Make it Happen

Started my morning by cursing the rotation of the earth.  I believe God made the universe, but I wonder who decided the earth needs to spin so fast... OK, some people are morning people, so they just love waking up early in the morning and being a functional human being... I am not one of those people...

In any case, what made me not stay in bed the extra 5 minutes was that I remembered it was bread making day.  Yes, bread making in this house starts at wake up time when I make the "poolish".  Poolish is a mixture of wheat flour, spring water, and a small amount of yeast.  I follow the recipe from Bread Alone- Bold Fresh Loaves from Your Own Hands written by Daniel Leader & Judith Blahnik.  I won't publish the recipe here, since it's not mine and I don't want to commit copyright infringement, but I do recommend the book for anyone feeling a little adventurous.

Poolish takes anywhere from 2-9 hours to ferment and about 5 minutes to make- you just leave it in the bowl with a wet towel over it... when it smells like beer, it's done.

So after breakfast, coffee, and work, I come home and add the remaining flour, some salt, a little more yeast, and more water- kneed the dough for about 15 minutes- put it back in the bowl with wet towel to rise for 2.5 hours, then prep for dinner.

I decided to follow my own advice today and make the roasted chicken with sweet potatoes tonight, so I prepped the bird and potatoes, put them in the oven and go outside for a run.

Today's run is something I've never done before 1 mile repeats... Run really hard for 1 mile, take a break, then repeat.  I did three of these.  So, in runner's lingo, I did 3 x 1 mile repeats... Go me! (by the way... these are really, really hard to do)

Come in, check on the bird and sweet potatoes- my wife, who I had put in charge of checking them when I was out, had pulled them out so they wouldn't burn, but the chicken is taking longer than expected so it's still in.

I check the temp- put it back in, and kept this up for a while until it was done.

Take a shower, because I stink.

Finally it's done- take it out, let it rest- get the plates and carry-out containers, cut up the meat and portion it out to the three plates- in addition I portion out the sweet potatoes and had steamed broccoli.

On good advice, from good friends, I put the carcass in a pot with water, salt and pepper, etc.  Set the stove to boil the water, then to simmer to make broth.

Eat dinner, punch down the dough to let it rest for 30 more minutes... the next step will be shaping them and placing them in the cast iron bread pans and let rise for another 1.5-2 hours, then baking them and letting them cool-- eventually, these will become the bread with which I will make chicken sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch- and there's enough chicken left over that I might, a) make chicken sandwiches for the next day, or b) use whatever is left to make chicken noodle soup.

Needed to get everyone fed before 7 so the wife can go to a meeting at the church-- so, all this was accomplished in approximately 2.5 hours-- Oh, and I've been writing this blog in between other things.

I was told once a long time ago, when I was in school that once I got a full-time teaching job, I wouldn't have the time or energy to keep making fresh meals ("Just you wait!" I was told)

Then I was told that I wouldn't have the time or the energy to keep up with making fresh meals once I had a full-time job and a child ("Just you wait!")

I've been waiting.

If anything, I've added more to my plate with volunteer work at the school, church, and VT Central PA Alumni chapter; in addition, I've been training for marathons... and yet, I still wait.

If it is important enough for you to do it, you will make it happen.  If it is important to you, you will trim the fat, in a sense, in your life to make it work one way or the other.  Everything else is just an excuse- and, being a 6th grade math teacher, I hear excuses a lot... but, if it is important to you, you will make it happen.

So, no more excuses- just make it happen.