I grew my hair out for a couple of years so that I would have up-do-able hair for the various weddings I was involved in, including my own. I promised myself that after I got married, I’d cut my hair off for Locks of Love. A few months before the wedding I got really excited about cutting off my hair and I even made a hair cut appointment for two days after the wedding. However, as the day drew near I knew I wasn’t ready to do it. Six months later, I finally flew home and pulled the plug. Yes, I still go home-home to get my hair cut. Yes, I know that’s not exactly normal.

before

and then

after.

It’s fun, but I’m still getting used to it.

butter & cream, cooking, cooking, done!

Cutting the caramels up wasn’t too difficult, except for the fact that I can’t make multiple straight lines to save my life. Let’s just say there were a variety of sizes available for sampling. Cutting up the wax paper squares didn’t go that much smoother, but the end result was some pretty little candies.

Early last week I decided to make the no-knead bread (recipe in the NY Times) that it seems practically the whole internet has made. There’s good reason for that- the bread couldn’t have been that much easier to make and it was absolutely delicious. You do need some specialized equipment, like a cast-iron pot in the 3-6 qt range, and a good non-terry kitchen towel, but that’s about it.
Monday night I combined yeast, salt, King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour, and water together in a large glass mixing bowl. I let the dough rest and rise for about 22 hours. The recipe only calls for a 12-or-so hour rise, but I can’t leave my job in the middle of the day and the long rise worked out just fine. When I got home from work on Tuesday, I turned the dough out on to the counter, shaped it a bit and let it rise in the kitchen towel for about 2 hours. Then I baked it and voila!

I want to make it again this week. The first one was delicious but I think it needs a little more salt and I’d like to try making a loaf with some caraway too.

Week 23 was the week of November 15th. Yes, that was a long time ago.

Potatoes-2 pounds
Carrots-1 bunch
Collards-1 bunch
Red Russian Kale-1 bunch
Parsley-1 bunch
Garlic-4
Celeriac-2 bulbs
Onions-5
Green Cabbage-1 head
Butternut Winter Squash-2
Rutabaga-2

This was the last share that we picked up from this season. Week 24’s pickup was on the day before Thanksgiving and we were relaxing in Minneapolis well before pick-up time. A friend of ours picked up the share that week and on Monday she gave us everything she didn’t want, but I didn’t take pictures of the leftovers. Till spring!