keep moving

Ah well. Better late than never.

Boston Public Library Announces Spice Bank Collective

The Boston Public Library today announced the launch of the BPL Spice Bank Collective, in collaboration with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB).

What: Patrons are encouraged to bring unopened spices and dried herbs to their local participating branch. With the help of the GBFB, each branch will select a local food pantry to donate to. Additionally, donations dropped off at the Newsfeed Café, located at the Central Library in Copley Square, will be matched by the Café.

Why: By providing access to spices, the BPL hopes to offer a way to maintain a sense of cultural identity and family traditions, encourage creative and nutritious cooking, and promote the abundant cultural make up that is found in Massachusetts.

When: Donations will be accepted through 2022.

Where: Participating branch locations are listed below.

Adams Street Branch
Brighton Branch
Central Library in Copley Square (Newsfeed Café)
Charlestown Branch
Codman Square Branch
Connolly Branch
East Boston Branch
Egleston Square
Fields Corner Branch
Grove Hall Branch
Honan-Allston Branch
Hyde Park Branch
Jamaica Plain Branch
Lower Mills Branch
Mattapan Branch
North End Branch
Parker Hill Branch
Roxbury Branch
South Boston Branch
South End Branch
West End Branch
West Roxbury Branch

Also, recently started reading Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing The Science of Cooking, by Hervé This, who is basically the god of molecular gastronomy. It's a little startling; the style of the text is like reading a book by and intended for very educated people of the late 19th century, with ornate little turns of phrase that put one in mind of old school writers, vocabulary words that of course people reading the book might logically have been expected to know but which you yourself did not, and footnotes referencing Giants In Their Field Who Have Been Dead Longer Than My Family Has Been In The Americas... and then whammo, molecular diagrams and cheerful discussion of carbon groupings and chemical reactions in ornately intricate detail.

I feel a bit as if I'm reading Jules Verne's Little Yellow Book of Cookery.

The most recent whole wheat/white flour/oat pulp recipe worked out much better than the last one. Same white flour as last time, about half the regular whole wheat flour from last time because that's all I had, the rest was white whole wheat (not white flour, whole wheat flour made from white wheat instead of red), and oat pulp from oat milk that had been made earlier in the day using maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and xanthan gum in addition to the oats and water. Seems the use of honey as a sweetener in the other batch wasn't great for the eventual bread in terms of flavor. That or having used cinnamon in the other batch, but opting to leave it out in this one, caused issues. Possibly both.

Unrelated, I have come into possession of a vintage sewing machine. Mid-twentieth century, not, like, cast iron body and giant hand wheel/footpedal or anything. I found a web page about the process of restoring one of these to full function, but the text is entirely in Japanese. Google Translate says the page is from 2016 and the author mentioned the machine was over fifty years old at the time. It's a Riccar 304, if the stamp on the underside is accurate. Not a 304b, which is a shame because I've only been able to find a manual for the 304b. There's a dial on the 304b that isn't on this one, and one dial that they both have in common is different from version to version. I found a guy on Youtube who restores old sewing machines and has a video of what I think is the 304; I sent him an email yesterday to ask if he could fill me in on what I need to do to set that different dial to basic default sewing, and where I could replace the belts. The machine was last used in 2013, before its owner died. I don't know whether it's safe to turn on or not but I'll be trying it fairly soon. If I can get this thing to work... man, it's heavy and it's solid and it gives the impression of being diesel powered. The machine in the video can do multiple layers of denim. Possibly even leather. If I can get this thing to work I can sew nearly anything this side of, like, shoes.

(I told my parents a while back I had bought a Singer mini sewing machine- not the full bore kind, just a little bitty battery operated one that only knows how to do one stitch, since that was all I needed to make masks. Mom then said that not only had she herself been into sewing when I was a kid- which I remember well- but that Grandma's father had been a shoemaker, and had used one of those huge iron machines in his daily work. It would appear there is more stitchery in my family than just the knitting and beadwork stuff.)

Note to self: if a liquid product is three months past its expiration date, you need to get rid of it immediately.

if the packet of yogurt culture is three months past its expiration date, it's just dead.

ah, well, at least all I wasted was about a quart of super plain oat milk. the oat pulp will end up in bread or pancakes, so no harm done there, ultimately.

Ingredients:

1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 1/2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder - I used King Arthur Flour's burgundy cocoa, which is Dutch processed and uses alkali
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups packed (10 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
Note: for the More Info Than You Really Wanted edition of this, about an ounce of this should be dark brown sugar that has dried into a brittle but breakable lump, three to four ounces should be reasonably soft and flowy light brown sugar, and the rest should be light brown sugar that has hardened into a brick that refuses to break off pieces but looks small enough that one could be forgiven for thinking a little extra attention will break it up properly
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
Note: the More Info Than You Really Wanted edition used Baker's unsweetened chocolate, broken into individual units and then cut in about two pieces each by rocking a knife across the middle and catching as many of the splinters as possible along with the larger chunks. They were not particularly finely chopped by any standard known to man. Don't sweat the chopping on these.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
½ cup (2 ounces) confectioners' sugar

Procedure: ( I'm pretty sure Professor Cosgrove at CCM would throw me out on my ass for this. Possibly make me wear the Hat of Shame. I dunno. )