Erstwhile Okie on St. Mark's Place. "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."
I was really pleased with how the bread turned out when I finally got to cut it open last night. Nothing special, but it's bread and it's cool to know I can continue to make it with practically no effort and at practically no cost.
After a day of my monk fast, I've gone from 177.6lbs to 175.7lbs. Not that crazy, since I think I fluctuate that much from day-to-day without doing anything differently. And I imagine a lot of it was just water loss since I I went from two pots of coffee and tons of water to just 750ml of water per day.
Sort of a fun exercise in self-control though. And with a head constantly full of thoughts of "I should do this" or "I could do that", removing food and drink from it has kind of a calming effect.
Over the lent of 2025 I decided to be characteristically crazy and go on a monk-like diet.
For 46 days I consumed nothing, not even water, except for after sundown I would make a porridge from 4 cups of water, 1/4 cup pearl barley, and 1/2 cup of lentils, along with a slice of peasant loaf I would buy at Le Fournil, a French bakery on my corner. With this, I would have 750 milliliters of water to drink.
I went from 170.1lbs to 133.6lbs, saved a bunch of grocery money, and the only minor downside was that whenever I stood up I couldn't see for a couple of seconds.
I didn't necessarily look great with my shirt off, but nobody sees me shirtless anyway, so no big deal; I liked the way I looked dressed. Slim rather than gaunt.
But that particular lent was right before a big trip to France and Morocco, so in the midst of this drastic weight loss, I had a couple of suits tailored, bought some nice slacks, and none of them fit now (I'm currently 177lbs).
I have a black tie weekend in 31 days, so I picked the fast back up yesterday (though I had coffee and water throughout the day) but without the bread, since I didn't have any. I made a plan to run down this morning and pick up a loaf, but then it occurred to me that the whole point of a peasant loaf is that it's simple to make.
I had flour, and salt, and (surprisingly) a leftover packet of yeast from some recent project I can't recall. So I mixed them together, and did the usual dance of adding more water because it was dry, then more flour because it was goopy, and on and on, but then tossed it in a bowl, covered it, and went to bed.
When I got up this morning, just like our savior, it had risen (see pics). It was a bit too wet and didn't hold a form like I would have liked, but I tossed it into the oven at 450 with a pan underneath it that I poured boiling water into for steam.
It didn't get quite as dark as I would have liked, but it looks promising, and held a decent shape.
Will see how it turned out after sunset...
I don't usually go out and do cute New York City things, but my son wrote me from summer camp asking if I could send along a cookie and I figured I'd do one better than a roll of Oreos and had fun running down to this sweet little bakery around the corner from my office.
· 2 min read
9 years ago
NORM ABRAMS ON THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF: A RECOLLECTION
The whole thing started because someone decided it was imperative for the show to have a surprise celebrity judge. But of course we had such a shoestring budget, we couldn't afford an A- or even B-lister. Somehow--I have absolutely zero idea what the process was--the powers-that-be landed on Norm Abrams, from This Old House.
Even if the show was American, I don't know how many amateur bakers would have any idea who Norm Abrams is, so you can imagine the situation for a British program. But we had producers just dead set on having the cast flip out when Norm Abrams was revealed. I get that. I mean, personally, I would have made sure every cast member knew who he was, what his name is, what he looks like. So, when he shows up, you know, everyone could be like "Oh my gosh! It's Norm Abrams from This Old House"! But our guys went nuts. They choreographed it beyond belief. They ordered the youngest contestant to faint. They told one guy to just pump his fist in the air, and another one to cover her face with her hands and just sob uncontrollably, and on and on, down to the last detail. They managed to convince the contestants that the success of the show was dependent on it. And of course, the better the show does, the more impressive their affiliation with it, so they put their hearts into it, to say the very least.
Now the wildest thing about all this was that we assumed the upshot of having a very marginal celebrity was that we'd be avoiding the sort of prima donna nonsense you'd get from a real star. That expectation... was not met. Fast forward to the day of. The contestants all know Norm's coming. They're in the middle of baking Dampfnudel when this helicopter appears and touches down 50 meters from the set. The blades never stop spinning, but some guy steps out of the door.
Now, to those who have any idea who he is, Norm Abrams has these sort of iconic visual elements--glasses, beard, plaid shirt, blue jeans... This guy is clean-shaven, no glasses, slicked-back hair, a loose-fitted hand-knit cowl neck sweater and slacks. He's got one hand on the door of the helicopter, and he's just kind of hanging coolly out.
Somehow, I have no idea how, one of the contestants actually managed to recognize him and shrieked "Oh my goodness, it's Norm Abrams!" and I can't give enough credit to the cast, they performed the parts with which they had been tasked with such incredible... aplomb. And these aren't actors, mind you, they're bakers. The one girl silently mouthed "Norm", twitched a smile, then looked like she might burst into tears before she fainted away. One of the older men started jumping up and down, screaming "yes"! A woman shrieked as if she'd just received word she'd lost her son at war, and tearfully embraced another who was giggling fanatically.
Eventually, they broke into a chant of "NORM! NORM! NORM!" and mind you, this whole time, Norm Abrams never deigns to leave the helicopter. Eventually he nods his head, steps back into the helicopter and it takes off.
Cookie Gugelman?
· 1 min read
13 years ago
FROM: BOSS
TO: COMPANY
Hey--which one of you awesome peeps brought in the blueberry muffins?!
FROM: LINDA
TO: BOSS
CC: COMPANY
That would be me! Enjoy! :D
FROM: BOSS
TO: LINDA
CC: COMPANY
AW! So sweet. Also super dry. What temp you bake them at? ;)
FROM: LINDA
TO: BOSS
CC: COMPANY
350... LOL
FROM: BOSS
TO: LINDA
CC: COMPANY
What, for 4 hours? :p
FROM: LINDA
TO: BOSS
CC: COMPANY
Uh, no. Just about 45 min. I can definitely get you the recipe! :D
FROM: BOSS
TO: LINDA
CC: COMPANY
Yeah, I'll pass. :|