Bread

Bread recipe… for Nicole especially…

It *was* the yeast. I have two different oat wheat recipes, and for some reason I think the one I brought over for Thanksgiving was a combination of the two. Try this, and see what happens.

1 cup milk
3 T honey
1 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c oats
1 1/4 t salt
2 T butter
2 t active dry yeast

If the dough is wet, add flour til it makes a ball. Knead it for a half hour. I use a bread machine to knead it, but however you put the dough together, knock yourself out–I would give my eyetooth for a fancy stand mixer with a bread dough attachment, but I'll probably just put it on my wedding registry instead.

Let rise once as a ball, then shape according to however you want to shape it and let rise again. Bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes. Be sure to take the loaf out of/off the pan or sheet and let cool on a drying rack.

You can adjust the white/wheat ratio however you like, but the more wheat you use, the more you should knead it. I like a half and half, myself.

If this doesn't work, try the same recipe with 2 T of brown sugar instead.

Or keep the honey, and use 1 c. water and 1 1/2 T. of dry milk.

Amnesty

If you have always or ever thought I didn't like you or was mad at you, now's your chance to say, “Hey, Helen, whatever it was that came between us, can we put it behind us and be friends again?”

Not that the person I'm thinking of will take advantage of this, but I think more people should have “get out of grudge free” opportunities.

PS. Post made public because it's not directed at anyone on my f-list.

FFS

My car broke down again on the way home from my lunch appt.

I managed to get it home, and there's nothing visibly or audibly wrong
with it, but the EPC light went off every time I dropped below 30 rpm
and some weird triangle light with an exclamation point around it
stayed on for those last harrowing three miles.

Fluid levels look ok, no weird smells, nothing under the car….

And I just spent HOW FSCKING MUCH money on it?

Car, fired. Esp. since I'm having to bag my trip to Richmond for the
umpteenth time.

Radio Helbrain

Arcade Fire's Rebellion (Lies) reminds me of OMD's Locomotion, but with jingly guitars instead of goofy synths.

ETA: There's more goth in indie rock than there is in current goth scene. I'm really wanting to spin again, for no other reason than all the cool shit I've heard on itunes radio stations today.

I just got back from Narnia..

…and I could have sworn the stag went this way.

(Liked it. Wanted to stay longer.)

strange and random

[I posted this via email last night, but it didn't go through.]

I just had this weird notion. See, I'm a DJ. Or I have been, at least. It's been a while, but I really enjoy it. I also like sneaking Christian rave music into a thumpthump set. Yes, there is such a thing, and I've been inflicting it on my audiences since before I went back. Oh, don't look so shocked. You liked Apop at some point. Or Evanescence.

Anyhow, I was driving home from Shelby+'s ordination tonight in the pouring rain, and got to thinking about stuff. She thanked me tonight for coming up with the idea to have a film night for the youth group to go see Narnia and have a discussion about it afterward. I mean, all the thumpies are doing it too, so why not have a discussion about it from the progfish?

I'm beginning to think I'm going to need a userguide to helenspeak on this journal. Most of it's intuitive but… ok. I'm totally rambling tonight.

My friends have this deliriously funny habit of calling the loudest right-wing evangelists “asshats.” It's probably patently offensive to some, but I just think it's hilarious. But to distinguish them from the other practitioners of assmillinery, such as beltway drivers who don't signal lane changes and the people upstairs who wear lead boots and jump up and down a lot, I call them assha†s. I know and love many conservative Christians as well, but they all gravitate toward the Gospel, living like Christ, and advocating social justice. (Some of them like to say, “Jesus is my boyfriend!” And some of them like to say things in strange unknown languages, but I was a Classics major during my first college try, so I can relate.) So understand that when I talk about right-wing evangelists, I mean they evangelize right-wing ideology.

Thumpies are those who have been brainwashed by this ideology and mistake it for the Beatitudes.

Progfish are those Christians, such as myself, who find themselves stuck between thumpers, who profess themselves Christian, and secular fundementalists, who profess themselves the radical left.

Okay, that key aside, I can get on with my original ramble (distinct from my revgal-pinged rant, below).

How weird would it be if I continued to DJ and integrated it into my vocation?

I say this because elsewhere I was talking about using pen-names (as I do) and was asking for suggestions for a project I'm working on, largely to stop being mixed up with that Helen Thomas person, and one of them came up with “DJ Progressilicious.”

which is hilariously hipster,

Hipster, DJ, faith-based activist, good Lord almighty, what are you calling me to be?

Then this weird notion continues to grow as I realized that I would be happier DJing my own wedding.

Yes, weird.

1217493

Market St, Philadelphia.

The best part of this picture is Ferragus suspended above the street, reflected in the window through which I shot this.

And no…

I don't want anything for Christmas, but if you really need to regift
anything that has “Joss Whedon” in the credits, I'm your gal.

Note to the bread fans…

….tried to recreate the honey oat wheat bread. didn't come out right. I
think the yeast I'm using is old.

however, i did something splendid with the second loaf, knowing the the
yeast was old: I made sandwich rolls out of them, and they came out so
perfect that anyone in the DC-Philly corridor who wants some can have a
batch for Christmas, because I need to use up this yeast.

Hmm, I could ebay my rolls. HAHAHA.

Lilith sent us a lovely pesto bread that DFH descended on and is raving
about. Now i suspect I'm going to snag that recipe if it's available.

bread.org

File under: sustainability, organizations, global, mindfulness

Here’s a link I didn’t have. Bread for the World.

They need a communications director, but it’s at a level higher than I’m qualified for. I think.

Hi revgals

File under: interfaith, writing, science-fiction, speaking, pictures

The folks over at LJland really like this picture, it seems. I just dyed my hair red, so I thought I would share.

I just got back from Philadelphia, and their science fiction convention, where I participated in two panels on religion: one, on imagining the religion of the future, and discussing religion in SF as its currently done, and two, on imagining a future without religion. It was interesting to me that during the latter presentation, the atheist sat on the far right, and I, as the confessing Christian on the panel, sat on the far left.

I will write more on what little I remember of my comments during this panels later, and probably over at the Abbey, but I just wanted to note that the “no religion” panel was a relatively hostile audience, but I got a round of applause at one point and had a wonderful discussion outside afterward with another atheist, two inquirers and a liberal Lutheran gentleman who thanked me profusely for what I had to say.

I just wish I could remember what I said.

One last thing: It seems like a lot of revgals are knitters. Would any of you like to join my knitting community, Knitster?

No, really, that made me laugh out loud

Thank heavens he's not a contributor. I nearly spit out my drink when I got to the second sentence, and the third just to reinforce how funny it is:

Please allow me to introduce myself. Like most people my age, I'm 51 years old. I have been a Mensa member for over a quarter of a century.

House full of teenagers

At the birthday party, part one, and my aunt went to get pizza…

“Will there still be adult supervision in the house?”
“Yeah! Helen will be here….”

Oh, we're just all crazy now.

I'm going to leave for Philly in the morning, take Ki to hang out with his cousin for the big birthday party, hang out there for a little while, and come down to the con in the late afternoon.

I really don't know if I'm going to be able to do any panels. I'm obviously missing the one that's scheduled to start in five minutes, and the sun. pm ones are not really practical either. but given that my email asking to reschedule was not answered, i'm not inclined to care.

At any rate, can I say how happy I am that my hair is fun again?

RevGalBlogPals: RevGal Friday Five: Snow Day

File under: weather friday-five revgals meme

RevGalBlogPals: RevGal Friday Five: Snow Day:
In honor of the first good snow I’ve seen this year, a Snow Day edition of the Friday Five:

1) Snow: love it or hate it?

It’s real pretty as long as I don’t have to be anywhere.

2) First snow memory
It’s a vague recollection of lots of snow memories at 214, which is what I call the house I grew up in.

3) Best Snow Day ever (actual or imagined)
In my home, at night, by a fire, watching it fall while knitting and cuddling. This never happens.

4) Best use of snow in a movie, song or poem
I have always loved “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I know that seems a little obvious, but it just has always spoken to me. My ability to enjoy snow is always ephemeral, because it’s always getting in the way of things I _have_ to do.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

5) What you are planning to do today, with or without snow
I’m at work, the snow is already melting, and thank heaven the feds gave its workers a two-hour window to get in to work, because the drive in this morning was effortless.