Arrived in Guatemala City

02 March 2019

Headed to Guatemala for 8 weeks of Spanish language immersion courses... and any adventures that happen along the way!

 

 

Early morning flying over Guatemala, shortly before landing. Look at those volcanic mountain ranges, wreathed in clouds!

 
My first view of an active volcano, complete with plume of smoke... I was later informed by my Driver that this is Mt. Pacaya.

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The flight arrived a little early, and a staff from Guatemala Dental Team met me to bring me to their office (via Uber).

If anything can make me smile after traveling all night and then having a root canal in the morning, it's these cute lil cartoon teeth!
  

This is a video walkthrough of my beautiful Airbnb room here in Guatemala City, arranged for me in advance by the staff at Guatemala Dental Team.

Oh yes, and the walk in shower, which was hiding behind the door.
Built in hot water, rather than a flash heater (if there's hot water at all) is quite the luxury in much of Central & South America.

My wonderful Airbnb host, Claudia, made me a lovely simple breakfast this morning. Fresh juiced watermelon from her mom Any, Guatemalan coffee, eggs, beans, queso fresco, and bread. So much better than the packet of instant oatmeal in my backpack!!!

 At 10:00 my ride arrived and we said goodbye. My eyes were closed because I was laughing, she was teasing me about being so tall.

  

Smoke and Fire and.... Panettone?

09 December 2017

The Thomas Fire is raging to the south, causing Santa Barbara county residents high levels of anxiety for friends and loved ones. Currently the containment is only at 15% and the winds are still blowing.

Information sites:
http://readyventuracounty.org/
http://countyofsb.org/thomasfire.sbc
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/1922
http://www.dailynews.com/2017/12/05/this-map-shows-where-the-thomas-fire-is-burning-in-ventura-county/

The air quality is terrible, and particle masks are being distributed for free (for locations, click here).

So with all THAT going on, it's best to stay indoors. To pass the time, I decided to bake. It is the Christmas season, despite everything, and reminders of holiday foods are everywhere.

I am infatuated with panettone after tasting an Italian imported panettone from Galup which a coworker brought to share. Some panettone are dry, but this was soft and delicious, and just slightly sweet.

My first attempt at homemade panettone was using this recipe from the blog Savoring Italy: Bundt Panettone. I followed the recipe exactly, except for the type of dried fruits.

So far, so good. Photo taken just after pouring it into the pan, ready to begin the rising. I let it rise until doubled, just over an hour, before baking.

Here is the finished product. It looks beautiful, and the flavor is spot on, but the texture didn't turn out as I had hoped. The crumb is dense and dry, and it didn't rise further once in the oven.

After reading still more recipes, it seems the general consensus is that a proper panettone takes days to make and requires live yeast and so on and so forth... but I'm not giving up!

#ThomasFire

French Bread, take 3

02 October 2017

I'm trying the French bread recipe for the third time.

The first time, I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of substituting in some whole wheat flour. The bread was good and I thought the recipe a keeper, but it made so much that I ended up eating stale bread for days.

The second time, I halved the recipe, substituted the whole wheat flour as before, and incorporated the oat mash left over from making oat milk. I left out the oil, and brushed the loaves with olive oil before and after baking. It was even better than the first time, much more flavor to the bread and the texture was soft but not dense.

The third time, today, I tried to replicate the previous batch, but I made the mistake of writing the halved measurements right next to the original measurements on my piece of paper, resulting in me adding the original amount of liquid to the halved recipe. The dough seemed awfully sticky when I had incorporated all the flour and I realized my mistake. Oooops! So I added enough flour to get it out of the bowl and hoping I didn't ruin it. I guess it will be another large batch, maybe I'll freeze a loaf or two.

So far, the dough looks normal. Crossing my fingers! (Where does that expression come from?)

Stay tuned for an update later...

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And it's out of the oven and looking like bread! Taste test once it's cooled down a bit.

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