The Long Hot Summer and Sourdough Bread

I've tried for years to get a sourdough bread to work.. without any luck, I might add.  Finally I found a way that works!  Ask me if I'm delighted..lol   I put the dough together last night at bedtime and let it rise all night, then punched it down this morning and let it rest another 45 minutes in the pans.  Baked it at 450° until it browned and voila'  .. it worked!  

I worked and worked with this a couple of years ago when there was NO bread on the shelves...yeast was almost impossible to find (had son mail me some from Michigan)... and even flour was not to be found on Amazon.  I never could get it to work for me, but I didn't know how.  Thanks to feastingathome.com I finally got a full idea of how it's done.  I didn't follow completely since I don't have a dutch oven that is the right kind for this, but I followed enough that it worked.. :)  Here's the full instructions for this .. feastingathome.com/sourdough-bread .

It's been miserably hot this year with every day for over a month having temps above 100°F.  Misery is not even the best word and I can't think of one bad enough.  Dangerous is better.  Our grandson Dustin is working for a roofer and had heat stroke yesterday.  This temperature gauge is on our back porch, in the shade, and this temp shown was yesterday about 5pm.  The cotton crop that the poor dry land farmers have is almost negligible.  Tiny, short plants with few blooms that we could see from the road as we drove by...and it's just now August.  This will definitely be "The Long Hot Summer" .... 

I found another Michael Lee doll on Amazon not long ago.  Was so surprised and tickled!  A bright spot in a long hot summer..lol 

 I had no idea Michael Lee was also in movies!  Heaven and Earth,  Noble House, Around the World in 80 Days, Operation Dumbo Drop..  amazing.. Here is a youtube video with Michael and some of his later dolls.  

Michael Lee

Hope your weeks have been good.  I will try to do better at posting, but no promises made with all the heat.  :)   Kiss your loved ones and hug your fur babies.. have a wonderful day. 

Very Nice Few Days...DS...Michael Lee Doll

We have just had a wonderful visit from the son who lives in Michigan. What a surprise..lol The phone rang and the question was..."What are you doing the next couple of weeks? I'm in Missouri!" After picking my jaw up from the ground, I was too excited for words.

We went to McKinney a couple of days ago and wandered through the antique malls. It seems there is a downtown improvement project going on and the corner where our favorite restaurant is located is torn completely up ... but from the looks of all the brickwork already finished on other sides of the street, it will be very nice.

I found a doll for $5.00 that was thrown in a basket on the floor in the last antique shop we visited. DH and DS both grinned a bit and thought it was a little funny that I wanted a doll, but this turns out to be a special one. I had no idea at the time... I just knew that I had never seen one like it before. It turns out to be signed, dated and numbered by the old Chinese man who made these dolls in his 700 sq. ft. home in Hong Kong. Wow! His name was Michael Lee and was a refugee from China fleeing when the Communists took over the country. Click here for his story. It's a lovely one... he spent most of his money helping other refugees find their way out of the refugee camps.

Anyway...after I washed his face and ironed the clothes it made a really big difference. I think he's cute as a button!