Di's Kitchen Notebook: March 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Pretty pastels

(some of the bulk candy options at Central Market this time of year)

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Kitchen math

One of the things that Gillian has gotten into is doing Bedtime Math. We don't get to it every day, but she's definitely getting better at the Little Kids problems over time. We kind of did our own version in the kitchen today. G asked me if we could make treats for her teachers (classroom and after-school). At her request, we settled on David Lebovitz's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Okay, I just realized that when I wrote that post, I also talked about Bedtime Math, but totally forgot that I had done so!)

The math didn't come in with the measuring this time. It was after the cookies were baked & Gillian was trying to figure out if we had enough for all the teachers plus some for us. So, there are three classroom teachers and four after-school teachers. There are two pans of cookies, one with fifteen cookies and one with eleven. How many cookies can we package up for each teacher, and will there be enough left for a family of four to have dessert? =)

How to get to Carnegie Hall

I was reminded last weekend that my skill in the kitchen didn't develop overnight. Sunday night I made dough for rolls and stuck it in the fridge. (It's the recipe for Hoagie Rolls from Artisan Breads Every Day--a really lovely dough to work with, which I forget when I haven't made them in a while.) Monday morning, I got up early and portioned the dough and formed the rolls. I managed to get them baked before I had to go to work. Boy, did the house smell good when I left. =) At one time, I never would have had the confidence that I could pull that off, but in the past 5 years of baking and blogging, my baking skills have improved tremendously. How? Through repetition, of course. And also good teachers--Dorie Greenspan, Peter Reinhart, and lots of others.

Yet I still get frustrated when things don't turn out quite the way I wanted to--when they aren't perfect. The demons of perfectionism and I-don't-have-enough-time have been really getting to me lately, which is a lot of the reason why I haven't been posting much. I get hung up on the idea that if I don't have anything new and exciting to post, I shouldn't even bother. But there's beauty in sharing the things that have gotten better with practice, and in writing just to express what's on my mind.