Are you up for some miscellany?
Good!
Because that's what I've got today.
Pita
First-ity-first, I want to talk more about homemade pita bread.
After breakfast yesterday, I made up another batch of dough, and this time, I slid my pizza stone into the oven when I turned it on to preheat.
I was all excited to see if this method would produce satisfying results, but I am sorry to say that this is what came out of the oven.
Yummy? Yes. Pocket bread? No.
So, I tried again, after the stone had had even more time to heat up.
But again, I ended up with a not-properly-puffed pita, and this time, the bottom was browner than I wanted it to be.
It was more like pizza.
Which, I suppose, should not be a surprise, given that it was baked on a pizza stone.
So, then I decided to try baking a pita on a wire cooling rack, and that produced much better results. The pita puffed up impressively, and the bottom was not burnt.
pizza stone pita on the left, wire rack pita on the right
I must say, though, that I was most pleased with the pitas that I cooked on my little mesh splatter screen, so I'm going to stick with that. But if you don't own one of those, I can safely recommend using a wire cooling rack instead.
I know some of you use pizza stones with great success, but apparently I lack the necessary skilz. 😉
Forsythia
So, we've lived in this house for almost 6 years now (Holy moly! How did that happen??), and for all of those years, a rather out-of-place, out-of-control forsythia bush has lived in my side yard, right by the road (I really need to dig it up and move it somewhere better).
For some odd reason, it has taken me six years to realize that I could cut flowers off of it and bring them inside.
And now that I've done it, I'm kicking myself for missing out for 6 years. Hello! Free stuff, enjoying what you have, noticing the beauty where you are...that's my gig, and somehow, I didn't see the opportunity sitting right next to my own house.
I will remember this next spring.
Speaking of spring...
after a winter of slipper and sock encased feet, I am soaking up the delicious feeling of bare-naked feet.
Every winter I get so used to having my feet covered up at all times (ok, not in the shower, but you know what I mean), I almost forget how fabulous it is to feel the warm air on my toes.
But it all quickly comes back, and I remember that I'm a proud member of the "shoes are evil and bare feet rock" club.
(You didn't know there was a club? There totally is, and you should join! All the cool people go barefoot, you know.)
I'm actually kidding about the club. But if you hardly ever go barefoot, I think you should try it. It feels fabulous.
These are making me laugh
On Sunday, we were at Ready, Set, Simplify's neighborhood park, and I took some pictures of Zoe and Lisey swinging. They're completely off-topic, but I thought I'd share them anyway.
Because looking at them keeps making me giggle.
Even though they're not exactly my best pictures ever (taking pictures of people in motion is a skill I have not quite mastered).
And that, dear readers, is all the miscellany I have for you this Thursday. 🙂
Today's 365 post: Shoe on the Sill
Joshua's 365 post: My Reptile Wall (the bulletin board in this picture was an old church discard, which I painted and hung up on Joshua's wall)
When using a wire cooling rack to bake the pitas... does the rack first go on a cookie sheet?
Nope, I just stick it right onto the bare oven rack.
I don't always have to complicate things, but....have you ever tried making these with whole wheat flour, or a mix of ww and ap? I'm wondering if it would turn out okay, or if pitas are one of those things that ww just doesn't work well for. If you did use ww, would you have to adjust the yeast? Have you ever used the non-pocket pitas for mini pizzas?
I haven't so far, but I do want to give it a try. I'm going to start with maybe a 50/50 white/whole wheat combo and then go from there.
Totally agree with going barefoot - there really should be a club.
Love the blog.
Thanks for the pita test. I'm gonna have to make some!
I am so putting pitas on the menu for next week. The ones you made on the stone remind me of chapati or the Greek thick pita for gyros. I have a splatter screen and a stone so I'm excited to do both 🙂
I am a member o the "shoes are annoying" club 🙂 We've only had a few days so far that I could go without socks....hurry up spring!
One of the doctors I work with, Dr. Sinatra, says that taking off your shoes and walking on the Earth grounds you; which may be one reason it feels so good. By the way, come over and join my Dr. Sinatra Walking Club. I'm blogging as myself on Dr. Sinatra's blog: http://blog.drsinatra.com/blog/health/introducing-the-new-sinatra-walking-club. It's as frugal as you can get, free! But if you're going to walk for exercise, I recommend putting your shoes on first 😉
Just so you know I'm not kidding, this is the ultimate "barefoot walking club." http://www.drsinatra.com/earthing-the-most-important-health-discovery-of-our-time
🙂
I think the most common place to plant a forsythia is out by the road. I hardly ever see them anywhere else. I currently have a vase (for the first time too) of a redbud limb that had to be severed to retrieve a stuck frisbee. Looks quite lovely and I'd never thought of trimming the tree for decoration before.
Without having tried baking any pitas ever, is it possible the key to puffitude is allowing hot air to circulate all around the pitas? This might be why the pizza stone didn't work right. I wonder if one of those double-walled cookie sheets would work well. I have one of those. Maybe I will do a test and get back to you all!
That does seem to be important, because the methods that allow air circulation have all worked markedly better for me.
Oh! You'[ve just reminded me to bring in some branches and force some forsythia. We won't see them here outside for about a month.
Yes! This is one of my favorite things to do before easter. Even in cold MN, you can snip off some branches, put them in water & watch them flower. It makes a lovely easter tree and it's nice to have something growing when there's snow outside!
Kristen, you can get that forsythia bush under control by cutting back 1/3 of the bush from the base. Also, if you don't want such a crazy-wild look but something a bit more controlled, you can prune/trim it after the current bloom drops off but before the end of June (for my zone, 6, anyway). That is when the buds set for the coming spring.
So, should I do the major pruning in the fall? Or do forsythias always need to be trimmed after the current bloom comes off?
The fall is the best time. They respond to tough love as well as honeysuckle do and will reward your efforts the next year with twice as many blooms.
Love being barefoot. I wish I could go barefoot all the time.
Forsythia is great to cut and put in a vase inside. The branches/blooms last forever and make everything look so springy!
Please stop kicking yourself about the forsythia! Think of it this way: for six years, you've been noticing other important things. It relates to your post about being able to cope with a very, very busy day in part because your kidlets are older now and a bit more independent. Instead, be grateful that you've gotten this far with that wonderful skill set intact and even improved!
Oh, I'm not seriously upset with myself. lol In the grand scheme of things, letting flowers stay on a bush is hardly an enormous deal. 😉
I grew up with forsythia that wasn't by the road, and share a hedge-like forsythia with my neighbor. It might have started life as a hedge but neither of us keep it so.
For decades I was a member of the bare foot club and for a couple of them my feet always ached. Eventually I found some sandals that were very supportive and that I could slip off to put my feet up, and now my feet don't ache.
It's - almost - a good thing that I'm sick because I spent most of yesterday reading RSS, and The Mrs from there. This is not helping my goal to spend more time with real friends and less with imaginary ones. OTOH I have strep so I can neither visit nor talk so maybe I get a pass on this one.
Are you trying to say that I'm imaginary?? 😉
I have foot problems. I also have a concrete floor (stained, scored concrete looks like tile). I tried going barefoot inside and my feet and back both ached so bad I could hardly walk. The idea appeals to me. Possibly on a different surface it would be fine, but not in my house!
WilliamB, you definitely get a pass from me(imaginary or not)!
Love all the topics and comments. I love me some bare feet!!!
I live in a place where sandals are the norm - 9-10 months out of the year. For me, it's kind of nice to put on a good pair of shoes in the winter. And socks! I just love socks! Makes me feel cozy. But yes, bare feet are good! As soon as the weather becomes warm, out come the sandals as I walk in the sand.
But we in North Carolina have a nasty little ant called a "fire ant." They are small, red, and when they bite you, you know it immediately. After the initial bite we often develop red welts that hurt, sometime for days.
Bare feet feels good, but you have to consider where you will be walking.
Excuse the rambling.
Hi Diane,
I had to laugh. It seems we follow a lot of the same blogs. Often you write something that is exactly what I would have said. Last night, I was catching up on some favorite sites. At ERE, I saw a comment that I thought you had written. As I was nodding my head in agreement with you, I noticed that the article was a re-post and that it was actually a comment I'd made over a year ago! (Yes, I do suffer from CRS, why do you ask?) If we had wildly opposing perspectives, I'd probably change my "handle' (as the CBer's say).
Here's a fire ant tale: when my sister moved to S. Carolina, one of her toddlers was asserting his independence by removing his diaper where ever the mood struck him. He pulled this trick while out in the yard one fine sunny day and then squatted down on the lovely green grass...you know where this is going, so I'll spare you the gory details except to say he learned his lesson the hard way. Thanks for triggering a funny-if-painful memory.
May I suggest something a tad easier than digging up a probably over-large Forsythia bush? If you want another bush for the back yard just grow another one.I can see trimming it back if it is unwieldy, but you could take those trimming and grow more plants for free.
Hey, I figure the frugal girl would want to know how I got a whole Forsythia hedge row for free--cuttings from a neighbor's shrub is how I did it. They root super easy in any soil. Just stick them into moist soil and they root on their own. Need more detailed instructions, just ask.
You might also want to hold off on (completely) pruning your forsythia until late winter - once the snow is gone and before the buds open. Then you can bring in the vase size prunings, add water and wait a few days. The warmth of the house will open the blooms way earlier than they would outside, and you still have the nicely pruned shrub to bloom outside in a few weeks. Most spring blooming shrubs will do this.
So, do you just bake one pita at a time on the splatter thingie?
Is the time and energy ( both your's and the power company's) worth the better results you get?
Nope, I can fit two on the splatter screen.
And yep, I totally think the improvement in taste is worth the time. 🙂 Also, even factoring in oven time, I'm pretty sure I'm coming out money ahead, because the pita dough costs mere pennies.
Your park pictures made me giggle, too. I especially like the first one and the third one with Zoe's fun expression! I actually didn't see that you posted park pictures until after I posted mine!
I absolutely love the Forsythia photo! And, yes, the photos of the girls on the swings made me giggle, too! 😉 Although, the last time I was on a swing (last fall), I got a little "motion-sickness"! Guess I'm getting old... 😉
oh I do the same thing with flowers in my yard too (and my gig is pretty similar to yours!!!)! And one time, my friend had those little prickly gum balls in a crystal dish on her table and it was beautiful. Made me look at the stuff in my yard differently.
My brother goes everywhere barefoot in the summer unless there's a sign on the door. He's hardcore. I do love me some bare feet and that's when I paint my toenails too ! fun.
My mother, for many years, cut forsythia before it bloomed, "forcing" the flowers to open indoors. Even the gardener didn't believe this was possible. It's a lovely early taste of spring. I think Mum even mailed some branches to relatives in colder climes, and they, too, had success in bringing a little sunshine into the house.