Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

I get all the jokes now!

Indiana Jones and the...and the...wha'd I come in here for?

#MiddleAgeAMovie
#HashtagGames

Thank you, Drew. Bring it back AFTER the strike.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/17/entertainment/drew-barrymore-pauses-talk-show/index.html

This Week's Bread: Struan Bread

So, after figuring out the problem with the yeast LAST time, I tried the struan bread again, and found ANOTHER problem. The recipe calls for INSTANT yeast. I don't use instant yeast, I use active dry yeast. I didn't know there was a difference, so I was just dumping my yeast into the ingredients like the recipe said.

This time, I bloomed the yeast in water first. I also did the first rise in an oven where I turned the heat on for two minutes, and when I took the bread out, IT FREAKING FILLED THE PAN FIRST TIME. :D

I punched it down, did a quick knead, reheated the oven and let it rise again. Again, it filled the bread pan. And then I baked it for twenty minutes. I couldn't get it to bake for some reason, and left it in for another ten miinutes. At thirty it was done.

I could tell it was WAAAAY better just taking it out of the pan. IT was bouncy, squeezable, and not dense at all. I cooled the bread down and cut it in half - and it's super moist, with Big Crumb. Very happy.

I'm not calling it mastered yet, mainly because I keep screwing up one thing, and that's an egg. I added an eggwash at the end of the recipe to make the sesame seeds stick. The problem? I keep reading my instructions and they say "Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl." Annnnnd, I forget to read the next part: "Except the egg and sesame seeds." So I keep adding an egg where it's not supposed to be.

I think this is why the bread is INCREDIBLY moist. To the point that it almost seems like the dough is soggy. And I freaking keep doing it.

So this loaf will last me two weeks, so I 'll try it again then. Remind me to not add the freaking egg next time. :)

Finally catching up with Lower Decks.

Yes, please.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Shabarnes

Timely.

Watching the Filmrise Iron Chef Japan YouTube episodes and realizing I prefer my old Food Network VHSes.

The Filmrise versions didn't have the rights to the music so they completely redid it. It's not nearly as bombastic and over the top, which was part of its charm.

I may pick up the series in the future, but probably only to patch holes in my Food Network episodes.

I only just now found Dr Pepper Strawberries & Cream soda locally in Zero Sugar AND IT IS NECTAR MIXED WITH AMBROSIA.

There is one place I'd like to visit when I get back to Texas, and that's this spot. It was here, in 1995, I comitted to my transition. It was a rough night. It ended badly. But here is where it happened.

The picture on the left is from 2008, still looking much like it did that night. On the right, May 2023. The road I took to get there has pretty much been obliterated and exists only as a property line now. Thankfully, this segment of "Blind Bandit Creek Road" uses the old Kallison Lane road for it's path.

The woods on the right are protected as they're part of the Government Canyon State Park, but that old power line anchor is all that's left of the area as I remember it.

I should go out there before it's gone completely.