Cheesy Bread Re-do

So, we're on vacation - sort of - in Arizona this week.  We rented an Airbnb, with a pool in the back yard, in the same town as my YS and his family.  We drove down last Saturday and have been hanging out at the house all week long.  The kids have been over every day. 

The "sort of" vacation was because I worked all week (Monday thru Thursday).  It was okay; would have been great except that I screwed up on something which tends to get me down.  It's weird, since I'm working remotely, I can work just about anywhere.  It was harder here because of the extra family around.

Anyway, we decided to make the Jalapeno Cheddar Bread again.  Recipe from tasty.com.

The great thing about making bread in Arizona in the summer is that to get the bread to rise, all you have to do is put it outside .. no warmed up oven.  Crazy! It worked even better than I would have expected.

Blueberry Scones

We are still living under the Shelter In Place order.  On the weekends, partly because of the SIP order and partly because we're still living with my YD and her family, I am so bored.  I'm sure I shouldn't say that, but I am. At home I would be sewing or cleaning or gardening or something, but here it's not the same.  (I cleaned the kitchen last weekend so I can't do that again.)

Anyway, yesterday, in my state of boredom, I decided to make scones.  I hadn't made them before so I pulled this recipe from King Arthur flour. 

They are tasty, but are pretty thin.  I think it was because I ended up processing the dough a little too much.  They smelled great.  I will definitely try these again.

SIP A to Z : Z

Z is for Zoom

Zoom is how we see all our friends and family now.  Zoom is the phone system my office uses and now everyone everywhere is using it to communicate. 

I am so ready for this to be over ...

We watched one episode of Picard tonight.  It was pretty good.  I enjoyed it.  If I didn't have all these other people around, I would probably watch all the Star Trek I could find.  That and Doctor Who.  But we have others we need to appease so I have to be happy with what I can get.

SIP A to Z : Y

Y is for Yeast

Along with toilet paper (which should have been my word(s) for T), yeast is one of those things that has been hard to buy.  The day before I started sheltering in place, my daughter and I went to the grocery store.  At the first store, there was no yeast; at the second one, we found a jar.  We decided to get it.  I've gotten the jars before and usually end up throwing it out.  Not this time.  Fortunately, we have had enough yeast to make all the breads we have wanted to make and we still have more.

(pizza dough)

 

(cinnamon bread)

 

(pretzels)

 

(pepperoni cheesy bread)

SIP A to Z : X

X is for Xenophobia

This is one of those words that I hear all the time, but was not sure of its meaning.  So I looked it up.  From Meriam-Webster (online), the definition is:

fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

When searching for this, I ran across the following, also from Merriam Webster regarding the difference between xenophobia and racism. Here is the link:

"What to Know:

"Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners, whereas racism has a broader meaning set including "a belief that racial differences produce the inherent superiority of a particular race." Although they are similar, they are different enough that it is possible for one to be both xenophobic and racist.

"It’s never a good sign when we start seeing a massive increase in lookups for two closely related and unwelcome terms like racism and xenophobia, as is the case of late with the rise of COVID-19 and subsequent global pandemic. However, our place, as a dictionary, is not to judge the words that are being looked up (or the people looking them up), but instead to provide, to the best of our ability, as much information about them as is possible."

I find that interesting -- what judgment/conclusion would they be coming to regarding the people who are looking up these two words? 

Perhaps I should have chosen X-ray ...

SIP A to Z : W

W is for Watching TV

Okay for this I could have gone with Who which would have had a double meaning for me. 

Did you ever see World War Z?  The 12th doctor (Doctor Who) was in the movie.  He was working for W.H.O.  So, he was Doctor Who before he was Doctor Who.

Anyway, we have (along with a bazillion other people) binged many different TV shows. We watched Little Fires Everywhere, the Tiger King, the Plot Against America, the Interrogation, and probably others I don't remember.  Don't know what we're going to watch next but I'm sure it will be something.  Any suggestions? 

SIP A to Z : V

V is for Virus

I was agonizing over this letter.  Couldn't think of what to do.  I was thinking very very very awful.  I considered Verity (only Doctor Who fans would get this one -- but I haven't been watching the show or listening to my podcasts so that wouldn't be fair).  And then there was virtual, which would definitely work, but once I thought of virus (and you would have thought that it would have been my first idea) I just had to go that way.

This virus is just crazy.  The way our lives have been disrupted. The way that if you contract the virus, you could be deathly ill or not even know it.  And I think the lack of human interaction is making some of us crazy .. some of us crazier than others.

SIP A to Z : U

U is for Unique

This is a strange time, a unique time.  All of us "sheltering in place". Only going out for necessities. And in my case, not going out at all.  I do walk but nothing more than around the neighborhood.  I don't believe anything like this has ever happened before and I hope that once this is over, that it never happens again.

SIP A to Z : T

T is for Time

It seems like I should have loads of extra time on my hands, but I'm not doing much with it.  I could be doing so much more. I don't know how I was getting by when I was spending so much time driving to and from work.  I should feel like I've regained so much time, but I don't.  It's weird.

Of course, if I were to make this a Doctor Who thing, it would be for Time Lords. 

Happy Friday!

SIP A to Z : S

S is for Sleep

I am constantly tired -- not because of too much activity but not enough.  Some days I am so exhausted that I have taken a nap on my lunch hour (my father used to do that every day).  Insomnia seems to be the order of the day.  I am wide awake at night and sleepy during the day. 

The world turned upside down ...

My SIL said today that insomnia is a side effect of the staying at home / sheltering in place.  Who knew?

 

S is also for Shelter In Place.

SIP A to Z : R

R is for Reading

In between cooking and cleaning and watching way too much TV, I've been reading.  Nothing on my list but a bunch of books.  Mostly WWII related -- usually fiction.  Several about female spies and a few about the resistance.  One about a train that was "liberated" at the end of the war by some American GIs (non-fiction).  I usually try to get my books for free on my Kindle.  I'm cheap that way.  But if I find an author I like, I will sometimes buy their other books.  My memory isn't great so sometimes I get the same book twice -- though I think the Kindle isn't letting me do that anymore, at least I hope not.

Happy Wednesday ..