snow, aspirations, and fresh baked bread
I couldn't believe the snow when I went outside to clean my car off for work yesterday. Becky and I went out for a Valentine's dinner and it certainly was a winter wonderland out there then, but wow! If you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't have believed there is a sidewalk in front of our house. Of course now the little sidewalk bulldozer has made its rounds (and hopefully it will again) so it's at least a thickly carpeted tunnel of snow, but yesterday morning it was just a slight divit from our snow capped yard. Oh, winter.
Last night we rented and watched "Running With Scissors". Hmm. It was interesting...I'm not quite sure how I felt about it. It's not that I didn't like it, I just don't think I'd really say I liked it a lot. From the "homocidal, unapologetic alcoholic father" and the cunning psychitrist whose office is complete with a masturbatorium to the valium-comatosed mother and the crushing ceilings...it was something. I guess I'd recommend it. But it wasn't what we were expecting. We thought it would be more dry, sarcastic humor like "About Schmidt" or "Little Miss Sunshine", but it wasn't that at all.
The newest part of our recent strive to live a more natural life has come watching a show on TLC in which nutritionists went into people's houses and told them all about some harmful preservative ingredients (most commonly high fructose corn syrup and hydorginated oils) that are just so bad for you that they are literaly banned--ILLEGAL TO USE--in Europe, parts of Canada, and most recently most New York City restaurants (especially the hydroginated oils). They then went through the homeowner's cabinets and discarded all food with such ingredients. After watching it, we couldn't resist doing the same here at home, and though we try to buy mostly "whole foods", we were pretty surprised at what we found in our cupboards that are supposed to be largely "good for you foods" containing these ingredients. We found both nasty things in pasta sauces, cereals (even so simple as Rice Crispies! Come on, Rice Crispies!), and even in our little shaker of garlic salt! What?! Both things are also in breads, since it extends the shelf life. It's pretty crazy. As a result of our new found knowledge, we looked up all kinds of yummy bread recipes in our tons of cookbooks, bought some yeast packets, and a second bread pan and our homey Waterville apartment will shortly be turned into a full-fledged bakery. The way we see it, there's really no reason for something as simple as bread to be so gunked up with nonsense crap, so we'll from now on be making our very own. And now that we have two bread pans (and may even go back to Goodwill for a third), we'll make it even more worth-while and bake multiple loaves at once so then we can just throw the extras in the freezer and take 'em out as needed. Our very own all-natural preservative! :)
So, wow. LiveJournal is probably going to think my account was taken over by someone crazy since I haven't really written anything in sooo very long, and here I've written a book today.
:)
Last night we rented and watched "Running With Scissors". Hmm. It was interesting...I'm not quite sure how I felt about it. It's not that I didn't like it, I just don't think I'd really say I liked it a lot. From the "homocidal, unapologetic alcoholic father" and the cunning psychitrist whose office is complete with a masturbatorium to the valium-comatosed mother and the crushing ceilings...it was something. I guess I'd recommend it. But it wasn't what we were expecting. We thought it would be more dry, sarcastic humor like "About Schmidt" or "Little Miss Sunshine", but it wasn't that at all.
The newest part of our recent strive to live a more natural life has come watching a show on TLC in which nutritionists went into people's houses and told them all about some harmful preservative ingredients (most commonly high fructose corn syrup and hydorginated oils) that are just so bad for you that they are literaly banned--ILLEGAL TO USE--in Europe, parts of Canada, and most recently most New York City restaurants (especially the hydroginated oils). They then went through the homeowner's cabinets and discarded all food with such ingredients. After watching it, we couldn't resist doing the same here at home, and though we try to buy mostly "whole foods", we were pretty surprised at what we found in our cupboards that are supposed to be largely "good for you foods" containing these ingredients. We found both nasty things in pasta sauces, cereals (even so simple as Rice Crispies! Come on, Rice Crispies!), and even in our little shaker of garlic salt! What?! Both things are also in breads, since it extends the shelf life. It's pretty crazy. As a result of our new found knowledge, we looked up all kinds of yummy bread recipes in our tons of cookbooks, bought some yeast packets, and a second bread pan and our homey Waterville apartment will shortly be turned into a full-fledged bakery. The way we see it, there's really no reason for something as simple as bread to be so gunked up with nonsense crap, so we'll from now on be making our very own. And now that we have two bread pans (and may even go back to Goodwill for a third), we'll make it even more worth-while and bake multiple loaves at once so then we can just throw the extras in the freezer and take 'em out as needed. Our very own all-natural preservative! :)
So, wow. LiveJournal is probably going to think my account was taken over by someone crazy since I haven't really written anything in sooo very long, and here I've written a book today.
:)