Tuesday with Dorie - White Loaves

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but I'm 2 days late. Better late than never..??..??

The Tuesday's with Dorie group is a blogging group that just started another Dorie Greenspan cookbook, Baking with Julie. We will bake a different recipe from the cookbook every two weeks and the group will all post about the recipe on Tuesday (oops).

This week we baked bread. Wonderful, easy to put together white bread. I only took a few pictures, perhaps I was in a trance from the wonderful aroma.

The dough is now in the bread pans for the 2nd rise. I only have blue plastic wrap, so it looks a little odd.

The bread is done! The internal temperature was at 200.

Don't they look so good. I had an end piece. I love the crust of home baked breads.

To get more information on this recipe, go to the hosts site and find the recipe.

If you want to bake along with us, order Baking with Julia. We just started, so you can bake with us too!!

I got it!!

I got my new cook book from Amazon today!! I received Baking with Julia and the first recipe I will jump into is on pages 81-82, White loaves. I love the smell of fresh baked bread and it's even better when I make it!!

I will be baking it within the next week, but it won't be on my blog until Februrary 7th. You can bake along with us too. First, you must get the book!!

Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers

Baking With Julia

I was once a member of the Tuesday's with Dorie blogging group and I've joined again . The group will begin baking the recipes the recipes from Baking with Julia in February and I can't wait. My book is on the way. If you want to join, start by getting the book.



Then go and join the free group ,http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/. Happy Baking!!

Thank you!!

There aren't enough words in the English language for me to express my gratitude to my brother Steve.  For those of you who don't know him or what he has done for our family, I will tell the story the best way I can, from my point of view.

Several months after the death of my mother (Sally Tucker) in 2008, my father (George James Tucker Sr.) went to live with Steve.  When dad first moved in with Steve, dad was very mobile and still led an active life.  I guess if you consider hanging out at Hardees with the other old men active, then, yes, he was active.  Steve was working at Triton Boats in Ashland City, TN and had been with them since 1999.  Steve has always been a hard worker and is a veteran of the US Army.

While Dad was living with Steve, his health began to decline.  Of course I knew Dad wasn't getting younger, but I guess I still had the mental image of a strong, tall Yellow Freight truck driver that I called "Daddy".

During the decline of Dads health, Steve's employer, Triton Boats, announced that they would be closing down.  This is devastating news for all the people of my home town and my brother who would be losing jobs in this economic decline.  My brother lost his income and insurance, but gave my father a full time care giver.  My Dad needed someone to cook for him, bring him his medicine at the appropriate times (a lot for a decade long emphysema patient with diabetes), take him to medical appointments, do his laundry, move him from his bed to his chair and get him to the bathroom.  This is only a short list, but that made my unemployed brother a chef, nurse, doctor, taxi driver, maid and home health aide. 

My brother stayed home and took care of my Dad while looking for another job.  I'm sure that he overlooked jobs that he would have been qualified for because he was busy being a care taker.  He may have missed a lot of opportunity for a great new job because he was being a great care taker to our father.  I know he got frustrated and didn't receive all the help or gratitude he needed or deserves from the family.  I also know that Dad never had a bad thing to say about my brother.  Steve would tell me that Dad never knew what he wanted to eat or would complain about how the food was too hard to chew or cooked wrong, but Dad never told me these things.  Dad always complimented Steve's food.  It was like Dad was giving me tips.  I guess Dad preferred Steve's cooking skills. Steve did everything he needed to do for my Dad!

Dad died in June of 2011.  Steve is the executor of Dads estate, but that is another "care giver" job that doesn't have an income.  He has been looking and applying for jobs near and far.  He has family looking and applying or him also.  This is a man who took care of his Dad instead of sending him to a "home" and may have missed several job opportunities and is now still out of work.

In order to help him out now in the best way I can, I have signed him up as an Amazon Associate.  What this basically means is that if anyone clicks through his links to Amazon, he will receive credit and will help him financially.  This will not add to the costs of the items you purchase, but will help me say "Thank You" to Steve. 

Please bookmark this post so that you can access Amazon through Steve's affiliate link and let him know that I care!  There will be Amazon links on this blog and I will also posts those links on my Facebook page and his Facebook page as soon as I figure out how to do it.

Thank you so much for helping out a great care giver, my brother, Steve.

Wordless Wednesday

New Things to Come

I'm working on some new and excited new ventures for this coming year (more details to come).  I'm excited to enrich my life and the life of my family (near and far).  Stay tuned for much more from me!!

I'm back!!

I'm back and ready to pick up this blog again and run with it.  I will make no guarantees about how often I will post, but I will certainly try to post more than once per year.  :)

Wordless Wednesday

The house to myself....ahhhh what a feeling....

For the first time in over a week, the kids are all back to school.  Last week with our snow and ice, the girls were out of school for the full week and even the college closed up until Thursday for Tyler.  With yesterday being a holiday, they were all home again.  I love my children dearly and love to spend time with them.  There comes a time, however, when I need my space.  I now have a moment to think about all the things that I need to get done, but now want to only sit and enjoy the empty house.  I guess I can allow myself the time to enjoy the moment before proceeding to accomplish some much needed tasks.

One the agenda for the week is to begin planning for our August Disney Vacation.  This is something that I enjoy and can't wait to have everything all planned.  I can make our dining reservations on February 15th.  I hope that the park hours for August are online soon so that I can properly plan!!  A month or so prior to our trip, I will purchase the Ride-Max software again (ridemax.com).  This is the most awesome planning tool and is well worth the money.  I recommend it to anyone headed to Disney that doesn't want to spend the majority of their day standing in lines. 

Smiles and fun is what it is all about, not the lines.  I can't wait to spend a week at Disney with my family this summer!!

E-Readers

I'm looking into an E-reader again, but I've come into the same problem as before....choices!  Now some may think that having a selection to choose from is a good thing, for me, it seems to make my mind spin.  I've got too many different directions to go in and I'm not sure which direction is right for me.  The Kindle is a popular choice, but seems to have drawbacks.  A popular format (EPUB-?) is not supported on the Kindle.  The Nook-color sounds fabulous, but wouldn't be so good in the sun.  How often will I need to use it in the sun?  Both allows you to share books, but only once.  Who would I share with?  Hubby has an off brand E-reader, Astak or something and he seems to be happy with it.  He reads those nerdy publications and the older out of copyright books that I'd NOT be interested in.  I'm glad it works for him, but I'd rather stay in the mainstream market.  You see my dilemma?  This is just the tip of the iceberg of questions and concerns I have about e-readers.  All the bells and whistles they have added entice me, but will I use them.  The Nook can be used as an MP3 player and seems like a good thing.  Will I use it? 

So friends, I guess I need to further research and ask those of you who have e-readers to help.  What do you have?  Do you love it?  What are the pros and cons of the model you have?  Give me the good, bad and ugly!