Bread Up

Wife has always baked bread, a fact that has added a lot of pleasure to our lives over the years.  But until recently I wouldn't say that she was into it as a hobby as say I am about cooking.  About a year ago I put on my list of things that I might want to get into if I ever get a chance to retire is baking.  Somehow this has tweaked a competitive gene in Wife and slowly but surely she has upped her baking game.

She has been on a quest to make a Kaiser Roll that she will find acceptable.  The ones in our local stores are just of very poor quality and the Kaiser Roll is Wife's preferred bread for a sandwich.  So she's been trying various techniques.  The latest attempt didn't make a very good Kaiser Roll but made a helluva good European Dinner Roll.

Recognize these?

If you've ever been to Europe and gone to the ubiquitous breakfast buffet at a hotel, these small hard rolls are de riguer.  The recipe calls for making a starter that sits over night, adding more flour and water, three rising/punch downs, forming rolls and letting them rest in the refrigerator.  Then my favorite instruction you, "make one decisive cut through the center of the roll."

They came out great.  We may not have our Kaiser Rolls yet but the breakfast buffet just to a step up. 

Definition of One Foot in the Grave

That's what it feels like to me anyway.  What I'm referring to is that I am now officially on Medicare.  Just had my 65th birthday.  You are required by law to apply and put yourself in the Medicare pool 90 days before that event.  Then you get bombarded by a billion Medicare supplemental policy providers.  Right before your birthday you get your actual card - a crappy piece of cardboard that is to big to fit in your wallet - way to go government.

Then you go to the doctor and you have the wonderful experience of letting folks know you are now part of the aging falling of the cliff population - not happy.

Dare I Say 'No Problems?"

I had a quick trip to Phoenix.  Went out on Sunday and came back on Monday.  Going to Phoenix requires no plane changes.  Everything was on time and without problem.  I have one more trip to Boston this week and hopefully will get out of the year unscathed.

Only a Glancing Blow

Seems that the travel gods must have gotten distracted and were only able to send me part of the normal load of bad luck.  Maybe Agent W traveling the same day caused them to take their eye off the prize.

My flight out wasn't bad luck, just bad airline management.  We arrived in this tiny commuter plane as far out as is possible at the United terminal in Denver, have to wait for our bags and then hoof it for what they call a 50 minute connection.  But that's 50 minutes from our arrival time to the next flight departure time.  You will remember that flights board 30 minutes before departure and most often they close the doors 10 minutes before departure.  Fortunately my outbound flight was 15 minutes late.

On the way back, I was changing through Houston.  This is always a pain.  The main terminal is gigantic and the flight to Albuquerque is always in another commuter terminal which requires taking a train.  Our flight in Chicago loaded up on time and they we sat.  The captain finally told us that a cargo loader in the belly of the plane had issues, the crew working on it was at the end of their shift, so they just left it half fixed.  Then the next crew came on and they figured out it needed fixing.  This caused us to take off 30 minutes late.  Not really that terrible unless you have a 50 minute connection requiring long, long walks and trains.  They made up a lot of the time and I just barely made my flight.  Where upon I found that the light over my seat was broken.

Compared to the last few flights I guess I should be thankful.

Happiness is...

...Getting sweet, love notes hidden in your luggage for you to find even after 39 years of marriage :)

Old and New

I wouldn't exactly call Wife and I resistant to change but we aren't exactly early adopters either as I think I've written about before.  But every once in a while we just decided that we have to change some things.  Thus it was with some degree of shock when Wife came home this week with some new water glasses.

While we have 'nice glasses' for when we have guests, we don't really like them for day-to-day use because they are too heavy.  Our beloved day-to-day glasses are nice and light and have a lovely hand feel.  Unfortunately they are showing the signs of age and through gradual breakage we are getting rather low in number.

The old glass

It may look like this is a dirty glass but in fact is just the long slow effect of etching from being in the dishwasher a few times.  Actually more than a few as we bought these some time in the mid-1980's.  So I'm thinking these are at least 25 year old glasses.  They've done their duty well.

Wife broke one on Tuesday night and that was it.  She was in Target and found these for just a dollar a piece.

The new glass

Changing of the regime

The Glass is Dead...Long Live the Glass

A Public Service Announcement

Mr. de-I will be departing for Chicago on United Airlines on Tue Dec 4 and returning on same airline back to Albuquerque on Thu Dec 6.

In view of recent events involving de-I and airline industry, you are advised to check if you are traveling on the:

• Same flights
• Same days
• Same airline

As Mr. de-I.

If you are affirmative to any of the above, Mr. de-I takes no responsibility for any abominable delays you may incur in route.