Anniversary Toast

Today is my two year anniversary of my Urban Mermaid Blog. To celebrate I am making toast! Also as part of my celebration I have started this blog; The Insomniac's Kitchen, launched a few days ago. I have been more of an Urban Milkmaid than a Mermaid these days but that's another matter.

We finally solved the toaster mystery! Someone had sent us an amazing restaurant quality brand new toaster but there was no name or message with it. So for weeks I e-mailed everyone I know asking and thanking them simultaneously but had no luck finding out who sent it. I was exhausted! Then I got the bright idea of calling the various company names on the boxs UPS label. So I fished the torn cardboard top of the box out of the recycle bin to read the names. One was a kitchen store in Hilton Head NC and the other turned out to be in Brooklyn NY. The NC lady sent me to the sweet lady at the Brooklyn store and she helped us trace who it was. She also gave us the kind message that was intended for us. Mystery solved! It was our pal and blog fan Hugh Everett who sent us the Viking brushed stainless steel toaster! We never would have guessed it because last we heard he was living in Belgium. This toaster is amazing and it has four slots and is hydraulic. Hydraulic descending toast! We toast four slices a at a time at the maximum time; number six on the big black knob, and then a bit more at number three is needed to handle my heartiest sourdough. Thank you Hugh!

I have stopped buying commercial yeast so my bread is truly authentic wholegrain sourdough rising from just my Woonsocket sourdough starter which is now ten years old and alive and well thriving in a widemouth jar on the inside door of my fridge! I bought the yeast in San Francisco when visiting and baking a supper banquet for my clown friends who had a gig performing on Geary Street. They had fully equipped kitchens in their hotel rooms!

My next trip I plan to go to Texas to eat a cactus for breakfast and cook and bake for my musician friends and travel all the way across the state. I think we could fit 100 Rhode Islands into Texas but I'm not going to try it.

We have been crazy busy with musical performances and art shows since May and the Urban Mermaid blog has taken a back seat. But I am hoping to post some of my longer pieces on the Urban Mermaid blog, ones that I've been submitting to magazines.