3rd Time's a Charm

We have started a 'sourdough starter' 3 times now. The first time, I left it alone for a couple of days and then stirred it with a metal spoon. Both no nos, I read. The second time I forgot to 'feed' it every day. This time though, Stephen and I made sure we fed it everyday, kept it in a warm spot and stirred it with a wooden spoon. Now, day 5 of the process, it looks like this:

 

Stephen smelled it (since I encourage him to smell everything we use in cooking) and he wrinkled his nose, rubbed it hard and said 'That does NOT smell good!'

 

The brown liquid layer is called 'hooch' (seriously) and from what I've read is fine, you just stir it back in. For those who, like me, have not made a sourdough starter before, it's not hard (if this works, that is). We started with 1/4 cup warm water and 1/4 cup flour, mixed it together and then everyday at the same time (approximentally) threw away half of it (don't ask me why, for I don't know why) then re-add 1/4 cup warm water and 1/4 cup flour. The starter was probably ready yesterday (since it smelled soury and was foamy), but we didn't have time yesterday to figure out what to with it.

Now we have taken the starter and added 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup flour to 'proof' the mixture.
It now looks like this:

As Stephen so ably noted earlier, our kitchen - and therefore the whole house - smells a bit rancid. I'm hoping this is just the smell of sourdough...

We are supposed to leave this mixture for 2-6 hours until it is bubbly and then we can make Ma's Biscuits from Little House on the Prarie (Stephen's request).

Finishing reading 'By The Shores of Silver Lake'

We also got around to opening the coconut I kept talking about.

Stephen thought holding it was super cool, especially since it sloshed

Like our very authentic method of drilling open the holes to get out the milk?

Pouring out the clear coconut milk

Cracking it open on our porch

'Feels icky!'

 

We tasted both the fresh and some dried that I had on hand. Stephen had some difficulty swallowing both and said he preferred the dried, sweetened coconut.

The leaves have been EXTRAORDINARY here this year. Tuesday we went leaf collecting after Darling got off work.

'Oooh, purple leaves'

Orange ones!

Yellowish green ones

And super vibrant yellow ones!

It was excellent seeing how God changes the trees to prepare for winter, and how wonderful He does so in a way so pleasing to the eye. It's been great to talk about the verses in Ecclesiates where Solomon reminds us 'There is a time for everything and a seaons for every activity under heaven...'