There will be two posts today!

Post one is a list of a few recipes I have tried over the past two weeks. Post two is more dialogue...and I suppose an apology for not having written for nearly two months.

Recipe 1: Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Rosemary

1 Cup Boiling Water

1 Package (1 TBSP) dry yeast

1 Teaspoon Sugar

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1 Teaspoon Salt

3 Tablespoons Olive or Rosemary Oil

1 ¼ Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 – 1 ½ Cups unbleached white bread flour

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1 TSP Coarse Sea Salt

3-4 Fresh Rosemary Sprigs

Crush the rosemary laves with a pestle or chop them finely. Pour the boiling water over the rosemary leaves in a large mixing bowl. Let the water cool to a temperature comfortable on the inside of your wrist. Add the yeast and Sugar.

After about 5 minutes, when the yeast is bubbling, add the salt and one teaspoon of the olive oil. Stir in the whole wheat flour. Add only as much white bread flour as you need to make the dough pull away from the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth and springy. As you knead the sough add just enough flour to prevent sticking. The dough should remain soft.

Oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it once to oil both sides. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set it aside in a warm place for about 1 ½ hrs or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and knead it for a minute or two. Oil a large baking sheet with olive oil. Stretch and pat the dough on the baking sheet to roughly form a 12x12 inch square. Cover the pan and let the dough rise again for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Make indentations with your fingertips about every two inches, dimpling the dough all over. Sprinkle coarse salt over the top. Lightly press in fresh rosemary sprigs. Drizzle the dough with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden. Serve warm, cut or broken into pieces.

Note: I top mine with sundried tomatoes, red onion, olives, sea salt, rosemary, and olive oil.

Recipe 2: Rosemary Shortbread

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon plus 1 pinch kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted cold butter, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 to 2 teaspoons rosemary, chestnut or other dark, full-flavored honey (optional).

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, rosemary and salt. Add butter, and honey if desired, and pulse to fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some crumbs start to come together, but don't overprocess. Dough should not be smooth.

2. Press dough into an ungreased 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan or 9-inch pie pan. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes for 9-inch pan, 45 to 50 minutes for 8-inch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut into squares, bars or wedges while still warm.

Note: I used 1/3 c sugar and 1/3 c brown sugar and I added finely crushed walnuts.

Recipe 3: Maple Balsamic Vinigrette (Courtsey of LANA!)

‎1 small Shallot, finely diced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Maple Syrup
...Kosher Salt
Freshly ground Black Pepper
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Combine the chopped shallot, Dijon and Balsamic Vinegar in a mixing bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while you whisk to emulsify. Add the maple syrup and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.



That will be all for today. I have other recipes but they will be added in good time. Yum.

Chalupa in Solitude

What is uuuuuppp anonymous readers. Sorry for the two month hiatus but did I not warn you at the beginning that I would probably fail with the upkeep of this venture? I know, this does nothing but reflect poorly on my ability to follow through on, well, anything. But alas, that is why I am here. I followed through. On what you may ask? I'll get to that in a moment. But first, a side story on follow through: I've been bad at it since childhood. In dance, I lacked the follow through in sticking my leg straight up behind me. My dance teacher said I had froggy legs. In piano, I lacked follow through in practice. I never practiced. It wasn't that I didn't care....well, it was. Piano was one of those things my mom made me do and because she did I hated it and my revenge was to never practice. Now, of course, I regret it because I would love to be able to sit at a Piano and knock out Beethoven's 9th by memory. I lacked follow through in soccer. I could never kick the ball properly. I was tall enough as a kid to make a good basketball player but I lacked follow through in making a shot. I lacked follow through in throwing a soft ball and in swimming the breast stroke. See what I mean? I am prone to lacking follow through.

Well...to be honest, I began this post like two days ago...so once again my lack of follow through SHINES. But at least I am aiming to finish this post...without distraction. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see. Anyways. The topic of this post. Follow through. So I am approaching the 6 month mark in my year of service. Half way through. And boy oh boy have I been struggling. Both in my current job and in my future. I am not going to go into the details of my struggles at work...mainly because if you are close to me, you know what they are, and if you're not, well then you don't know the issues for a reason. Not to mention you never know who could be reading this blog.

However, my concerns about my future I have no concerns about revealing to you. In fact, I welcome any and all suggestions from you, anonymous readers. Not that there are many of you. But hey. One can hope.

Well anyways I suppose I'll save that for another day mainly because talking about my (lack of a) future depresses me. But moving on. The reason for this post was. Follow through. Right. So the other night I was feeling really down and wondering if I had accomplished much of anything this year. Then I remembered the post I wrote nearly 6 months ago when I first started my year as a VISTA. I'm sure you, anonymous reader, recall it? It listed 20 goals I wanted to achieve this year. And I am happy to report that at the 6 month mark I have accomplished 10 of these goals. When I realized this...well lets just say it made me feel grrreeat. Like Tony the Tiger. Yes. I have accomplished something and I will accomplish more. From biking to cooking to running a half marathon. Yup.

Next on my list will be to purchase and learn the harmonica. Even if I don;t actually "learn" it I will at least have a new, grounded, portable source of entertainment that will last me well beyond the end of the earth. Hopefully I'll remember to update you on that when I d purchase one.

And now, anonymous readers, I am sick of typing. And sick of expressing my thoughts. It's your turn. So speak up friends.

And I suppose in the spirit of my blog, I should leave you with a funny quote.

Did someone say Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

"Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people."

Thank you sir.