Outside Temp: -12 F (yes, minus 12... like below 0, although it's kind of hard to tell anything after about 10... Oh, and snow! Woo hoo! White Christmas!)
What I cooked today:
Sweet Dinner Rolls: I wanted to make dinner rolls for the potluck today. I figured that it was an easy thing to make, I had all the ingredients and it's usually pretty good. So, I got up this morning somewhat early, and mixed together the dough. I put it in the oven (warmed but turned off) to rise, and went about my morning. About an hour later, I went to form the rolls, and the dough hadn't risen... like at all. Hmmm... Maybe it will rise when I bake it. So, I formed the rolls and let it rise for another 30 minutes. Still nothing. I threw them into the oven and 15 minutes later I pulled out little tiny balls that were not really cooked in the middle and were dense as could be. Ugh.
So, I started all over. I think what happened is that I mixed the yeast in with the scalded milk, and the milk wasn't cool enough. So, this time, I put the scalded milk out on the porch to cool for about 5 minutes. That did the trick. This time, the dough rose just like it's supposed to, and the rolls turned out fine. I guess you learn something every time you screw up!
Update:
Merry Christmas!
We had a great day! After my morning of baking, we went over to the church for 3pm mass. The church was full, but not uncomfortably packed (which means that no one had to stand... always a good thing!). After church, we had a great potluck over at the community center. Then we headed home for a few hours of rest.
We went to Belt for the evening mass, in which Allen and Connor joined Patrick and Grandma and me in the choir. They were so excited to be allowed to participate, and Connor told me afterwards that it made mass go by a whole lot faster!
After mass, we headed over to Patrick's aunt's house for cookies and coffee (and tea). We got to chat with some family and enjoy good food, which is always a great combination! We got back home late (after midnight) and sent the kids to bed (with their new Christmas footy PJs!).
On a (somewhat) different note, Patrick and I have been really good about not turning on the propane heat in the house. We have space heaters in Ryan and Connor's rooms, and one in the family room and one next to the computers, but we have found that just using the electric mattress pads and the space heaters, we haven't had any problem keeping the house warm enough. Granted, it's not hot, and we don't walk around in T-shirts and bare feet, but it's keep the costs down and we've been doing fine... until today.
It was cold today. I think it warmed up to about 2 degrees, and didn't stay there long. We were fine while I was baking and the oven was on, but after church, it was downright cold in the house. I crawled into my bed, with the electric blankets on, and covered my head with more blankets. Patrick came in looking for me, and had to dig through 5 blankets to find me huddled in a ball. Enough was enough. He looked at the internal thermometer, and it was below 55 degrees in the house. Well, since it was Christmas, perhaps we could make an exception this time.
We uncovered all the registers in the floor (the under-the-house freezing cold air was seeping through, so we covered them all with duct tape to keep the cold out) and turned on the heat. Yes, it smelled bad, but it was warm. In about 15 minutes, the temp in the house was up into the high 60's and it felt so good! I was able to crawl out of my cozy hole, and get ready for church, without shivering or chattering my teeth.
I figure if we break down and turn on the heat every time it gets below 0, we might do just fine.
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