(no subject)
On Saturday morning, I rolled into Jefferson shortly after 8 am to meet a few of my classmates. Josh led us on a hike of Mt. Tecumseh, a > 4000 foot summit, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was for me a fairly strenuous hike due to my lack of fitness, the rough terrain, and the unceasing incline of the last mile or so. Clouds threatened in the distance as we began the hike, although on the ascent conditions were still nice. But once we reached the summit, the visibility plummeted, and the heavens opened. Thunder and lightning crashed, and we scrambled to get downhill as fast as we could. Within minutes the trail was flooded, and I slipped and fell multiple times on wet, muddy rocks. Most of us were soaked. Still, the weather lifted by the time we got near the bottom, so the end of the hike was quite enjoyable, and it was a nice bonding experience.
Sunday I enjoyed sleeping in and really didn't get much done. I did make bread, though, for the first time in months. I mixed and kneaded a slacker dough than I generally am used to working with, roughly stretched it into an oval, and baked it into something resembling ciabatta. One sometimes needs a reminder of the richness of dough in the hands and its gradual transformation into a cohesive, elastic mass as the gluten develops. It was good -- nice open crumb inside, crisp caramelized crust. Not shaped particularly well, but that's something I've never been good at. Maybe I'll try dough of a similar consistency some other time with a overnight starter to build additional flavor.
Went to Scottish class again today. The beginner class teacher is quite good -- she is methodical about teaching the elements of footwork but balances the technical aspects with work on dances. I feel like I've managed to learn quite a bit in the last two weeks. Things like reels of four and corner, partner, corner, partner aren't intimidating anymore! And I'm starting to be able to actually do footwork at least some of the time while moving, particularly in strasthspey. Best of all -- I've discovered that the quicktime skip-change traveling step is a lot of fun once you get the feel of it!
Sunday I enjoyed sleeping in and really didn't get much done. I did make bread, though, for the first time in months. I mixed and kneaded a slacker dough than I generally am used to working with, roughly stretched it into an oval, and baked it into something resembling ciabatta. One sometimes needs a reminder of the richness of dough in the hands and its gradual transformation into a cohesive, elastic mass as the gluten develops. It was good -- nice open crumb inside, crisp caramelized crust. Not shaped particularly well, but that's something I've never been good at. Maybe I'll try dough of a similar consistency some other time with a overnight starter to build additional flavor.
Went to Scottish class again today. The beginner class teacher is quite good -- she is methodical about teaching the elements of footwork but balances the technical aspects with work on dances. I feel like I've managed to learn quite a bit in the last two weeks. Things like reels of four and corner, partner, corner, partner aren't intimidating anymore! And I'm starting to be able to actually do footwork at least some of the time while moving, particularly in strasthspey. Best of all -- I've discovered that the quicktime skip-change traveling step is a lot of fun once you get the feel of it!