February Favorites

Our weekend in Oman is Thursday/Friday so Thursdays at our house are like our Saturdays of yesteryear.

This Thursday finds me drinking too much coffee, downloading Nashville, and deciding what bread I want to make today (I think it’s going to be this one).

It also has me discussing illustrations for the Dude’s Art Series (as seen here on Facebook) and deciding what to share from February, a month that passed entirely too quickly.

Homemade Bread (Tastes)

At the beginning of February, I bought a fat brick of instant yeast and began experimenting with bread baking. I’m a bread-baking scaredy-cat and decided to bake a loaf each weekend in February to see if I could get the hang of it.

And I know this is really nerdy, but I wanted to be able to do it without a recipe. One of my  aversions to making bread at home is the complexity (or my perception thereof), so I figured if I could eliminate some of the fuss, I could focus more on technique and texture.

Thanks to the books Ratio and CookWise, the experiments have been edible (something I wasn’t sure was possible), and improving, even while using just the big 4 for bread: Flour, water, yeast, and salt.

What’s been most fun, though, is coming up with creative uses for the end of the loaf before it goes bad. We’ve done rustic grilled cheese sandwiches and breakfast casserole, and I think there might be Panzanella in our future very soon.

Feedly (App)

Writing about RSS this month had me curious about the apps that have hit the market since I first started using RSS years ago. As I wrote about best RSS practices, I realized a few of my own practices were really clunky and made no sense. (Don’t you just love how you can tell other people things while being totally blind to not taking your own advice?)

So I tried a few new (to me) apps, and stumbled upon Feedly. It doesn’t fit my “best practices” workflow, but I am LOVING it for quick browsing and “marking read” from my iPhone. It has teenie gestures that mark something read or add it to Pocket (or another for-future-reading app) without tapping and selecting, and it has a really nice look to it. Check it out if you you’re looking for a pleasant looking RSS app for your iPhone or iPad (or even Firefox or Chrome for that matter, though I’ve found the plugins to be a bit glitchy so far.)

(If you missed the RSS posts, this one will get you set up with an RSS reader, and this one will help you use it to spend less time on your blog reading.)

Godfather (Drink)

For “Halfiversary” this year (the celebration we created for the anniversary of our engagement and the half-anniversary of our wedding), we went to one of our favorite restaurants in town, whose cocktails rival Victor Tangos in Dallas and Ember in Breckenridge. Of course, these places are pretty proud of their cocktails, so indulging is a splurge, but is there a better reason than a celebration to splurge?

So, trying to select a drink at Left Bank that would (at least somewhat) agree with the Halloumi and Pumpkin salad we ordered, I chose an unfamiliar drink: The Godfather.

Oh heavens. Scotch and amaretto on lotsa rocks. Their particular blend of the two is better than what we’ve been able to create at home, but we’ve been loving them nonetheless. (How have I never heard of this drink?!?!)

The Books of the Bible (eBook)

I’ve been a mega-fan of “The Books of the Bible” version of the Bible ever since being gifted a copy by some amazing friends of ours. The Books of the Bible Edition (NIV), purposes to present the text more like its original readers would have experienced it (without chapter and verse markings, and also in a less disconnected order).

Fast forward to mid-Feb of this year when I decided to read the entire Bible during Lent, and I was so distracted by the page numbers (I needed to read about 50 a day to stay on track), I thought I wouldn’t be able to even get started!

But then I discovered The Books of the Bible had recently been released for Kindle! Ah sweet relief. It’s so great to read the insane ancient stories without a) getting distracted with all the numbers and b) without lugging around a giant book. LOVE.

Sea Turtles (Experience)

I have loved sea turtles since I can remember, and this month we traveled down the beach a few hours and went out at night to try to catch a glimpse. Although some nights dozens can be seen, our measly two-spot was a dream come true.

Now admittedly this video is dark, amateurish (at best), full of foreign languages, and completely indulgent on my part, but I still hope it makes you want to see these incredible creatures one day. I can’t recommend the experience highly enough.

…what about you?…

What delighted you in February?