I'm back!

Well, it has definitely been a long time since I posted. Since posts were so infrequent anyway, I had tried to see if I could fill my food musings on Facebook, by updating what I was eating or cooking and posting the pictures. Later, as a food log, I started a note of all the things I was eating.

But that left a hole. And a lot of comments from Facebook friends that all I talk about is food. Which is true. So I started a Twitter account and I've been posting food-related things there.

But you know, when you spend a weekend catching up on food blogs that have come in through your RSS feed, you feel a little lonely like there is nowhere to ponder the vast world of foods. So back I am.

On Chinese New Year, I spent a good nine hours on my feet in the kitchen making a ton of food. Too much food as it turns out. It lasted over a week, so last week we did no cooking at all. So I haven't been cooking but we have been eating leftovers.

J was out of town this weekend, so I sat down with my King Arthur Flour cookbook, determined to make something. But all the breads needed 12 hours of rise time, and it was only about 5pm, so I kept looking. Finally, I came around to pretzels. The recipe looked pretty easy, though butter-covered, but since when have I turned away from a recipe because of butter?

So as I pulled together all the ingredients, I looked at the instant yeast which said, "good until 8/09". Well, I've never been one to be daunted by expiration dates either so off I went. Measure, mix, knead. I love my Kitchenaid. So I let it rise for its 30 min, split it out into eight portions, and began rolling out the pretzels. Oh my, it made my arms tired!

Finally, I was done rolling them out. I brushed them with sugared water and topped them with pretzel salt (from frozen pretzels) and put them in the oven. The recipe calls for baking 8-9 minutes until golden brown. At 9 min, we were not brown at all, but a pasty white, so I set it for another 3. Then another. Then I decided they had had too much time so I took them out. They seemed soft enough to the touch though they looked dry.

When cool enough, I plucked off a piece. Doughy, chewy, dry. And so, I have failed at making pretzels. I blame the instant yeast.