There are some good things about May here in Heat City USA.  For one, it means we’re done with The House of Sand and Fog in our book club.  It was a good starting point for discussion, but now its time to move on to better books.  Books such as The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.  I am truly excited to read this book, its been at the top of my reading list for a year now, it promises to be good.

May also brings with it a new classic album of the month.  I won’t spoil the surprise as to which album it is, but  feel free to guess.  OK heres a hint, the Artist will be playing a show on June 18th a mere 3 hours from my house.  They will be playing a one night only show with one of my favorite new bands.  The Artist and the new band they are playing a show with are both on my most anticipated albums of the year list.  The show is only $32 per ticket and there’s no way I’m going to it unless I win the lottery.

I’m going swimming now.

Grainy

First off I want to hock my wares.  Wait, that sounds bad.  I would like to put my artisan bread officially up for sale.  As of tomorrow morning (Saturday May 2nd)  I will have 2 sandwich loaves of a wonderful multigrain bread and 2 or 3 boulés (pronounced bools (rhymes with fools)) to sell.  Fresh as can be.  I’ll be extracting them from a very hot oven beginning at 9:30 a.m.  If you would like to share in the reverie of fresh baked bread just e-mail me at chef.j.allen@gmail.com.

The Sourdough is the beautiful Arizona Rustic style that I bragged about here.  The wild yeast culture was started on April 11th so it still hasn’t hit the apex of its sourness.  Don’t let that dissuade you though, its fantastically complex and if you get it within2 hours of baking the crust is delightfully crunchy which is worth the price alone.  Oh yeah, the price.  Its $4 for a generous boulé.

The multigrain(pictured at the top of the page)(I need a catchy name for it) has quickly become one of my favorites.  I make mine a multi multigrain by including red quinoa (its a superfood), millet (not quite super, but close), polenta, oats and of course wheat.  The slight crunch of the quinoa and millet perfectly compliments the pillowy soft texture of the bread.  I add honey to give this bread a mildly sweet flavor.  Its perfect served warm with a slathering of butter or toasted with your favorite jam.  Oh year, I almost forgot.   This bread is technically a sourdough also, I used the same starter mentioned above, all wild Arizona yeast.  It gives this bread the perfect kick.  I’d marry this bread if the Arizona Constitution didn’t strictly forbid it.  $5 for a sandwich loaf, half price if you come up with a name for it that sticks.

Again, just email me at chef.j.allen@gmail.com if you’re interested.    Oh, you have to come pick it up, so if you live outside of Maricopa County, it probably not a good idea.

The Staff of Life

The book club is still going strong, we recently reached a milestone, we gained our third member, hooray.  I haven’t commented in a few weeks, I’ve been away, but I promise some book club discussion later this week.

Beth found plenty of junk at the famed Kansas antique stores (and my mom’s collection) maybe I can convince her to post sometime.  Maybe.  She’s still doing much crafting and sewing, she’s just not posting about it.  If we could all join in and chant “We want Beth, we want Beth”  there’s an outside chance that she’ll post something.

I started a wild yeast sourdough barm (starter) on the 11th of April and I am nearing my first loaf.  It sure smells good.  Its a pretty involved process, but I would like to share some of it with you (the process not the bread).  The Ciabatta recipe I’ve been making is about a 3 day process and its fantastic, once I’m comfortable with that one I’ll share it with you.  If you want, we can have a hands on bread making class, you just have to bring the ingredients.

The album of the month is still Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips so there’ll be a post coming there.

I’m having second thoughts about next month’s book club book, The Soloist, it’s now a movie, and I don’t feel like reading another book thats been made into a movie.  Any suggestions?

That’s it for today.

Oak Hill

If you head North out of Quenemo about a quarter mile past the city limits/Pine street, just past the Tyler’s old place.  You’ll notice a fairly well kept rock road on your left that seems to ascend a hill and disappear into the countryside.  Look closely and you’ll see a square stone post that conspicuously marks the entrance to Oak Hill.  Take a left on that road and after another quarter mile the trees will open upon a majestic cemetary built on the slope of a modest hill.  Here you’ll find a minor history of Quenemo and generally Osage County.  You’ll find a good deal of Neills there, but only a few Allens.   This Thursday afternoon another Allen will be added to the list, but its not just any Allen, its my Aunt Joann.

Aunt Joann was opinionated, forthright, politically incorrect, blunt, candid, hilarious, Loving and more.  She treated my brother and I like we were her children.  She readily admitted that Craig (my brother) was her favorite, but I suspect that I may have been her true favorite.  She leaves behind her husband Lynn, her daughter Lacey, and these memories among others:

Who knows how old I was?  I know I was very little.  I was at Joann’s house.  The house with the huge grandfather clock, the house with the noisy air vents, the house with the white ceramic cats.  I saw a cigar and I wanted it.  Would you give a cigar to a young child?  Joann did.  It tasted horrible and it made me sick to my stomach.  Joann knew it would.  She knew it would make me sick and she thought it would make me never want a cigar or cigarette ever  again.

New Years 1987 was special because the Bangles made it special.  Check that, it was Joann that made it special.  We spent many New Years Eve at Joann’s house, they were always the party of the year. She would go out of her way to make them so.

For many years, Joann ran the only fireworks stand in town.  She would travel to Missouri to buy the fireworks and return to sell them to the children in our town.  I doubt she made much money off of them, of course that’s not why she did it.  She did it because she was Joann, the fireworks lady, she did it because the kids needed something to do as the Summer break dragged on.  We would buy various fireworks from her for our yearly display.  Of course, she was invited, and, of course, she would bring all her leftover fireworks to add to our display.

These memories, while dear to me, cannot convey to you what Joann meant to me.  Just understand this.  Joann is gone and she will be sorely missed, but I know I will see her again someday.  Until then, goodbye Joann, we Love You.

Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson-Te Morituri

Band of Horses-The Funeral

Johnny Cash-We’ll Meet Again

I didn’t take any pictures.

I wore a skinny tie.

Beth wore her flirty Red dress.

We ate outside under the globe lights that Beth Hung from the tree.

I was disappointed with the food, except for the bread.

I gave a toast to the best 7 years of my life.

The best 7 years of my life wrote me a very sweet poem.

The soup was pretty good too.

Lots of candles, a chandelier and near perfect weather greeted us.

Beth looked amazing.

I wore a too big fedora.

I should have taken pictures.

It was magical.

Some people would say that they deserve it, I am not one of those people.

I got a new aluminum water bottle, its supposed to be safe (no BPA), but I can’t help but wonder how this thing is killing me.

Monday is toast and yogurt day for breakfast, the kids love dipping the toast in the yogurt.  Pretty unremarkable right?  Wrong.  It just hit me this morning how remarkable it was.  The bread was honey whole wheat made at home by Beth, the vanilla-honey yogurt was made by me, and the raspberry jam was made by Beth and canned by me.  The only thing that was missing was homemade butter, maybe someday.

Our Sunday Lunch consists of a large tray of miscellaneous food items that we share as a family.  The tray always has cheese and tofu, the other items vary.  Yesterday, the cheese was emmentaler and the tofu was terriyaki. I added a brussels sprout salad (chopped up leftover brussels sprouts soaked in red wine vinegar, with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar), the last of my kalamata olives, some polenta (homemade, sauteed in butter), and some thinly sliced apple.  It’s my absolute favorite meal of the week.

Last night we watched “The Secret Life of Bees“.  I patiently waited for the end of the movie to tell Beth my joke.  Here it is.   Gee Beth that movie was such a girl movie that they should have called it The Secret Life of Boo-Bees.

That was it, that was the joke.  No its not funny and yes it only vaguely makes sense.  It did serve its purpose though.

We need a new book for the book club, any suggestions?  A book you’ve always wanted to read, a bestseller that everyone is raving about, I want to get a book that everyone is gonna read and have an opinion about.

Enough for now.

*I would normally say awesome, but I’m looking for a new awesome substitute.  Any Suggestions?  Something timeless like Cool, but eith more emphasis.

**This is possibly the first time that I have ever used splendid in a sentence, it just doesn’t sound right, but here are my other easy fix options.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Wow, that’s some in depth blogging.  Bye.

The recipes are coming back, I promise.  I actually have ingredients now.   We’ve been baking all of our own bread for about a month and a half now, I’ll share our recipe for our everyday whole wheat sandwich bread (its really Beth’s recipe not ours technically).  Its tasty bread and I have yet to miss the spongy store-bought stuff.    We also make our own yogurt now (I got a yogurt maker for christmas) and I have only recently perfected the recipe.  Now our bi-weekly breakfast of toast and yogurt is 95% homemade (I’m not even gonna try to make the margarine).  See our daughter’s version of this meal below.

I have made bread and I have been given red roses. How happy I am to hold both in my hands.

I’ve been pondering starting a book club here.  I love reading and I love talking about books, so it would seem natural, right?  I’m just not sure how we would do it.  Would we discuss it in the comments?  Can I create some sort of forum for it?  I just don’t know.   Maybe I’ll just start it and see where it goes.

That’s it for now, I’ve got work to catch up on.  I will get that podcast up today and some recipes tomorrow.  Hope you had a Great Holiday Season.

Ella Fitzgerald-Sleigh Ride

Duke Ellington-Dashing Through The Snow

Chet Atkins-Jolly Old St Nicholas

Vince Guaraldi-O Tannenbaum