All posts by Ben Kaplan

baking :)

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I’m on a baking kick this weekend.

A few months ago I got myself a copy of the “Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Reinhart. I’ve been mulling through it since then. Last week I started to really read a slew of recipes and got the bug.

I’ve planned and created various pre-ferments for this weekend. On the menu is whole wheat sandwich loaf, bagels, and french bread.

I made the whole wheat loaf yesterday. The recipe says that it is for 2 1lb. loafs. I’ve had several recipes in the past that were like this, but I always end up with 2 little bricks. They just don’t rise very well for me 🙁 So anyway, this time I decided to do just one loaf. It’s nice and BIG 🙂 Perfect for sandwich size slices. Yaay! I topped this one with oats and sesame.

Today I made myself the happiest east coast jew (extremely secular non-practicing 😉 ) in the world. I made the quintessential NY bagel. “Oh man”. “Jeezus”. “Holy shit”. These are just a few of the less colorful quotes that came out of my mouth around a mouthful of hot bagel and cream cheese. I usually don’t impress myself, but MAN! This time I out did myself. Uh, they were really good. I have not had a bagel like that in MANY years. *sigh*. That is a sigh of contentment, of fulfillment. My life is now complete. I have the key to the perfect soul food. No matter where I am…I can go back in time…I can completely let go and relax…I can eat a real bagel. *SIGH*

Tomorrow, french bread. I don’t have any standards to hold that up to, so I’m sure I’ll be happy with whatever I come up with.

Earlier this summer, I tried to get a sourdough starter going. I tried several times only to have it completely fail. I think the climate in Arizona in the summer is just not compatible with that kind of baking. I reeeaaaaalllly want to make a sourdough starter so that I can make sourdough bread. I’ll try again this fall when the outside temperature is more temperate and the internal environmental controls (AC/Heat) are not so prevalent. I do have very high standards when it comes to sourdough. I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 16 years. This is a mecca for sourdough. Simply think Acme Bread Company. That is my standard. If I can meet them half way, I’d be more than happy.

Ahh, bread. Baking is a wonderful hobby. Makes you and everyone happy. Can’t beat that.

I have Kevin Dorne to thank for turning me on to baking. Thanks Kevin 🙂

Drupal

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Hmmmmm……Drupal…..pretty nifty…..

I’ve tried a few of the packaged CMS that are out there. It’s been a year or two. Drupal has come a loooooooonnnnnnnnggggggg way.

I’m poking around with that package again.

Me like it so far. Quick and easy 🙂

I say this as I am fundamentally lazy when it comes to development 😉 I excel at modding what others have done. I am the master tinkerer/builder/user. Maybe I should work on cars and rebuild engines for a hobby. Nah, that’s so 1980’s…like really old man.

I have a friend who is so damn bleeding edge that he considers 2003 to be OLD school.

Course, he’s stagnated a few years and has not even touched AJAX. Gotta fix that situation.

ok…in case you’ve not noticed, I’m rambling here. Found me a nice merlot…heh…Sterling Vinyards (not reserve or otherwise…just plain old merlot).

GUD Magazine

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I found this magazine a while back and think it warrants a plug here!
GUD (pronounced “good”) is Greatest Uncommon Denominator, a print/pdf magazine with 200 pages of literary and genre fiction, poetry, and art. We feature fiction that ranges from 75 to 15,000 words.

Issue 1 comes to life with Darby Larson’s “Electroencephalography” where an experiment in robot-building goes terribly awry. And if you’ve ever woken up with an unexpected physical deformity-say, an arrow in your heart-you’ll truly enjoy the next story. There’s also a smattering of flash fiction and psychedelia; a straight-out story where things aren’t what they seem, poetry that takes you from the perverse to the sublime, some magic realism, science fiction, and a few letters to another species thrown in for good measure. We haven’t forgotten those of you with a literary bent. In addition, the artwork in this issue is particularly strong, with oil paintings, watercolors, photography, and photo illustrations complementing the words with which they are paired.

Please let us know what you think of Issue 1, and thanks for reading GUD.