Driving Miss Piggy

I left the house at 8:05am today, and got to work at 8:40am.
I left the house at 8:15am on Thursday and got to to work at 9:15am.

There is no calculating Calicommuting...you just leave a little early and cross your fingers.

Last night S. and I had a baking fest. Don't know what inspired us exactly -- he got a hankering to bake a pumpkin pie, because it's one of the only sweets he likes, and because he's not "a baker" and wants to start learning. So I gave him my favorite pumpkin pie recipe and we dug up a graham cracker crust recipe (which we used old girl scout shortbread cookies for -- at last!! a use!!) and he buckled down to bake (or should I say, bakled down?)

I got a hankering for bread. Hadn't used the ol' bread machine in a bit, and hadn't yet used the birthday book o' bread baking recipes (or should I say, the broeakingday o' recipes? Hmm, that one didn't work so well...) I got from L., so I dug up a yummy sounding recipe and another yummy sounding recipe, and made a bread machined loaf of parmesan olivey goodness and an traditional oven baked loaf of Pumpkin bread, substituting the 1/2 cup of oil in the recipe with cinnamon applesauce as a low fat option, thanks to a trick my stepmother taught me.

The parmesan olive one kinda came out a little shrunken and none of the olives incorporated into the inside of the loaf -- so it has a very elaborate crust!! But it still came out okay and is quite flavorful. And the pumpkin bread is too moist. I didn't think pumpkin bread could be too moist, but I cooked it at a slightly lower temperature than was recommended -- so S. could bake his pie at the same time -- and I'm wondering if some of that moisture was meant to burn off? Or was it the applesauce substitute? Dunno.

S. reports that his pie tastes great, though the crust is stuck to the pan. So I guess it was a moral victory for us -- sheer creativity points -- rather than an awesome success.

I have been getting over a cold. I seem to get one annually, and this one came right on the heels of my flight back from VA, so it makes sense. I think yesterday may have been my first full day of energy post-cold, which may explain the sudden burst of baking endeavors...

Happy Christmas Season!