The sourdough is not going well. I didn't end up dealing with it for Thursday after all (I know, huge surprise, right?) and instead started the dough/baking process yesterday. The first rising went splendidly - the dough looked exactly as it was described it would. Punch down and loaf formation was similarly smooth. What I'm regarding as a potential Sourdough Waterloo came in the form of the second rising, which, well, didn't. In an effort to salvage the operation, I rekneaded the two loaves together and am now attempting a third rise. After four or five hours, if it's risen at all I will bake and report back. Sourdough, I am told, is at once fussy and forgiving. Fussy in the sense that it requires a good starter made with good yeast but forgiving in the sense that rising times and baking windows are flexible. So we'll see. All is not lost, but I'm not exactly discouraged. If this doesn't work I will start again from square one with very fresh yeast and then move on to other troubleshooting.

We've got a busy weekend planned of GETTING. STUFF. DONE. The Boy Wonder needs new sneakers with which to partake of his soccer lessons and he's been invited to a birthday party, which will require the purchase of a present (something in the construction genre, I've been informed). There's also the matter of writing thank you notes and finishing the birth announcements, as well as marking the photographs of the babe (four rolls so far) with the who and what - I am nearly fanatical about this, no boxes of mystery photos in this house. Then there's the usual house stuff, vacuuming and so on. I'm also planning to take the kids ("The kids" - how strange to write that) to the park tomorrow to get some walking in. It's supposed to be a beautiful day and it will be nice to get moving.

I just finished making a sourdough starter. I had tossed around the idea of buying one from the fine folks at King Arthur Flour but in the end decided to take a DIY approach. Some quick googling on the subject revealed that a simple mixture of yeast, water and flour ought to do the trick and every recipe had just about the same proportions: 1 tablespoon of yeast, two cups of warm water and two cups of flour mixed in an earthenware or glass container. After 48 hours of bubbling away at room temperature on the kitchen counter it should be ready to use, depending upon the cooperation of the wild yeasts in the air here in Charlottesville. One recipe, much more complicated than the others, used green grapes to start the fermentation process - I bet it's fantastic, resulting in a very yeasty, winey bread but for my purposes I think I'll stick with the simple and familiar. If all goes well, I'll have homemade sourdough bread on Thursday. My, but that seems like a long way away, doesn't it?


The only other cooking project on tap for today is the making of pizzelles for my husband's Wednesday lab meeting. We had originally planned on sugar cookies but, realizing that good pizzelle weather (that is, clear and non-humid) is likely to be ending soon, changed our minds. Homemade pizzelles do not do well in the spring and summer - they just get all floppy and moist so we're going to take advantage of the last of the "pizzelle season". They have another advantage over sugar cookies in that they are quick to make and therefore perfect for squeezing into an infant's nap time.


This afternoon I will be accompanying the Boy Wonder to the library. He's asked for more "airplane and train books" on the grounds that he's memorized the ones he has and wanted to go to Barnes and Noble for their acquisition. Given my current non-income-earning status we've decided that the time is a good one to introduce the joys of borrowing rather than purchasing books. Although I don't wish to rein in his enthusiasm for reading and books I'm thinking that I might limit his selections to three or four books for this initial visit. Not only would I like to teach him prioritization and that he cannot have everything he wants, but I think that three or four is all I'll be able to track on any given day. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what he picks out to bring home.

The marmalade-glazed poundcake turned out really well - so well, in fact, that I'm sending half of it to my husband's lab so I'm not alone with it here in the house all day. I've learned that students on grad stipends will eat just about anything and my husband's lab mates have proven very effective for the purposes of disposing of excess or unwanted food from our house, especially sweets and baked goods.


I'll have another opportunity to cook for them next week. Every Wednesday there's a lab meeting and the lab members take turns furnishing lunch for the group of 15 of them (the cost is reimbursed by the department). Some of the meals procured have been truly amazing - it's a very international group of people and some of them have used their turn for supplying lunch to showcase the best of their countries' cuisines. Others, however, have bought a dozen bags of chips and called it a day. My husband is charged with next Wednesday's lunch and I asked if he'd like me to make something rather than doing deli or what have you. Together we decided on a menu of vegetarian chili, sourdough bread and sugar cookies for dessert. My chili usually contains meat so I'll be reviewing recipes this weekend to determine how I'll approach the dish. I've had some excellent veggie chilis in the past, but damn if I can remember what was in them.


I'm feeling particularly proud of myself tonight because I produced an excellent braised steak for dinner and even managed to thicken the cooking liquid for a nice sauce/gravy. I had never braised before so I was a little unsure how to approach the process but some quick research in the Betty Crocker cookbook gave me the confidence to go ahead with this particularly non-tender cut and it turned out really well. I started by warming some oil in a large lidded skillet and then browned the meat on both sides. I then seasoned with black pepper and poured in a cup of beef broth (which I figured was salty enough, which I why I only seasoned with the pepper). After cooking the steak covered on a low burner for about 45 minutes, I added a drained can of diced tomatoes and a little less than a cup of red wine from a previously opened bottle that I spied sitting on the counter. After the steak was cooked through and tender, I stirred a flour and water slurry into the cooking liquid and allowed it to thicken slightly. Know what? It was great. I hope I can do it again, even though it was a kind of made up recipe.


Finally, is anyone else as bored as me with all this Mars stuff? I mean, yahoo and all that they got these things to land and take pictures and whatnot, but I can't help but think we've got a few things down here that could use the same kind of focused attention. And now our, ahem, President is talking about sending people to Mars, for what purpose I cannot imagine. Then again, I thought Apollo 13 was a supremely boring movie about which we all already knew the ending (I felt this was about Titanic, too, and refused to see it) so maybe it's just my disinclination to be interested in space that's the problem. Or maybe it's the, like, milliontrillionbillion dollar cost that this little adventure would present. Either way, man is it all boring.

We're getting back in the saddle here at Hot Water Bath. The girl and I are slowly reaching a compromise regarding hours appropriate for sleeping (My perspective: 4 to 6 a.m. presents an excellent opportunity to get some shut eye. My darling daughter disagrees and thinks this time to be a good one for chatting.) and now that the last of our company has departed we're at last having some time just to hang out together.


Our first big project together was to make more pink grapefruit marmalade. This time I didn't follow a standard recipe, but rather combined elements of lots of different recipes to create this one, which I ended up liking better than the first. Couldn't be simpler, really - peel four largish pink grapefruits and one lemon. Remove as much of the white stringy bits from the fruit as possible and chop them up (removing seeds as you go). Put all the fruit goo and juice into a big pot. Next, cut away the think white pith from the peels, leaving mostly just the colored rind and a little white "backing" then cut the trimmed peels into teeny tiny thin strips and put them into the pot. Add two cups of water to the pot and bring the whole mess to a boil - reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so. Remove from heat and allow to stand at room temperature overnight. The next day add four cups of granulated sugar and bring back to a low boil. Keep at the boil for 45 minutes to an hour and you'll notice that not only is your chopped fruit starting to break down, but the whole mess is coming to a loose gel. At this point, I decided to add a tablespoon of lime juice to facilitate the gelling process. Once you're satisfied with the state of the gel (remember, though, that it's not supposed to be as tight as jelly), pack into prepared jars, seal and process for 10 minutes.


And now you have four or so half-pint jars of really pretty marmalade. I actually had a bit left over which is sitting in a bowl on my kitchen counter so I'm going to make another poundcake today. Once cool, I'll split the cake and spread it with the marmalade. If there's any left, I might melt it down with some water to make a glaze, but that might be guilding the lily just a bit. We'll have to see.


We had the inlaws in town this weekend and on Sunday had sandwiches for lunch. I splurged and bought corned beef, cheese, roasted turkey - all kinds of stuff that we don't usually have - as well as some really great rye bread. In addition to mustard and mayo, I also put out a jar of my marinated mushrooms. My father in law ate most of them himself, which made me hugely happy. He put a big pile on his sandwhich and then ate what was left in the jar with a spoon - made my day, I tell you. Is there anything better than when someone really, really appreciates something you've created with your own heart and hands? I swear, I'm still all aglow.


Finally, I am officially a soccer mom. Yes, the Boy Wonder has been enrolled in the Piedmont YMCA youth soccer program. Now, I am not a soccer fan for all the stereotypical reasons that Americans are said not to be: too low scoring, too boring, lots of running around in the heat for very little actual excitement, etc. I mean, Brandi Chastain in her bra is one thing, but how much of that do you really get? My kid needs to burn off some steam, though, and this is one of the few programs around in which 3 year olds are welcome. The thing is, it's a parent/child program which means that I will also be learning the finer points of the game. Who knows, maybe it'll help me get over my anti-soccer bias. Either that or reinforce it. In any case, I also volunteered to help with the end of the season banquet - an activity that is squarely up my alley. I wonder if they'll let me bring my own condiments?

I've just said farewell to my parents, who are on their way back to Buffalo. My mom had been staying with us since the baby was born nearly two weeks ago and my father came to pick her up on Wednesday. It was a very nice visit - my mom is a very good grandmother, involved and nurturing, and was a tremendous help to all of us during these twelve days. I don't know how we could have survived without her to do crafts with the Boy Wonder, do laundry, cook dinner, wash dishes and just generally be a reassuring presence. Plus, this was the longest my mom and I have been under the same roof since I was 17 and we only had one tense conversation. I'm very sad that she's gone now but I know she needs to resume her own life - and, my nephew is being Christened on Sunday (my parents now have six grandchildren under the age of four - the last several years have been a blur of showers, Baptisms, and birthdays) and she needs to get home in time.


So now the girl and I are alone together. I'm sure we'll do fine - the nursing is going well, she's sleeping up to four hours at a stretch and there are plenty of clean clothes in the dresser - but I'm suddenly aware that I am now utterly responsible for two little lives and this thought brings me up a little short. I hope I'm mom enough for the task.

My baby girl arrived Sunday, February 1 at 8:04 p.m. She's perfect in every way. The Boy Wonder is utterly besotted, as is her father. As for me, I'm the luckiest woman alive.