More Memories

Many years ago I apprenticed in an office in Germany. It was the norm to get a certificate called “Kaufmanns-Gehilfenbrief” after attending business school Once a week for 3 years and passing a final exam. A person could ask for the examination after only 2 1/2 years but in that case you needed to pass with a good mark. At first my boss did not want me to try because several apprentices had failed and that went against his grain. I persevered and passed after 2 1/2 years. I was very happy because that meant a regular monthly salary. The first year of apprenticeship the “pay” was 10.00 DMark  a month!! Even then one could not do much with it. I think the last Year it was DMark 40.00.
I stayed another half year with that company, found a better job, took a month off and started my new job.
More later 😁
Life is good (although raining at the moment even though the sun is out too)

More about bread

On Tuesday I saw that we were almost out of bread so I decided I better get busy. My recipe originally takes only one day but when I made it the last time it ended up having big holes, desired by the REAL artists, but I don’t like stuffing the holes with butter so that the jam won’t drop on my lap through the holes, it happened often enough before, so I thought I’d try doing it in 2 days.

The recipe calls for a first mix of the ingredients then a wait of 15 minutes and after that with the dough hook installed another mix of 5 minutes. After the first mix I was just going to check something on my iPad but got waylaid by the TV and after an episode of Perry Mason I finally remembered my 15 minute dough 🤓 I rushed to the kitchen and did the dough hook thing. Unfortunately when I wanted to get the result in my oiled bowl for it’s overnight rise in the fridge my hands got more or less glued to the dough. It was a horrible experience but in the end I won without too much loss of the dough and it went into the fridge. 

The next morning I was able to shape it and let it rise again. 

Here is the result: just normal little crumb 😁 and the taste is excellent. Proof of that is that it is already half gone 😩. We went from eating no bread to this much after I started making sourdough bread.

Life is good 🤗

Rain and memory

While I was sitting in the living room this morning looking at the rain come down I knew I should be happy about it but at the same time I did not like seeing it. I prefer to see our beautiful green trees in the sunlight. I am glad our garden is getting the benefit of the rainwater rather than just the well water. Living in the country and using a well at least the water has no added chlorine. 

With nothing better to do I began thinking about my youth. 

When I was in high school we had classes on Saturdays too, running from 8 AM to 1 PM.  Sometimes the last period was cancelled but on those  days I did not go home and my best friend and I wandered around the Saturday market especially to the bakery stands. They made delicious pastry called “Amerikaner” moist base and a lemon glaze. To me they tasted to die for. So we bought lots of those and ate one after the other until we were full to overflow. Of course when I got home lunch was on the table and I had to eat that too unless I wanted to confess, which I did not want to do since that would spoil my other Saturday adventures. 

On one of those days my girlfriend stuck her finger in one of the pastries held it up in the air and asked the salesman  “how much is it?” Then after he told her the price she put it back down and said “too expensive” I thought the salesman exploded he was so mad. Of course she always planned to buy it and we went away munching and thinking it was a good joke. Now I am not so sure how good it was 😉

That’s all for now

Life is good!

Big annoyance today

Sorry to write this but it might be a warning to other people.
We buy lots of bananas and keep some in our cold room and put some in a glass bowl on the dining room table. Sometimes the bowl is pretty full with other fruit and yesterday we had too many already soft bananas which the one who will not be named placed on the placemat next to the bowl. This morning I was able to put the bananas in the bowl and needed to straighten the placemat (OCD kicking in) but it was stuck to our beautiful oak dining table 😩 . Pulling it off I saw that there were  lots of whitish spots imbedded in the wood. I almost had a heart attack because something similar happened once when I placed part of a banana that I was eating on my dresser for only a short while and to this date the outline is still visible 😭
I used lemon oil and some other wood cleaner today and a lot came out but there are still spots that I have to live with. So people be careful where you stash your bananas 👍😉

I hope tomorrow I can write a more pleasant post.
Like Janna always says...
Life is good! (I think I will adopt that!)

Flowers and flours

Here are my flowers

And here is my flour project

I just want to try the new Blogger format.

My roadside flower arrangement

I love these types of bouquets 😁

My Mother taught me…

 

There are many things my mother taught me but one thing that really stuck with m is:

Only touch something you do once if you can help it. An example of that is getting undressed at night. If you plan on wearing the same thing tomorrow, hang it up or fold it at once. Don’t put it down first because you just have to handle it twice, using time and energy. I don’t always follow that advice but most of the time I do.

I was thinking of that when I was doing dishes today, still by hand. I never put down a dish after drying it except for it’s proper resting place J

Another thing drilled into my mind when I was young…Always wear an apron when you work in the kitchen. I still do that and feel almost naked when I don’t have my apron on.

So much we learn as children gets carried on into adulthood.

Be polite, say hello to the people you meet and try to treat others as you would like to be treated.

Sometimes all of that is hard to follow but as long as we do our best things should be OK.

Those were just a few thoughts I had while doing dishes

Last one today!

Still snowing a bit, but nice and warm by the fireplace.

Still fooling around

2.post

On a message board I found a work around for OLW. It seemed that even if OLW seemed to work for one post, the second one would NOT work again.
This is it:

Open up Open Live Writer Blog Settings & enter your Google/Gmail password (I used my Blogger password which is different)

(File >> Options >> Accounts >> Select 'Blog" >> Edit >> Update Account Information)
You will find the Password Box is empty (though user name with be a GUID)
Fill in the password (Google/Gmail) >> Next >> complete the update.

Now I hope it stays working. We’ll see.

This…
or

First Snow

Trying out Open Live Writer again. I read that lots of people are having trouble using it. I did too for quite awhile but then last night it worked. Now I am wondering if it works again.
Here is the picture I just took. It looks very pretty but….. I don’t like driving in it, so now I am stranded

It did not work, so I used Blogger but I sure don't like it. Maybe in a year or so Open Live Writer have ironed out their problems. ;-)  I am just glad that I am not a prolific Blogger, otherwise I would be royally ticked off. (notice that I did not use a bad word? Was pretty hard not to though.)
Enjoy the season.

Open Live Writer

I am wondering if it finally works.
It is cold at night here but it was a nice and sunny day. Tomorrow is a different story.

I would like a nibble

update

Everything is working normally. I even started to have a closer look at the Edge browser and there are a few things that I like a lot. Might switch later on.
All is well and even the sun shines. Bonus.

Windows 10 Update

I installed the update yesterday and have had lots of problems. Half of my programs, some free some paid for, would not load. I solved some of the problems with the help of the program's service department but still others are not resolved. I really like using a computer but it can be very frustrating at times.
I hope that Microsoft will iron out the update soon.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

We have to be thankful for the bountiful harvest this year. It has not been this plentiful for many years.
I have been canning, freezing and drying for quite awhile now. It started with our egg plums, then pears, apples and prune plums. Lots of different types squash. The first time we had a large amount of onions too. Our beets are almost as big as a small head and sweet throughout.
I made lots of tomato sauce, tomato Juice, whole tomatoes and dried tomatoes.
The work is never ending and I shall be glad when everything is done.
We will not be starving this winter if all goes well.
So far we have 7 pounds of dried apple rings and there are more to come. We also gave lots of fruit to our friends.
Here are the rest of the apples.

There was just too much. I suppose that is a good predicament to have .
Today I made green tomato relish.
Now I am off to fill the dehydrator again.

Big Pepper surprise

This green pepper was hiding at the bottom of the plant. I found it today. It weighs 414 grams which is almost a pound.
Our garden was particularly great this year. I just finished canning 36 quart jars of pear juice.
Earlier I canned 21 pints tomato sauce and I even forget how many quarts of tomato juice. Lots of tomatoes still on the plants. Hope the late blight does not get them.
I also tried to make a bit of plum-pear chutney but not sure if I like that.
Already there are several buckets of prune plums waiting for me in our cold room. Not sure how to process those.
Later on we have to pick all the apples. Lots of those this year too but luckily they are really good keepers, so no canning for those.

These are the best tasting tomatoes we have ever grown. They are a heritage variety and I am keeping seeds for the next years. Tomato seeds stay viable for many years.
I have been very busy  
Good buy for now.

Strange sky

I wonder if this means the end of the world is coming??? LOL
We woke up this morning to a sun that was only viewable as a dusty ball. It stayed that way all day long but it was as hot as it has been for quite some time. Without air-conditioning in the house it has been a real trial. I am glad our rec-room is on the ground level and the temperature is quite a bit cooler there, so that is where I have been hibernating. The garden needs lots of water which is in short supply on the Island. I am glad we have a well but just the same we are conserving as much as we can.
The wasps must like this weather though because we have lots of working nests under the eaves of the house and garage. Hubby got stung several times in the last few days. Living on the “Wetcoast” I thought I’d never pray for rain but that is exactly what I am doing now.
Hope springs eternal!
Bye for now.

Question answered

After searching the Internet and joining a gardening message board I found out that those onions are not Walla Walla onions but “Egyptian Walking Onions”
They are a perennial and seed themselves. When they get big enough they get top-heavy, bend down to the ground and the little bulbils root in the ground. I think they also multiply underground. They are very tasty. I broke off 2 bulbils and planted one in the ground right away and put the other one in a glass of water on my dining table which started some roots in the meantime. The one in the garden seems to be growing too.
When I wanted to buy Walla Walla onions last year they must have given me the wrong seedlings. I am glad they did because it is fun to see the Waling onions grow.
I have been using some of the bulbils in my salad. Yummy.
Bye for now.
 

Garden Question

We have something weird growing in our garden. Last fall some of our Walla Walla onions hid and this spring they started to grow again. I have never seen anything like it. It looked like a seed pod was coming on but then the seed pod started to sprout new onions and some of the onions have done this twice. Here is a picture:

and another one


I would really like to know what I can do with that. Would it be OK to plant what looks like seedlings? I hope somebody can enlighten me.
Thanks.

Live Writer Trial

Trying Live Writer

Even though I have not posted I want Live Writer to work, just in case
Now for a photo
Photo did not work