Bread

i have been wanting to cut more and more gluten out of my diet. i am not intolerant but i do not believe it is health or the best thing for me. however one of the major problems is bread. k hats most gluten free breads for the are too dry. however we went to a friends house up in snowden for a christmas dinner and she had baked some gluten free bread that was wonderful. when asking her about it i found that she used bob's red mill.

upon arriving back to chicago i decided to give it a try. my good friend amy had gifted me a rather nice bread maker when she moved to australia and it had yet to be used. well now was the time. i purchased some bob's and ground up some flax instead of egg replacer and into the bread maker everything went. i was not rewarded and instead loud angry beeps came from the bread maker. baffled kev, our friend tommy, and i messed with it for about an hour till i gave up, put the mix into a bread pan and stuck it in the oven which produced a terrible mess.

the next day after work i was determined, stopped back by the dill pickle picked up more bob's and got the bread maker to work. the problem.... i had the tray in the bread maker in wrong. it works amazingly and i was as giddy as a school girl watching it kneed the bread for me. i am so happy that amy gifted it to us!

i was really happy with the results. however i find bob's to be a little to expensive at almost 6 dollars for the mix. im very excited to pick up some chick pea flour and try experimenting with some from scratch recipes.

Romanesco

romanesco broccoli, or roman cauliflower, is an edible flower of the species Brassica oleracea, and a variant form of cauliflower.

romanesco broccoli was first documented in Italy (as broccolo romanesco) in the sixteenth century. it is sometimes called broccoflower, but that name is also applied to green-curded cauliflower cultivars.

also known as coral broccoli, romanesco broccoli is rich in vitamin C, fiber, and carotenoids.

the vegetable resembles a cauliflower, but is of a light green color and the inflorescence (the bud) has an approximate self-similar character, with the branched meristems making a logarithmic spiral. in this sense the broccoli's shape approximates a natural fractal; each bud is composed of a series of smaller buds, all arranged in yet another logarithmic spiral. this self-similar pattern continues at several smaller levels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesco_broccoli

i found it at the dill pickle steamed it on a rice cooker and it was wonderful.

boards on mt hood

k has been watching the snow report and man did he pick a great day to go out to the mountain. on  the 45 min drive we had breathtaking views of the mountain peak. when we finally reached mt hood  we were rearing to go! k had worked as a ski lift operate at mt hood when he was in high school. i had been up to the slopes a few times and really enjoy the ski resort.  i find the riding as nice as vale, although my father won't believe me, but of course vale has a much more impressive village.  we had also been hiking with friends in mt hood national forest at lost lake in the summer time.

so we could not have had a better day up on the slops. the past twp days were snowing and there was about 2 feet of fresh powder but the sky had cleared up and the sun was out. perfect.

well almost perfect. i have been struggling with my boots for as long as i can remember. i got about 3 1/2-4 hours out of them before my feet did me in. i was back to the loge with my tofurky sandwich, a cup of tea and my knitting. k went out to do a few runs by himself. he's a much better snow boarder then i am and i was glad he got to go play without me holding him back.

our friend ricky b is also working up at mt hood for the winter while he is on break from grad school. he's in charge of parking and transportation up there. k came in to eat some food around 3:30 and got a call from ricky b that he was off work. ricky, his brother, and another friend were about to go riding and invited k to join them. so k went back out with the boys and had a great time! im so glad he got some great riding in. then they all came in the loge and we all hung out together for a min there. k and i finally hit the road down the mountain around 7 pm. the guys went back out for more riding. 

 the image above was my view from the logde where i sat and knitted a hat

downtown white salmon washington

Hipsta Hiking

something about hipsters and nature are an interesting juxtaposition. a few more hiking pics.