Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Interesting Sources for Interesting Times

 I try to find factual, well informed sources.  If you want to know about particular auto reliability issues ask a mechanic not an automotive reporter.  

In this spirit I am sharing a few channels/substacks:

What's Going on with Shipping - Sal Mercoglianos 

All things maritime from a merchant marine perspective.  

Ward Carroll

Cdr Carroll's channel at the corner of Naval and Aviation.

CDR Salamander

A surface warfare officer looks at national security issues.

Covert Shores

H.I. Sutton's superior submarine and related analysis.

Perun

Logistics focused military/industrial analysis.  

The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly libertarian law professors about anything that interests them.


These are a few of the professionals whose observations I value.

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Sourdough

About a year ago, I (Emily) got a bit of starter from a friend. With January off from classes, I figured it was the ideal time to try my hand at it. I began with the idea that I would allow myself to quit if it ever became too frustrating/difficult/whatever. Thankfully, I had a few friends give some tips to start me off and it's been something I've carried forward. Below is my process (along with links to the recipes I use), assuming you already have a live starter. 

For regular feedings:

  • 25 grams of starter
  • 100 grams lukewarm water (~0.5 cup)
  • 100 grams unbleached all purpose flour (~0.5 cup)
I will typically pour out the excess starter (either to use to bake with or to discard) and mix in the water. Then, once the starter is thoroughly mixed with the water, I will add the flour and mix it in thoroughly. 

If the starter is out on the counter and pretty lively (ie metabolizing the flour well and quickly, rising high in the jar consistently after feeding), then I will do this about once a day. If the starter seems sluggish (ie not expanding well/consistently after feeding), then I will feed it with more flour and water twice or more in the day. After a few days of this, it will usually grow lively again. 

For a standard loaf of sourdough:

The recipe I use for making a standard loaf is from this blog which also has a variety of other helpful comments and recipes for sourdough. 

  • 100 grams starter (before feeding)
  • 375 grams lukewarm water
  • 500 grams flour (I use unbleached all purpose, but bread flour is especially good)
  • 9-12 grams salt
Steps:

  • Mix starter and water together
  • Mix in flour and salt to form a rough dough and cover with a wet towel
  • First proof:
    • Every 30 minutes for the first two hours, perform stretch and folds (fold the dough in on itself or do coil folds). This helps develop the gluten. 
    • Then, let the dough rise until roughly 50% bigger than when it started. Some or all of this rise can happen in the fridge. 
  • Shaping
    • After the first proof, dump the dough out onto a clean surface (can be floured but not much flour because slight sticking is helpful for the forming process). 
    • Stretch the dough out on the counter into a rectangle. 
    • Then, form a ball by folding the dough together (here's a helpful video talking about pre-shaping and bench rest)
    • Let the ball rest for about thirty minutes and then shape the dough however you want your loaf to look (here's another helpful video about shaping a boule or round loaf).
    • Once you have the loaf shaped, place it in a bowl or proofing basket for the final proof. (Initially, I used a bowl and towel liner, but the dough comes out of real bannetins much more consistently.)
  • Final proof:
    • Let the dough rise, this time in the fridge for at least an hour up to two days. During this time, it develops even more sour flavor. 
  • Baking:
    • If you are baking in a cast iron pan (or dutch oven), place the pan in the cold oven and turn to 550 degrees F. Once the oven gets up to temperature, wait about 30 minutes to an hour to ensure the oven is fully heated with no cool pockets of air. 
    • Take the dough out of the fridge and flip onto parchment paper. 
    • Score the loaf as you desire. This allows the loaf to rise without breaking in unexpected places. 
    • Place the dough (on the parchment paper) into the pan for baking. If desired, spray with water or drop ice cubes into the pan. If your pan has a lid, cover it. (The moisture helps develop a thick crust on the bread.)
    • Put the bread in the oven and lower the temperature to 450. Cook at this temperature for 30 minutes. Then, take the lid off the pan and lower the temperature to 400, cooking for another 10-20 minutes. 
  • Once the bread is done baking, let it rest for at least an hour. This lets the bread slowly cool down and finish the internal cooking process. If you cut it open before it is cool, it may become a bit tacky on the inside -- not the end of the world, but not ideal. 

A note about mix-ins:

I've only experimented with a few mix-ins (garlic and rosemary as well as olives, herbs, and cheese). These both worked very well. I mixed in the first during the shaping process and, while it tasted good, I wished the flavors were more incorporated. The second set of mix-ins, I incorporated during the first stretch and folds and it was much more even. I'm currently pondering a cranberry-walnut bread but haven't executed it yet. 

Mostly, I have found sourdough to be fantastic for how easy and forgiving it is as well as for the number of opportunities to be creative and try something new. Most of my loaves are a little derpy but occasionally, there's a lovely one. Sourdough inculcates patience and is worth it!



Thursday, September 21, 2023

How ought we worship?

      I went back home at the end of June from a few months of being where the Latin Rite was the norm—low Masses during the week, high Mass for Sundays and feast days. I came back to a normal bilingual Novus Ordo Mass. I understood much more clearly why people object to the bilingual approach, but also was struck at the chaos in that liturgy. It had escaped me before because it was familiar, but now—well, the jumps and starts were startling. It was exacerbated by the way in which instruments were being used, drums and synth were more clear than the human voices and an extra “punch” was frequently delivered by the synth at the end of any short line of prayer or song. (The priest was speaking all of his parts in English, while the choir was leading all responses in Spanish).

The Eucharist was given to people not just by the priest but also by a laywoman.

There were good things to say about the homily, the priest encouraged us to go after our “lost sheep”--those who were baptised but are no longer practicing the faith. Still, I could not go back. For Sunday Mass, I started going further to attend the Latin Rite.

    On the First Friday of July, I went to the local parish in order to go to Mass only to discover that there was no Mass. Some women were reading the readings for the day and leading some prayers. When one of them announced the Our Father “to prepare for the Holy Eucharist” I left. How was this different from Methodists or Anglicans? A priest consecrated the host ahead of time, but still, I could not bear it. I looked online for “First Friday Latin Mass” and found an evening Mass at an SSPX chapel. So I went. People were praying the Rosary when I arrived and presently Mass began. It was a low Mass, followed by prayers of reparation led by the priest. One of the people their handed me a booklet that had the prayers they were using. The Mass itself brought tears to my eye. I didn’t quite cry, I don’t think, but close. It is easier to pray there.

    Weekday mass at the NO comes a little closer to the simplicity of the low Mass, but the prayers are not as rich and you still have the jarring conversation thing happening. In the Latin Rite, I do not feel under any pressure to know and follow each genuflection and prayer, but rather an open and free invitation to participate in the great Prayer of the Mass, to enter mysteriously into the very life of Christ, to gaze into His holy Face and be enraptured in His most Sacred Heart. Doubtless, where the Creed is sung, I will sing along. If it is a high Mass, I will likely be singing along wherever more than one voice is singing the ordinaries. I will often be murmuring the propers in their places, or simply as I come to them while using the missal as a prayer guide—and what prayers!

    Since I mentioned the First Friday, here is an example from that day: “O God, You mercifully deign to bestow on us in the Heart of Your Son, wounded by our sins, an infinite treasure of love; grant, we beseech You, that, rendering It the devout homage of our affection, we may also make a worthy reparation for our sins. Through the same, etc.”

    Another example of the rich yet ordinary prayers of the Mass of the Ages is the reminder at every high Mass of our baptism as we are sprinkled with Holy Water and we sing the Asperges Me.

    Then there is posture—when the priest is also facing Christ in the tabernacle, when we are all facing East together it directs us toward God. When priest and congregation are facing each other—well it is easier to get caught on the horizontal and miss the transcendent.

    So far, this has only been my impressions, but the thing is, I know that God cares about how He is worshiped. He tells the Samaritan woman that God is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth (as well as telling her that the Samaritans did not know what they worshiped in contrast to the Jews). Throughout the Old Testament God is concerned with right worship. Cain was not happy because God preferred Abel’s sacrifice to his. Abel’s worship was accepted, Cain’s not so much. When Moses was sent to free the Israelites, it was so that they could worship God in the way that He was calling them to do. Along the way people died because they brought the wrong kind of incense or because they challenged the priesthood ordained by God. Is the God we worship, not the same today, yesterday, and forever?

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

By the Waters of Babylon...

 Do you ever read a Psalm and it just hits you deeply, you pray it and it expresses more deeply what you might want to say or how you are feeling?

Psalm 137 is one of the Psalms that just stands out in sorrowful and passionate beauty--"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill".  Ever since seeing Jerusalem in the Psalms as a type of the Church or a type of the heavenly Jerusalem, these lines have had a deeper significance.

We are exiles, and they require of us mirth.  "How can I sing the Lord's song in this foreign land?"

It is a haunting psalm deserving of some beautiful music.  The fragments I can hear in my head do not do it justice.

The end too, must not be left off, though perhaps a bit disturbing.  We have had too much white-washed and watered down.  It is better to look at it as it is.  Doubtless, the exile wished vengeance upon his enemies, and doubtless, we must be ruthless in crushing out our little vices that would keep us entrapped in exile in Babylon.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, 

yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song;

and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,

Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth;

if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem;

who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed;

happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

 

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Earl Grey Chiffon cake from Hellen Rennie

 Esther this year asked for an Earl Grey Chiffon Cake.  I like baking cakes, so I said I would make that if she sent the recipe.  It is a lovely, light sort of cake, similar to sponge, but softer.  The video below is where I learned it, and below that is my transcription.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2IqQkouHYag&feature=youtu.be



For the cake
Dry ingredients
256 grams cake flour (9 oz )
285 grams granulated sugar (10 oz )
1 Tbsp baking powder (14.7 grams)
1 tsp table salt or 2 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (5.7 grams)

Wet ingredients
5 large egg yolk (about 90g)
177g freshly brewed and cooled earl gray tea (3/4 cups)
112g vegetable oil (1/2 cup )
1 tsp vanilla
Separate wet ingredients
8 large egg whites (about 240g)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar57 grams granulated sugar (2 oz)
* * *
For the icing
90g freshly brewed and cooled earl gray tea (6 Tbsp)
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 tsp vanilla
464g cold heavy cream (2 cups)
56 grams sifted powdered sugar or to taste (2 oz)
* * *
brew 3 Tbsp of loose tea in two cups of water. set aside.
preheat oven to 325 F.

sift dry ingredients together twice.

mix (use hand mixer) wet ingredients thoroughly, add in the wet tea leaves.

mix this with the drys, making sure nothing dry is left.

beat the egg whites. when foamy but droopy slowly add in sugar

fold egg whites into yolky flour mixture.
pour into tube pan. (no grease.)
tap sides to remove big air bubbles
put in hot oven. check at 60 minutes

for whipped frosting.
sprinkle gelatin on tea in microwave safe bowl. let stand 5 minutes. microwave in 10 second increments until completely dissolved. set aside.
sift powdered sugar.
combine vanilla with tea
whip cream. as it thickens add in the gelatin, then slowly add in the powdered sugar.

When the cake comes out of the oven, you want to hang it so that it cools fluffy and is less likely to condense itself a bit. (Our Worcestershire bottle proved a good way to support the tube pan).
Once it is cool, slide a knife or spatula around the edges, release the out shell of the tube pan first and then the base and tube.

Now decorate with the whipped frosting.

I made this again with a citrussy rooibus instead of earl grey and an added bit of cointreau to enhance the citrus flavor along with and partially replacing the vanilla. This was excellent.

I made it using a sencha green tea, with added matcha. I think I should have left off the matcha, and I know that I want jasmine instead of green to get the right flavour. Do not go cheap on your tea for flavour. If the tea smells bad, don't use it. I threw out a cup of green tea citrus-just too bitter--and though the sencha/matcha was good, it really was't quite right for getting across a nice light green tea flavor.

Basically, though, this is a happy cake recipe. Like sponge cake, it has a higher egg content. which I think translates to a more filling cake. The frosting is not too sweet, and I really like how the gelatin holds the whipped cream up.

Friday, November 18, 2022

Future

 We are all oarsmen: pulling toward the future, facing the past.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Afternoon Concerts

 Today I time travelled via Youtube.  Here are three concerts from three different delightful groups:


First up is Steeleye Span.

Next, Pentangle

Close with Oregon

Comment below. Thanks.