BOB for the win!

The past week was the first time that I was able to exceed my mileage goal for the week since I made my new year's resolution to travel 1000 miles by foot this year.  One would think that 2.75 miles a day isn't that difficult of a goal, but I guess it was.

What changed?  I purchased a BOB stroller from a family friend, and it has enabled me to take both the baby and dog out hiking in my old favorite spots.  Walking just got a lot more fun.

Ah trail, I have missed you.

I wasn't able to take the old stroller on hiking trails, so my only option for the trails had been to baby-wear... which is just too hard on my back when also walking an excited dog who pulls at the leash at the same time (yes, we are still trying to train this behavior out of her!).

Walking Stormy with a stroller plus her halter makes the walks much more pleasant.  Pulling the leash when on the halter pulls her toward the middle of the trail, but when the stroller is there she doesn't want to hit it, so she is forced to ease the pulling.  If I walk at just the right distance from the edge of the trail or sidewalk, she will walk next to me perfectly and is able to be aware that I am giving out treats for good behavior.

The jogging stroller handles like a dream!  It provides just as much resistance on grass, gravel, bark mulch, and the packed earth of a hiking trail as the regular stroller did on pavement.  If you give it a mild push on a flat surface, it will just keep going... this is where the emergency break wrist strap comes in handy, because if you let go at the top of even a mild hill the stroller would pick up dangerous speed quickly.

The only downside is that being on a trail that is slightly tilted to one side makes you super aware of how top-heavy the thing is with a 17-pound baby plus a 15-pound car seat perched on top.  It feels like just one wrong bounce will send the stroller toppling over.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but this part of the trail has just enough slant that I won't be back until Torin can handle the ride without the car seat attached.   Theoretically there's just 2 more weeks until he's ready to ditch the car seat, so it won't be too long.

Besides that one trip on the slanty trail, we've been doing Stormy's favorite 2-mile trail, wandering about the town, hitting up the ol' green belt behind the house, and exploring trails at the base of Mt. Diablo.

Shark Baby!

A year ago on April 1st I announced the pregnancy with Torin.  The ultrasound photo I used was of an adult hammerhead shark instead of a human baby... and I hear reports that a few people fell for the April Fool's joke! 

In honor of that announcement, I present to you the real shark baby. 

  Thanks for the shark hat, auntie Catherine!

Pretend you're a professional baker and get ye some SAF bread yeast!!!

Ok, I feel pretty dumb.

My bread machine book says to use SAF yeast (which is what bakeries tend to buy in bulk), or regular bread machine yeast if you can't find it.  I have just been using Fleishman's bread machine yeast 'cause I couldn't find any SAF in the grocery store, and never thought to look it up online.  Until now.

I received 2 of these.  It's not a brick, it's just vacuum-packed.

The comparison:


SAF from Amazon.com:  2 pounds is $11 (so 4oz is $1.375).  You use 2 tsp per loaf (and 4oz = 48tsp), so you get 24 loaves for 4oz.  Cost:  $0.06 per loaf.

Fleishman's:  4oz is $8.  You use 2.5 tsp per loaf, which gets you 19 loaves.  Cost:  $0.42 per loaf.

6 cents per loaf vs. 42 cents.  SAF wins!  At 3-4 loaves/doughs per week, this convenient change saves me about $70 in just bread yeast in a year. 

If you were to bake 2.8 times a month on average, you'd easily use up the 2 pounds in 5 years.


There's no competition.
 
Considering how much bread (and pizza dough, and pastry dough, etc) I am making, enough to buy my flour at Costco to stick in a 5-gallon bucket, 2 pounds of yeast is not too much.  For people like me (as opposed to a professional baker who leaves it at room temp and uses it up quickly), the yeast is supposed to be kept in the freezer, where it stays just as potent for 5+ years, but I would use up the 2 pounds in a year.  There was enough in a 1-pound pouch to fill a pint mason jar, the empty 4oz Fleishman yeast jar, plus exactly 2tsp for a loaf of bread.  If you don't have a bread machine, be aware that it also works just like regular yeast except that you can just throw it into the recipe dry without having to prepare it.

I tried a "Pane Italiano" in the bread machine, and set it to be ready at the time I woke this morning.  Dang... the smell of coffee and fresh hot buttered bread makes me feel like it's a special holiday.  Using a smaller amount of SAF yeast was a success.


Want some? 

Do it.  Get yourself some.  Or heck, if you provide an airtight jar of the appropriate size the next time you see me, I will gift you up to a 4oz sample. 

A baby's view

Last weekend Ryan and I sat outside in the morning for some coffee and fresh bread*, talking about life and the need to clean up the backyard, and Torin was staring and staring off to the side.

What is so fascinating?

We finally realized what he was staring at... pretty red and green leaves back-lit with sunlight!

Oooooooh...

It was a good morning. 


*I had used the timer on the bread machine for one of the 6-hour french bread recipes to be ready right when we woke up.  The coffee maker has a timer too.  It's like they were made for each other!