Old Photos Round Two

Hi There,

A week or so ago I posted the first in a series of old photos. Here comes the second.

This is a picture of myself and Davey my brother. No Idea how old we were there but we sure don't look that old. I cannot even place the lovely dresser (cabinet in the background). If you want to find out how David turned out from this beautiful face you will be able to check Davey and Sams blog out .

Beer Comparison

Shown below are two beers. The beer on the right is a Bells Two Hearted Ale from the Kalamazoo brewing Co. This is one of my very favourite commercial beer...just a nitch under a pint of Draught Guinness from Ireland.

The beer on the left is my beer, brewed in May in the same style as the Bells Ale noted above. It looks close and tasted very similar but was not identical. Mine was a little more bitter (but that will certainly not stop me consuming the remaining 4.5 gallons).



Commercial vs Paul's attempt? Let me know what you think. If you live in West Lafayette, or anywhere close, you are more than welcome to swing by to try some!!

(In case anybody was wondering, yes those glasses were bought especially for me, last years birthday present from Lynne...)

Excellent Blog

Check out the link to this cool blog. I heard about this recently on NPR. They interviewed the person who started it and it has since become very popular....

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

It is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I really love reading all the postcards that have been sent. Some are hilarious, others are just so disturbing.

Check it out for yourself... I'll put a permanent link to it later

Paul

Sourdough Update

This morning I whipped up a loaf from my sourdough starter. See pictures. Shown is the sourdough starter, before baking and the final product. It tasted OK but nothing special. May have to purchase a starter.

Its seriously hot here in West Lafayette, 37C today....phew..

Glad Midsommar till alla i Sverige!!

Hi Everybody,

To all in Sweden, Glad Sommar. Friday June 24th 2005, for everybody else it will be a normal working day but be rest assured that everybody in Sweden, yes the entire country, will be feasting with good food, lots of drink and songs galore. This is their one day in the year (closet Friday to June 21st ) when absolutely everything is forgotten and fun is had by all. Wish I was with you...hmmm, vad gott ..

It has been a few days so here is another photo.... (in case you were feeling like there was no update.....)

All is well here, getting through the week. So far its been going well.

Keep you posted!!

Today Anja was fully cooperating with us, smiling on demand. She seems to be looking up but she was looking at Lynne who was standing just behind me making faces at her.

Notice that she was sporting a stunning dress for her daddy on fathers day.

This Weeks Obsession....Sourdough Bread

Well having done countless Irish Soda Breads, several yeasts breads with purchased dried yeast, I've decided to have a go at one of my favorite breads....Sourdough.

This of course requires a sourdough starter (i.e sourdough yeast). The idea of a sourdough and what makes it different from any other run of the mill bread is that the yeast used to give the bread lift is simply created at home, so sourdough from different locations around the world will be different. All you need to do is put some food out in the open air (flour and water) and wild yeasts from your environment will settle there and hopefully think it's a nice place to live and multiply. You then take those new yeastie friends of yours to make a sourdough bread.

Of course you can buy a sourdough starter but what's the fun in that?

I am going to give it a go so tonight I put a starter on.... See picture below. If it works I'll make a loaf next weekend and show you the results. It may not work first time but I'll keep trying.

hey.......I've successfully coaxed yeast to convert sugar to alcohol so making bread should not be that difficult right?

I like this guys simple website...: http://www.joejaworski.com/bread/bread1.htm

Paul

What is this you may ask?....look not at what it is but what it could and should become ....

This is simply 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of water which will hopefully be a nice sourdough yeast starter by next weekend......I placed this outside tonight (Saturday evening) and hopefully by Wednesday it will have picked up some wild yeasts and baterium to create the perfect West Lafayette sourdough yeast starter..If it works I'll make a loaf of bread with it next Saturday morning....watch this space for my new yeast obsession.....

What would the day be without a fresh photo of Anja, particularly a weekend day when Daddy is most snap happy!! I think I will soon need to start lobbying for a new hard drive - its funny how a couple of years ago 1gigabyte was essentially infinity...now we are talking hundreds of GBs

Featuring Old Photos

Mum sent me some older photos so that we can try to work out who Anja looks like. Anyhow she sent along a few additional and we will feature them here over the coming days.See below the first one....

Guess who this is when she was young and receiving her first holy communion!!!!

Anja is 7 weeks old today and is now smiling on demand. Melts everone's heart away. She's not exactly smiling above but she has a very hearty smile. As of yet she is not a huge fan of the camera. All those tears and temper tantrums are forgotton by all when she offers up the next smile!!

Last night we visited Lorraine and Randy at their house. They threw a belated multi birthday party. We celebrated on behalf of all people who had birthday's in May, which included Lynne, Lorraine, Khartik and Padma. Shown above is a picture of the gathering and from left to right: Randy's brother Dean, Lynne, Randy, Denora, Kartik, Padma, Lorraine's Mum, Jane, Lorraine and Anja. I'm behind the camera.

Anyhow, we had a great night. We made our own pizza and Kartik did tandoori chicken. Lynne received a nice present that she was very thankful for.

Happy Birthday Clive

Today, June 13th is my brother Clive's birthday. He is 21 again today!! I tried to get a good picture Clive, but all I could find was pub shots (sorry). See the three shots below that were taken when we last came to visit. Guess which ones were earlier in the night......

Happy Birthday

Paul, Lynne & Anja

Here is the only decent picture that I have of the Birthday boy. Taken almost 18 months ago in a pub in Kildare after a few to many pints. Clive my brother is the one in the middle. Happy Birthday Clive!!

Here is the only decent picture that I have of the Birthday boy. Taken almost 18 months ago in a pub in Kildare after a few to many pints. Clive my brother is the one in the middle. Happy Birthday Clive!!

Here is the only decent picture that I have of the Birthday boy. Taken almost 18 months ago in a pub in Kildare after a few to many pints. Clive my brother is the one in the middle. Happy Birthday Clive!!

On Saturday I brought Pat to Chicago for her flight back to London. We make a pitstop at the John Hancock tower for lunch and a little sightseeing. Shwon above is the view across the Chicago skyline (and Pat of course).

Picture taken Sat June 11th. Anja is really now starting to be very alert. Smiling quite often, cooing and generally looking at and listening to every new sight and sound that enters the room.

""This is my favourite place. I come here to sleep and get some rest. Is there no peace and quiet from those flashes daddy???""

Another shot of the girls in the garden.

Took more pictures this evening. Pat wished to get some in the garden before her departure Saturday

Anja Weight Update

Hi Everybody,

Just a short update to let you know that we weighed Anja last night. She came in at a whopping 11lb 14oz. Not bad for six weeks (at this rate she is definitely taking after her daddy!)

Paul

Here are our friends Lorraine and Randy. Lorraine loves little children (all children) and is more than delighted to take care on Anja all evening.

Dinner with Randy & Lorraine Tonight

Tonight we had our good friends for dinner, Lorraine & Randy. Pat kindly agreed to make us dinner and we are all now sitting and enjoying our after dinner chocolates and drinks. I made Irish coffees.

New pictures from Friday June 3rd

See below a few pictures from tonight. We all just sat in the living room as we do most nights (tonight I was armed with the camera).

All are keeping very well here in Lafayette. Anja is getting bigger and so much more alert ( and more persistent when she wants something!).

Pat, aka Gran, is here for one more week and although is looking forward to going home to (get some rest) see her husband Dave, she has also indicated that she will miss us very greatly.

Another week has passed here and life continues to get more exciting. More later in the week!!

All four girls of 501 Hillcrest Rd in West Lafayette. Daisey is taking advantage of Gran holding Anja. She has observed a decreased level of attention from everybody recently and normally tries to get Lynne's attention at every moment.

This is one pround Gran......

This is one pround Mummy!!!!

Trying to keep awake

Daddy's girl

Is that a smile??? Over the past week Anja has started to show signs of a smile. Most text books will of course say that this is gas....but since our daughter does not pass gas...it must be a smile right?

Mums Birthday and Aiden and Isall are Having a Baby

Today, Mum celebrates her 21st birthday (again). Happy Birthday from us all here in West Lafayette.

What a nice present for mother, she will become a granny yet again early next year for Aiden and Isall will be having their first baby. They got married in Turkey last year and are currently living in Roscommon. Congratulations to you both from us here in the US.

Paul

Happy Birthday Mum

They are having a baby!!

Lynne has worked really hard this year, both before and after the birth of Anja. Shown above is one view of her current work

A diversion from pictures of Anja.....Shown above are this years set of tomatoes. Also shown are the chillis and peppers. I started the trellis this Saturday, hopefully it will work this year.