Lily’s Blog, Dragon Absconded!
lilandra.com

Niece no 1 and Nephew coming today.
Shall arrive some time before noon.

Wooohooo!
Can’t wait.
We’ve got to take them topping!

You thought I forgot about Linux, didn’t you?

Well, a while ago I trashed my linux install (I may have posted about it, I don’t recall) and had Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora Core installed on my desktop, but only the last one, Debian was bootable (and even that took some finagling). So, I still had major sorting out to do with all the partitions and files and unifying them and getting rid of the bad /boot and such. A month or so before my brother, sister-in-law and niece came, I backed up the files, wiped it all and installed a fresh Debian Lenny. I got wireless working and everything was pefect. I didn’t bother deal with audio because…well, something had happned to the speakers in the interim so it wasn’t necessary.

A couple weeks ago my sister returned my powerbook (hopefully for good). It’s been acting very slow. Things take long to load and programs to switch. I had plans of installing linux and linux alone for a while now so, I backed up all my files (you try backing up files on an 80GB harddrive from another 80GB harddrive…*sigh*). And then…installed Debian Lenny and got the wireless working and yay.

Well of course the audio wasn’t working out of the box. I think I had to install alsa-base or alsa-tools or alsa-utils or something.

But even then the mike wasn’t working.
I wasn’t surprised.
I don’t think I ever got the mike working.
But I figured I would try. Some people seemed to have reported their mike working. Things have changed. Even though I can’t skype from LinuxPPC, I could at least dedicate some time getting the mike working so I could record dear niece when she feels like it.

So, I did some googling and found this from a iBook G4 user on Ubuntu. He or she said that nothing recognized his built-in microphone until he installed gnome-sound-recorder (aptitude install gnome-media) and then he launched that and selected Mic as the source and it recorded audio.

Furthermore, all the other programs he was trying to use to record sound also now recognized his mic.

Wow!

So, I figured it was worth a try.
I did it and wooohooo! My microphone works. Maybe I’ll upload the first audio recording from this powerbook on Linux.

I have no idea why it works and why it didn’t before.
I didn’t really do *anything*.
And his post to ubuntu was since November 2006…a year and a half ago! Oh my!

I’m thrilled.

Now, back to the linux box that I built that resides downstairs that is used by my brother and his family. Of course he wants to listen to Qur’an and lectures and such on it. He woke me up one morning looking for headphones and of course took the better of the two in my storage. Of course!

Later that day when I came downstairs it wasn’t working.
I again installed alsa-*.
And it still wasn’t working.
He had it in the wrong connector.
But…to be honest, he’d tried them all. I just hadn’t checked that he had it in the wrong one when I started fiddling.

So…sound output works.

Now, I’d succeeded with the powerbook input the night before so I installed gnome-media and other things one time. Of course, if I didn’t have speakers and headphones downstairs, do you think I had a microphone? NO!

So about a week later (ie today), I unearthed a microphone and went downstairs and plugged it in and launched gnome-sound-recorder and… RECORDED SOMETHING! and heard it playback. Maybe I’ll upload that clip too later.

ECSTASY!

And the skype test call worked too. There was nobody online that I knew with whom I could skype.

Can you believe the mics work? What’s been going on in Linux while I slept?

Of course, I may have to mess with settings and such because the feedback on the powerbook is kinda horrible. I think the downstairs computer is better but it could be because it’s using headphones and not speakers.

Regardless I am happy.
This I can manage.

Thanks!

A Peter Reinhart Poppy Seed Bagel with Cream Cheese, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

I have been successful in my desired task.

After making the Bagel Recipe from Betty Crocker’s Breads, I wanted a better method and decided on using the recipe from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

The results were excellent.

They were quite chewy and did not look shrivelled.

My niece enjoyed sucking on hers and even managed to get pieces in her mouth and was most upset when her mother took the bagel from her (she kept snatching it back) and when her mouth was emptied of huge chunks of bagels (to be fair, she acts the same when they take the paper out of her mouth).

Mom loved it.

Dad said when he had bagels, they were okay. The frozen ones were … plasticky? He (and we all!) don’t know what “real” bagels taste like but whatever these are they are great and we love them.

Instructions follow.

Continue reading Peter Reinhart’s Bagels! Wooohooo!!

Sliced Marble Rye Bread, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

When bought my new cookbooks I decided to try a recipe from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I intended to try his bagel recipe first but you know time constraints - three days! so I need to plan well…I’m not sure how I’m going to do on this multi-day baking extravaganza. I might get tired of these snazzy cookbooks and just regress to the Betty Crocker easy stuff - which I used to think was difficult before.

I also skimmed through the book for the one-day recipes. The english muffins were but I kinda went crazy trying to figure it out. I was willing to follow Rose Levy Beranbaum’s from The Bread Bible but then I started pulling my hair out and knew I wouldn’t get it all done for anybody to eat and me to go to class. So I did regress to the Betty Crocker and we were all happy. I mean Peter Reinhart uses boules for his english muffins! He doesn’t cut it out. So weird. I guess I need to try it.

So first I found the whole wheat sandwich loaf but yesterday while flipping through the book I decided that the Marble Rye Loaf wasn’t hard. I could do it. I just had to be ORGANIZED! I’m not really an organized person. I need lots of space and love people who wash up for me. But I was going to have to do it myself.

I informed mom I was going to make this bread and so scotched her plans of making hops. HAHAHA! I told her people want variety. And I want to make bread.

So onwards!

	In each of two bowls, weigh out 6 oz of rye flour, 13.5 oz bread flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 3/4 tsp instant yeast and stir it. Then add the tablespoon of molasses, 1 1/4 cup water (you might need an extra 2 tablespoons of water), 2 tablespoons of shortening (for the dark colouring I used 2 tablespoons of cocoa dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water…you could use a tablespoon of browning I think) and mix. Dad passed and asked if I was using the bread machine. I said no. I don’t like how it bakes the bread. The mixing/kneading might be fine but the bread is sometimes a little too…thick crusted? for me.
	Gather up the dough into a ball and knead a few minutes on a lightly floured board. You need to knead each of the doughs separately. Okay? :-) When I kneaded the light part and it was coming to, I was so excited. You can’t believe. I called mom (who didn’t come) so she could see. I couldn’t believe that I was kneading dough and…it was good. Dad wondered if I was going to use mom’s mixer. I was like no! I don’t know bread and dough and consistency. Mom does. She can do it by hand and in the mixer and know when it’s ready. I’ll only know if I hand mix and practise and then maybe I can take shortcuts.
	Oil a bowl lightly and the dough and leave it in the bowl, and leave it to rise!
	Wait until both doughs have doubled in size. He says about 90 minutes. I live in the tropics. It took less than an hour I think.
	He had a few methods for making your marble dough. I tried two methods. Cut each of the dough into 12 pieces (me 6 as I only used half … and then halved those) and create two piles, each with 6 pieces of light and 6 pieces of dark. Scramble them up and then scrunch them together and roll into some kind of missile-like baguette shape. I made the two smaller loaves like this. The first bread I made is very patchy looking. The second I did came out a bit better and looked better melded. I could improve! Separate each dough into 4 pieces and take two of each and layer alternately. (of course I separated my remainder into 2 pieces and made one loaf). Layer it so that the light is on the outside and the dark on the inside. Then roll it up and shape. I really liked this. It looked nice inside. This made the big loaf. Of course I haven’t cut the others yet. One is being sent to Guyana. Next time I think I will make all like this but smaller. I’ll separate the dough into 8 pieces each and make 4 small loaves. I’ll try some in a bread pan instead of freestanding.
	Lightly oil the loaves and lay on parchment paper lined sheet trays. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise…
	…until they double in size.
	Preheat the oven to 350 F and make an egg wash (1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water, whisked to frothy). Brush the wash over the loaves gently yet evenly. Bake the loaves for about 45 minutes. You may have to rotate and such for even cooking. Cook until the centre reaches 190 F. Hehe! I bought a thermometer. I used it. It’s for my baking. It’s fun sticking a thermometer into your bread and watching the temperature rise. Hehehe. I took em out. :-)

All the pictures are on flickr.

This is the finished loaf.

Baked Marble Rye Loaf, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

And yes, I know this is PETER REINHART’s recipe. If you like it buy the book :-)

Chocolate and Custard Ice Cream, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

In the continuing saga of the ice cream maker, we of course made chocolate ice cream!

Mom made a custard/plain mixture with a light (very light) coconut flavouring. It was 4 cups. We used almost 3 cups and the 1 1/2 qt limit on the ice cream maker was more than reached.

So, we got a lovely custard ice cream. But there was leftovers.

So, I took out my chopped Callebaut chocolate (don’t ask how long I had this in the fridge! It’s dark. It’s my truffle making chocolate. There was an 8 oz block and 8 oz all chipped up to make Chocolate Hearts of Darkness. And there are about 4 more 1 lb blocks). and melted it a little in the double boiler and then added the rest of the milk mixture and stirred and stirred and got chocolate! Woohooo!!

Mom was a bit worried it might be too bitter so I caved and added some sugar. I should’ve taken the time to make sure all the chocolate was properly melted and maybe the sugar too…because it is a bit gritty in the end but we shall see.

We then put it in the fridge and the next day…we made CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM.

OH MY LORD!

It was soooo good.

Mom: Lily, does it taste so good because of the quality of chocolate we used?

That’s what they always say, isn’t it? Your product can only be good as the ingredients you put into it.

It’s so rich and dark and good and mmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate.

So when the house was full with Chennette, brother and sister-in-law, I gave them each a teaspoonful to taste (I was eating some…they were free to take their own bowls but it seems babies take all of a mommy’s time and uber-frequent fliers can’t settle down to have some…but daddies always make time for chocolate ice cream).

They were all amazed.
Astounded.
Impressed.
Wanting more.
Simply the greatest.

Brother: does it really work out? compared to what you buy?

Well, I haven’t calculated how much this chocolate ice cream cost (a half tin of condensed milk, a quarter tin of evaporated milk, 8 oz callebaut dark chocolate, sugar, 3 tablespoons of custard powder, some coconut cream powder (not necessary). I’ve forgotten how much the chocolate cost (I can check I’m sure) and I’m sure it’s gone up.

But I think it’s worth it. You get absolutely great chocolate ice cream. And truth be told, we don’t eat a lot of it. I mean we could but we go through phases. And despite Chennette’s threats, there is about 3 cups or so. About just under half of what we made.

Now, why waste time on something else?

My homemade ice cream set should always be here. And, NO! it’s not avocado ice cream. She’s half-way right.

More later. Pictures necessary. Was busy baking today.

Guess what!

No, mom, you are not allowed to guess or say anything. You know everything in your freezer down to the dirty ice at the bottom.

:-)

Mango Sorbet, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

As promised, I took another photo shoot of my mango sorbet.

You can go to my homemade ice cream set to see more of my other frozen goodies.

We cut up 4 julie mangoes and 2 doodoose mangoes and then processed them in the food processor.

Afterwards, we added water, sugar and fresh lime juice.

Then, it was ready for the ice cream maker and tada! We got uber fresh, strong mango smelling sorbet.

It was lovely.
Or so I’m told.
I’m still squeamish about actually eating “processed” mango.
But it did taste good (you know ice cream and sorbet…always drips and melts on your fingers).

I am entering this in the Mango Mania competition at What’s For Lunch Honey.