This will be a shorter entry than usual because I am officially behind on thank you notes and didn't end up finishing the birth announcements over the weekend as planned. The weather was just to lovely to spend it inside, so we played around the back yard, frolicking with the dog, cleaning up some of the garden beds and just generally being outside. I'm further behind the eight ball due to an unexpected trip to Philly just tonight planned for this coming weekend.


My grandmother has offered us her china cabinet for the taking. This is not the best time for us to be doing things like renting vans and such, but it's a limited time offer, the thing is pecan for goodness' sake and we'd like for mom-mom to meet the baby so off we go. We're hoping to avoid the worst of DC/Beltway traffic, which can turn what should be a four hour trip into a seven hour trip, by leaving early Saturday and returning Monday morning. If we're successful it should be a nice trip. If we're not, well, I don't want to think about it. Between limited sleep, epic crying jags (mostly from the baby, but occasionally from me) and my husband's scholastic stress we don't have a lot of room to absorb any DC madness. My zen-like mantra for the week: I'm looking forward to spending time travelling with my family. The traffic does not worry me.

In the end, sourdough v. 1 was a bust. The recombined loaf rose only slightly and ended up actually expanding a bit at the bottom on the baking sheet. I didn't think this was a big deal, and actually thought it could work out to be a kind of sourdough focaccia-esque thing. Um, no. It was just plain weird - really dense inside and practically uncuttable at the crusts. The insides of the bread did, however, have a nice sourdough flavor so in the end all was not lost. I'll be taking Rayne's suggestion and giving a looksee throughThe Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cook Book and see what can't be done to make the next attempt better. I had really hoped to be able to make sourdough on my own, without relying on my bread machine, but I recognize inevitability when I see it.