Maine Trip Part I

Before the sun rose last Wednesday, my adviser/boss Dave picked me up and we drove to the airport. We flew off to Manchester, NH where my friend Amanda picked us up from the airport. Our destination was Skowhegan, Maine for the Kneading Conference, but first we needed lunch. Dave's wife recommended us to a local Manchester diner famous for New England cuisine called the Red Arrow Diner.

The walls and pictures stated that lots of famous people have sat at the counter. Adam Sandler and Bill Clinton were two that I remember.

Amanda and I decided to order two entrees and split them. She ordered the buffalo burger with sweet potato fries and I was craving some waffles.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter chip waffles! They were advertised as stacked in a tower, so I was mildly disappointed when mine were plated horizontally.

Dave with his tuna melt.

After re-fueling we began driving north to Maine in Amanda's "Kansas Mafia Honda Civic".

Along the way we pit-stopped at a couple bakeries Dave knew about. The first was Borealis Breads. I had to try their granola bars. I think I may need to work on mine a bit more.

Our next stop was the Standard Baking Co. in Portland. Not surprisingly, Dave knew one of the workers and we got a tour of the bakery. We bought a baguette and some croissants from them and dashed out the door to glimpse a view of the Atlantic ocean.

From the coast we drove inland to reach our final destination of Skowhegan, Maine. After some slight directional confusion we arrived at our host family's home. David and Susan live in a beautiful house "off-the-grid" outside of Skowhegan. When we pulled up, Susan and David were outside tending to their massive garden and beginning the makings of a delicious dinner. Our meal was a tabouli salad with newly plucked green beans and fresh bread.

After our delightful meal, we all crashed into bed. Amanda and I arose bright and early at 6:30 am to take a jog out into the forest trails. Unfortunately, the deer flies were up and active also, so we cut our run short. Mostly because I whined a whole lot. I hate things buzzing around my ears.

Naturally, after burning a few calories we needed to consume more calories. David and Susan's kitchen was extremely well stocked- full of nuts, great coffee, fresh fruit, dried fruit, newly laid eggs and homemade yogurt.

We explored/grazed for a bit in the kitchen and house, then showered and drove into town for the Kneading Conference opening ceremonies.

The conference featured lectures and workshops by bakers, oven builders and grain-growers. Thursday I chose to attend the pastries with whole-grains workshop. Doug Brown and Cate Conway demonstrated baking croissants, danishes and various other pastries with completely whole grain dough.



All the ovens at the conference were mobile wood-fired beauties by La Panyol. While they are lovely, they are also expensive. Ovens range from $5,000-$20,000. I started saving yesterday. I have $3.27 so far. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to make a donation.

Whole-wheat croissant with beets and feta.

Cinnamon bun.

Lunch was catered by a local organization called Fire Fly Farm. So many greens. So many vegetables. So much greatness.

After lunch the festivities continued with a gluten-free workshop. Kelley Hughes of Wildflours Bakery prepared gluten-free bagels. For a gluten-free product they were mighty tasty.



I meandered over to the clay-oven building workshop to watch their progress. It was very interesting to watch and dream about building my own someday.

When the lectures and workshops concluded a corn dance was conducted by the Penobscot Nation. Our host mom, Susan jumped right into the action. I wasn't feeling coordinated that day so I refrained.

Following the corn dance, dinner was served.

Massive amounts of leafy greens.

Lamb skewers, garbanzo bean and lentil salad, green beans and more bread.

Pie. Of the blueberry kind.

After scarfing down all that delicious dinner and pie we scampered over to Gifford's Ice Cream. Because we hadn't eaten enough that day. Because we'd run all of two miles that morning. And because we were in vacationland living the dream. Rather than ordering a measly one scoop ice cream cone, which probably would have been wiser, all four of us bought hand-packed quarts of flavors to our liking.

The Maine Wildberry called my name. Amanda got Maine Deer Tracks, Dave got Moose Tracks and David upped the wow-factor and got a dual packed quart with chocolate and coffee ice cream.

Thus concluded our first full day in Maine. In sugar/cream comas.

My Grandma's Birthday Party

My Grandma turned 80-years-old this Saturday. When somebody, especially your grandmother, turns 80 you should have a party. So my aunts organized a birthday celebration gathering for my grandma on Saturday night. We ate dinner at local restuarant then 7 of her 8 sisters and brother (yes, he had 9 sisters) came over for dessert and punch. I had never met her sisters as an adult, so it was really fun to sit down and chat with each of them. I've also baked a couple of their recipes in the past couple years - peanut butter rolls and kolaches - so I enjoyed putting the recipes with faces.

The sisters and brother.

My family minus a few members.

My mom ordered the evening special - which was a beef patty with bacon, mushrooms and cheese served with broccoli and smashed potatoes. They had a much more fancy name than "beef patty" but I can't remember it right now.

I ordered the rum glazed salmon that came with green beans and mashed sweet potatoes. It came with a maple glaze that tasted exactly like maple syrup.

Then it was cake time. Cake time is otherwise known as happy time. My aunts brought a red-velvet cake and an assortment of flavored cupcakes from Daddy Cakes. Daddy Cakes is a Topeka based pastry bakery that specializes in cakes and cupcakes.

Cupcake options were carrot cake, german chocolate, chocolate, lemon, vanilla and strawberry.

Red Velvet Cake. Twas very red. And velvety.

I can only hope that my 80th birthday party will be as fun and tasty as my grandma's.

A Morning in The Lab

During the entire month of June, my co-worker Amanda and I worked super hard in the Bake Lab. Every day we slaved away, sweating and toiling. I thought I should re-cap what a typical morning looked like for us.

8:30 AM - Arrive in lab. Turn on oven to heat up.

8:30-9:00 - Check for non-existent important e-mails and surf various food blogs for inspiration.

9:00-9:05 - Load oven with cookies.

9:05-9:17 - Hover around oven to ensure cookies are properly baked.

9:18-9:19 - Remove cookies from oven.

9:20- 10:00 - Mix and deposit a fresh batch of cookie dough (molasses!)

10:00-10:15 - Plate baked cookies on trays.

10:15 - 10:30 - Walk trays-o-cookies over to the College of Agriculture.

10:30-10:50 - Wash dirty dishes and moderately tidy up lab.

10:50-11:15 - Check e-mail. Call egg-ladies. Is it lunch time yet?

11:15-11:25 - Discuss what we will be making for lunch.

11:25- 12:00 - Track down Dave and bother him for something to do.

12:00 - LUNCH!

Lunch is unquestionably the most important part of our day. Typical lunches range from massive colorful salads to poached eggs on toast with Call Hall cheese. Generally, lunches are funded by Amanda's huge garden. She brings the goods. I eat the goods.

Amanda made "kosher" pickles. They were not blessed by a rabbi though. I asked.

Gargantuan salad!

This is an Ice Creamy Joy. I made it with leftover cinnamon test-bake cookies and Call Hall ice cream. Don't worry. I shared it with Amanda. It's probably the only thing I contributed to lunch that day.

After enjoying our sacred lunch hour, our afternoon work activities vary greatly. Major projects for the month included sanding down tables, steam-blasting racks, cleaning-out the storage room, and cleaning out the freezer. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Graham Crackers

My youngest relation headed off on a week-long trip very early last Monday morning. So I offered to bake him some snacks to pack along for the gruesome thirteen hour car ride. He requested Graham Crackers. These graham crackers are remarkably different-dare I say far better- than Honey Maid graham crackers you may buy at the local grocery store.

This formula is chocked full of intense flavor, crispiness, crunchiness and crazy addictiveness. And as all good things should, this recipe begins with copious amounts of butter that gets creamed with a robust helping of sugar.

If you were ambitious or over-achieving you would cut out pretty shapes like hearts or stars. But if you were lazy or uncreative you would cut out squares. Like me.

I do, however, mildly redeem myself by spelling out a super difficult word into the crackers. You're welcome, Russ. I love you too.