Week 2, Day 2

No starter story today - just couldn't bring myself to try again. And I won't start one tonight 'cuz we're going to Berkeley first thing in the morning and if they work (which they probably won't but they might) I wouldn't be able to make the bread tomorrow. And this is my last Wednesday off, so we HAVE TO GO TO Berkeley tomorrow. Without fail. But tomorrow night, I'll try a potato starter in the electric skillet. AND I still haven't tried using the warming tray so I can do a cornmeal starter in that. And pray. A lot. I'm running out of time. God, hear my prayer: please let the starter work so I can move onto the sponge (a SECOND fermentation process that may fail) OR allow us to win the lottery so I can make baking my new full time job. That would be fine. Seriously. I'll bake everyday. And give what we don't need away! And build a bakery to employ people who need jobs! Lord, hear my prayer, please!

I'm heading to Pleasanton for lunch with my friend J. whom I haven't seen in a very long time. I might stay at the Hacienda Theatres (we're having lunch at the sushi place there, and I can never remember the name so it's just the 'Hacienda sushi place') and depending on timing, I might see Iron Man, which has sadly moved on from our little theatre here. If not, no biggy - I'll just go in today and add it to my Netflix queue and it will get here eventually.

Update: headed home after lunch. Lunch was fab and the company was even better. Her hubby had a suggestion for a 'hot box' kind of set up - cardboard box covered with foil and a 40 watt light bulb to be raised or lowered closer to the starter bowl depending on how hot it gets. And she advised to let the starter go longer. Maybe I'm rushing it? Maybe overnight isn't long enough? She also convinced me to seriously consider getting a chest freezer - doesn't take up too much space, is relatively inexpensive and then I can stock up on the bread in Berkeley, if it ends up being the 'real deal'.

I ordered more salt-rising yeast from King Arthur Flour company - and realized in reading the recipe that it isn't 'real' SRB - it has yeast in it which disqualifies it from being 'true' SRB. So that's a bit disappointing. But I can use some of the KAF 'salt rising' mix in my starter - it doesn't contain yeast - just cornbread, dried milk, etc. So I might try that - maybe it will be the 'boost' it needs to take off?

The kids are both spending the night elsewhere. I went to Costco for a spinach salad and roasted chicken - it was virtually empty and was the perfect time to shop. Got myself some new tank tops and picked up a flat of strawberries and some grilled chicken breasts (to also add to salads).
I have bananas in need of banana bread - so I'll be doing that tonight. And my hairdresser called and said she'd brought a packet of Amish Friendship Bread starter with her, so I picked that up. Takes 10 days, is easy and guaranteed to result in something yummy! Her family loves it and she makes it for them every 10 days without fail. Sounds good - I've failed at this before - forgot to 'mush' the bag and forgot to add things on the appropriate days. But I'll try to stay with it this time.

I'm going to get some laundry going. Also unload the dishwasher and get the trash out, since the person who normally does those things is spending the night elsewhere. We have a lot of cardboard to cut up for recycling. Hoping there's enough room. We have an entire week before the next lawn trimming pickup and it's just totally and completely stuffed to the gills.

I picked some peaches from our neighbor's tree this evening - and before you think 'oh my gosh, she's resorting to petty thievery to feed her family' - no, I'm not. I'm only taking the peaches from the branch of his tree that is 4 feet into our yard. Yes, really. We've had a lot of really good peaches from that branch the past few weeks - and it's absolutely FULL of peaches pretty close to being ripe, so there's plenty more to come. I may have to learn to make peach preserves or something.