I had intended to write a review blogpost for Monday, but I am just too tired. This was a busy weekend, and time just got away from me.
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On Friday, the weather was so-so, and I decided to spend time baking bread. I made my usual loaf of sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl, and the swirl came out tight and perfect. It was fluffy and deeelish. I decided to make challah, something I haven’t done for about 2 years. I belong to a group of challah makers on Facebook where people share tips and recipes. I was finally inspired to make challah. One of the tips was to use bread flour that has a higher percentage gluten for a better/higher rise as well as more protein. I thought why not? I did a simple three braid since it had been so long since a tackled a more complex 4 or 6 braid. The challah looked beautiful especially before I baked it.
The thermocouples in my double ovens are no longer working correctly, and unfortunately, the repair company that came out to look at them told me that the part is no longer available for my 20 year old ovens. So I use inexpensive oven thermometers and set the oven temperature to 25 or more degrees higher than the recipe calls for but it is far from exact. The challah seemed like it was over cooked, and the bread flour produced a denser crumb than I like for challah. Oh well, it wasn’t bad for a first attempt after so long. I’ll try again later this week.
On Saturday night, friends from New York who we hadn’t seen since Labor Day were in town, and it was long past my turn to have them to my house. So I spent Saturday on my feet cooking and getting ready. We had a really fun time with the New Yorkers as well as with two of my local friends. Jeff made a key lime pie, and that helped make the dinner a success! I wore makeup, and used a new cool-toned palette from ColourPop, Lust for Dusk.
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I wore matte greige Take the Lead in crease and V, peachy-brown matte Horizon across my lids, and a pop of metallic silvery-gold Sunset Chaser in the middle of my lids. Somehow in the photo, it all looks brown, lol, but I do like this new palette. How fun to wear any makeup again!
I was really tired on Sunday morning, but we had to drive to an LL Bean store about 70 miles from my house to pick up the last two navy blue weather resistant Adirondack chairs at LL Bean anywhere in New England. If I bought them online, I would have to wait 16 weeks for them to arrive, and summer would be over! The chairs will join the other two that I bought 5 years ago. I drove my SUV because we needed to fit the chairs in my trunk. It was an easy drive, but it was long. When we got back, Jeff assembled the chairs while I watered my gardens and grass. Jeff discovered that for one of the chairs, a key piece was missing 2 holes and the screws to attach the piece to the leg on one side. Now I am dealing with LL Bean Product Support trying to get them to send me a replacement part. Good luck with that, Allison.
Sunday was really hot for a day in June in Massachusetts. The high was 96 degrees, and it will be the same on Monday. When I went into the house to start making dinner, it felt really warm inside in spite of my leaving the central A/C on. Wouldn’t you know my A/C isn’t working on the 2 hottest days of the year? I am sure that the HVAC company that I have a maintenance contract with will tell me they’re too busy to come when I call them tomorrow morning.
So it’s hot, I’m exhausted and my feet hurt. Instead of writing a review, I’m using the orange plastic spiked foot massage ball that I got from Footnanny. Since I can’t get a real foot massage and I don’t have an electric foot massager, let me tell you, this Footnanny Arch-N-Ball really works!
Hope you had a good weekend, and hope you’re staying cool wherever you are. Have a good week!
Your bread looks so tasty!
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I hope you get things worked out with LL Bean. I would be so relieved to have found the last two chairs in my area and then t come home and find parts missing. ugh! LOL Do you laugh or do you cry? I dunno, lol.
After phone calls and emails to LL Bean customer service and product support, they claim they will ask the manufacturer to send me a replacement part and hardware. My fingers are crossed that they actually do it. I was afraid they were going to tell me to either drive the chair back to the store 70 miles away, or mail it back which would also be a nightmare.
Oh no! I bought new cushions for my 15 year old iron patio set. They didn’t fit but it was local so I was able to take them back and get the correct size. Your bread looks so good! The true test is in the taste though……so how was it?
So glad you were easily able to exchange your new cushions for the right size, Sandy! It gives us all a real lift to update furniture that you still love! I called LL Bean customer service who told me to email Product Support with photos of the problem, and hopefully, they will ask the manufacturer to send a replacement part and hardware to me next week. I was afraid they were going to make me send back the chair which would be a nightmare. My fingers are crossed that it will work out. My sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl came out perfectly, and tastes delicious. I make it all the time, and now the warm weather makes the bread rise much faster so it doesn’t take as long to make it. The challah looked pretty, and truth be told, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it. I tried using bread flour, as some of the women in the challah baking group recommended, and I didn’t have great results with it. It didn’t rise higher, and the crumb was not fluffy like it usually is when I use all purpose flour. The flavor of the bread was delicious, but it was denser because of the bread flour and I didn’t like that. Also, because my ovens have deteriorated in the past couple of years, I will cook the challah at a lower temperature next time. I will try again later this week if I have time!
What a busy weekend. You did a month’s worth of my life in those few days. I’m sure your feet did hurt after that. Your breads look great. I need to see if my husband will make a bread soon. He stopped for several months but now I’m craving it again.
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Thanks for the heads up about Footnanny, I get really bad foot pains when I wear flat shoes for too long.
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Get a foot massage ball! So easy to use and it really does help!
Your bread looks delectable, and it makes me so happy– especially the Challah. Very pretty e/s palette!
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Thank you xoxo I may make another challah on Friday, but with all purpose flour rather than the bread flour that created a crumb that was too dense. I am also going to try rolling the strands for braiding using a different technique. It’s fun!