All good things....

...must come to an end. My starter jar exploded. And when I say "explode"....

I mean EXPLODED! Bits of glass all over the kitchen, fortunately none lodged in my eye socket, though. I have given out enough of my starter that I think I could have gotten a batch back and given it another whirl. But as the saying goes, new year, new starter. I'm not sure that's actually a saying, but I'm going to campaign on making it one. 

So I started the process of building a starter from scratch. Truth be told, I would later find out that my original starter wasn't particularly conventional. It had yeast added in, whereas normal starter just builds yeast through the fermentation process. With a new jar in hand, then, the 10 day process of getting a new starter going began. 

After about 8 or 9 days, I wasn't sure that it was going as planned. But the sourdough people online assured that the process would work, even if it would take a little longer. And sure enough, right at about 10 days it started rising and smelling fruity and kinda like apples. I did make a loaf, but I rushed the process and it didn't turn out great. So we have a new one in the works now. Pictures no doubt forthcoming.

Otherwise, weekend skiing continues. Last week, it was back to the Lemon House where we were able to have Aunt Charlene join us for a loop.

Later in the week, Ruth helped me with this chicken and dumplings recipe. She was in charge of the buttermilk dumplings, which totally made the dish.

We had a healthy dumping of snow this weekend, so we decided to stay in town for skiing. We tried the cross country trail at Central Cambria and it was a hit! Very nice terrain and just the right kind of snow. 

After that, it was a dinner of pork chops with prune sauce, and roasted new potatoes.

 

Hikes, Sourdough, and Skiing

Last week, we took a trip to Johnstown and walked the Jim Mayer trail, which follows the Stonycreek River. About halfway up the 1.5 mile trail is a waterfall, which was more of a trickle when we saw it.

Sidney uncharacteristically got into the water--all four paws. 

Weekends aren't complete unless we play a game of Kids Against Maturity.

Of course, this picture doesn't do the evening sky in Ebensburg justice. But we have been seeing some remarkable colors in the early morning and evening. 

Random dog picture.

We ran in Loretto this past weekend, which is always good for some scenic views.

And of course, sourdough.

We tried using a higher quality all purpose flour this time, and the results were encouraging. I think that we'll be making a switch.

We also took a trip to the Lemon House for some skiing. We looked ahead at the weather and it didn't look like we'd have enough snow. But everything was covered, and while the snow was mushy, we were able to explore our usual trail just fine.