Text 38779, 140 rader
Skriven 2010-06-07 16:40:54 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
  Kommentar till text 38644 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Ärende: wheat flour
===================
Hi Ruth,

>> > I can't even stretch an octave--small hands.  Somebody said that

>> Ah.. I can, but I do have long fingers according to my piano teacher
>> (long ago).

> I never had formal piano lessons; my parents bought a cut down piano
> when I was in high school.  A friend taught me some basics but I never

When I was a kid, my parents hired a music teacher for my two oldest sisters..
He taught them to play violin.  I hung around while they were being taught so
one day he taught me a few things about the piano.  It was fun - I could play 3
blind mice after that (vbg).

> went beyond that.  I can read both clefs and can basically pick out a
> line but can't play, even 2 parts any more.  OTOH, one of my sisters
> picked it up naturally (She also had several years of music lessons--on
> the clarinet--that I didn't.) and then took piano lessons as an adult
> when her first son started them.  I don't think second son had them.

Yes, it's fun to take lessons and play piano as an adult.  My dad played by ear
so it's in the family here as well.  I can play a song if I've heard it as
well, perhaps not on the concerto level though (bg). I got both my kids piano
lessons when they were small and they both did so well.  It was great to hear
them play. My son was the better player, playing with more feeling.. My
daughter was more 'technically perfect', though, and still a good player. She
blew us away when she was about 8 or 10, and wrote a song that the piano
teacher transcribed for her - that was incredible to me (g). After a while, I
hired their music teacher to teach me piano and that was so great.

>> > Our mill grinds flour so fine that the kernel is all ground up in

>> That's fantastic and really good to know :) Which mill is that again,
>> I know you told me a while back :)

> It's a Nutramill--sounds like a jet airplane when it's in use. (G)  Got
> some barley out of the freezer today to grind, as well as some soft
> wheat berries for pastry flour.

Ok, this one does the same, one just must re-grind it a few times.  I think I
had the setting a bit two wide earlier.  That would make sense for the kernel
not being so well ground.

>> I think we'd both go through it pretty fast though.  Do you have it in
>> 5lb containers or quart size, etc?  I have a lot of quart size from
>> the chinese restaurant (g)

> I use a large square cannister I bought from Tupperware some years ago
> for my hard wheat flour; it holds close to 20 cups, maybe about 10-12
> cups of unground wheat equivalent.  One about half the size is used for
> pastry flour since I don't use as much of that.  Just checked--large one
> is 17 cups, smaller is 11 cups.  Much larger than a quart. (G)  I know
> the larger one holds more than 5lbs but not sure how much more.  I've
> also got buckwheat flour, gluten, baking mix and white sauce mix in the
> fridge.  Small quantities of rice and dry beans  are on the pantry
> shelf, more in the big freezer.

Heh - I have a huge can of gluten I ordered from the people who sell us our
wheat kernels.  If I don't have bread flour, I'll use that of course.  I'm
still cutting home ground the whole wheat with some of that on occaision.

I made white sauce today for a recipe we love to have with leftover-chicken.
It's a hot chicken salad, really yummy:

==White sauce:==
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Melt the butter, and add the flour.  Cook on very low heat for a few minutes.
Stir in the milk, and whisk until combined.  You may want to add another
tablespoon of flour if it doesn't start to thicken. Put a peeled onion in the
sauce, stuck with a whole clove or two, and place in a 350F oven for about 10 -
15 minutes.  Remove the onion when done.

===Hot Chicken Salad===
Add:
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1/2 cup white sauce (above)
1/2 cup mayonaisse
1 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 cup almonds (optional)
salt, pepper to taste
1 stalk celery, sliced fine

Mix well, and heat in 350F oven for about 10-15 minutes.  Serve on freshly
toasted bread.
====

>> > Talking with a friend from church about it today; we're cooking in a
>> > couple of weeks.  She was wondering how to sneak some tofu in but
>> > decided she probably couldn't--this time.

>> I love tofu but that's one of the things Ron is not crazy about, so I
>> don't use it often.  Sometimes I use in miso soup though :)

> We go on fits and spurts with it.

It's handy to have around I think.  And it does absorb flavors really well...
much like gluten meat (wheat-meat) does.  I also love that, and Ron isn't crazy
about it (bg).


>> Right, so does the Professional over here.. 12 cups all purpose, or 8
>> cups whole wheat. The watts on the Professional are really high and
>> the bowl is so large (g). A 6 quart bowl as opposed to the 4.5 Quart
>> bowl on my old one. The 4.5 can take up to 8 all purpose or 6 cups
>> whole wheat.. which is really fine for just the two of us.  I usually
>> use a combination of bread flour and whole wheat so I try to keep it
>> to about 7 cups of flour.

> Our basic flour is more of a bread flour, actually.  If I need an all
> purpose type, I'll mix in some of the soft wheat flour.  We don't use

Right, same here.

> the commercial white or unbleached; when I have to use them at my mom's,
> I just don't have the "feel" that I'm used to from working with whole
> wheat. (G)

I keep it around for those moments when I'm just too tired overall (g)


>> It sure is :)  If I can get them outside as soon as they wake up, we
>> generally don't have accidents.  They're so young though I expect some
>> accidents .. :)

> Yes, even my parent's dog has accidents from time to time.  They kept
> him inside one night last week because of thunderstorms and he had an
> accident in the cellar (concrete floor, relatively easy clean up).

Yes, that would be an easy clean up :)  Over here, I think they are being
'helpful' and doing it right in front of the catbox (VBG).  Silly pups :)

Take care,
Janis

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