Sunday, August 4 2019

Dear Journal,

Good morning! And happy Sunday to everyone. As promised, yesterday didn't have too much action. After breakfast, Rodney and I went for a long walk to the grocery store. Ever since I noticed that my usual path takes me in the opposite direction for a leg of the journey, I've been interesting in finding a more direct way to get there. Rodney and I got a little lost, but we had fun wandering through some nearby neighborhoods.

Rodney and I perused the grocery store. For dinner, I decided to try making Saucijzenbroodjes, or Dutch sausage rolls. I've been wanting to get more acquainted with puff pastry, and this seemed like a really good introductory recipe. I picked up ground chuck from the butcher while Rodney chatted up the live lobsters in the tank, then we walked home. For lunch, we heated up some leftovers. Marissa left with Ziggy to the second day of her agility trial, and by then Rodney was ready for a nap.

The Saucijzenbroodjes turned out pretty good. I definitely have some learning to do when it comes to puff pastry. To my surprise, the squares were frozen solid, so I went the way of thawing them in the microwave. I thawed the first sheet too much and it just about melted. And to my greater surprise, the other sheets had just thawed on their own on the warm counter while I was futzing around with the first one. I prepared a filling of ground beef, bread crumbs, and an egg seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and a lot of nutmeg. I packed the ground beef into "sausages" and did my best to cinch them up in the puff pastry, scoring the tops with a knife and brushing them with egg wash. I felt a little silly, because in preparation of working with puff pastry I dusted the whole counter with flour, as if I were making puff pastry from scratch or something. In hindsight, none of that was needed. Puff pastry was easy to work with, as long as you don't go off and do something stupid, like melting it in the microwave.

I baked the sausage rolls for about twenty five minutes. Two of them popped open. I think I had a bit too much water in the egg wash, which dampened the tops. Additionally, I probably should have rolled them so that the seam wasn't on top, as the scoring kind of weakened the seal. There's always next time. All in all, I enjoyed my first experience working with puff pastry.

Today, Rodney and I are going to go play some baseball at a park we discovered during our wanderings yesterday. We have some leftovers in the house, but I might take him out to lunch.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. Remember - puff pastry thaws on its own, and you only discover new places when you wander off the path you normally take.