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Ryan Gillespie
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/03/white-blank-page/
Feb 21 2011
Cinnamon Rolls
I think the picture kind of speaks for itself. These are the Cinnamon Rolls from the BBA.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/02/cinnamon-rolls/
Jan 11 2011
Brioche
I didn’t go home over the holidays this year, so I had a couple long weekends with not much going on. A perfect time to get back into the BBA Challenge! I decided to go back and try and hit a couple of the breads I had skipped over previously. As I had everything on hand for the Brioche, I decided to start there.
First step was to create a sponge:
This would get the yeast started on their life journey.
After adding additional flour it would be time to slowly mix in the butter. In the BBA there are three variations of Brioche. Rich Man’s, Middle Class, and Poor Man’s Brioche. I decided to go with the Middle Class variation, partially because I’d be mixing the butter in by hand (instead of having a stand mixer). It took a fair amount of time to mix in a half pound of butter into the dough above. Once that was done I spread out the dough on a sheet pan and let it do a cold fermentation overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day it was time to proof the dough. Because of all the butter in the dough, I’d do the shaping as soon as I removed the dough from the refrigerator. As I don’t have any brioche tins, I improvised with a muffin pan.
After letting the rolls proof and brushing them with an egg wash, it was time for them to go in the oven. They ended up with a “muffin bottom,” but still tasted great.
Of course, I had to take Nicole’s advice and make breakfast sandwiches with them in the morning!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/01/brioche/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/12/books-ive-read-in-2010/
Dec 17 2010
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
(and yes…I actually own this album on vinyl from back when I was a kid)
The priest at my church has been telling us about how he hasn’t been able to get into the Advent spirit this year (for those not up on churchspeak…Advent is the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas that marks the beginning of the church calendar). I’ve been right there with a similar sentiment this year.
My holiday plans of course were thrown upside down with the breakup right before Thanksgiving. I ended up at my parents house for Thanksgiving instead of my original plans to spend the long weekend in Portland. Because of that unexpected trip though, I’ve decided not to go home to Oregon for Christmas. This will be the first year since I moved down to LA that I won’t be going home for Christmas (though it was also the first year I was home for Thanksgiving).
As for my plans for Christmas now…I’ve got an invite to go over to play video games and hang out in the afternoon on Christmas day from one of my friends. Other than that, my Christmas and New Year’s plans are open. I did cancel my vacation request for the week between Christmas and New Year’s though. Figured I’d save those hours for an actual vacation sometime later.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/12/we-wish-you-a-merry-christmas/
Dec 08 2010
dark night soul
I feel somewhat cruddy at the moment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, right before Thanksgiving, the relationship I was in ended. It came as somewhat of a surprise. That there were some issues wasn’t, but that it was time to walk away from the relationship was a surprise. While the relationship was still fairly young time wise, it was pretty intense emotionally. But still there was a distance between us, that we weren’t able to overcome. Being that J lives in Portland and I’m still in LA, there is the obvious physical distance. Not so obvious, was little rifts that opened up as we navigated our feelings and the intensity of the relationship.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/12/dark-night-soul/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/12/a-christmas-song/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/11/hearts-on-the-loose/
Nov 26 2010
Up in the Air
It’s been a crazy few months. I saw the end of a long relationship. The beginning of something new that was intense and amazing. But also incredibly difficult for various reasons…including just under 1000 miles between the two of us. I began making plans for my Escape from LA, but the desire to see more and more of Jeanne, was making my savings goals difficult. I know I overdid things financially in October…and even then spent more than I would have liked in Nov. I knew I needed to refocus and come up with a better plan in order to keep on schedule to move to Portland (See post linked above).
Reading between the lines, I’m sure you can guess that something has happened with that relationship though. Its all still a little too fresh to write well about. But instead of talking about marriage we’re now talking about how/if we can still be friends.
So here I am, unexpectedly at my parents house for Thanksgiving. I feel out of sorts. I don’t know where my life is going, as the path I was on a week ago seems like its ending. I do know I’ve got a lot of doubt about things though. I feel a little disconnected. Can I still plan on moving to Portland, when its not to continue the process of building a life with her? What does it mean for me in LA? Certain things were much easier with the promise of her.
I decided I’m going to seek out some therapy when I get home from this trip. I think having someone non-partial to talk to about the stuff swirling around in my head well be good. I don’t want things to spiral deeper into depression and let that cause issues with other parts of my life. Its already affected my eating habits (I haven’t had much of an appetite for awhile…and its only been worse this past week).
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/11/up-in-the-air/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2010/11/i-l-u/
