Gwlolo, try brushing with just an egg white beaten with a little water to get the shine that you want and help the seeds stick. Although I must say, looks like the seeds are sticking well and your bagels look great.

As do your scones. Wish I was having one with my morning coffee.

~Ann

This works very well. I've used it for decades. I hate to crack an egg open for just the white. This product will also work wonders for sticking seeds. Bagels look good!

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur

TGIF = a Ton of Greenies, It’s Freezing!

Freezing temperature is here. Collected all the tomatoes on the vine. Man! What am I going to do with all these green tomatoes?!

dcarch

No cooking this weekend, no interesting cooking anyway.

Took daughter to school for her Speech & Debate tournament at 6:30 am. I was not happy about getting up at 5:30 am on Saturday. By the time I got home, it was still dark, but it seemed pointless to go back to bed, so I put on bike gear and went to ride laps up Mt Tabor, our local hilltop park.

The "mountain" in Mt Tabor is a very miniature one, it is really just a big hill that used to be a volcano way back when. There are a couple different roads that lead to the top. They start in pretty neighborhoods then climb up through trees and past fields and reservoirs for about a mile, though some are shorter and steeper while others are longer and easier.

On my first ride up the hill, I watched the sun rise through the tall trees, and that really made my morning. I kept climbing to the top, circling the peak of the hill which became more sunlit on each lap, descending through the fog and mist, turning around at the bottom and trying a different route up.

On one lap I saw a familiar jacket ahead and caught up to it. When I first took my bike to Mt Tabor a few years ago, I met a guy who rides laps up the hill every day. On weekdays he does a few laps as part of his bike commute, on weekends he does laps in the mornings. He'd explained to me that severe arthritis runs in his family, and climbing hills on the bike was the only way he could stay pain free. His mother had both hips replaced, his sister has had one replacement and is needing another, but he is still fit and mobile on his original equipment. I was so impressed that I started riding Mt a Tabor semi-regularly, and have done ever since. But not like this guy. He's ridden up the hill over 40,000 times.

When I first rode up the hill it seemed awfully hard, even on a mountain bike with very low gears. I struggled and my heart pounded as I gasped for breath. Now I'm better at climbing, so I ride a road bike with fairly high gears and can have a conversation while climbing, as I did today with this guy.

There are much steeper climbs around Portland and I am still not a good enough climber for some of them. The idea I had a few months ago is to make my Mt Tabor laps more difficult by only using the big chainring (that is, forcing myself to use the harder gears) and pushing so that I am struggling on my last lap. I hope it works like weightlifting, where you get stronger by pushing your muscles to failure, and that I'll do better on the steeper climbs now.

If I really wanted to be a better climber, I'd lose 20 or more lbs. The best climbers on a bike weigh 140 lbs. But they don't hang around the Cooking Forum either.

When I was done, it was still early. I rode to a Saturday farmers' market where they were just setting up. One stall sold breakfast burritos, and I got a duck and lamb burrito (only in Portland). It came fat and hot and wrapped in foil. I slipped the burrito in one of my jersey pockets and it kept me warm on the ride home.

Unfortunately, when I got home I was so hungry that I ate the whole burrito and raided the fridge and didn't stop until I'd eaten what I estimate was 1,600 calories. It wasn't even 10 am yet. Talk about undoing all the morning's good work on the bike. And that is why I am not cooking this weekend. I think I need to not think about food for a couple of days!

This post was edited by johnliu on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 23:45

GW, your scones and bagels looks amazing.

Today was the beginning of my weekend, so I'm not late. Not an exciting weekend...de-sludging the house. We had a long run of nice fall weather, so everything inside was neglected. Then weekends were taken up with dealing with everything we cleaned out of the garden. Dcarch, I have the last of my picked-green-now-ripe tomatoes in a big pot, simmering down for sauce.

Tomorrow is a quick run to Trader Joe's and Costco, then home to can a batch of beets and more de-sludging.

Right now I have a chicken roasting, along with a pan of parsnips, beets, fennel, carrots and garlic. Kale marinating in the fridge for a kale, fennel and apple salad.

John, I know Mount Tabor...lived near there for awhile when I was a kid. Went to Jim Bridger Elementary (which is probably old and has fallen down by now, hehe.)

TGIF, all. Clinking with a hot cider and rum.

Lalitha, impressive baked goods, very impressive. Butter on my bagel, yes indeed.

Lalitha, those look delicious to me, I think they are fine the way they are, and I wouldn't turn down one of those scones either.

I'm late too, we picked up Elery's granddaughter on Friday, she's 8. Makayla came along and the two of them spent Friday night here. They went to sleep about 3 am and got up at 6:30 am, had Nutella crepes for breakfast and then we went "girlie" shopping. Lunch out and we made muffins for Sunday breakfast. We just took the girls back home this afternoon.

Elery adopted a dog from a local shelter, a Sheltie mix. The owners left her there because they had a toddler and apparently couldn't deal, said she was "nippy". She spent Thursday with Madi and Maci, Friday with Jack, Jamison and Jilly, Saturday and Sunday with Makayla and Jamison. She seems to love the kids and I haven't seen any aggressive behavior at all. Elery missed having a dog and so it appears that Molly will be staying. I thought it would be wiser to wait until we sell the house and move to the farm, but since we have no control over that time frame, Elery didn't want to wait.

I would have preferred to wait until we get to the farm, Ashley has a huge German Shepherd, her house and yard are far too small for a 100+ pound dog and she wants me to take him. Well, now, isn't that convenient? For Ashley, at least, LOL. He'd make an awesome farm dog, big enough to stand up to the local coyotes and sturdy enough to help me with the livestock. We'll see, but definitely now here in town.

dcarch, I still have green tomatoes in the garage, along with eggplant and butternut squash. I may or may not get to them before they spoil. (sigh)

John, a lamb and duck burrito sounds really good to Elery. You're right, only in Portland.

Katie, I'm grateful I'm all done with beets and with kale. No more canning until we use some of the stuff I already did, I'm out of jars! Something about that huge apple crop, and sliced apples and apple sauce and apple juice and apple butter and apple pie filling...

TGIF, even though it's actually Sunday!

Annie

Lalitha, what is that beautiful piece of wood in the background? Is it a box? or a cutting board?

Annie, I would love to see a picture of Molly.

~Ann

ann_t --> I am going to try the eggwhite option a try for my next batch. I also need to practice getting the size of my bagels consistent. I am realizing that the rolling and shaping of the log and then the cutting of the bagel chunks has a lot of techniques getting the tight cloak of gluten. BTW, that wood piece is a spice box and has 6 wells in the bottom section. I use it for whole spices.

Westsider, Katie --> I am finding baking surprisingly satisfying and I really appreciate being coached and cheered on by the expericed bakes here :)

Tricia - I am intrigued by the KAF product. What are the ingredients - The website does not say.

Darch - I harvested the last of my green tomatoes on Sunday. I have a pile too but smaller than yours. My plan is to use them in cooking over the next couple of weeks. Here are a couple of recipes I have tried before - Green Tomato Chutney - South Indian Style, and Green Tomato Kootu - a curry made with lentils and green tomatoes to serve with rice