To: Florida

While a box of bread traveled to my sister and friend in Pennsylvania (see my last post), a package of goodies from my kitchen made its way to Florida. Second cousin, Karin, and her family were to be my other shipping guinea pigs. Two days after I brought the frozen sweets to the little, down home post office in Rothsay I got the notification email. The package had made it to its sunny destination. One step accomplished. Now the question - how do scones, caramel rolls, and brownies hold up to the intense Florida heat?

Besides a call from Karin with a thorough report, she sent great pictures and captions for you all to enjoy. Thanks Karin and family for being a terrific panel of judges and for your great documentation!

July 25th – a wonderful package from Minnesota arrives packed with delicious goodies!

Karin's favorite - caramel rolls


Half of them were put on a plate for a taste panel…
…and half of them were put in a container in the freezer to be thawed out and tested a few weeks later.

My husband, Jason, and his sister Amanda who was visiting from Georgia joining me in a tasting that evening. (Wow! Pen and paper beside each judge. Did I mention these people did a great job judging? - Elsa)

Dividing the desserts…

Oh so good!

Must have been a winner…these crumbs were all that was left from the scones.

Saturday, August 30, 2008: the second batch has been thawed out and a new taste panel tries out some of the goodies. Here is Jase, the youngest taste tester. He gives a big thumbs up to the chocolate and cherry scones! (A diverse judge panel! What more could I have asked for? - Elsa)

His older sister, Siri, concurred. :)

Mommy was extremely selfish and kept the last caramel roll all for herself! It was so much better just warmed up a bit in the microwave.

My only complaint was not enough caramel…but then again, I don’t ever think you could have too much for me! (More caramel - hmmm. Will have to see what I can do. - Elsa)

Who Hid the Vegetables?

Last weekend I was designated the official fetcher-of-vegetables. It may not look like it, but this is our vegetable freezer. July through autumn we watch the high water mark go up in this freezer as we pick, blanch, bag, and finally freeze the vegetables from our garden. By now half or more of our store has been devoured at many a meal, so there is lots of empty space in the freezer - well, sometimes. This also is home to many bread orders. Those who aren't able to get their order right after it's baked have me put it in the freezer until pick up time. This makes for fresh bread for my customers... and interesting digging for veggies.

The hot item here is Multigrain Bread. Multigrain Bread is my #1 best seller to regulars and the bread I serve my family whenever I want them to be especially happy. I'm starting to think I should have given it a different name - something like Our Daily Bread.

On Monday digging for vegetables became easier as the order moved out. This wasn't to last. Now I could take a new picture of the freezer. This time it's covered with a layer of Whole Wheat French Boule.

Impulse Shopping

Normally I hold a stand of no impulse shopping, but last Friday was an exception. I'd had in mind for a while that it would be nice to have my own refrigerator or freezer, but decided this was not the year to make such a buy. Small purchases were on my list this spring. That is until we went shopping for a new microwave oven to replace our 30 year old microwave that was dead (at least we thought it was dead, but that's another story) and found the store was having a scratch and dent sale.

Instead of just a fridge or freezer, I got a combo deal (otherwise known as a regular kitchen fridge/freezer). This was perfect timing, because soon "barm" (sourdough starter) will have to be increased. Two large containers of it were quite enough to make milk and surplus garden produce rather difficult to fit in. Hooray for more fridge space!