Crate Designs review: good post-purchase support

I wrote a bit about Crate Designs not too long ago. The furniture I bought from them arrived a couple of weeks ago but was parked in the living room for a week or so because the room it was destined for wasn't ready to receive it.

It's very nice furniture and is of high quality but, unfortunately, when I took the protective plastic that was holding the drawers and glass doors closed on a credenza unit, I noticed a big crack bisecting one of the glass panes. I asked the company about it, thinking I might be able to go and pick up a replacement glass pane from their store or something like that but, to my surprise, they actually came to my house today and installed a new pane!

This company has a lot of things going for it. It makes nice, solid furniture that seems to look better with age, it's made locally, the salespeople know the furniture very well, and they always seem to deliver when they say they will and, in this case, went well beyond my expectations.

So, I think it's worth posting this just so that others know about them. I've had two furniture orders with them now and everything has gone perfectly both times.

Technorati: Crate Designs, review

Muesli review: Finax, Bob's Red Mill, Dorset

Muesli seems to me to be a good cereal. It's the only cereal that I eat nowadays because I've come to the conclusion that all boxed cereal is bad for you, whether or not it's organic, low sugar, high fibre, granola, or loaded with vitamins and "essential nutrients". On the odd occasion that I do go back to the usual boxed cereal, I can tell it's no good because of how it makes me feel: highly-strung and feeling full but still hungry.

But, muesli doesn't seem to have these problems. It's a dry and relatively-raw cereal without any fancy sugar-based varnishes, crunch enhancers, or funny shapes.

I'm going to briefly mention three types that I've tried over the past few years: Swedish Finax, American Bob's Red Mill, and British Dorset. I was also going to include Bulk Barn's no-name muesli but they changed it recently to have some hard, gritty pieces in it. That's fine if you're going to cook it, but I eat it cold with milk so I don't buy it anymore.

Finax
Finax isn't so subtle in their marketing, with a big "GOOD FOR YOU" plastered on the front, as if it's the name of the muesli (it very well may be the name). It's mostly made up of flaked grains with a sporadic scattering of sweet pieces like papaya and raisins. It's a good cereal for a small bowl because there aren't any big pieces to come rolling over the top when you put the milk in. Because the sweet things are so sparse, it seems like a lighter cereal and doesn't sit around in your stomach for hours or have any adverse side effects. In fact, after I eat it, I feel like I might be ready for a half-day's work at a Swedish social democratic government job (though of course I'd take a full day to do it).

In Canada, you can get it at Superstore.


Bob's Red Mill
Bob's Red Mill is probably what you'd call a "hearty" muesli. It has a serious, earthy look to it and has some dates and raisins for sweetness. The sweetness is higher than Finax because there are more sweet pieces, and the flakes are larger. It also has a lot of sunflower seeds compared to most mueslis, which over time I haven't come to like very much. Everything else in the mix crunches in your teeth nicely, but the seeds slide around sometimes or just get in the way.

In Canada, you can get it at a number of places that carry Bob's Red Mill stuff (usually in its own display). Superstore carries it.




Dorset
Dorset is like a "deluxe" muesli, regardless of the version you choose (there are many). The simplest version has whole hazelnuts in it, for example. It's also loaded with dates and raisins and the sweetness (though natural) is the highest of the three. It's not TOO sweet, but it's on the sweet side. Combined with the relatively large amount of nuts, it turns out to be a pretty rich cereal and I don't like to eat it every day. But, this is what I remember as "muesli" -- fitting, since it is British and I grew up in England. At the same time, muesli isn't a British invention so it's likely a British interpretation.

In Canada, you can get this at A&P/Metro. Foodstuffs in Georgetown has a few of the varieties, too.


Summary
So, really... I liked Bob's Red Mill at first but over the long term got tired of there being so many seeds. I don't like lots of seeds in muesli. Finax is the best "every day" muesli because it's light -- not too rich and not too sweet. Dorset is a good "special" muesli for when you want something a bit sweeter and heavier and it's fell well-balanced, but I find it a bit too heavy for eating every day. Maybe you can call it a "dessert muesli" :) This is based on their least-extravagant muesli. I've tried a few of the others that they make and they're all about the same as far as the heaviness goes.

Technorati: muesli, Canada, review

Ray LaMontagne concert : April 15, 2009 : Massey Hall : Toronto, ON

It hasn't been that long since I saw Ray LaMontagne in concert because I saw him last year at Danforth Music Hall. It was just as good the second time around -- this time at Massey Hall -- and I haven't got much more to add.

But, this review of the concert at Jam! is a pathetic review, giving it a mediocre rating apparently only because RL didn't talk very much during the show. Maybe this is important to someone who either (a) wants to have something different to say in a review or (b) doesn't care about the music, but even with both of those in play, you'd have to be pretty insensitive to notice that the reception to the concert was very enthusiastic and nobody seemed to care about any of the points she raised because they were there for the music. It's a rude and insulting review written for the type of people that wouldn't really care about the so-called showmanship even if it was there (and I'm not sure that it wasn't there, anyway... there was nothing at all missing from this show).

It reminded me that I also saw world-class flamenco guitarist Paco Pena in the same hall last year, and he didn't say a single word -- about 50 words less than RL did last night. But so what? It was one of the best flamenco shows I've ever seen and I don't have a single negative memory.

We need more good musicians: we don't need more amateur comedians. Ray LaMontagne is better for being the former and for not trying to be the latter.

Technorati: Ray LaMontagne, Massey Hall

P.S. The gallery seats at Massey Hall -- those above the balcony -- are actually pretty good. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the hall is so shallow, and the gallery seating is staged at such a relatively large angle that you get an excellent view of the stage. In some cases, they would be better than the floor seats. I had floor seats at Danforth Music Hall last year and the view was larger but not as broad.

Reinventing the carnival freak show

One of the appealing things about the old-fashioned carnival was the mystery and promise that accumulated in advance of the carnival's arrival. Promoters were sent ahead of the travelling carnival, and parades through town gave a hint of what would be seen if you went. But, even when you've seen the preview and when you arrive, the dissolution of mystery is further suspended because everything is tucked away behind inscrutable, colourful canvas tents and the muffled sounds from within them blend with the relatively quiet atmosphere to create a place that's both peaceful and exciting at the same time.

At the time, there were lots of exotic animals and freaks of nature attached to these shows because this was a very affordable way for average people of the time to experience things from such far-flung places. Most people were not jet-setting around the world on planes multiple times a year to go to foreign places, and particularly not during the Depression, when the carnival had a even more special meaning.

When I went to Carnivale Lune Bleue last year, it was obviously a shoe-horning in of something from a different time and place into the present, and you had to use a lot of imagination to try and make it fit. We don't have as much need for what the carnival offers as we used to.

Beyond that, though, I wonder about the sideshows. Carnivals used to taunt you with the promise of seeing real freaks of nature -- the two headed kid; the bearded lady; the turtle boy. But I almost think that kids wouldn't be impressed by that these days. The contemporary world of a child is a world of fantasy, after all -- very sheltered and with little left to chance. I'm sure many kids are shuttled from colourful plastic playset to colourful plastic playset as the adults enrich their lives with events while the kids stay in the area furnished by the event facilitator that's "great for the kids".

But everything fantastic that they could possibly see has probably been seen on TV. Would freaks impress them? Probably not, and that's why I think we need to reinvent the "freak show".

In my mind, a modern freak show would involve freaks of nature such as the following -- never before comprehended by a modern child:

• The man who makes bread from grass: step right up and see the man take seeds of wheat, grind them up, and make loaves of bread with the powder!
• The egg-laying chicken: come one, come all! See the chicken lay an egg and watch as our death-defying stage manager makes an omelette with it... and eats it!
• The man who drank milk from a cow: watch in amazement as the odd little man milks the udder of a cow, drinks the milk, and lives to see another show!

I think -- no, I feel -- that these would be much more appropriate and effective freak shows for the children of modern times.

Technorati: modern freak shows, carnival

Airy and even-flavoured 100% whole wheat bread in the Zojirushi BB-HAC10 bread machine

I've finally perfected and repeated this recipe enough times to know that it's a solid recipe now, so I'll post it here. Bear in mind that the BB-HAC10 machine is a 1 lb. machine, so makes a small loaf. Most machines are 1.5 lb. or larger. It's also a very good machine, and some aren't :)

First of all, whole wheat bread recipes seem to be somewhat dependent on the type and grind of flour used -- way more so than white bread recipes. I have had complete success with President's Choice Organics 100% whole wheat flour. I have had no success with Milanaise Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread Flour. Making an educated guess, I'd say that non-organic regular whole wheat flour would work fine because the grind and consistency looks similar. I haven't had success with the Milanaise flour in any recipe at all!

Normally, I see bread machine recipes as a compromise -- speed and cleanliness in exchange for a lower-quality loaf. This recipe is the exception to that experience. I would be as happy with this loaf if it came from the oven as if it came from a bread machine. It does require a bit more work than a regular bread machine recipe, but nowhere near as much as without the machine.

The 100% whole wheat recipe in the machine's manual is not very good, in my opinion. The loaf is dense, and the flavour isn't cohesive. It's a flat taste with these uncoordinated accents that fire off all over the place and aren't that nice, to be honest.

This is based on the whole wheat technique in Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads", which really does make one of the best-tasting whole wheat loaves. It's probably better than any straight-wheat bread I've got from the bakery before, too.

You need to prepare this about 24 hours in advance. The basic technique is to prepare the "soaker" and "biga" 24 hours in advance, let them rest for 24 hours, and then combine them with a few more ingredients and start the machine.

Day before: Soaker

• 113g whole wheat flour: as above, I used PC Organics 100% WW
• 1/4 tsp. salt: I used unrefined grey sea salt
• 89g milk: I used whole milk

Mix together just so that there's no loose flour in the bowl, cover with plastic, and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours. That's all.

Day before: Biga

• 120g flour
• 1/8 tsp instant yeast (aka bread machine yeast)
• 85g tepid water (room temperature)

Mix together in a bowl until roughly combined, then wet your hands and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. Re-wet your hands if the dough starts to stick (it probably will). Then, let it rest in the bowl for 5 minutes, re-wet your hands, and knead again for another minute or so. Cover the bowl with plastic and put in the fridge for 24 hours.

Baking day

• 35g whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. active dry yeast (I haven't tried instant.. if you are going to try, use a bit less than 1 tsp.)
• 21g honey: I used blueberry honey, unpasteurized
• 9g butter

A couple of hours before baking, turn the oven up to maximum heat for about 30 seconds and then turn it off. Remove the plastic from the bowls and put them in the briefly-warmed oven for 1-2 hours. If you don't have an oven, just let them sit at room temperature for about 2 hours. The idea is to take the chill off the biga, since it had been in the fridge.

Flour the counter and pull the contents of the bowls out of the bowls and lay them down. Dust with flour and use a dough scraper to divide each piece into 6 pieces. Put them into the bread machine pan.

Add the honey near the edge of the baking pan. Cut the butter into paper-thin slices and scatter it around the edges of the dough pieces. Add the salt near the edge. Add the flour to the centre of the baking pan. Make a little well in the flour just big enough to contain the yeast, and put the yeast into the well.

Now, all you should have to do is start the regular cycle and leave it. It's not a bad idea to check it once it's kneading to make sure that none of the ingredients have stuck to the sides of the bowl. Sometimes a few little pieces of butter won't incorporate and I just wipe them onto my finger and stick them onto the dough ball while it's kneading.

That's about all. The loaf should be relatively airy (for whole wheat bread) and have a delicate crust that tastes like a good cracker. The flavours will be well-integrated, unlike with whole wheat recipes that don't have the soaker and biga.

Technorati: Zojirushi, BBHAC10, whole wheat

Georgetown Bach Chorale : A Winter's Evening : February 21, 2009 : Norval Presbyterian Church : brief review

Last night, I attended this concert at the Norval Presbyterian Church in Norval, Ontario. It was a nice collection of baroque music, variously performed by a small string section (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello), a 24-member choir, harpsichord, and recorder (voice flute?) in a small church with excellent acoustics.

The performance's title was "A Winter's Evening". It was very appropriately-named as the winter weather outside was terrible, as were the roads. But what a nice contrast between the harsh outdoor weather and the comfortable and warm indoors of the church.

I enjoyed this presentation and particularly the live sound of the harpsichord and a quality recorder (as opposed to those plastic ones I remember having to play when I was in elementary school!). The choir sounded full and very smooth and well-rounded. The acoustics and warmth of the church were also very nice.

But, I think I may have been spoiled by the wonderful violin performance of Conrad Chow in their first performance as the ones here were not as good, although obviously far better than many people could do and impressive when considered on their own and in context. At least one of the violins did consistently sound a bit out of tune, though.

Overall, though, it was very enjoyable and another great opportunity to see this type of music performed locally.

Hopefully not breaking any copyrights, I have made a copy of the programme available as a PDF.

Technorati: Georgetown Bach Chorale, review

Georgetown Sourdough: fin

Yesterday, I finished the first sourdough loaves from the sourdough palaver I started last week.

First, here's how they look:

Not bad! The loaves look large in the picture, but they are actually not much longer than my fully outstretched hand, which is about 8 inches from the base of my palm to the tip of my middle finger. They are batards.

You can tell by the air bubbles in the cut surface that the wild yeast were quite active. I already knew they were, though, because the dough had formed some large surface bubbles during the final rise, indicating that the dough was not only properly kneaded (since it could hold air to the extent that a translucent bubble was able to form within the dough -- the dough is loose enough to allow a bubble to form and strong enough that the bubble holds) but also that the yeast were active and alive.

The doubt about whether the wild yeast were sufficient had always been in the back of my mind, even though the scent of the dough clearly said that there was some activity going on. If it had failed on account of the yeast, a week's worth of work building the culture. would have been wasted.

Anyway, this was an unbelievably drawn-out process. I started in the morning and didn't actually bake the loaves until after 9pm at night! It might have taken a bit less time if I kept my house a bit warmer than I do, but I keep it at under 20C in the winter. Here's what was involved:

• reactivate the starter (12 hours): since the stiff dough levain had been in the fridge, I took it out the night before and prepared the recipe starter, leaving it out overnight to become active
• mix and hydrate the initial dough (30 minutes): white, rye, and whole wheat flours were combined with water and left to stand to hydrate
• add the starter, knead the dough (20 vigourous minutes): the starter was added to the hydrated dough and kneaded for 15-20 minutes until the windowpane test was passed (the test is to stretch the dough until you can form a thin translucent window without tearing it)
• fermentation (2 hours): let the dough ferment in a covered bowl
• folding and rising (5 hours): flatten and fold the dough, and then let it rise until the volume increases by 25-50%
• dividing and shaping (10 minutes): divide the dough, flatten and fold, and roll into batards
• couche and proofing (2 hours): the couche to support the rising loaves is formed and the formed loaves are left covered to rise until volume increases by about 50%
• scoring, baking prep, and baking (1 hour): the oven is prepared with a baking stone and empty broiler tray; the oven is preheated to 450F about 30 minutes before baking; the loaves are scored; water is boiled; just before putting the loaves into the oven, the boiling water is poured into the broiler tray to create steam; the loaves are baked for 15 minutes at 450F and a further 20 minutes at 400F.

The loaf tastes very nice, and it has a definite sourdough flavour but it's a complex one. It is dense, as sourdoughs tend to be. It is very good toasted. It's good untoasted if warmed first.

Was it worth it? It's hard to be honest with myself with these things because of the amount of time and effort I put into it. But, really: no... it wasn't worth it. The main product is that I know I can do it. But when you consider that you can get an equally-good loaf from the local bakery for $3, unless you really enjoy it then it's very hard to justify. The amount of resources consumed for a single pair of small loaves, too, is painful to try and justify -- all of the cleanup, oven preheating, plastic wrap, etc... these things are much more efficient when done in the context of mass production.

On the other hand, if you can get your bread machine to turn out a good loaf -- which requires advance planning, too, and a biga and soaker -- then it's justifiable. The cleanup is minimal and the prep time is insignificant relative to the quality of the end product. I've come up with a good bread machine recipe/technique of my own for a 100% whole wheat loaf that I can do in my Zojirushi BB-HAC10 bread machine. It is (heavily) based on one of the methods in Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" book, adapted for the fixed behaviour and size of my machine, and it tastes really good.

Technorati: sourdough, Daniel Leader