Tuesday, April 20, 2010

If you like really good bread...


I love fresh-baked bread. Well, who doesn't, right? I don't make it often, but my life, or at least as far as bread baking goes, has changed since reading My Bread by Jim Lahey. I had read about this recipe more than a year ago, but was only recently inspired to try it after talking to friends who make it all the time. Lahey's recipe is no-knead, but it does take planning because it needs at least 12 hours to rise. So I mixed it up one night, and then left it. I was just sure the recipe must have a typo, because it only called for 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. When I looked at it next morning, it looked kind of grey and goopy, and I was afraid my concerns were justified. But I persevered, which meant leaving it to its own devices for about 5 more hours before actually baking it. It would be kind to say it looked less than promising going in to the oven--but it was delicious. That loaf was gone within 24 hours. Time to make another one, and maybe time to checkout some new cookbooks in search of yet more culinary inspiration.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Quoting Keith Richards


It's National Library Week, a time of year when we ask you to be happy you have a public library. There has been a lot of bad news for libraries around the country in the last two years. Libraries are often the first casualities of a bad economy, and the economy has been on the skids for two years now. When I read news stories about libraries cutting staff, cutting hours, cutting materials budgets, and closing branches, I am grateful we have so far escaped any of those fates. It's a sad truth that as people turn to libraries more than ever--whether for help with job searches, free programs for entertainment and education, or free materials for reading, listening, and watching--libraries in many parts of the country are less available and have less to offer than they once did.

But that's not true in Everett, and I am happy to be able to say that our libraries and our staff are providing more service to more people than ever. And we're doing it with the same budget we had last year. We're offering more computer classes, individual computer assistance, and soon, more public Internet computers. Our materials collection is robust,and we're launching our second Big Read project with Sno-Isle Libraries. Baby storytimes are thriving, circulation continues to grow.

I never expected to be quoting Rolling Stone Keith Richards, but I came across this on a list serv, and thought it was appropriate this week, and really, every week.

When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.” Keith Richards

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Good Intentions

When I began this blog my intention was to post at least once a week. I don't always make that goal, something you probably know if you read it at all regularly. Recently a colleague passed along an article about food bloggers/diarists--people who are almost obsessive about documenting everything they eat, and doing it every day. Whether you are a fan of the minimalist approach exemplified by Javier Garcia or Nora Sherman's more colorful photos, apparently it's possible to spend a lot of time online looking at what other people are eating.

I know myself well enough to know there's no way I'll ever blog about anything on a daily basis. In fact, I don't even spend a lot of time reading other people's blogs, at least not every day. I guess I read blogs the way I write this one--sporadically. I look at library blogs and gardening blogs, and then life gets busy and I forget to go back. And it's not because they weren't interesting.

I was thinking about how people incorporate technology and the Internet into their lives (or don't) the other day. I was at Best Buy waiting for a computer diagnosis, and talking about smart phones with one of the sales guys. Now, I would love a smart phone, and he was hoping to sell me one. We had a long conversation about various phones and features and calling plans. And then he asked me what I did online--where I got my news, for example. The answer to that is NPR and the newspaper. It feels as if I'm online a lot, but it's usually for a work-related purpose. I guess I still think of technology as a tool, and not as part of my leisure life. Maybe if I get that smart phone, that would change?

Oh, and just in case you're interested, today I've eaten an egg, some toast...