and I walked a mile today. She doesn't seem to be limping anymore.  Maybe she just pulled a muscle.  

Basically that was the day.  I am about to watch Jungle Book on Disney+.  I will write a review tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

BAKING PLANNING TODAY

 I thought I was going to bake today but I looked at the baking I had planned and I realized it needed some planning.  The recipe has seven steps and I needed to plan them out.  There are general steps like: take the puree out of the freezer on Friday night, make the dough on Saturday (it has to rise twice and then bake for 25 min), take the mango out of the freezer on Saturday night and plate the dish.  

I had to plan the whole thing out and realized it will take two days since something has to soak overnight after it is baked.  So, I am starting it tomorrow morning and hopefully it will be completed on Sunday afternoon.

My neighbor's little boy (he is probably 3.5-4 years old) saw me today and said "thank you for the cake.  It was good.  Are you making more?"  His nanny told him he couldn't say that.  I thought it was cute.  

Some other neighbors have volunteered to buy my liquor and the butane gas for me.  I want to use my butane torch but my state doesn't allow me to get butane gas shipped to me.  S'mores!!  

Tomorrow I have to plan the next dessert.  These French pastries have so many steps and ingredients.  

After Lucky went with the dog walker, I took a 2 mile walk.  I just put on my audio book and I take off walking.  It is getting easier to go up the hill.  I was so wrapped up in my audio book that I missed my turnoff and went all the way up the steep hill. Working those glut muscles.

Today is my seven year Veganiversary.  I have been a vegetarian (and lactose intolerant) since I was a teenager.  

Until tomorrow...

TINNITUS

 My baking equipment has arrived!  I ordered a silicone pan and a metal cylinder for making a tart.  They arrived late this afternoon right after I got back from our walk.

Lucky and I went for a one-mile walk today. It looked so warm outside but it turned out to be not as warm as it looked so we had to walk fast to warm up. 

I woke up this morning with very loud tinnitus in my ears.  I  have bruxism (grinding or gritting your teeth) and I must have been grinding or gritting very hard last night.  One of the causes of tinnitus is grinding or gritting your teeth.  I had a very bad dream/nightmare last night and I think it caused me to grind or grit my teeth.  I dreamed that my bird died.  It was horrible.  I pulled his cover off his cage and he was dying in the corner of his cage and there was nothing I could do but watch.  Then I woke up.  I remember it so vividly.  I was afraid to take his cover off this morning until I heard him singing.  I thought it was real.  But I woke up and the ringing in my ears was SO loud I could barely hear anything else.  

I have had tinnitus for many, many years.  The buzzing gets louder and softer but is always there.  This is the loudest it has ever been.  It is mostly in my right ear but I hear it in both.  I had my ears checked before and the doctor told me there is nothing they can do for tinnitus.  I can do things to help not make it worse like wear ear plugs when around loud noises like fireworks and concerts.  Try not to use headsets with loud music.  That sort of thing.  Other than that, there is not much I can do to slow the progression.  I could teach the younger generation to protect their hearing, something I did not do enough of.  I also did not protect my eyes from the sun enough but it seems like there wasn't enough information about these things when I was 16 years old.  No advertising telling me to protect my eyes from the sun or my hearing from loud music.  Of course there wasn't advertising telling me not to smoke either. That didn't start until 1984 in Minnesota and wasn't a national campaign until 2000.  The Just Say No to Drugs campaign started in 1982.    

Tomorrow I will bake again.  I was happy to have a small break but I miss it.  

Until tomorrow...

WALKING INTERVALS

 Another day of work.  I am anxiously waiting for my package delivery tomorrow so I can start baking again.  I spent some time freezing some food.  I had 1/4 of the cherry crumble cake left and I froze that.  I also froze some of the kale and bean soup that I made on Sunday.  It is good to have food in the freezer for the future.  I love to go into the freezer and just pop food into the microwave or boiling water and voila food is ready to eat.  

I took another 2 mile walk while Lucky was with the dog walker.  I am getting stronger and can do the walk (much of it is uphill) in 45 minutes.  The hills really slow me down.  One hill is so steep I go 2/3 of the way up and then cut down a side street that is flat to catch my breath.  Then after one block of flat walking I walk the rest of the way up the hill.  It is like doing intervals.  3 minutes of uphill, 3 minutes of flat walking, 2 minutes of uphill and then flat walking.  Get that heart rate going!  

I found a time where there was no one on my block and I could change my light bulbs on my stairs. They have been out for months.  I finally found a good time to change them.  It will be nice to have them lit again.  

Until tomorrow...

WEIRD DAY

 Weird day.  I had two meetings scheduled and both got cancelled at the last minute.  The first meeting the person didn't show up and the second meeting got cancelled.  So my day got all messed up.  

I took a walk with Lucky for one mile.  

I did not cook today because I realized I do not have the two pans that I need to make the items for this chapter.  I will be getting them on Thursday so I can start to bake on Thursday or Friday.  

Not an exciting day plus it was really cold today.

Until tomorrow...

LUCKY SEEMS BACK TO HERSELF

 I had a day of which almost none of it I can write about.  I was busy and had no time to cook.  I did take out an hour to take a long 2 mile walk by myself.  I didn't walk all weekend since Lucky was so sick.  I spent a lot of time going up and down stairs taking her outside.  

Good news is that Lucky seems back to her healthy self.  She ate this morning and for dinner.  She went to the park with the dog walker.  

Until tomorrow...

HEARTY KALE, BEAN AND ZUCCHINI SOUP

 I spent the weekend cooking some good and hearty food for the week (and to freeze).  I made the sweet, spicy and saucy noodles on Saturday.  Then I made Roasted Potatoes, Zucchini and Chickpeas in a dill sauce.  It is so good.  Roasting the veggies really changes the flavor.

Then I soaked beans overnight and this morning I made soup in the slow cooker.  I unfortunately put it on high instead of low (second time I did this) so it is a little overcooked.  It still tastes really good.  It has kale, zucchini, carrots and beans.  I used the beans from Bob's Mills that a relative sent me.  

It was so filling and tasty.  I ate two bowls of soup.  

This was a slow day.  Lucky finally ate dinner and seems to be feeling better.  It was a hard night with her getting up a few times.  I hope she is on the upswing.

Until tomorrow... 

SWEET, SPICY AND SAUCY NOODLES

 I wanted to make a noodle dish for dinner tonight.  I took some ramen noodles (you know the ramen noodles from those packets many of you bought in college for 10 for $5) and threw out the seasoning packet.  I boiled the noodles and fried tofu.  Then I sauted the veggies (I used bok choy and shitake mushrooms) then I added a sauce.  It all came together in the pan.  It was super easy to make and it made enough for at least two meals.  It was so tasty.  

Today was a resting day.  Lucky was sick and she wanted to sit on my lap most of the day.  No it wasn't her limp, it was her stomach.  She had her usual stomach upset and she had diarrhea all day.  She didn't want to eat but I managed to get her medicine down her.

That was most of the day.  

Until tomorrow...

I PASSED THE VEGAN PASTRY ESSENTIALS COURSE

 I took my course test today and after a little bump I passed the test.  I found a mistake in the test so it looked like I got one incorrect.  I wrote to the school afterward and told them there is a mistake.  

Now I move on to French Pastry Classics. I was going to do Fine Italian Pastries & Desserts but I don't have the alcohol that I need.  My neighbor said he would help me get the alcohol and I need to connect with him.  

I didn't cook anything today because I spent the time taking my test and then shopping for the ingredients that I need from WholeFoods.  Luckily I don't need to get anything from Amazon this time.  I have so many items already that I don't need to buy anything exotic.  The only item I can't seem to find is soy cream.  It doesn't seem to exist in America. There is something on Amazon but it is in another language and I am not sure that is what I want. 

I went on a long walk by myself today.  I walked 5,000 steps.  Lucky went to the beach with the dog walker and he said he took it easy with her today.

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN BURRITO

 Once again I worked today for a bit.  Then I made lunch.  I made a vegan burrito out of TVP (textured vegetable protein), spinach, vegan cheese, tomatoes and salsa.  It was super good.  

I had my food delivery and that took some time to put the food away since I bought about 12 bags of food.  I needed a lot of food and other things like toothpaste and dog poop bags.  Necessary things.  I was also out of flour and sugar and that makes cooking pastries sort of difficult.

Since Lucky has been limping on her left rear leg I decided that an outside walk was out of the question so I did a DVD inside walk for 2 miles.  She sat and watched me with her sad face.

That was the whole day believe it or not.  

Until tomorrow...