new favorite loaf

Here's the oatmeal loaf from that bread book. This is from a few weeks back I think. I forget. Time is moving fast around here. I have decided after confirming with some baking cohorts that the basic bread recipes usually make 2-3 breads, not 4. (Right, guys?) And again, check the errata page for some crucial details.

This is my type of bread because it's nice and heavy—I love all the oaty loveliness with butter and jam. It's the kind of bread that would hurt someone if you threw it at them. It is really better toasted if it's any longer than a day old. I'm sure there's more I should say about it, but that's all for now.

On another food note, my pressure cooker is here and I am anxious to try it out. After reading way too many books from the library in the last week about grains, pressure cookers, beans and all that, and reading all your amazing comments about all this I am even more confident that there is no right way to cook all this stuff, just cook it the best way for you and what you are comfortable with in the kitchen. Lorna Sass, the pressure cooker lady herself, in her more recent vegan cookbook says she just slow bakes all her beans in the oven now, so go figure. She also boils all her grains, like pasta. This is awesome. I just started doing this with brown rice and it's incredible. No measuring and getting water proportions wrong when I make big batches of brown rice to freeze. I have a grudge against rice cookers. I have had 2, they both broke, and are not so good for brown rice anyway. Now that I boil, it doesn't matter, it comes out perfect no matter what.

Oh, and the awesome people who mentioned Rancho Gordo in the comments—thank you. I have beans coming to me now. Excitement!

Okay, totally unrelated, I lost a shoe. Just one shoe. A new shoe. A totally killer Ked and I am so bummed. I actually ordered this pair of shoes twice because the first pair ran big. We think it may have gone out with the newspaper recycling? Not sure. Do sober people lose just one shoe? This will be funny only if I find it later. I keep seeing the found shoe and think it's the lost shoe. "Oh good, I found that shoe!" I yell when I see it, and then start looking for the found shoe, only to realize this one is the found shoe, and the other shoe is still gone. It's making me crazy like a dog chasing its tail. You know when you realize for the first time your parents are a bit nutty, for real? I think I have have crossed the line with this one and the girls are on to me. They are humoring me, I can tell. "Don't worry Mama, your shoe will turn up." they say while reading a book calmly, letting me fuss around looking again. I just need to put the found shoe away. Then when I do find the lost shoe, I will know it's the new found shoe! That's the ticket.