Password as always is "scotland"


Christmas Morning from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

I'm done! Whee! Now for 3 weeks of hanging with the Price, cooking, cleaning, and doing nothing!


In other news, here's a couple of recipes I've cooked up recently:

Dill Bread (inspired by Joy of Cooking)
1. Combine 2.25 tsp yeast and 0.5c warm water in a small bowl and let sit for awhile.
2. In a large bowl, combine 0.5c finely chopped onion, 3c bread flour, 3-4 tbsp chopped fresh dill, and 2 Tbsp sugar.
3. Dump yeasty water into flour bowl along with 1c cottage cheese and 1 egg. Stir until everything is in a bog doughy mass. Turn out onto lightly floured counter, set bowl up-side down over the top, and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Knead with floured hands, gradually adding in 1 tsp fine sea salt, for about 10 minutes, until it feels smooth, springy, and elastic. Add flour as you go along, but don't over-flour it (though it is pretty sticky).
5. Place in an oiled bowl, turn over once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise 1-1.5 hours or until approximately doubled in volume.
6. Turn out and shape into a loaf whichever way works for you. Place in an oiled 9x5 pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour, until about doubled in volume.
7. Preheat oven to 350F. Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter and sprinkle a few dill seeds over it. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown on top and hollow when tapped on the bottom (this took ~40 minutes in our crappy oven). Let cool completely before eating.


Brownies (still in my freezer for delicious snacking)- This is basically Deb's recipe, but I used 150g of 72% chocolate instead of baking chocolate, which I couldn't find. Awesome.


Rice pudding (I actually make this all the time but forgot to post the recipe)
2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk (any kind) (sometimes I add a little extra milk at the end if it seems a little dry
1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
pinch nutmeg, optional

Combine cooked rice, milk, sugar (and a pinch of salt, if you want) in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and raisins. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed (30-45 minutes, depending on how absorbent your rice is). Stir in cinnamon and/or nutmeg, if using. Serve warm..
Makes 3-6 servings.

Yum!

Also, I accidentally typed a billion vet words into this post, including Orf and ruminate. I took them out where I could, but please forgive the intrusion.

Hi guys! Just wanted to say thanks for all the emails and messages. I will get back to you ASAP, but I'm covering an ICU shift this weekend so it'll be a few days. Love you all!

Update in case you haven't heard the news through Twitter or Facebook: Jeni and I, and Hosea to a lesser extent, are really sick.  Viral vomiting and diarrhea sick.  Jeni and I got about 3 hours of sleep last night before everything started.  I have been sick with a different bug since Sunday, so last night's dinner was the first real one I'd eaten in a while.  As I write this I'm eating my first food in about 24 hours, a spoon full of honey.  Jeni's not well enough to eat yet.  The doctor came today to give her an anti nausea shot.  Emma has taken Hosea for the day.  He threw up on the bus back to their place but hasn't gotten any worse she says.  That's the scoop.

...Hosea specifically chooses his actions so as to create in me maximum frustration and annoyance.