Friday, April 06, 2007

Catching Up and a Little House Cleaning

WHEW!!! Well the first week of the new job is under my belt. Living in lovely Fairfield, CT during the week is interesting. I'm discovering you can't get there from here for most of the places I need to go. The roads are twisty and meander all over the county, even when all you are trying to do is get from your house to the train station. I've had a little bit of a hiccup with the internet connection (my computer and my landlady's WEP protected wireless router seem to be having a small disagreement) but I'm hoping with a little help from MBH over the weekend to have it resolved.

I'm back home in Cambridge, MA for the Easter weekend and spending my day today baking. So far today, I've made two dozen chocolate chip and chunk cookies for MBH to snack on next week, have a batch of homemade hambuger buns in the middle of their second rise, a batch of old fashioned cream tea scones in the oven (to take back to CT with me for the folks at work and for my landlady). I've got my loaf of honey wheat bread to get finished yet and need to get MBH's green beans ready for the slow cooker. We are having Easter dinner tomorrow since Sunday I will be driving back to Fairfield rather early.

One of the downsides to my changing jobs and not having an internet connection at night has been it has taken me longer than usual to get my new computer set up as a lean, mean blogging machine (no laughing from the peanut gallery MBH...) But, I'm happy to report that I've about got one of my laptops ready to go. Since I'm back, now would be a good time to let you see the final pictures and read the stories that MBH brought back with him from Stockholm. I'm actually very proud of him because he stepped WAY out of his comfort zone with some of the food he tried. But, I'll let you read all about it in MBH's own words...

Walking the Plank: (From MBH's 3/20/07 dinner report)



"When you say say plank steak here, they take it literally! Unfortunately it was really dark in the restaurant and I have no flash on my mobilephone camera so I know this photo is hard to see. The interesting thing about the arrangement of this dish is that it's served on a charcoal plank! Surrounded by an edge of potatos, it was a perfect steak!"

An Honest to Goodness Smorgasbord: (From MBH's 3/22/07 lunch Report)



"The weather here is as unpredictable as it is in New England. When I walked out for lunch it was dark and snowing; coming back after eating Kebabtallrik Special med ris eller pommes frites, couscous (SEK69) it was bright and sunny! So much so it put me in the mood for dessert



So I picked up a fabulous Marabou Mjolkchoklad bar (made in Sweden) and washed it down with some Mer apple juice."

All About Leksands Knäcke: (From MBH's 3/22/07 dinner report)

"I skipped dinner last night as jetlag and mental activity was catching up with me. But I did stop by the foodhall for some snacks and found these wonderfu - not sure what you'd call it. The English would call them biscuits; not sure if we'd call them crackers. Like Melba toast but different. They're dry, bland, no salt - just the way I like 'em! With no flash on my phone camera I'm at the mercy of available light and unfortunately in this shot they're very washed out. There actually chocolate-brown colored, like a dark ice cream cone. I washed everything down with some Spendrups and curled up with some curling!"

One last thing before I go to punch down the honey wheat dough, form a nice small loaf and let it rise for a final time, take a look at the sidebar to your right. You will notice my Daring Bakers family has gotten larger!! We welcomed fourteen (14!!!) new sisters into the little group this month. You'll also notice some incredible and I mean INCREDIBLE graphics done especially for the Daring Bakers. These are courtesy of the super talented on oh so many fronts Ximena of Lobstersquad. If you aren't familiar with her blog, get thee there right now (as opposed to a nunnery)! You will be bowled over by her talent.