Amari - Moonwash

The sky cleared, revealing the newly waning moon, still brash, still hazing the stars with its moonwash.

I know that's not a word, but if you've been out in a space where you can see the billions above you and witness the whitewash of the moon, you get it intuitively.

It's moonwash.

It makes for a midnight watch that I look forward to. The winds are temperate and light, the seas calm, which is perfect sleeping conditions for everyone below as well.

What a gift to write for a couple of hours in this peaceful beautiful space. My desk is my boat and its desklamp is the moon hung high overhead.

Today was a breakthrough day as far as food goes. I've been wrestling with my sourdough bread recipe forever, and losing badly. The flavors weren't right, the rise wasn't good enough, and the friggin crust wouldn't brown. Ever!

The recipe I was using was SO fussy and had like 38 steps to it, where you have to tuck it in at night, tell it a story, and make sure it feels okay. Well I replace that ridiculousness with a more straightforward version from King Arthur Flour.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, because how does anyone just follow instructions? It needed me to add a bit extra sour dough starter for the 2nd rise. I think that's what made it so tangy and boosted my breaddy bubbles as well. Perfect.

But the crust. My bane. My nemisis. The problem was that my stupid over doesn't get hot enough. All the recipes tell you to bring the temp up to 475. But if I put mine on max, burning propane like a blow torch, it only gets up to 350. That's the problem.

So inspired by my sourdough crust lust, I tried putting on the broiler flame WITH the oven flame at the same time, and it totally worked. It got up to 425 in a hurry, and I could have run it up higher but got so geeked out that it was working that I just went ahead and stuck it in.

It still wasn't perfect just yet, but hallelujah there was a crust! And the tanginess of the loaf made me want to weep. I mean, we were making seared tuna, a mushroom ginger risotto, and tarragon zuchini and all I really wanted in my mouth was that bread with a schmear of butter.

The risotto was great. The zuchs was predictably awesome. The tuna? It was getting a bit fishy, so it was good that this was the end of it. Makes me feel like we need to go ahead and mow through more of that Wahoo soon.

Okay, clouds are drifting over my desklamp. In another hour I'll be done and back down to sleep again through the balance of this beautiful night.