One sweet day

As always I got caught up in life and forgot to be a diligent blogger.  But here I am back in action and ready to update you on why I have been so carelessly absent for the last few weeks.

My primary reason for truancy is my new job at Goodfellow Farms.  I work in the country store where they sell an assortment of fruits and vegetables, quality meats and cheeses and goods that can be desperately hard, or impossible, to come by elsewhere on the island.  Essential items such as, oh, tahini.  They also serve lunch and a damn fine one at that, most of the dishes beautifully arranged over the top of their island grown greens complete with in-house dressing made from the herbs as fresh as herbs come.  Working their is an experience in and of itself that I am sure will get plenty of blog time, especially considering the potential new development.  What’s that?  I am going to start baking goodies to sell in the store.  The idea came upon me when staring at a slice of CostCo apple pie that had been in the walk in fridge for a week, sliced up and set out for a day, put back in the fridge overnight and then finally sold for $6.  The sad piece of pie at that point was practically wilted.  Besides, it was a pie from CostCo, which in my opinion just is not worth the calories in the first place.  I happen to make a fantastic apple pie with simple, delicious ingredients that is also quite aesthetically pleasing.  And so I am going to bake one to sell in during lunch time.  I pitched the idea to the boss and he was all for it – in fact, he gave me the go ahead to add ingredients for other baking projects to his “Florida list” and bake my little heart out.  That is exactly what I am going to do.

In other baking news, I am somewhat proud and somewhat sheepish to announce that at the end of the day I will have baked not one, but TWO batches of cinnamon rolls.  Here’s the story, and a common tale to be sure.  Last night I told Chris I would either do cinnamon rolls or waffles in the morning – both recipes requiring night-before preparation.  He chose cinnamon rolls and since I am not in possession of the tried and true Hester recipe, I went to tastespotting and sorted through their selection.  I chose one that required a long rise because that usually means a lighter, more delicate roll.  So I prepared my dough and set in the fridge to rise.  First of all, the 7 hour rise should have been at 60 degrees, but try achieving that in the Bahamas in May (though putting them in the bedroom where we run the AC would probably have been the better option).  I woke up at 7 am and took them out of the fridge and placed them on the counter, disappointed to see that they had not risen nearly enough.  Two and a half hours later I got out of bed and looked at them again.  Progress.  I went to look at the rest of the recipe.  For the first time.  Yes, I did not read through the whole recipe, assuming that the long rise was the overnight rise and would surely be followed by a short rise.  I was wrong.  The sequence of this recipe is long rise, over night rise, short rise.  Well, we were not going to be having those cinnamon rolls any time soon.  So I left them on the counter to rise, deciding that letting the dough rise at 85 degrees during the day would mean that I could bake them in the evening and at least have them as a sweet treat.  But the truth remained that I had promised Chris cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I had noticed the previous night a couple of recipes that declared themselves “quick”.  I had scoffed then, but “quick” is just what I needed.  And I found it.  Cinnamon rolls in less than an hour.

I set out to make them.  The trick, of course, is that you use baking powder and baking soda instead of yeast.  First I realized that I didn’t have quite enough white flour, so about 1/4 cup of whole wheat got incorporated into it straight away.  Then I realized that I had still yet to knead about a half cup more flour into the dough to make it into a dough and not a batter.  The recipe does not detail this little fact, nor does it warn the first timer that it makes an absolute mess.  You spoon the “dough” onto a flat surface, “sprinkle” with flour and gently knead it until the dough becomes smooth and pliable.  Yet at the end of it, I actually came out with a tasty product – though these were definitely rolls that called for the powdered sugar (and vanilla) glaze.

This shot was taken in the evening, so imagine them a bit more shiney and gooey.

My first batch certainly fulfilled the cinnamon roll requirement.  But take a look at the second batch – now just enchiladas away from being put in the oven.

They are huge and beautiful and yeasty and light – everything cinnamon rolls should be.  I rather doubt they will require any icing.  Recipe to come – once I take time to actually figure out what I actually did and put it on a time line that produces cinnamon rolls at 9 am and not 9 pm.

The oven is currently occupied, however, by these:

Homemade enchiladas ready to go in the oven.  That’s homemade cornmeal tortillas and homemade enchilada sauce.  I cannot take credit for either – that was Chris’s handiwork.  We needed a little Mexican food and a couple Coronas as a little shout out to Cinco de Mayo.  One day I’ll share the recipe for this enchilada sauce because it beats any enchilada sauce I have had.  And I grew up in Arizona where you get good Mexican food.  But that is a treat for another day.

By the look of things it may seem like we spent all day in the kitchen.  I assure you not.  We managed to drive all the way around the island too – or 3/4 the way around the island.  We cut off the western edge.  Along with our culinary escapades, Chris also embarked on a little home improvement project.  Summer time is here and so happiness now depends on having the front and back doors open allowing the fabulous evening breeze to cool off the house.  Unfortunately, the breeze is not the only thing that comes through the open doors and I am no fan of mosquitoes.  Today, however, we went to Kelly’s and bought screening to hang in the doorways.  And so now we sit, doors open and guarded against bloodsuckers.

We also went and visited Gidget.  Oh Gidget – how could I not have taken some time out to write about her?  The short tale is that we found her at the Mall at Marathon and after a little loving she practically followed us home.  Okay, we had to coax her into the car with a piece of chicken.  She is the sweetest potcake you’ll ever meet.  We took her home, bathed her and gave her a flea treatment.  Here she is that first night:

You’ll have to excuse the fact that the picture is not quality – I had a few other things on my mind.  Like petting Gidget.

The next morning we took her to the humane society where we had to wait 10 days to make sure she was not someone’s lost pet.  Of course she wasn’t – we knew that from the get go.  Now she is getting treatment for a fungal skin problem and will be spayed in the next few days.  After that she’ll be ready to be taken home.

When we found her she could not put weight on her back right leg and today she was bouncing all over the place.  The foot healed – though it is turned in a little bit.  We were so happy to see her doing well.  We are still trying to figure out if we are going to get to keep her.  So far our landlord says no because of the neighboring dogs, but we’re still hopeful that we can convince her that it won’t be a problem.  She’ll be an indoor dog and I’ll take her elsewhere to walk her.

So now, a couple hours after starting this post, I am full of enchilada and the house smells like delicious cinnamon rolls.  A fantastic ending to the day!