a makeover

Colin's improved website

boards and biscuits

[For this and subsequent posts, the little girl in the aforementioned fairy tale will switch to a first person narrator.]

When I arrived at 8:10 a.m., Uncle Kenny was waiting. My future rojo [red] bookcase was leaning at the end of the shop. Can you spot it? [It's to the left of the door.] By the way, click on any of the pictures to see a larger version.

















The original plan was to paint the bookcase "rojo," but Uncle Kenny had chosen maple for the project, and it just seemed like such a shame to cover it with paint. We looked the planks over, keeping in mind the dimensions that had been so conveniently printed in the Crate and Barrel catalog.

Since the finished shelves were 17 inches deep, and the planks were around 12 inches, we had to do some gluing. Uncle Kenny said that furniture makers have been gluing boards together for centuries, so we began by getting some biscuits from the fridge . . oh, are you feeling as if the woodworking project has suddenly shifted to a baking project? I don't believe that I have mentioned that Uncle Kenny is a recycler extraordinaire.

Biscuits are oval-shaped pieces of wood that are put into recessed areas on the edge of the plank. Their purpose is to hold two planks together end to end. In my uncle's shop, the biscuits are stored in an old refrigerator because, well, because old refrigerators deserve respect--and so does the earth. They still have doors and shelves that serve a purpose, so . . . why not treat them with dignity and allow them to continue making contributions to society?

It is a little known fact from my personal history that I was a biscuit maker for Hardees; it is also a part of my life rarely acknowledged, since I lasted all of three days. However, we are talking about a different kind of biscuit-making. DeWalt makes a handy-dandy tool that seems like the least dangerous of all of the power tools I've had the opportunity to use in my short, but intense woodworking experience.



Here is what the finished product looks like. Anyway, biscuits help to join two pieces of wood together, with a little help from some glue. The boards are then glued together and clamped overnight. So, after eight hours of work, we had four shelves, the top and the bottom, and the side panels cut, glued, and clamped--more or less.

a fairy tale

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted something that she saw in the Crate and Barrel mail order catalog. Here is the picture of the "Rojo Bookcase." The little girl said to no one in particular, "I think that I might be able to appreciate such a piece of furniture more if I were to make it myself." She immediately realized, though, that as a first woodworking project it might be somewhat daunting--she would need to choose her project "companion" very carefully. And that, she did.

The little girl had an uncle who just happened to have a fully-equipped woodworking shop, many acres of timber, and a soft spot for one of his favorite nieces. ;-)

A phone call was made to her uncle's social planner (her aunt), a time was set, and plans were made to begin the work.

season's greetings

masterclass with barrington coleman

Early in Colin's senior year of high school (fall, 2005), he submitted a recording and was selected to sing at a masterclass at the University of Illinois taught by Barrington Coleman, associate professor of voice. There were 40-50 people in the audience. This first video is his initial performance of Beau Soir by French composer Claude Debussy. (The audio quality of the recording is poor.)



Below, Coleman coaches Colin on the ending of the piece.

lavash crackers

As bread recipes go, this was quite easy. First of all, it did not require a sponge or a soaker, so that meant that we could eat the crackers the same day I started making them. Of course, the crackers in the picture below look exactly perfect. Now that I'm a cracker veteran, I'm thinking that the cookbook photographer gave an extra spray of water--or shellac--to make them look so shiny.


the ideal basket of crackers [picture from the book]

The hardest part was rolling the dough out to approximately 12x15 inches so that it would fit in my sheet pan. I had to trim some of the dough off because it hung over the edges of the pan.


my 12 x 15 inches of dough--exactly!

One disappointing thing--other than the lack of shininess--was that the crackers didn't brown evenly. The edges browned more quickly and in the center, the crackers were just not as crisp. Next time I will roll the dough out even thinner and then bake it in two shifts. That should make for crisp crackers!


fresh from the oven

Here's the finished product. The topping is a combination of sesame and poppy seeds and kosher salt. Since I didn't have a wire basket, I put them in my kauri wood bowl that I brought back from New Zealand.


bowl of crackers

here comes the bride

My cousin's daughter is getting married soon, so my mom and Kathy hosted a wonderful shower for about 26 people. As you can see, they really outdid themselves when it came to preparing the food.

Of course, there were pictures of the guests, but the tarts and strawberries granted immediate permission for me to post their likenesses on the internet!


pie!--special request of the bride-to-be

slight diversion

Over the past couple of days Colin and I have been collaborating on his webpage. Colin has provided the content and I am providing the design. Warning: this is a work in progress. Some links do not work,and I have posted to the web even though the site is unfinished.

panning for gold

Here's what $1.76 will buy: a vast improvement on my previous sieve. This device makes it much easier to extract the wheat bran from the germ. Since wheat bran is a main ingredient in the current family favorite Multigrain Extraordinaire, it only made sense to shell out the dough (pun intended . . .)


my new sieve

bit by bit

It's official. I've paid my $5 and have committed to running a triathalon at the YMCA. Oh, by the way, it's done "bit by bit." Here is how the game works: in six-weeks, I will swim 2.5 miles (88 laps), bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles. Everyone's progress is kept on huge charts by the front desk, so anyone who walks by can keep track of each participant's commitment.

It's a big step for me, but it pales in comparison with our friends Tom and Lydia from California who run half-century races. That means that they run as many as 50 miles without stopping--even for basic bodily functions. (I vividly recall one memorable conversation where we discussed the logistics of "going while on the go." Mmmmmmm.)

french bread redux

the finished product

This is the first time that I have repeated a bread recipe. It is also the first time that I have made a mistake. Fortunately, with my vast baking experience, I was able to recover from the potentially catastrophic consequences by "mama macgyverin'" through the crisis. [see prior post on this subject] The stakes were high, as bread baking goes--after all, I had already invested a day in the pate fermentee and the bread was expected for a family dinner in Springfield that same evening.

My mistake? In an effort to follow the directions precisely, I had taken the temperature of the water I was to add to the dough; because it was a little cool, I added hot water, thinking to myself that I would get rid of the excess. The next time I thought about it, my dough was swimming in nearly twice as much water as the recipe required. It was one of those moments where time slows down--as does sound. Noooooooooooooo. Keeping in mind that ancient peoples did not have measuring equipment to make their daily bread, I added flour and what I thought to be a proportionate amount of yeast and salt until the dough was tacky but not sticky, as the directions indicated.

Now I had way too much dough for making baguettes, as planned (constrained by the size of my oven, only two racks, and the single sheet pan that I own). Plan B: make two boules and hope that they don't merge into each other while rising.


parchment paper proofing

P.S. the bread was . . . excellent!