Summer Goal #3

Okay, now that I am armed and you are aware of the new list, it's time for me to get to business.

Goal #3: Homemade Pretzels!

Now to be honest, I tracked down the recipe from a heathly eating foodie blog and tried it once, only to achieve disastrous results. After further contemplation, I figured out that I killed the yeast with a liquid mixture that was too hot and I added too much flour when I thought the dough was too sticky. But here is attempt #2, using a half size of the recipe.

The Recipe

1 c. water
2 T. yeast
2 t. honey
2 1/2 cups milk
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
4 t. salt
8 cups whole wheat flour
butter
salt

How Too

It's pretty simple, nothing too difficult.

1. Heat water and 2t. honey until just too hot to the touch. NO HOTTER! It will kill the yeast, just trust me.

2. Add yeast to the mixture and let sit during the next part.

It's aliiiiive. No really, it is.

3. Heat butter, remaining honey and milk, hitting the same temperature point as in Step 1. Note: I used the stove the first time, but I think that is where it all went wrong, so I went with the microwave this time around.

4. Mix flour and salt in a separate bowl.

5. Add the yeast to the heated liquid mixture.

It looks gross...but the end result is worth it.

6. Mix in the flour until a sticky ball is formed. If it sticks to everything, then add no more than 1 additional cup (if using whole recipe).

7. Let rest and rise for 1 1/2 hours.

I chucked mine in the oven

Halfway home...

8. Take golf-ball and a half sized portions and roll into a rope, then form a pretzel shape.

9. Next dip the pretzels into a pan containing 4c. simmering water and 4t. baking soda. Then place them on a greased and foil lined pan. I used waxed paper sans butter and they stuck...not cool.

10. Bake 20-30 minutes, depending on bagel size.

A little salt, butter and brown mustard and I was good to go.

I actually ended up taking half of the dough I made and turned them into cinnamon rolls. Were they any good? Let's just say they didn't survive the night.

Summer Goals 2010:

1. Gather Courage to Chop of Hair
2.Yoga! Yoga! Yoga! (LOL, get it?)
3. Make Something I Love from Scratch
4. Make a Homemade Apple Pie
5. Paint Bedroom
6. Disneyland!!!!

Summer Goals: ChaChaChanges!

Okay, so after having spent a good 1/2-2/3 of the Summer working through everything I need to get through (curse you MCATS *shakes fist in defiance*) and still having a long way to go...I realized that some of my Summer Goals need to be altered. I was looking back at my list, trying to figure out why exactly I chose the things that I did, and realized that it was more about the reasoning behind the choices than it was about the choice themselves. With that in mind, I hope you don't mind that I've changed things up a little bit. Well, it doesn't really matter if you do mind, since it is my Summer, but still...

Original List:
1. Gather Courage to Chop of Hair
2. Build up biking endurance so 8mi doesn't seem so bad
3. Make Marinara sauce and Ravioli from Scratch
4. Make a Homemade Apple Pie
5. Paint Bedroom
6. Disneyland!!!!

New List + Reasoning behind change (as of 08/06):
1. Gather Courage to Chop of Hair
This goal was about getting up the courage to do something that I've wanted to for a while, despite being afraid that it was a horrible. horrible mistake.

2. Yoga at least every other day for a minimum of 1hr: In Progress
Originally, this was about not wanting to be a couch potato during the summer. My bike has been giving me problems, so I wasn't able to work on biking like I wanted. As I thought about it more, I figured out this goal was mainly around to make sure that I worked on getting healthy. Since I was studying for the MCATs, I've been ridiculously stressed out and so I gravitated to something that I did on occasion around finals to de-stress, which was yoga. So I started with little 30min. sessions, just to give myself a study break, but now they have grown to 1-2hrs of human pretzeling. I realize yoga isn't that high impact cardio that people should be doing, but I do feel better/healthier and frankly that's what matters most.

3. Make a food I love from scratch
So the reason for this and for Goal #4 are the same. I grew up eating primarily filipino food with a cook who didn't know how to bake or cook a lot of other foods (this has changed now though, by Dad's Cal-Mex and Italian are bomb!). Because of this I never grew up making recipes that, from what I gather in conversations, others did when they were younger. So, the point of this is to expand my cooking skills and experiences. I had to change it from Ravioli and Marinara mainly because I don't have the supplies I need to make it work. Instead I'm going to pick something I like and that I can make with the tools I have in the house.

4. Make a Homemade Apple Pie

5. Paint Bedroom

6. Trip to the LA Zoo
This last one had to change for a lot of reasons I don't want to go into. But the point of it was to get me out of the house on occasion and let me experience something that most SoCal kids experience in the Summer. So I have gone the way of the Zoo. I know I've only gone once, on a class field trip, but all I remember is sitting at a table with friends and buying a soda. So that is going to change soon! LA Zoo, here I come!

So that is the new and improved list and now I'm off to see what I can do about Goal #3...