What's on top of my refrigerator.....

A few weeks ago, Marc and I watched Cooked with Michael Pollan on Netflix.  It is, without a doubt, a beautifully filmed documentary series.  While there were things I both loved and didn't love about it, it definitely piqued my interest about bread.  According to Pollan, if you have flour and water to eat, it cannot sustain your life.  But if you turn that water and flour into bread, you can live on it.  He talks about how bread was probably first discovered: someone setting their porridge aside for a few days, only to come back and find it fermented.  He then told me something new.  You can start bread without added yeast!   Whole grain flour and water are all you need.

Well, Marc and I looked at each other and realized we had to try this.  Which means, I had to try it and keep him updated on how it is going.  Now that we are back from our holiday travels, I am giving it a go.   I found instructions on the King Arthur blog, and I am currently on day 3.  I started with just King Arthur whole wheat flour and water and lo and behold, something happened.  The blob got a delicious yeasty smell.  When I fed it, it grew. My home isn't especially warm, so it may take a little longer for my starter to get to the foamy, ready to use stage.   I put it on top of my refrigerator as the instructions suggested, although refrigerators these days are so well insulated it isn't especially warm there.    They also recommended putting the starter on top of the hot water heater, but I just couldn't put the bowl in my furnace room.  I mean, it's clean and everything down there.  It's just--- furnacey.

I am imagining a life with fresh baked sour dough bread every week.  It will be delicious and I will feel incredibly homey about myself.   Let's see what happens....

King Arthur Sourdough Starter

New living

We closed on our condo.  Everything went so smoothly- thanks to Paul at Title One.  Thanks to Matt and Amy for selling us the place.

As soon as we finished the closing, we went over to look at our new place.  I had been spending the week doing one of my favorite activities- picking out paint chips- and I wanted to see how the colors actually looked in the light.  Although I had about 30 colors in my collection to choose from, ultimately Marc and I chose the color we knew we would choose - Wickham Gray from Benjamin Moore for the living room and dining room and a new color for us, BM's Coventry Gray for the kitchen.   

I am also trying Motor City Paint for the first time-they have a ceramic matte that is supposed to be really durable.    It's made right in Shelby Township!  

So far it's going really well.  I got a painter's tape made for an extra crisp edge and it is making all the difference in the world.

I've been painting all day every day since Friday.  Right now my roller and brush are wrapped in plastic wrap and are waiting in the refrigerator for me to start again tomorrow.  

I don't know what I'd do without all the things that make clean up so easy now.  The paint cup, paint cup liners, roller pan liners, and even a little brush holder (apparently from Shark Tank!) mean I don't have to spend hours cleaning  up in my kitchen sink.  My dad has the talent to make roller covers and paint brushes look like they've never been used, but I was born without that gene.

I've got to finish up the bedroom before the moving truck arrives.

Before-- White Walls

After: Wickham Gray background, Coventry Gray foreground

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Keems and the Universe

Yesterday as I was trying to find an excuse not to go to that night's yoga teacher audition (nerves!), I got this text from Keemya:

"Ran into Meg this morning and we talked about you and how much we miss you....You better be teaching yoga somewhere!  Your gift can't not be shared."

I hadn't heard from Keems since June 28, and then out of the blue, just when I needed a nudge, she wrote that. Of all things!  I told her about this crazy timing and she said:

"Nothing is a coincidence"

She and I met  the day before her CorePower audition, when she heard me mention to another teacher that I taught at Rivernorth.  She had an audition for it the very next day so she introduced herself after class.  We talked about what her audition might be like.  She shined. She got the class time slot before mine.  We supported each other.  She came to my class with her brilliant, beautiful energy.  We were the coaching assistants for teacher training together. She took over my beloved Thursday night class when I moved.  

And now here she was, giving me what I needed to hear just when I needed to hear it.   I'm not sure how I did at the audition, but that doesn't matter.  I pushed myself and I went.

As Keems said when she texted me this morning:

"What's meant for you will never miss you and what misses you was never meant for you"

All I can ask is I learn the lesson from this that I am meant to learn.

Wow! Blog Negligence!

I haven't posted since May!

It's one of those things where I didn't post for a few days, and then a few weeks....and then enough time had gone by where I thought, "If I'm going to post again, I better do something really great!"
But that created a barrier.  And so I didn't post.

It reminded me of the time in junior high, when I had a crush on PA, and he came over to visit.  And I was so excited, but I couldn't really think of anything to say.  So I didn't say anything for a little while, and we sat in the family room together in silence. And then it seemed like anything I would say to break the silence had to be really interesting, but what could be guaranteed to be so very interesting?  So I said nothing, and we spent the next little while (felt like hours.  Who knows? We were just sitting there not talking. Time doesn't fly) in complete silence until he had to ride his bike back home.  Awkward.

Well, in blogging, just like in life, sometimes you have to just jump back in.  Say something, anything, and see where it goes.  So here I am.  Back at it.

And for good measure, something I find really great.  My boys last weekend in Lexington:

brunchity brunchity brunch brunch brunch

The advantage to having a dog with a body clock set to 6:30 am alarm is we can get to popular breakfast spots pretty early.  And so today we did just that, trying the aptly and wonderfully named Rochester Brunch House.
First of all, how cute!
Second, how delicious!
Third, how cute!

Yes, I'm easily amused but I liked the way the various benedict versions were called "Benny".  I had Crab Benny.  Poached eggs, crab cakes, hollandaise, tomato, fresh spinach.  See?  How delicious.

It used to be Smackwater when he left Lexington and then closed for whatever reason.  He always had good taste in buildings.  It would be nice to have easy access to the Smackwater Jack Sandwich, but I am in love with RBH.  I don't remember seeing a drinks menu, which (even if this may be embarrassing to say) a little Bloody Mary with my brunch never hurt anybody.

lily of the valley

I took Kazzy on a walk today, on the little nature trail here in the neighborhood.   I found a few stalks of these.  I can't see them without remembering my Grandma B, who always wore the Coty perfume "Muguet des Bois".  Lilies of the Valley were her favorite flower, as they were the favorite flower of my Grandma W.  My mother and father had them in their wedding bouquets.
I can't help but feel they were there just for me today, just for me to see them.   My father had surgery today, and my sister r is home for the first day after her surgery.   My Grandma B would want to let us know she was praying for them, my Grandma W would want to know of her presence.  My grandma B would want me to remember Psalm 23, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me".    
Yes, things could be a little scary right now.  But the lily comes along to remind us not to be afraid.
And so I took in their special  beauty.  Their special message for my family today.   Whatever one believes, one must always believe in Grandmas and love.

may 15

snowing
thankyouverymuch