Showing posts with label Catullus II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catullus II. Show all posts

Monday, July 16, 2012

Things Have Been a Little Hectic...

Things have been a little hectic around here over the past two weeks. Egnatius left to go back to Ireland and I helped him move out and pack. My family and I agreed also to host my friend's cat while she went to visit her parents on the other side of the country. This cat is fun and adorable, but quite particular so i will call her Princessa.
Cats love windows
While Princessa was here, she managed to become absolutely terrified of my room. She hung out up there most of the time for the first three days, but on day four it became the zone of horror.
Cute Kitty Pose
After that, late the night of 4th of July, she managed to jump off of something and twist her leg. Catullus II and I  took her to the vet. The vet said that she had only some soft tissue damage and gave us an anti-inflammatory, but not before dear usually-sweet Princessa attempted to rip the vet's face off.

However, in the mean time between agreeing to host Princessa and actually hosting her, my friend took in a pregnant stray whom she called Gimli. Gimli was a thin and lithe little ginger cat who sought out my friend at the beginning of the school year and my friend and her roommates had been feeding her. Gimli disappeared for a while in the spring and returned with a little ginger kitten, whom my friend named Eowyn. Sadly, one day shortly after arriving for the first time, Eowyn disappeared.

When Gimli became pregnant again, my friend took her in so that she and her kittens might be able to survive. Gimli, while bulging with pregnancy, was still as thin as she had ever been. About five days later, she had a litter of seven kittens.

I met the kittens on the first day after they were born. They were so cute and helpless. They looked almost like tiny hamsters.We gave them all nicknames based on look and personality attributes.
Calico, 1 day old
By the second day, we were arranging to take Princessa (my friend had to fly to the other side of the country to see her mother). However, my friend had not found foster care for Gimli and the kittens so she was going to have to take them to a shelter.
Kinky tail, 2 days old
Kittens, however, are much more likely to die in a shelter than in foster care, so my family agreed to take them until we could find homes for all of them.
Gimli and kittens
Gimli is an wonderfully sweet cat. She takes incredible care of her kittens. We have been looking for homes for all of them. I put up a website so that people can watch the growth of the kittens.

At one week old, they looked like this:
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Superman, meowing. Photo by Steph Joyal

At ten days old, they looked like this:
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Kinky-Tail, Photo by Steph Joyal.


They look much more like this now:
Calico, 16 days old
Calico, 16 days old
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Smokey, 16 days old, asleep
So, this is the reason I am not posting quite a often as I had planned...

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Bread Lesson Part II, A Review

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Photocredit: Catullus II
I did a bread lesson for a bunch of people. It turned in to a 14 hour bread party complete with fresh sourdough pizza with the Durum flour I got from Cerinthus' parents. It was absolutely fantastic.

Over the course of the day, we made 11 loaves and 8 pizzas: 2 whole wheat Tartine loaves (replacing 100g of all-purpose flour with 100g durum), 4 mini Pain à l'Ancienne ciabatta loaves, 3 Norwich More-Sourdough loaves (with 50g added wheat germ), and 2 loaves of Tartine country bread (with 100g durum wheat).

The loaves tasted amazing, and some of them looked fantastic. I taught my friends to mix, knead, shape, score, and bake loaves.

The first two loaves were not as aesthetic as I was hoping, but they tasted fantastic.

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Photocredit: Catullus II







A friend of mine bought some wonderful cheese which we had with the whole wheat loaves.
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Photocredit: Catullus II
The next set of loaves were the Pain à L'Ancienne ciabatta. These loves went over like gang-busters. One of my friends is planning on making his own at home. I hope it works. The loaves were super bubbly and I taught one of my friends to gently shape the loaves.
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Photocredit: Catullus II
Bread Making 008
Photocredit: Catullus II

The loaves were really beautiful when they came out of the oven, but I had to make mini loaves so that they would fit in the oven.
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Photocredit: Catullus II

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Photocredit: Catullus II
Next, I taught my friends to shape dough with the easy-to-shape fairly dry Norwich More-Sourdough. They did an amazing job.
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Photocredit: Catullus II

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Photocredit: Catullus II
Other friends scored the loaves and they came out pretty well for everyone's first times.
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Photocredit: Catullus II
Next, we had some pizza.
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Photocredit: Catullus II

The next morning, the last loaves that the eight of us made came out of the oven. These were just phenomenal. Sadly, only Catullus II, my parents, and I were still around to see them.
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Photocredit: Catullus II
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Photocredit: Catullus II
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Photocredit: Catullus II

This last set of loaves may have been some of the best bread I have ever tasted. Yum!