THE HAPS

We've got a lot going on at the moment, but here are a few headlines....

Our landlord is going to let us move into our new place early, with no extra payments or fees! I couldn't wait to get started, so this is just thrilling for me. We are supposed to get the keys tonight, and I couldn't be more excited! We'll have a full four weeks to get our stuff from one house to the other, and I'm really looking forward to doing this move as easily and gently as possible.

Every now and then, my wife and I like to host a weekend family breakfast at our house. It's a nice way to get family together and a good outlet for some of our baking bugs. This time, it looks like we're doing bagels, and we'll probably serve up some eggs and spinach, benedict style to go with them. I really love making bagels, and will post the process of making them next week sometime. We went and got some dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, sesame, fennel and poppy seeds, so now, we can make our two favorites: salt bagels, and everything bagels. I'll be starting the dough tonight for our Sunday morning feast. Very exciting.

Last night, we went to Barnes and Noble and did some book browsing. Lo and behold, they had one copy of the Charcuterie book I've been lusting after! It is incredible. There are recipes for everything from pickles to saurkraut to salami to duck confit to head cheese (ew). I can't wait to try a few of these as soon as I can get my hands on a meat grinder. Mortadella is at the very top of my list, as it has always been one of my favorites (the real Italian stuff....not the cheap bologna kind they sell at Vons). Thanks to a very generous Barnes and Noble gift card, my wife and I left with a nice selection of books that we are both excited about.

We've got a lot going on these days, but I'm feeling more motivated and more excited about the things that are keeping us busy, so it is definitely a good thing...