Earth, Wind and Fire

Mother Nature seems a little pissed at us over here!  First we have fires down south in the Dismal Swamps.  Then we had an earthquake and now a hurricane! What's next an alien invasion?  Well, we're ready!  Bought food yesterday during a torrential downpour and packed our freezer tight! Made sure to buy canned goods that won't need cooking or refrigeration. This afternoon, I brought in my plants.

Our spare room looks like a jungle now!  We also went and bought essential supplies like flashlights that don't require batteries and a self-powered, all-in-one radio/light/cell phone charger.

We have plenty of water, wine and beer and a giant pizza from Whole Foods!  I think we're good. :-)

I Luv Pie!

I seem to do a lot of late night baking.  Baking pies are one of my favorite baked goods to make!!  LUV PIE!  Especially fruit pies.  It's so perfect.  You get all of your 4 food groups- fruit, carbs, protein, and dairy (I put an egg and cream wash on the surface before baking plus the dollops of butter all over the apple filling.....mmmmm). I particularly like apple pies.  It's so all-American goodness, but another reason I tend to lean toward apple is that I can't seem to eat most apples raw (gives me stomach aches, except for Fuji apples and I have no idea why) but I can eat all apples cooked!! Now if I weren't lactose intolerant, a big scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream on my slice of warm apple pie...that would be heaven! 

Japanese Milk Bread: Version 2

I made milk bread again.  Although, the recipe I used for the first loaf was very good.  I wanted an even fluffier, soft bread with a slight chewy texture.  I decided to look into other recipes and decided to mix and match ingredients to come up with version 2:

The texture was much fluffier and still slightly chewy.  And god, did it smell GOOD when it was baking. The bread tastes almost creamy compared to the first loaf. So, here's the recipe (this recipe makes one loaf, but the tangzhong mix is enough for 2 loaves):