renaissance poisson

so i ground some wheat berries into flour.

the focus isn't quite where it should be, but of course i didn't see that until the flour had already been baked into yummy bread.

and wow, what a difference fresh flour makes. i don't usually much care for whole wheat breads, but this one was GOOD.

grinding 3 cups of wheat berries by hand into reasonably fine flour is quite the workout; i didn't do it in one stretch, but took breaks in between. if i continue with the physical labour in garden and house as i've started this year, soon i will have actual muscles.

the new grain mill (wonder mill junior) is excellent. i've wanted one for years, but could never see spending the money. however, this wasn't hideously expensive. i'll write a review as soon as i've tried grinding more things -- it has stones for dry goods, and steel burrs for oily ones.

i've mostly fallen off the wagon of productivity, *sigh*.

two small things; one went well, one not so much:

continuing experiments in bread baking have resulted in very yummy french bread -- i am mixing bread flour and pastry flour, letting the bread machine do the kneading, and baking it in the oven, spritzing it with saltwater. perfect crumb with just the right size of holes, great chewy crust, and all of that without the hard labour. it also seems to not take so long, which is entirely subjective -- it does take just as long, but having to do less work makes it seem like less time.

the sock experiment (with the tunisian crochet heel and toe) did not go so well. the heel and toe themselves worked out well, but i can't believe i was so stupid to use a variegated yarn for this -- that creates of course discontinuities where the crochet and knit part are sewn together. also, the yarn that i was using -- elann's esprit "sock it to me!" (98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic) is way, way stretchier than i am used to, and consequently the sock i ended up with has a nice, thick, solid heel and toe (the heel fabric is pretty much perfect; just enough give), and a terribly slouchy everything else. i like the yarn, it feels great when working with it, and it's nice on the skin. but when using it i'll need to completely overhaul any pattern i have, to take into account that stretch that won't quit.

other than that, i am now watching BSG's first season. this does not suck as badly as it might have sucked; in fact i like it better than B5's first season, at least where the acting is concerned. if you're now sputtering, please take into account that i was not a fan of the original BSG, and have never in fact seen any of it. oh, you're sputtering because of what i said about B5? deal. the acting sucked so bad that for me it detracted from the show's otherwise more interesting scope. :)