Thursday, January 19, 2006

Bread, Cheese and Bikes

Last one first.
Bikes, just got back from a ride which really didn't have any purpose. Most of the time I am such a utility bicycle rider, if there isn't a destination, I don't typically get on the saddle. The problem is worsened when I look outside and it is dark, cold and dreary like it is right now. I somehow worked up the gumption to go for a little ride though, not over 15 miles, but it is night dark outside. It felt good just to be on the bike again, my one mile commute is hardly enough to get me started. Another aspect of winter riding is that it focuses my attention span. I find that I am getting more and more into a mind set of just listening to the first 30 second to a minute of a song before I skip to the next track. With my massive gloves hindering my finger dexterity, I have no means of shortening the songs (they have not created the iPod mind plug yet). When I get to listen to an entire track, I get a greater appreciation for the music, for the same reason I like listening to whole records.

Cheese.
This rep just brought in some goat cheese from a small town in Montana. Organic humanly raised goats produce this cheese in none other than Belgrade Montana, where my mom lives. I think a little goat dairy tour will be in order the next time I make it back to Montana. My mom is always trying to get me to move back to Montana, talking up how much better paying the jobs are than when I left. Granted I wouldn't have much difficulty finding a cooking job around Bozeman, there are umpteen bazillion resorts in that area. Back to the cheese, I am currently eating some of the "Truffled Chevre" on my grilled cheese sandwich. The truffle flavor is there, albeit a little subdued, hard to tell though considering I slathered the whole mess with some black truffle oil I had lying around.

Bread.
This same grilled cheese sandwich I am eating right now is on Birchwood bread, which has gotten so freaking good in the last month or so. We have a new baker who is dealing with all the bread baking and recipe writing right now, and the results have been stupendous. Everyday I try a different of his creations and am impressed more and more. This that I am eating right now is the whole wheat bread, chuck full of whole grain goodness. I also noticed this afternoon when getting the Whole Grain Milling price sheet that they are now offering a whole wheat bread flour. Usually when making whole wheat bread, you have to put some portion of white flour in, just to offset the lack of gluten in the wheat flour, this wheat is supposedly super nice and doesn't need near the amount of white flour (if any). The delivery driver (owner?) said that it was some of the nicest wheat he had ever gotten, and where was it from you ask?

Mon-Fucking-Tana, where else?

What is best is that I save 6 dollars a bag by getting the flour from WGM, think 5 bags a week, times 52 weeks, that could mean about 1.5k savings AND a better product. Freaking awesome if you ask me.

Comments:
Montana's been doing a ton of marketing for itself lately. I'm not sure who's in office or anything right now, but they're definatly trying to up the image and make it more of a destination. They're especially focusing on the winter sports, skiing, snowmobiling, etc, but that could just be the time of year...

How do I know? They had like 3 booths at REI the one time I went there. I signed up for a free trip to Missoula, but didn't get it. I do get the occasional postcard and email, though. They could definatly use some help on the postcards - the quality was awful, both on the offset part and on the inkjet part. Inkjet variable data? Cmon - nobody does that anymore if they can avoid it...

It does make sense that they're focusing more on the organic/indy side of the farming too. It fits well with the view most people have that it's a really independent, DIY type of state...

I'm not really sure on the whole idea of moving back there. It does kind of seem like it would be the 'right' and 'traditional' thing to do. Back in the old days, a lot of kids would head off either on tours of duty in the military or to Universities or apprentiships, then move back. They'd use the knowledge and the skills that they learned while away to improve the land where they grew up and carve out a niche for themselves... Maybe us all being in Minneapolis is kind of like that...

Nah, I'll probably just retire there :P
 
I'm never moving back.
 
I am not really against the idea of moving back, I feel equally suited for city and/or country life. It seems a little more probable that I will end up moving to NYC instead, which might as well be the opposite of Montana. I cannot quite imagine why I would be motivated to head out east though, no clue.
 
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