Bagels in the Snow

**This post is being guest-written by Bagel Dan
A few weeks ago we decided to experiment with homemade bagels (results noted in an earlier post). The outcome was delicious to say the least. Well, we're back in Iowa again, and the request was made for me to flex my bagel biceps and whip up some tasty treats.

Our previous attempt was with a festive, fall flavored Pumpkin bagel that fit well with the season. The results were tasty and the product was eaten quick. This time around, though, we decided to create more of a variety. The first request was for Cinnamon Raisin - a true classic indeed. The dough was made using a good quality, high-gluten bread flour, pure vanilla and a premium Vietnamese cinnamon. A short rise, quick proof and nimble fingers produced an absolutely amazing bagel with a well-developed structure, chewy exterior and out-of-this world cinnamon flavor that hits the senses on multiple levels.


**Though unconventional to some, I suggest pairing it with your favorite peanut butter

Next up was a batch of plain bagels - a simple yet often maligned baked good. A good plain bagel should be chewy, evenly browned with a nice exterior. When done well, there's nothing like 'em - and this certainly didn't disappoint. All of the bagels in this batch started life plain, but 2 ended up studded with sesame seeds and three went through an everything wash. What came out of the oven, were some of the most stunning, picture-perfect specimens that I've seen this far west of the jersey turnpike.

So, until we can afford to make regular trips out east, these ones will have to do, but I don't think anyone will be complaining too loudly :)

Potholder in Giant

Felted potholders are my new potential favorite fast gift. This is my first attempt in preparation for Christmas gifts. I knitted an attached I-cord around the edge and an unattached I-cord for the loop. The loop was a crocheted chain in the pattern, but I like living on the edge, so I improvised.


Purl Bee says this is supposed to end up being 9.5 in. wide. I feel like even if it were 9.5 in., it would still be big for a potholder. Maybe this one would be appropriate for giants, but I'm planning to use it as a Dutch oven trivet instead. I'll frog the matching potholder and make a pair of smaller ones.


-吴碧芙

Mad Hatting Again

I made another 70's ski hat over my weekend trip to Pittsburgh. This one is made out of Brown Sheep Superwash (amethyst) and Cascade Superwash Paints, which was left over from my shawl. It is the first useful thing I've made that is machine washable. The variegation makes a nice effect.




-吴碧芙

One Fish, Two Fish

I'm making a baby blanket to donate to the Binky Patrol. My knitting guru suggested finding a technique that I wanted to learn, since a baby blanket is like a little sampler and makes for good practice. Furthermore, if you don't like the technique, the baby blanket is small and it's over quickly.

I decided to make this cute fish blanket. The technique I wanted to learn was reading knitting charts, since the fish pattern I liked was charted. I tried, but I couldn't read the chart. The writer wrote the chart so that I couldn't understand what the stitches were, and she didn't give stitch names, only descriptions. It also reminded me of cross-stitch, which is too much of an exercise in strict, controlled, dizzy counting than I prefer.

Utterly frustrated, I found a written pattern for fish. The problem with that was that the pattern was only written from head to fin, and I wanted to connect my fish in a long row, instead of sewing all the individual fish together at the end. It took a lot of finding-out skills and trial-and-error skills to determine how to read the pattern from bottom to top, increasing the decreases and decreasing the increases. I also had to make sure the correct increases and decreases were chosen, so that they slanted the correct way and looked similar to the original fish.


The green is the original fish, and the purple is my modified "backwards & upside down" pattern.

-吴碧芙

The Impossible Dream

There are times, especially here, when you think, why can't I find a good bagel? Bruegger's is, at the closest, 2 hrs. away in Omaha. Local places just don't have as high of bagel standards as I do, likely because nobody around here has really had a true, chewy, crunchy, don't-have-to-toast-it, slathered-with-cream-cheese-oozing bagel. The closest we come around here, is bread dough shaped into a donut/bagel shape.

However, 文大猊's mom found a recipe for pumpkin bagels in a magazine, and we tried our hand at bagel-making when we visited this weekend. One batch was made by hand and one batch in the bread machine. Each batch made nine bagels. After the bagels were shaped and well-rested, they were boiled in water and molasses, brushed with egg white wash, and sent to the oven for 20 min.


The result is what can only be described as Pure Heaven. Slathered with a maple-walnut cream cheese (also made from scratch), the bagels were perfect--crunchy on the crust and chewy in the middle. The pumpkin and spices made for an interesting flavor combination.


It was the highlight of my weekend, and was not as difficult as the huge bagel conglomerates would lead one to believe. It's even better when one of the home bakers previously worked for a huge bagel conglomerate, and he can share some of the secrets of the trade.

-吴碧芙

New Knits

I finally finished the second shawl, having given the first away to a friend. It turned out, but I had to order a whole new skein of yarn from Des Moines in order to finish the last 2 inches.


Having finished one project, I decided to try and finish the hat and scarf my cousin asked for ten months ago. The scarf took almost this entire time, but the hat, with my full attention on it, took only 1 week, even with a lining. The grey and dark brown is wool/mohair, rust is wool/alpaca, and tan is wool/soy. The mohair tends to make things itchy in my experience. It's Whitney's 70's Ski Hat, and it has an interesting technique.


The hat is lined with a merino/cashmere blend yarn (Knit Picks Capra Yarn, Color: Timber). Hopefully, it will be warm and non-itchy.


-吴碧芙

Di San Xian

I got some free bell peppers from my friend who works with a person who has a garden. Whenever her coworker brings vegetables, my friend brings fresh vegetables for me...because I'm a vegetarian. It works out nicely. One week she brought a cucumber and 2 zucchinis, all as big as my forearm. Then, shopping in SF, I found an Asian eggplant. I knew I had to make "three fresh things" or "three treasures of the earth," a dish that I ate almost weekly in China at the Banyan Tree restaurant.


As I told my friend, who lives in China, about this little excursion, she informed me that the Banyan Tree has been gone for almost as long as I have. Even if I lived in China, I would still have to make my own di san xian. However, luckily before I left, some other teachers were able to receive the revelation of the recipe, and translated the ingredients and directions into English from the laoban (the boss) at the Banyan Tree. However, I'm still bummed that I can't go back to China to eat all of the delicacies and risk my life by eating food in their sketchy facility.

-吴碧芙

Can't take my eyes off you...

Somewhere between me organizing the shelving unit and starting school, Roscoe found a favorite spot on top of the microwave, next to my red tea basket. I suppose at one moment he looked down, bent over all the way, and noticed some sparkly numbers on the microwave.

When I noticed him noticing the numbers, he was so mesmotized (mesmerized+hypnotized) that I could not gain his attention...for FOUR minutes. (I know this because I was also watching the numbers while trying to get his attention. Also, it is an exceptionally long time for a bird, especially for Roscoe.) Even when I took five pictures, I could not distract him. I thought he was having some kind of attack. I thought the change of the numbers would frighten him...and yet he gazed.

"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!" --Edgar Allen Poe


-吴碧芙

Cracking the Tea Code

One year ago, my aunt brought out her "tea wallet," which is a little travel accessory for tea bags. We discussed how we might duplicate the design. One year later, nobody has offered a prototype, until today. I searched the internet, and found a variety of designs for "tea wallets," some of which are for sale on Etsy. There are very few of these "tri-fold" designs, but I did find a tutorial for making one. Then I logically changed a few details to make the design a little easier and more intuitive for me.

Lacking proper cutting, measuring, and sewing tools, I created a prototype, which a better, faster seamstress, with more advanced tools, might be able to perfect (cough...Mom...cough). When the wallet is folded and fastened, the button looks entirely off-center, urgh.


But the most important thing is that it's functional. (Am I right, or am I right?) The pockets hold 6 tea bags, and there are 5 inner pockets for sweeteners, or other condiments. The 5 inner pockets exist between the two layers. There are actually six spaces, but I sewed the ribbon into one of the pockets.


-吴碧芙

Something Green

Over the break, I started the Sheer One-Piece Shawl from the book Modular Knits by Iris Schreier. I carried it around during the birthday extravaganza and all over Iowa. I finished it today, and it turned out rather cute and green.




It is made in one continuous piece, starting with the middle diamond, adding a diamond on each side, and adding the smaller triangles on each end.


Now I am project-less again, and will be forced to work on the rust-colored scarf. If I finish the scarf, I will be adding a rust-colored hat.

-吴碧芙

Exposure

"The C.J. Albrecht wing features the Bremer County native's equipment, relics, and taxidermy from his career as a world-renowned taxidermist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

"A world-traveled explorer and naturalist, Albrecht led expeditions to the Arctic, Siberia, and Ethiopia. He built this addition and donated items he used and gathered during his travels for some of the best known museums in the country."

My mom took me to the Bremer County Historical Society when I was little. I was traumatized by the heads, but I suspected that it was actually only one head that I had dreamed into more. Unbelievably, my memory of the original event was accurate.

We were back at the museum as a part of the family history tour, which included the old cemeteries where ancestors were buried, the home place of a great-grandma, and the historical society, where the log cabin from the family farm is on display.

However, I used the opportunity to also prove that my memory was correct. Although I don't find the photo scary, being there to take the photo triggered an anxiety attack that neared "10" on the continuum of severity, and I could not enter the room. Everyone was inside the room and looking around at the time the photo was taken, and you can see the backs of all of my relatives.


-吴碧芙

Multidirectional

Now I have the time to finish my knitting projects. The multidirectional scarf is all the rage on Ravelry and in local knitting covens. I started my first one on International Knitting in Public Day, when I met the knitting group for lunch, knitting, and yarn shopping. This color is called "Harvest" from Patons.


I've been knitting before class, during class breaks, and during clinic downtime (when I had clinic last month). My classmates asked I would knit for profit because they reasoned that hand knits are cheaper. My answer to that is: Hand knitting might be cheaper, if you use synthetic or ugly yarn that no one wants and you don't pay for labor. However, I did decide to knit a scarf for one of my classmates, which I finished today. I've been calling it Raspberry Lemonade because of the color. The yarn is Yarn Bee "Tangerine."


-吴碧芙

"Another Monday, Two Months Later"

Well, it's been a long time because I'm in the middle of a string of three 4-week-long classes. During the first two (CAPD and dysphagia), I also had clinic, which took up a lot of extra time, what with all the driving, planning, and clients. It was busy and crazy, and I'm glad I did it, but I'm glad it's over. Today I started a new class, Cranio-Facial Anomalies.

In celebration, over the weekend, we watched The Fall, ate Mexican food, and went to church. Our church has a summer initiative to encourage people to take a walk together after the service. We decided to go along as the group walked to Perkin's. It was certainly nice to talk to new people. I'm reminded of one of my favorite Rod McKuen poems, "Another Monday, Two Months Later," which I have severely abridged and butchered below:

"Now I have the time
to see bad movies
and read bad books
aloud to you.
I can now waste time
on you and on myself.

"I've always wanted
to watch flowers open
all the way,
however long the process took.

"I'd hoped that I might
take you traveling
down the block
or to wherever,
now I have the time."

Now I have the time to finally replace the handkerchief that I lost in the snow (or drastically misplaced) sometime during the spring semester. The original was one of the first handkerchiefs I had embroidered, with a vine and red flowers on the corner. It was always in my coat pocket and then one day...it wasn't. I wanted to include birds, so I designed one with a birdhouse and flowers. I decided that the birds did not need legs after all. In the future, we will create birds that hover.


Now I have the time to make mighty muffins in the afternoon and to wash the dishes. I have always wanted to read a textbook in my big brown chair and enjoy learning things, while drinking tea and daydreaming about vampires.

-吴碧芙

Grill-out...Veg-Style

The best things to grill are things that aren't supposed to be grilled at all. Anyone can grill meat, but we set ourselves apart by grilling things like pizza. I know what you're thinking: Won't it fall through the grate? The answer is amazingly 'no.'


The crust was cooked first, both sides. Then, sauce and toppings were added, white sauce (left) and red sauce (right). Both have Gorgonzola cheese, artichokes, and green onions. The white pizza had tomatoes and zucchini. The red pizza had green olives and arugula. The cheese goes under the toppings, to assure that it will melt properly. The result is a blistery, bubbly grilled pizza.


Compliments of a man-genius, it was like what pizza tastes like in Heaven.
-吴碧芙

China Case Scenario Handbook

My mom called early this morning. I hadn't really woken up, and I thought she was calling me because it was an emergency. When I finally understood what was going on, it was this: She was talking to a student who would be going to China, and the student wanted to know what to pack in preparation for the trip. Then, I thought it would be fun to post a retrospective about what was useful when I was living and traveling in China.

For living in China, my worst-case-scenario handbook of a brain came in useful. Apart from the obvious stuff, I took food that I knew I wouldn't be able to find and food that would be easy to prepare (e.g. required just water or just one added ingredient):

• Peanut butter
• Coconut oil
• Stevia liquid
• Granola bars
• Packaged crackers with cheese (you know they come with 6 in a package in different combinations)
• Lipton rice/noodles and sauce (select varieties--some need milk and butter)
• Guayaki mate tea (of which I still have the original package half-full)
• Flavored tea (Tazo Lotus/Zen, Stash Chai, Stash Peach Flavored)
  
• Minute Tapioca
• Almond flavoring
• Cinnamon
• Sunscreen (which I replaced in Hong Kong when it ran out)
  
• Deodorant (I hear that Chinese antiperspirant/deodorant isn't formulated for people of non-Asian decent, I never tried it)
• Books (like novels-I assumed English books would be hard to come by-for the most part I was right, but we stocked up in HK and passed things around)
• Macaroni and Cheese (which can be made without the butter-we could find milk, but butter was a little more challenging and expensive)
  

I have some weird tastes, and probably want things that other people wouldn't, but this is my personal list to combat homesickness and to make sure I had something to eat if I didn't find food that I liked right away. I should've also brought dry lentils and vanilla, but I thought I would be close enough to India that these would be readily available in Southern China. For the things I didn't bring, I would write the Chinese characters and pinyin on a note pad before going out. Sometimes I would research the use of a spice in Chinese medicine, and take the written name to a Chinese medicine pharmacy. This was how I acquired two nutmeg seeds, and I was so excited, when the pharmacy workers let me smell them in the jar to make sure they were the right thing, that they gave them to me for free.

Now, in traveling, I found some other things to be useful. See photos, numbers correlate.

1. Bandana - My hair is not black. When I went somewhere outside the university, especially if it was a place where there weren't a lot of laowais (foreigners), I would get yelled at, petty cabs would stop in front of me so I couldn't cross the street, people would stop me on the street to try and sell me things...I found that wearing a bandana (usually brown) would make walking around more bearable. I don't know if it was because the color didn't stand out as much as my hair color did, or if it was that people thought I was Jewish and respected me more (the Jewish theory comes from Peter Hessler's Rivertown, which is a great book about living and interacting in China).
2. Bag - Someone told me not to take a purse to China. That was dumb advice. When I got a cell phone, I had nowhere to carry it, so I tied a bandana between my belt loops to hold my cell when I went into the city. I had to order a bag while in China. The bag I have is called Pacsafe. I ordered it from China and received it just in time to go traveling to Xi'an, but I ended up using it everywhere. The strap is reinforced and has a feature that allows you to take it off clip it to a chair or table if you're sitting somewhere. The top zipper is covered and there is a clip for the zipper pull when the zipper is shut that makes it hard to open. The bag body is reinforced with wire netting between the outer and inner layers. There had been stories of people standing on buses holding bags, only to discover when they got off the bus that the bottom of the bag had been cut out, the contents gone, or that they ended up holding only the bag's strap with the bag body and contents gone. My Pacsafe is pretty much cut-proof. Also, carrying it across my body and under my coat made it hands-free and difficult to grab.
   
3. Hiking sandals - I ordered some Chacos while in China. Most of the laowais I knew had them. They are sturdy, and not slip-ons. They can be washed in a washing machine (although, if you're walking around China, you may not want to wash them with clothes), and they dry quickly. I wore them traveling in warm places and generally for teaching and walking around our city.
4. Wide scarf - I bought my green scarf in our city, and I wore it everywhere. If I forgot my bandana, I would cover my hair with it. If I was cold, I would spread it out and use it as a shawl. I bought them as gifts because I like the one I have so much.
5. Money belt/pouch - Don't keep money, ID, or passport in a bag. I have one that goes around my neck and hangs on my stomach under my shirt. I don't prefer the belts because they are hot and you have to reach into your pants to get anything, which is somewhat immodest. One of my colleagues had a similar pouch to mine, but the string attached was very long, so he put it around his neck AND in his pants. I found no problems keeping things safe by my stomach, though.
6. Hand-sanitizer - We called it "sauce," and we would pass it around when we first sat down to eat together at restaurants or after getting off the bus. I've heard that hand-sanitizer doesn't really work, but it makes you feel better when you're about to eat and you just got off the bus where people were blowing their noses into their hands.
   
7. Facial cleansing cloths - There are some travel packs of pre-moistened facial cloths. I took some from the US thinking they might come in handy. On the way to Xi'an, my colleagues and I stayed in a "hotel." The cost was 30 yuan, which was about $4 at the time. Three of us shared a bed in a room that didn't have a sink. There was a bathroom down the hall, into which we peered on arrival and we immediately decided that we would not use the bathroom under any circumstances. It looked like it had never met cleaning products before. We brushed our teeth using an outside hose, and decided we didn't need to wash our faces. I had these facial cleansing cloths, so I used one, and what came off my face was black dirt, soot, and pollution. So we all used the cloths that night.
8. Pepto-Bismol chewable tabs and travel baby wipes - Pepto is good for minor discomfort from eating something weird. Baby wipes have a number of cleansing uses, and they are nice to have if you experience (erm...) intestinal pyrotechnics.
   
9. Crystallized ginger - I used this for motion sickness. Dramamine makes me too drowsy. Ginger that is preserved like this doesn't spoil and packs a punch that takes care of that sick feeling or takes your mind off it.
10. Pocket dictionary - Not a phrasebook. If you don't know much about Chinese, reading a phrase from a phrasebook will be unintelligible to native speakers. However, if you can look up keywords about what you want, I think it's better. I bought my small dictionary in China. It was 3"x 6"x 1" and included English-Chinese, Chinese-English, with pinyin and characters. The print was very small, but it was useful. One time I was trying to ask a seller if she had a certain product. I took my dictionary out and showed the word, but she said it was too small, so I recopied it in my notepad. Another time, I had a great conversation with a carving artist, from whom I ordered numerous name chops (stamps), just by using my Chinese and filling in blanks with key words from my dictionary. On subsequent visits, he used his son's cell phone, which had a Chinese character to English translation ap. He was patient in conversation and would always ask me to have tea after placing or picking up an order. Ah, Southern China Hospitality...
11. Trail mix or granola bars - Trail mix was a delicacy, since we didn't even have many of the ingredients. I mixed peanuts, sub-par raisins, and M&Ms to make trail mix a few times, but it wasn't the same. On Ten-Ten holiday, the holiday for hiking, we hiked to a Buddhist temple in the hills. One of my distinguished colleagues had a bag of Trader Joe's trail mix, and it was heavenly. Granola bars were nonexistent in our city, so I stocked up in Beijing and HK. Both are good carry-along snacks.
    

Has anything been invaluable for you while on vacation (domestic or abroad)?
-吴碧芙