biscotti baking

Biscotti are my favorite cookies and now I don't make any other kinds. I love how they don't get stale unlike most other cookies. I have tinkered with these Almond Anise Biscotti and for my taste they are just right. This year I cut back on the eggs and refrigerated the dough overnight before baking and solved my problem of dough spreading out too much when baking.

The other photo is Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti from the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook. Two concerns here: the recipe doesn't call for vanilla or other flavoring (I added some vanilla); and it's a little tricky figuring out when they are done when you don't have the visual cue of golden brown tops.

do you know about Wallboard Anchors?

They are the plastic gizmos you see here and are what you need to secure a screw in a wall that's made of sheetrock. I took down the spice rack to paint the wall and when I tried to put the screws back in the same holes the screwdriver just went around and around--there was nothing for the screw to attach to. Enter the wallboard anchors. Screw them in the holes and then the screws into the anchors and all is nice and secure, hurray!

Holiday window shopping

Treat yourself and stop to admire the beautiful shop displays-- that's what I did early this morning (even though it was dark and raining), stopping in front of Primo Regali in San Anselmo, all bright lights and glittering wares. The small shops have the best windows: check out Stripe in Santa Cruz, it looked beautiful today too!

grout repair

This crumbling tile grout at the kitchen counter has bothered me for a long time. In some areas it's not crumbling but has cracks and in others chunks of the grout have fallen out, although the tiles are still secure. I've never done grout repair before but today I mixed up a paste-like compound and using my finger filled the spaces and cracks. Of course first I cleaned out the broken bits with a special grout-removal, scraper-type tool.
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As I write this, it is a couple of hours later and I am periodically going over the areas with a damp sponge. I'm reasonably happy with this repair except that the new grout needs to get a little dirty so it blends in with the old. Since this area is right around the cooktop, it shouldn't take too long :) Or, I might get busy with a toothbrush, boiling water and bleach...

Holiday baking

We love Swedish vetebrod, a yeast bread full of butter eggs and cardamom seeds. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds but I use lots more because our family is a big fan of this aromatic spice. Here are two braids but little individual S-shape rolls are also typical. Making vetebrod means the Christmas season has begun in our house.

Today I tried two new bread recipes. One is from the gorgeous new book "Sarabeth's Bakery" and the recipe is "House Bread." When I saw the full page photo of this bread in the book I knew I had to try it. It just came out of the oven so I haven't tried it yet...The other recipe is "Amy Scherber's Whole Wheat Walnut Bread." This bread is made with a biga or pre-ferment which is a mixture of a tiny bit of yeast, some flour and water all stirred together and allowed to sit for 8 hrs or more. Then this very elastic "pre dough" is added along with more yeast and the rest of the ingredients. That loaf came out of the oven earlier and I did have a slice, thickly spread with butter oh so good!

These two bakers have shops in NYC. For me, a good reason to plan a trip!

one hour east of San Diego

...here's the country you will find. It's rugged, timeless, with here and there orchards of gnarly old apple trees that are these days dropping fruit for little bands of grazing cows. While visiting my family down there the past few days, here's a bit of the glorious landscape I saw. Don't you love the old stone house in among the oaks and boulders?