h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I see my two delightful children...huddled over a pan, scooping out warm bits of frosted cinnamon roll with their grubby little fingers. Of course, I let them do it .

My Hootoo life has gotten very stupid. I get online when no one else is, post inanely, then, having other things to do, sign off. Or look for recipes. I've been cooking and baking to keep the winter depression down. Warm ovens and chopped onion and spices are good for that, but I wonder to what degree. I've decided to venture into the grand world of yeast breads. I made a foccacia that turned out ok, though I would had preferred a better rise, and I should have used all white flour, since I'm really not all that fond of whole-wheat so I can't properly ascertain whether or not I like what I baked. I came up with a casserole yesterday with soy crumbles that James actually *liked*, heaven forbid.

Slowly getting everything moved. I'm getting to the point where I want to say f*ck it all, and just come to england with no more than the airline baggage allowance. I'd bring clothes, a few books, my flatware (long story), and my big Buddha. You can buy can-openers and whatnot in England, can't you? Besides, it would almost be nice to just start over. Then everything would be from James' and my life together, chosen (argued over) together, infused with both of our sentiment, etc.

I wish James were here. The cold weather compells him to wear sweaters, and he is very cozy indeed.

I've baked yeast breads for years. Nothing says home like the smell of bread baking, even if I've succumed to the easy way out - the bread machine! Still, I sometimes just let it do the mixing, and I shape the dough and bake it in the oven. Have you tried making soft pretzels yet? Need some pretzel salt for those, of course.

I was wondering about you trying to move a bunch of household items to England - I sent Amy+ a package with her few dishes in it, and it cost twice as much to ship than the dishes were actually worth... And that was sending it through the Post Office - UPS shipping started at about 3 times that cost. Were you going to have a moving company do this? Or just box things up and take them to the post office?

You'll find our department stores have everything - can openers, husbands, new oldsmobiles (always in early...)...

all the quotes i've been getting say that to move a small apartment - door to door - from say, Idaho to Oxford, would be about 1000 pounds. All my stuff would be in one of those cool shipping bricks huge beasty things and packed on a barge.

That doesn't sound too bad, I suppose... It would likely cost much more than that to buy everything over there.

How long would it take to get there, once it's actually shipped?

no idea..a few weeks? i suppose you're right. still. and i think james says that there is furniture to be had in the family somewhere, so..

That's a lovely picture, cinnamon rolls in a warm kitchen,the children eating out the pan, the smell of onions... Really nice. Hope you are having a good day now!

I wish we had the counter space so I could bake again, now that I'm actually home... *makes note to really push for a microwave cart, using the 'need counter space for baking' argument...*

Can't you use the table?

It's glass (not inset, but a sheet of glass resting on a base--don't think kneading on that would be good... Or rolling out cookies, for that matter) and in the dining room, which is carpeted No fun baking if you have to be careful, instead of sweeping up when you're all done... Pretty soon now I can be rid of the hideous thing, though, as it'll be unsafe once Faith is walking.

Just put an old shower curtain down on the floor where flour or dough could fall off... and go ahead and knead dough or roll out cookies on the glass - won't hurt a thing. Glass cleans up easily, and if it's sturdy and heavy enough to be used as a tabletop, it's sturdy enough for kneading dough and rolling cookies.

*grumble*

Need the storage space underneath, as well... Plus we can use it to block the oven when we're not using the microwave.