I don’t think I’ll ever become a professional.

Since it rained Thursday night, we had a leisurely morning because we needed to let the roof dry out before I could start more repairs.  I ended up making eggs and sausage, and toast with pepper jelly.  As soon as this jar is gone, I plan to make some homemade – does anyone have a family recipe for pepper jelly?  My Aunt Bea used to make it every year before she passed away.

The hardest part about the roof repair yesterday?  Getting the 5 gallon bucket of tar up to the roof – it was fucking heavy!  I ended up using a squeegie (sp?) stick to spread it around, making sure to get all the edges.  Um, maybe I got a little too generous on the edges.  After I was done we saw this about an hour later:

So I don’t think I’ll ever become a professional roofer!  It’s supposed to rain on and off this weekend so this will be the test.

We ate breakfast so late, we never really had lunch.  We ran a couple errands, then got our flu shots.  While I take a minimum of 4 shots a day, Tony is very scared of needles!

He was a trooper though!  We’ve gotten flu shots together for at least the last 10 years and we never get sick.

Since I had time I made two loaves of Artisan bread.  One rosemary and one cheddar cheese.  I do cook it differently then the original recipe states – their method is to put the bread on a baking stone with a water bath underneath.  I cook mine in a Dutch oven for 30 minutes with the lid on, then 15 minutes with the lid off – perfect every time.

Artisan Bread

• 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast (which turned out to be 1 packet + half of a second packet)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour with a wooden spoon, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose and sticky. I covered with plastic wrap sprayed with Pam. Let dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

Bake at this point, or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little (I used more than a little) and cut into four pieces. Each one of my doughs weighed in at about 6 ounces. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch the surface creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal and rest for 40 minutes.   I also skip this step.  I’ve let it rest for 40 minutes and I’ve baked it after the initial 2 hours rise, and didn’t really see any difference.

I just shredded 1/3 of a cup of cheddar cheese over the top of this one before baking – don’t worry, the cheese won’t burn.

We ended up getting a pork roast to grill.  This was so good – since using a remote meat thermometer, I haven’t overcooked meat in a long time.  And since I have the coals on only one side of the grill, I turned the roast around half way through the cooking so it cooks evenly.

And I enjoyed a pumpkin beer while grilling!  Tony thought this tasted like ass, but then again, we could go into a bar with 100 beers on tap, and he would order a Miller Lite.  WTF?!  This was delicious – not overly pumpkiny, just a hint of it.

It’s so weird because since I was off yesterday, it felt like a Saturday all day – love it that I have two more days off!  Although I am dreading a chore I don’t do nearly enough, which is pull out the stove and clean underneath it.  But I know I will suck it up and get it done.  I am just glad that when Tony had home health care, the nurse left a box of gloves, so I use those when I deep clean.  Any takers on coming over to help me?  I’ll make you a pizza!

Have a great weekend – see you Monday!