I'm running low on elbow grease. Y'all have a good source?

Ray Charles and Betty Carter singing Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Decline the survey, play video at the bottom of the screen.

If it means getting off the floor, I refuse to do it today. But there are fifteen chairs worth of legs to be dusted, so I'm cool.

About those spoon rolls.

Goldy says, "Well, yeah!"

A lovely tender crumb that would be perfect with a dab of butter and jelly and a side of sausage. The baking powder is there, but not overwhelming. Less sweet than I thought. If you can't make rolls or biscuits (my hand is up), this is a way to go.

Not for this luncheon, but a possibility for a Christmas breakfast. Which will likely be around one o'clock.

Alrighty, then. On Friday we'll be serving the annual Christmas luncheon for Lyman's mother, his siblings and their spouses. The menu this year: shrimp cocktail, mixed green salad with black olive vinaigrette, deep-fried soft-shell crab with crawfish cream sauce, scalloped potatoes, and chocolate molten souffle. And whatever bread I can bake or buy.

If I live that long. I've been cleaning since past Friday.

Now I have plain white all-purpose flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, self-rising flour, cake flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour and masa flour. Soon I'll have unbleached bread flour. And plain all-purpose yellow corn meal, because cornbread is the best.

Second batch is as lousy as the first. I'm retiring this recipe until the King Arthur supplies come in. I'm an okay baker and it puzzles me no end why it isn't working for me.

So, Goldy, you think we should try some spoon rolls? You know they'll be too sweet. But we're curious, aren't we?

We'll lay in some powdered milk and potato flakes, and try these tomorrow.

A bit of interesting information from King Arthur Flour about how an "active baker's" kitchen has enough wild yeast about that bakers can reduce the amount of yeast they add to dough:

Basic flour-water-yeast-salt doughs (which may also contain a bit of oil and/or sugar), such as those for baguettes, focaccia and pizza, are the best candidates for an all-day countertop rise. Keep in mind, however, the vagaries of your own kitchen. If you bake bread all the time, your kitchen is full of wild yeast and any dough you make there will rise vigorously. If you seldom bake bread, or are just beginning, your kitchen will be quite “sterile;” your dough won’t be aided by wild yeast, and will rise more slowly than it would in a more “active” kitchen. We’ve found that here in our King Arthur kitchen, where we bake bread every day, we can cut the yeast back to 1/16 teaspoon in a 3-cup-of-flour recipe and get a good overnight rise. In a kitchen where bread is seldom baked, we needed 1/2 teaspoon of yeast to get the same effect. Use your judgment in rating your own kitchen as to “yeast friendliness.”

Ummm, that didn't do so well on day one after mixing. Auntie Bear forgot to fold the dough a few times before shaping the rolls for final rise. Good flavor, though.

But Auntie is only baking four rolls at time, so she can practice.

UPDATE: Day two's look the same. I've emailed the baker for an opinion. That's an opinion other than "Girl, them's a mess."

UPDATE II: Frank from King Arthur's castle says I used the wrong yeast. He approves of my using active dry yeast bloomed in part of the water, then proceeding according to the recipe.

The recipe calls for instant yeast. Fleischmann's (what I can buy here) makes no distinction between instant yeast and their "Rapid Rise" yeast, but King Arthur's does.

...and Goldilocks said, "This roll is too sweet, plus she should have let it rise for at least another half hour."

Then she said, "This roll is okay, but needs butter rather than shortening, and it doesn't smell like a proper cafeteria roll."

Finally, she found a lump of dough in the fridge. "Yo, that dough looks weirdly flat. Is there any yeast in there? Do you think I should poke it?"

To be continued...

All in all, I'm thankful that life is simple enough:

How better to give thanks than show some joy:

Dave Brubeck's "Thank You," which is in honor of Chopin, but it has a lovely November mood:



Developed into an ensemble piece with sax, with ad in front and during piano solo(!):


Thank you - Dave Brubeck
Uploaded by boberwig. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.



That's Einstein, not Charles Gore.

Now, y'all. My sister-in-law has some experience with this:

Posted: Dec 25, 2009
Reviewer: from Atlanta, GA
Overall: Rated:5 stars! Comfort: Rated:5 stars! Style: Rated:5 stars!
Shoe Size: Felt a half size smaller than marked Shoe Width: Felt narrower than marked

Unfortunately, these shoes are cute but much, much narrower than sized (the W size is even narrower than a NORMAL size), and at least half a size smaller. My tiny little mother is less than 5 feet tall and weights 95 pounds, and has a 5.5 size foot. I got her the 5.5 W and she couldn't even get her foot into it! I'll be sending these back and trying another brand -- thanks Zappos for your great return policy

Un hunh. Of course, her mother bought a 5.5 when she was 25, had three children, then insists that she wears the same size at 87.

Lyman's sister took her mother (size 5) shoe-shopping in Baton Rouge. We made sure her favorite salesman at Dillard's would be on site at the time she arrived. When he offered her a six to fit her foot, not only did she think he was out of his mind, but wouldn't even try it on.

She wears slides now.

This is not a political post, and I'd appreciate it if you'd accept it that way.

I have been nearly blind with envy since Bristol packed off to do her stuff with Dancing With The Stars. Yes, yes, a ton of work, but tons of hours working with a professional dancer at the network's expense.

I have a sense of music, and rhythm, and could rise to Florence Henderson's level even if my legs aren't as pretty.

As consolation, I'm thinking of buying these shoes as moderate dress shoes.

I wore out a pair of nude-colored Capezio's that I bought for the community theater stage, they were so comfortable. That was more than 30 years ago, though.

But it's Zappo's return policy, so where's the worry?

UPDATE: I don't think I've ever lived a day when I could have balanced a Louboutin.

Alrighty, then. A juvenile Malay Eagle Owl that likes a good rub.

At this blog we call it allopreening. Charles Gore has since decided that Lucy won't (they are separated because we don't want her to gouge his eyes out), and welcomes the rub on the back of the neck from pals.

(Thanks, Tim Blair.)

Jimmy helps us with the yard. He isn't married and doesn't cook much. So when Lyman offered him leftover meatloaf, sauce, and mashed potatoes, he piped up with the quip of the day:

I've got a mouthful of taste for that already.

Who is the young athlete with the Washington Redskins who can do a standing back-flip in uniform?

The southern rains drifted through here last night, so today was a good day to drive to Baton Rouge -- overcast skies, but dry pavement.

Shopping was charmed.

Patel Bros. does not have a shop in Baton Rouge. But Fashion India expanded with a grocery department. We found asafoetida, fenugreek seeds, cardamom seeds, tamarind paste, garam masala, black mustard seeds, amchur powder and curry leaves. The leaves are fresh, but the ladies assure me that they can be frozen. I saw rose syrup, then forgot to pick a bottle up. I remember rose lassi from my days in New York.

Almonds in the shell were $3.29/pound at Fresh Pickins produce. Pomegranates 69 cents apiece. Call it the bird stop.

Whole Foods sells half-pound blocks of Callebaut chocolate in milk, semi-sweet, bittersweet and white.

Then to Tony's Seafood for turtle, shrimp, stuffed crabs and a treat of boiled crabs.

Let's not forget Gas Lane No. 17 in Woodville on the way down for a fresh snack of chicken-fried chicken gizzards. (Lyman says they're not as good as the ones at Shell in Bude.)

UPDATE: Lyman is trolling (fisherman's term) the couple of Indian cookbooks we own. (Thanks, Jordana.)