We got a few new Channels here in TOWN WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED. More than one of them are Jesus-channels. Now, I have nothing against Jesus channels, but, this just really sealed the deal for me and the Jesus-channels.
Don’t tell the boyfriend that this was a split second find and I forgot to get rid of the flash on my camera. I COULDN’T MISS THIS SHOT THOUGH!
I hope Ichiro does the Mariner’s (and former Mariner Richie Sexson) proud and starts a fight…
WITH YOGI BERRA!
http://manofinterest.blogspot.com/2008/05/richie-sexson-fightbrawl-video.html
So, I didn’t talk much about what happened while The Boyfriend was here. Here’s just a few things…
First, the adorable The Nephew came to visit. I picked Him, The Boyfriend, and The Sister in Law up at the airport on the first of July. The Sister in law had a little snafu on the plane in which her wallet was stolen. So, not the greatest start to a trip, but the kid remained cute. That’s what’s really important.
On the 4th I made some delicious delicacies for the family to enjoy. I mixed up some pretty tasty homemade ice cream that The George (sorry, The boyfriend of the sister/the baby daddy of the niece was too hard to type), The Dad, and The Boyfriend cranked out in the yard.
It was so tasty that The Nephew tasted it by the fistful.
And the Sister-in-law vomited at the thought of sharing a spoon with everyone in the family. The Boyfriend, myself, and The Boyfriend’s Parents went to Lake Shawnee for fireworks, I was left unimpressed. Obviously fireworks just can’t compete with The Dad’s dry ice bombs made with beer. It’s just not the same.
The boyfriend and I did some travelling around the country side to Centralia, Vermillion, White Cloud, and Troy, Kansas. One of the most amazing WTF moments happened in front of the Haverkamp Grocer (located in Centralia, Kansas on John Riggins Blvd.).   A BAIT VENDING MACHINE! Seriously, together now, WTF. DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF.
In Vermillion we visited some of my old favorites, Augie’s Cat House
The Depot
And, well, all of downtown.
I wasn’t really all that fond of the pictures I took in the other places, but I did take this little number in White Cloud where you can see 4 states. I AM NOW FAMOUS!
Sorry, I didn’t get much (any) blogging done with all the family around. The Boyfriend, The Sister in Law, and The Nephew all flew in the same day and I was pretty much out of commission due to all that. SO! I’ve decided to just blog about the welding today, which should prove to be probably the most interesting thing I’ve ever produced.
So this all started when The Boyfriend asked me to ask my dad to make him a paper towel holder. Then my dad was all like “OH NO YOU DI-IN’T!” and said I should learn how to weld and cut an make him the paper towel holder myself. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, so I went ahead and didn’t whine too much. Emphasis on TOO MUCH.
First things first, cut the metal. I have always been terrified of this chop saw. I don’t like that it throws sparks, how it sounds, how the metal falls on the ground when you’re done cutting, how hot the metal is when it falls, etc. etc. etc. Dad and I don’t have any safety glasses so I was wearing the welding helmet for safety!
Next I welded those little pegs on the table, Then I heated the metal with the torch and bent it for the base of the paper towel holder. This was totally my favorite part, I felt like the incredible hulk bending that metal. In fact, several times during this process I stopped to turn into a big green man. It was amazing.
I also had on Dad’s shirt, my old Goodyear leather gloves, and I’m not wearing any makeup. It was a fabulous day!
Right after this Dad’s camera died and didn’t want to take any more pictures, so the rest of the process is undocumented. I did, however, take pictures of the finished product. The best part about it is that it’s so heavy that you don’t have to hold onto it when you pull a paper towel off.
Dad refused to grind off my sad looking welds because The Boyfriend should see how hard I worked on my first welding project, so it’s pretty rough. But I kind of like it, and The Boyfriend didn’t even get arrested for having this weapon in his suitcase, so that’s good!
Oh and just to make this post more interesting…
LOOK A LITTLE BABY!!!!
So I finally got that pastry baking down to something beside creme puffs. Though those will always be my first pastry love. I have had many adventures in the past few days (look forward to a picture of me in a welding helmet . . . actually welding) and will be posting those soon.
But today, OH TODAY. I’m going to show you my beautiful Pain au Chocolat. Dad gave this his seal of approval, it was delicious. Now, it’s a little labor intensive, so 1. not only are there not many pictures of the steps, 2. if you’re going to attempt this please note that this is something like 14 hours of prep work for like . . . 5-10 pastries. If you have the time though, it’s TOTALLY worth it.
Heres what you’ll need . . .
1 1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. brown sugar
1Tbsp and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 – 4 1/2 c. flour (you’ll be continuously adding flour as needed, start with the 3 3/4, build up as needed)
1 Tbsp salt
3 sticks butter
Okay, to make your dough you’re going to first scald your milk, don’t boil it, but get it to about 110degrees then take it off the heat, mix in a bowl with brown sugar and yeast, let it stand about 5 minutes to get foamy. Start working on your other stuff.
Mix flour and salt, add your yeast mixture when it’s all foamed up.
Knead by hand for 2 minutes, adding more flour as needed. This stuff is pretty freaking sticky, so don’t worry when it’s a huge nasty mess. Use a lot of flour on your surface as you knead. Okay, so you’re going to wrap this up in some plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge for an hour.
one hour later…
This is the weird part, but also the awesome part. Take out your three sticks of butter, get out your rolling pin, BEAT THE HELL OUT OF THE BUTTER UNTIL YOU CAN ROLL IT OUT FLAT. You want to make an 8×5 rectangle out of it. Put your rectangle on a towel, not a terrycloth towel though, you need one of those linen-y kitchen towels. then put the towel of butter in the fridge while you roll out the dough.
Okay, so now take that dough out of the fridge, you’re going to use your rolling pin to mash it down a little, make little uniform indentions. Then roll it out into a 10×16 rectangle (if you’re as big a stickler as me, you cook with a ruler, I had to was a ruler that was covered with butter after this experience. Don’t tell Dad but I totally used one of those really nice drafting rulers he has around the house. Shhhhh)
Okay, so once your rectangle is made of dough, get the butter out, and lay it inside the dough, you want to put the short side of the butter parallel to the long sides of the long sides of the dough. then you’re going to fold the bottom third up over the butter and the top 1/3 down over the dough you just folded up. Then you’re going to roll out the dough again. Then you’re going to fold it up again into a rectangle, rewrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge.
You’re going to follow that basic procedure 4 more times with an hour of chilling between. Then after your 4th fold you’re going to put it in the fridge for 8 hours.
Okay, then when you’re done you’re ready for forming and baking, which is where my pictures come in.
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