Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Totalcolour]

You are very right about side effects from medication. I generally call my pharmicist explaining my symptoms and give him a list of the meds I am taking so he can track down the culprit causing it. Good luck with that.

We had our genetics tested at a Lab in Seattle. I'm glad we did, because it showed that if Himself ever was given Warfarin, it would probably kill him! I have an incompatibility too, but can't remember which one. I keep the little card in my purse with my credit cards, so if anything happens. they will know . . . !

What is stollen bread?
My sourdough starter failed so I want to try again. I used rye flour as suggested on the King Arthur Flour site but I think I'll try whole wheat this time.
I would love to have a nice KitchenAid mixer with the fancy attachments. A boy and his toys, eh?

Have you tried the sourdough starters from Sourdoughs International http://www.sourdo.com/ , they have about 16 kinds from around the world, and are very good. I only have 6 kinds though, more than that and it's too much too keep up with.

Sold our goats yesterday. Our climate here isn't the best for them, too much water in the ground all year. So, in the spring we will convert the goat house to either a nice chicken coop, or perhaps a pigeon loft.

 

[RaZ]

Stollen bread is a sweet bread.

Dunno about the starter. I've never used anything but white flour for sourdough but I've only used a purchased starter too - bought it off the internet several years ago and still going strong. I have too many fermenting things in my kitchen to get reliable yeasties from the air, what with the kefir, vinegar, buttermilk and wine going almost all the time. I have to keep those in the far corners of the kitchen as it is, to avoid cross contamination.

I stopped reading after "sweet bread", Yuck!

I think I'll try new starters, 1 rye, 1 wheat and 1 half and half. I probably don't have enough yeastie beasties in the house so maybe I'll try to harvest a bit from the carboys. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[RaZ]

How strange...
With the conversations about cable providers and breads, I am watching the History Channel "Modern Marvels" and the episode is about bread.

 

[chickflick]

There's a article in the Flint Journal which it's headline is.... Food-tech startups aim to replace eggs and chickens It goes on to say they are making mayo omelets and french toast all without eggs. Article states "Hampton Creek Foods seeks to disrupt a global egg industry that backers say wastes energy, pollutes the envionment, causes disease outbreaks and confines chickens to tiny spaces. Interesting....

 

[Totalcolour]

There's a article in the Flint Journal which it's headline is.... Food-tech startups aim to replace eggs and chickens It goes on to say they are making mayo omelets and french toast all without eggs. Article states "Hampton Creek Foods seeks to disrupt a global egg industry that backers say wastes energy, pollutes the envionment, causes disease outbreaks and confines chickens to tiny spaces. Interesting....

But isn't mayo made with eggs, not real mayo without them!

 

[ladyrsanti]

I stopped reading after "sweet bread", Yuck!

I think I'll try new starters, 1 rye, 1 wheat and 1 half and half. I probably don't have enough yeastie beasties in the house so maybe I'll try to harvest a bit from the carboys. What could possibly go wrong?

LOL! A couple of years ago, I would have been right there with you but this recipe and ONLY THIS RECIPE has converted me and I still won't touch store-bought. The first year I made it, I hardly ate any, just gave it away but then it grew on me and now I can't get enough of it. The dough itself isn't very sweet but heavy, moist and yeasty. The butter fills in all the crevices and melts the powdered sugar and makes the crust all gooey and soft. Mmmmmmm.... I still won't touch fruitcake though. Can't pay me to eat it.

 

[RTFchickens]

My kitchen aide mixer has paid for itself many times over. I too have the pro series. The cost of store bread alone will make up for the cost of the mixer. Not to mention the health benefits of homemade bread vs preservatives.
I make my white bread for $.25 per loaf. For a family of 5 to 8 depending on who is home when, my $500 mixer has well paid for its self. Mine came with ice cream attachment. That too has saved lots of money. Kids love helping make homemade frozen yogurt, and ice cream.
As far as Internet, cable, and phone service, we turned off satellite and land line. We do have DSL for about $50/month through local phone co. My prepaid cell is unlimited talk and text for $25/mo, and now that we have chickens, we watch chicken TV! its more educational and entertaining!!!

 

[Our Roost]

ladyrsanti! You've got to be kidding me. How could anybody not love rum soaked fruit cake wrapped in cheese cloth to age and get yummy for the christmas holidays. It has a lot more good stuff in it than that candy store dried fruit in the cake you make I'll bet. Just joking of course.

 

[Farmerboy16]

Sorry for all your issues Opa. Hope that you will get better.

I like stollen bread. Must be the German in me.

Original kinds of food is and will be always better than their replacements. Food without eggs? Blah!

Finally got around to make a facebook page for my farm. Its for my farm to promote and advertise what I have for sale, also to keep people updated what is going on my farm. Its still being put together, but its there. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Golden-Willow-Farm/589461664436595?ref=stream&hc_location=stream

 

[BobBry]

I am sorry, I've just got to rant, so be warned and skip if you want. I can't even get satellite because I live surrounded by trees. GRRR. Okay, I'm done.

Charter is a real pain in my ---. Too much money for too many channels. However Jo watches tv for about 12 hours a day. The length of time she is not in bed. From noon till 18:00 she watches usually news channels. MSNBC mostly. After that its mainly the major network junk.(imo) I switched to Direct TV about a year ago. I detest the weather interference, and it happens far to often on the west shore in Michigan. Charter has been a real persistent pain to get us back. I finally relented last week and agreed to a lower price than we had with directtv for more channels and what I know is more reliable reception. We have phone for $19.00/ month and high speed internet for $50 also. When the installer came he had directions for installing far less than was discussed on the phone in the tech area. (recorders New modem for computer etc) I was upset and told the poor guy so. Need I say we still have Direct tv?

Sorry to hear your'e feeling under the weather Sam. Speaking of weather it's snowing pretty hard here. Yesterday was nice enough so I cleaned the coops and moved my roo Hobo to his new digs. Hung some more nest boxes and roosts. everybody's snug as bugs in a bed (I guess that's how it goes). Did I mention it's snowing pretty hard...I have some left over corn on the cob I'm throwing in with the ducks. The corn I put up lasts two years so I'm still working of 2012's. It's as near perfect as fresh picked. I'm glad we figured out how to freeze it years ago. Quite the treat during winter.

Cable. Yeah, everyone that has it - $! Every year I call Comcast and lower my bill a little to keep it manageable. Between cable and cell phone the cost of technology is out of control. The only viable way to get costs down, and still have any semblance of connectivity (for me) would be dump the iphone for a basic cell and then stream TV via internet. I can't remember what I did when all I had was one phone with a extra long, usually twisted, cable form handset to phone and a typewriter?

We have a land line and no cell phone. Guess I'm old. Do like a phone in 4 of our main floor rooms though.

ladyrsanti! You've got to be kidding me. How could anybody not love rum soaked fruit cake wrapped in cheese cloth to age and get yummy for the christmas holidays. It has a lot more good stuff in it than that candy store dried fruit in the cake you make I'll bet. Just joking of course.

Seems like a waste of rum.