Feeling A Bit Blue
Several months ago I bought dried blue pea flowers with the intention of making blue bread. Well, I finally did. I've made a swirl bread before with beets (where it was a brilliant pink and then baked to a dull brown), so I had a good idea how to go about this. Dividing the recipe into half, one for blue and one for white and then figuring out the best way to soak the flowers.
Turns out 5 grams of these flowers was about a quarter of the package I bought. These little blossoms barely weigh anything! I soaked them in a cup of boiling water for about 30 minutes and then strained them. Be vigilante about not spilling anything on the countertops and washing your hands, this stuff will stain!
Half the recipe is as follows, the only difference is the blue pea flower water in one batch and plain water in the other. The blue water didn't equal the amount needed so I added plain water until I'd reached 350 grams. I also added chia seeds just to the blue dough, but that's totally up to you.
350 g water
100 g leaven
450 g AP flour
50 g wheat flour
10 g salt
Do everything normally to each bowl of dough until you get to the shaping stage.
After dividing the dough into halves or thirds (I do thirds for smaller loaves) flatten the dough as if you were going to shape it, layer the second dough on top, stretching to meet the edges as best you can.
Shape as normal and then place into a basket for the final rise.
Bake just as you would but be more excited about cutting open the loaves!
The bread tastes the same as normal bread, just looks a little different. Just like purple ketchup but less weird.
Work from home tips:
Change you clothes. Even if it's from pjs to comfy house clothes, the mental task of getting ready for the day is key to being productive.
Stay away from soft places. Sit at a table or desk to do work. Beds and cozy couches can zap your focus.
Talk a walk! What I miss most about the office are the walks to meetings, quick dash to the coffee van or a walk and talk with a colleague. Grab your WFH cohabitor, in my case my roommate, and do a quick lunch walk around the block or further if you have time.
In addition to those quick walks, I dearly missing chatting coworkers. The beauty of modern work technology allows for a quick chat. DO that, do it as much as you need.
Things to do:
Bake bread! But not too much, or find a way to give it away.
Cook! Be experimental or make something that takes hours. I made this french onion beef ramen mash-up soup. I would suggest getting some baby bok choy, quickly blanche it and then add to each bowl. Spinach would work in a pinch too.
PUZZLES. I am a huge fan of puzzles. My go-to puzzles are the Americana Charles Wysocki scenic puzzles. They're nice because there are many different sections - signs, people, buildings, boats. You can always switch up the section you're working on if you get stuck and move to something else. If you're really feeling puzzles might I suggest investing in puzzle trays.
Exercise? I'm a fan of Nike's Training and Run Club apps. Try weird workout challenges like 100 glute exercises a day or catch up on the 30 days of yoga series.
Things to read:
I've had a few friends move or prep to move and I will always bring up this article about Casper mattress and how they took down a mattress reviewer.
Keeping on the DTC theme this article speaks to the how they're all imploding. With the most recent shuttering of the trending Brandless, there is a huge fight to get you, the consumer, and keep you. However, with the ever growing market, that's just not possible.
A quick and poignant read - 7 lessons of leadership
What to watch:
Still raving about Counterpart
I just started Elementary, highly recommend if you want to start something new
Love is Blind is the show dujour. If you want something juicy but don't want to devote the time to all the drama I would recommend just the first and last episode. Maybe the reunion if you're a glutton for punishment.
Disney+ released Frozen 2 early, so there's that. If it's your thing.
While on the topic of Disney+, I got hooked on Encore from a friend's insistent urging. Now I tell everyone about it. Sorry for pushing back friend, you were right- I love it! Circle of life guys!
Amy, at home- where everything is clean because I don't know how not to do things.
