Mornings are the best-I get so much more done. Year #2 in the new kitchen has my somewhat OCD tendencies to clear away clean dishes in the dishdrainer immediately (because I'm too tired to do it at night). It is so serene to sit here with all the doors and windows open or to sit on the deck and read the paper while drinking my tea.

And Trailrunner?- I'll be right over before you leave (you're just a hop, skip and a jump from the PNW, right?) ;-)

Trailrunner-

Would you share the recipe for sourdough bagels? My starter needs something to do.

Thanks in advance. Enjoy your visit!

Trailrunner - you make me wish I could eat bread! But I can appreciate it. Beautiful.

Trailrunner, that bread is gorgeous. You have a safe trip.

Morning is coming to a close, so to you "not so morning" people, welcome to this wonderful day.

a2 LOL...sounds wonderful ! I have been running on the streets lately :( not my fave at all !! And swimming...pool right outside door is a big help. This AM nothing...too much to do. I will be on trails the whole time in VA...lots right there in town and then the Blue Ridge is 8 miles away ..yeah !

leela:uhmm...well a very LONG hop/skip/jump LOL...wish you were closer. I will probably be in the PNW later ...say Oct.

fraze: I will link to the BEST blog...it is where I get all my recipes. Hope you enjoy. These are the 100% bagels.

sochi: do you have gluten probs ? I know there are lots of non-gluten recipes out there. Hope you can make some if that is the solution for you.

Thank you enduring...great thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: wild yeast blog

Maybe marcolo, cat_mom and I should start a "mornings suck" thread!! Lol!

I really would love to be a morning person. On days when I'm not working and manage to get up and accomplish things, I always feel so good about the day. I usually resolve to do it more often. Then it doesn't happen again for another month or two because of the hatred of getting out of bed and the sluggishness that follows.

Last post for today ! Have just taken the roasted vegetables out of the oven. Eggplant/red onion/red and yellow peppers. All cut in sizable 3" or so squares. Toss with modest/small amount EVOO and salt and fresh ground pepper. Don't crowd on the baking sheet. Roast at 450 for 30 min. No need to toss them during roast if you use parchment paper...seems to get them nicely done on all sides.

Sink pic to show that it isn't too bad :)

cut up vegs:

on pans ready for oven:

all done !

sink :)

I'm drooling!

Maybe when I sleep more than 3 hours at a time I will be a morning person. I was not thrilled to get up with a screaming baby at 5:30 this morning, but this too shall pass.

However, I do agree that I love a clean kitchen to start the day. We make sure to clean everything up each night after we get the kids in bed. It's such a better way to start the day! :-)

I can't wait to wake up to my clean NEW kitchen! Less than 2 months now.

What a delightful thread. Enough even to be a lovely thought for my early morning, sitting high on my porch sipping coffee, listening to the birdsongs floating on the air, looking out over a cool, still misty lawn and on down through the woods.

The kitchen I ran out on the night before to go to a birthday party--not so much. :) But at least the windows there allowed me to enjoy the morning crowd at the birdbath and the mist rising off the little meadow beyond.

Naanaa, you sad bedsacks. I'm a morning person too.

(Trailrunner, I SURE wish you guys lived next door. If I ever start baking my own breads, it'll be because one of your posts finally seduced me into it. Have a lovely trip.)

My new (remodeled) kitchen was a year old this past April and I am still in awe. I want no dishes in the sink and everything in its place just so I can walk in and admire it all the time - esp. in the mornings. It's just me here so it is much easier to keep it neat and clean. I used to sweep the floor every day, but that didn't last long and I don't do that anymore. Maybe a quick swipe with the Swiffer now and then between vacuuming. I guess I don't look down at the cat hair and the garden coming in off my shoes. My one compulsion is to wipe down counter tops, and if I see drops of water on the sink drain boards I feel I must wipe them up right away. I've tried to stop, but I can't! :)

Trailrunner, the bread looks amazing. So do the veggies.

OK... so if you didn't sleep when does morning occur? I can't tell whether I like or hate it (because I'm too tired to be able to figure out what it is).

Here's what arrived this morning in the dark, direct from the fruit farmer. They start picking about 24hr before running down to the big city:

I ate two pieces just me and the bees on the front porch in the breaking dawn... with breakfast like this you can almost fantasize about not being in the big, monstrous, sweltering city.

Now the great thing about dusk...Lighting bugs!

Oh enduring, that just knocked a pain of wistfulness into me ... I so used to love lightening bugs. They're a thing of some fantastical past to me....

There are so many great food pictures posted. And I love all the descriptions of peace and quiet with the dawn.

Is it too late for the morning group? I awoke to a clean kitchen this morning, after making the extra effort to wipe everything down when I finished canning salsa last evening. All my jars sealed!

We have lightning bugs, but when I was a child we lived in a new suburb of tract homes a few hours north, where there wasn't a lightning bug anywhere to be found. During our trips 'home' to the grandparents, we would catch jars of them to put beside the bed. We'd let the survivors go the next morning.

I have to say that my favorite time of the day is the gloaming. I never tire of seeing it--that warm green glow gives me the feeling of glowing from the inside out.

Enduring, thank you for this lovely thread.

Yes, "gloaming" that time before dark, after sunset; It better describes the time of day than "dusk". I have always thought the dusk or gloaming was such a magical time of day. Beautiful childhood memories of walking in the woods at this time of day. Very magical!

The mole people live in our house!

Am I the only person who saves kitchen clean up for the morning? I'm not awake enough to read the paper or focus on the computer screen; not being a coffee drinker adds to the morning fog. Kitchen clean up is "automatic pilot" work, so that the brain can slowly get it in gear while the eyes gradually bring the world into focus.

Watching the sun slowly sink into the West has its own charms. Here's what it was like last week in Maine.

rosie: I want a pic of what you are seeing..not that your words aren't enough..'cause they do speak to me..but I sure would love to see it. Any time you want to make bread you let me know. I would be glad to talk you through it.

aliris...what ya gonna make with those wonderful apples ???? they are so pretty. you are a lucky gal.

gloaming..what a lovely word...I sit here in front of my open window with my old Westinghouse table fan going...it is gloaming here in AL. :)

kashmi...wherever you are in ME ...wow...I was there last year on my bike ride. What a wondrous place. I loved Acadia and riding up the coast.

what a great thread. I will get some pics of DS's restaurant...have promised that before but never done it .You won't believe what a small place it is and what he can turn out ! Thank you for all the sweet words. c

Oh my what a beautiful sunset in Maine! and Trailrunner you have just the right words to sum up what touches you. I can't wait to see the pics of the restaurant. Sounds fun. And you've got that great SS sink. You now I am still on for making mine :) for may spa/bathroom/mudroom.

kashmi, that is spectacular. This view, from a few days ago, can't compare, but the colors were breathtaking--too bad my camera can't do them justice:

If only we lived in Maine with a view like that! We were on vacation + attending the Kneading Conference. Some awesome breads there, but very few to rival Trailrunner's.

Yes, please post restaurant pictures. The article you linked to a while back was wonderful. It would be great to get the inside perspective.

Kashmi, no you're not the only one! We eat dinner so late at night that I am usually too pooped to do the dishes, so I wait until the morning when I'm fresh and energetic. That which looks daunting at 10pm is a piece o' cake at 9am.

Mama Goose: Oh, my! I see what you mean; amazing colors. I do miss Midwestern skies. (Does Ohio count as "Midwest"?)

Sjerin: Yes! That's it exactly.

I, like evenings more because this time in Arizona, it already 90 when I get up. We have horses, also it is to hot to ride in this heat. But we ride here a lot in the winter. When it is in the 70s. Some of the pictures on here should be framed, and hung up. Really pretty.

I, like evenings more because this time in Arizona, it already 90 when I get up. We have horses, also it is to hot to ride in this heat. But we ride here a lot in the winter. When it is in the 70s. Some of the pictures on here should be framed, and hung up. Really pretty.

kashmi, yes, I think of Ohio as midwest. Here's another Ohio sunset for you, this one taken in late January. I was trying to capture the reflection of the gorgeous colors in the tractor ruts in a barren field:

I've always said that I would really love mornings ...if they happened at another time of day! I mean, I love mornings but I'm rarely coherent enough to enjoy them. Honestly, my brain doesn't kick in till about 9am...but, I too have to feed horses..and cows, first thing in the am! Bucking hay is not the most pleasant thing to wake up to...but the enjoyment of watching the critters happily munch away makes it worthwhile......

Oh, and who DOESN'T love a clean kitchen first thing? I love our new remodel..it's so bright and cheery..makes mornings that much better.....

All these Ohio mornings ! I was born in Findlay OH and moved from there when I was 13 ...to New Orleans LA ! What a difference. But my midwestern roots are still intact....I was back there to bury Momma and Dad's ashes in 2010 and I felt like I was home and could breath again. The same thing happened when I was riding my bicycle on the prairies this July...I could breath. There is nothing like a plowed field, a pasture of cows, blooming canola...nothing.

Wow...you guys are sure one of the best things to happen to me in a while. Life has been "hard" lately but this has been such a jewel box of colors and feelings and thoughts and memories. Thank you ! Here is a sunset in AL...this is at Cheaha st park:

Kneading conference in ME>..kneading...needing...both go together...I find I bake when I need....c

Another midwest sunset (Indiana) Aug 2, I believe.

What a lovely day. Wonderfull photos. Now can I get tile like that to make a BS?...
...nite nite :)

These beautiful Midwest pictures are making me homesick. New England definitely has its own beauty, but there is something about prairies/plains that is unique.

Mama Goose, my father who still drives an ancient tractor would love your second picture.

Trailrunner, that Alabama sunset is pretty dramatic, too. And, yes, baking -- especially bread baking -- is therapeutic. Hang in there.

For the bread bakers in the pot---Macy's.com has 2.75 qt. cast iron pots for between $12-15 on sale, clearance, I think, now. I just bought 2 of them-they're still in the box. Shipping is free after $99.

And it is all Trailrunner's fault as she inspired me to start baking bread, about 2 years ago. C, I can't thank you enough. My family loves my bread and the hobby has given me lots of smiles. I make no knead bread with a little stretch and fold.

Trailrunner, you just don't know how much you have inspired me, and others, and how long-lasting your example is-.

My kitchen isn't clean, we had a lovely dinner on the patio watching the deer and I will mop up in the am. BUT I am inspired to bake bread, get taller cast iron, be serene in the morning and evening, and maybe even fold laundry (just a little bit of synergy rubbing off this thread). Tomorrow.

Good night John Boy.

The pictures in this post are absolutely beautiful! I love the birds chirping in the morning and that hot cup of coffee with cream and sugar no matter what the weather and I love summer evenings after the majority of people have retired for the evening and the crickets and summer bugs come out and make their noises. I love sitting in my not finished yet kitchen with the slider opening just listening to the sounds of the evening. Come to think of it, they are probably making those noises during the day but people are just so damn loud . . .

trailrunner,
Your bread look AMAZING! I can't wait to try it once my kitchen is finished!!!
I just bought a 3 qt Le Creuset round. I guess that will work?

Do you have a recipe to share for the bread? : )

Oh! I just saw the link to the blog! Which recipe do you recommend?

Just getting ready to walk out the door , on my way to VA to see grandson et al. I have all the bread and bagels and granola and roasted vegetables loaded up !

You are all so kind about the bread making . I am glad I have inspired you , westsider and claybabe and 2littlefishies to bake . It is life changing..one loaf at a time.

My pots are 5qt and 7.5 qt. You need bigger than you think, so keep that in mind when purchasing. The loaves don't spread out...at least not the ones I do.

As to the recipes I use most frequently on Wild Yeast...Norwich More Sourdough and 100% sourdough bagels are the 2 I use the most. I have done lots of others but those 2 I do most regularly.

With the Norwich More Sourdough, this time I subbed 175 grams of semolina for some of the white and I just use plain rye as I can't get any other kind locally. Got to go but I will be glad to check back...thank you for such a great thread..and the pics and words....c

I live in WI, and just woke up. It's 45 degrees and beautifully sunny. I'm loving this cooler weather. My burning bushes are turning red, and it definitely feels mike autumn this morning. We're on our way to the lake to spend the day on the water. Think we'll have to take sweatshirts! After a wicked summer, I'm really looking forward to cooler weather.

Oh, my kitchen is not clean. Grandkids are visiting, and all the neighbors were here last night. But I'm working on it.

Burrrr thats cold. I live in IA and not quit as cool at 55 this morning.

Trailrunner, thanks so much! have a blast with your family.

My kitchen is a mess this morning, how did that happen? :( It wasn't because of any cooking yesterday. Even though my kitchen is very small, it gets all the traffic because it is the only entry we use to get into the house.

Westsider40 you have inspired me to want to bake bread and of course looking at Trailrunner's gorgeous pictures. I was just wondering the other day looking at her pictures how you do it and what to bake in! I will check out the Macy's sale, especially since they e-mail me everyday touting their "sales". Also have some coupons. Thanks for the info on that. so you just put it in there and bake it? Interesting. I will check out all the recipes and "how to's" linked. Thanks again, I have learned so much reading GW. You're the best.

I normally get up and clean the kitchen unless I'm especially energetic the night before. It's sort of automatic like another poster said. Takes about 10 minutes.

Trail runner - I almost missed the link until 2fishies pointed it out! Now to make real bread but we are so spoiled with many excellent bakeries in town!

c - them apple's be mostly stone fruits. Except the "papples", as my kids and her friends call em. Those get skinned (I know you can eat the skin but they don't like them), sliced and refrigerated in boxes for mid-dance breaks. The bigger the papple the better because the inside flesh gets gooshier. Also, refrigerating them breaks up some of the cells and also gooshifies them a bit. Not that they're bad crunchy, this is just the preference du jour.

The rest are various unnamed stone fruits. The green ones are wonderful crunchy plums -- I meant to ask the farmer if those are "Green gage", only because I know that name. They are pointy and crisp and sweet. I love those.

The smaller round ones are very slightly hairy and they're something like a nectarine cross. They're also quite crisp.

I think there are some true nectarines in the bunch. If "true" isn't an oxymoron, it's just that those fruit growers never stop crossing things and by now there are so many crosses of crosses of crosses, no one has the slightest idea what anything is anymore. That is if they even remembered where the crosses came from, which usually they don't.

Not an apple in the bunch! And I never get around to doing anything with any of them but eating em straight up really. I still have some amazing summer oranges from a month or so ago but because they're citrus they keep. I just put one in a salad with an avocado from our yard. Sometimes I put avocado in smoothie: highly recommended! Creamifies it better than cream (which I never use because it's fattening except .... oops. I hadn't thought of how avocado is probably at least as much so).

I had a passel of peaches I thought about sticking in a pie ... but that didn't happen either. They're just too amazing fresh. And truthfully, when they arrive straight off the tree and so fresh and non-commercially engineered, it's a little hard to manage them. They have a very short ripe period and then get bad or crunchy out front of it. When they turn I stick them in the fridge, cut out the bad parts and smoothie-them. I suppose that would be also the time to pie-them. I'll have my assistant look into it. ;)

Just in case anyone's interested I have an arrangement with this farmer personally to operate a sort of modified CSA. Happy to share details offlist with anyone who might be interested. It's more work than I figured but worth it!

trailrunner, beautiful picture! I always love seeing your cooking pictures, especially the lovely breads.

mrsmortarmixer, your picture makes me feel as if I'm in an alien landscape, but you're practically next door.

aliris, when I was a child, I couldn't understand why anyone would take perfectly wonderful fruit and make it into jelly or pies.

Ok, I opened the Macy's cast iron, and read the 'use and care' and it says, "Never place the lid in the oven. The lid is not oven safe."

I also read the cautioning, negative, reviews on the website. I think that the knob is not oven safe but the pot lid is of the same material as the pot. I will either order the lodge replacement knob from Amazon, $8, (the Le Cru replacement knob is 12$) or cover the knob with foil and take the chance.

Here's a bit of my bread baking journey. Inspired by Trail's golden, shiny challahs and all else in her kitchen, I saved her instructions. Read them over and over. She's been baking breads for at least 35 years. I read her blog on thefreshloaf.com. In my eons of food prep, I never had made bread before. I envisioned it as the mt. everest of cooking. never kneaded before.

Read the library books of the two main proponents of no knead, "n-k-". Jim Lahey, My Bread, aka NYT bread and Artisan Bread in Five, Jeff Hertzberg, m.d. and Zoe Francois, a well cred pastry chef. Splurged and bought the books. Lahey uses 5-6 qt. cast iron. So I bought a 5 qt. at Aldi's.

Artisanbreadinfive.com is the wonderful website for Jeff and Zoe. In about 2009, they gave instructions for cast iron pot bread baking, and they use smaller pots for their usual one pound loafs. So I bought a 2.75 qt. pot.

It was kind of daunting for me to get the equipment, pizza baking stones, parch paper, pizza peel ( which I never use), etc.,but I did. (secretly, I fear that I love the stuff too much,ha)

Anyway, Trail does knead and has a lifetime of excellence in all things kitchen. I don't.

If you read abin5.com you will see pots, no pots, free form, bread pans, slow cookers, any which way.

Bottom line, kind of, you could sped $200 for le crueset or staub, or 12 bucks plus $8 for the Lodge Steel Replacement Knob.

I just read and read and read.

Hi Westsider - without detracting one eensy teensy iota from Trailrunner's achievements, I think she'd be the first to agree that at the end of the day, all the reading and the prep and the cool equipment can sort of get in the way. I am in zero way as experienced as c-, but her skill and knowledge and articulateness can also seem a little bit daunting. I just wanted to mention: it's not all that hard at some level at least. Just do it. With or without the knob or any of the rest of it. Even a poor effort will taste unbelievably delicious, I'm pretty sure. Just hop in, get your feet wet and don't worry about the niceties.

By way of example, I looked over a page of Trailrunner's blog and noticed a blurb on making yogurt. I've made yogurt a lotta alotta aloota years and when I give instructions they can get ludicrously long. Which is silly. At root it is, as she says, just this process: heat some milk, cool it, add yogurt, leave it: done.

I can and have written 10 page treatises on the subject. Which is fun for me, but probably daunting for the poor intended subject: just do it!

OK, now someone (mama_goose or Angie?) needs to fling this lecture right back at me regarding turning a chest-of-drawers into a vanity....

p.s. ...completely negating my rant, let me add ;) -- I really love Laurel's Bread Book. But don't let it get in your way! (speaking of obsessive diy tombs. She goes on in its preface for ages about a "dessem", as I recall -- some starter for bread. Fun reading, but the regular recipes are what I've used most).

Yogurt, yup I've always made it the easy way, heat the milk then cool it to what ever temp that corralates to the old yogurt thermometer spoon that says plainly "add starter" (or something to that effect). Then it goes into quart jars and into a cooler for about, what, 12 hours? Its been years. Thanks Aliris for the memory of simple yogurt.

My SIL makes goat cheese and OMG it is the best stuff ever. I'll take a left over baked potato and nuke it with a huge bunch of her cheese that might have onion or something in it. And that is the best treat ever! Of course fresh baked potatoes would be wonderful too.

hah, enduring... I warned you. Don't get me started! I know waaaay too much about yogurt.

Letting it sit for 12 hours? That sounds not-optimal to me. Best (=thickest in my books) would be a quick-grow, at between 3-5 hours. There are things to do to achieve that (ask me ... no wait, don't). But in general, a long sit like that will result in watery-er and/or sour-er yogurt.

Aliris - its been a long time, maybe I didn't wait that long ? But I do remember it was a bit loose:) I love your choice of words "not-optimal" Do tell the quick-grow method, please. Just in case I want to try some yogurt.

Hi all...I am just checking back in. Yes the bread baking can be daunting but I started with the Challah in 1977 or so and it was my first bread. I had a bowl and a baking sheet...that was it ! As for pans...the one that was my MIL's is cast iron and very old. You can just get Lodge Logic or something like that and use it. I love the way the bread browns and they are cheap. As far as the pan knobs not being safe...I haven't ever worried on my Le Creuset. I used to cover it and then stopped years ago and it has shown no sign of being harmed. But you don't need expensive pots...on ebay you can also get just plain cast iron pots with lids...they are actually my preference.

Aliris..you must have looked at rhome410's blog about yogurt . I haven't ever blogged about it . Haven't made it in years.

So just grab a bowl and start with a simple recipe on breads. I don't care for any of the Artisan in 5 minutes as they use a lot of commercial yeast. But if that is what you want to start with to get comfortable with baking then by all means go for it. It is ALL good. Look forward to seeing some pics . c