Shame on me.

If you are ever three posts into your blog and start to do distracting things like graduate and apply for jobs and move back home, then at least end it cleanly. No one likes to drag things out. Put up a “I’ll be back soon!” post—maybe if you do, you will be back soon. I wouldn’t recommend abandoning your blog in the state I left mine. That’s a gross cheese picture, I know. (Class project!) I wish I had made and posted some brioche, maybe some caramels, or even a bowl of cereal before entering blog stasis.

My “About Me” is now inaccurate; I graduated last June. I will update it when I figure out the best way to talk About Me now. Instead of a student-housing kitchen, I have the pleasures and complications of using my parents’ kitchen. My own dishes and pans remain in the closet under the stairs in our basement, but I claimed one shelf in the kitchen as mine and filled it with my bread-making tools: a bench scraper, a kitchen scale, a thermometer, a small jar of razors, and a kilogram of grey French sea salt.

In November, I (I dwelled on this verb choice for a long time since my contribution was mostly inactive) encouraged a small bowl of flour and water to cultivate natural yeast and am the proud feeder/mother of a bread starter/baby. If you think you can keep a gerbil alive, then you have the competence to maintain a bread baby. When things get too hectic, you can store it in the refrigerator for a few days. That’s where mine is now, but mostly because I am lazy, not hectic (a bread baby is a forgiving pet). I will show you the bread, I promise.

Also, have you ever ignored the intended use of an electrical appliance and made the best coffee of your life? I’ll show you that too. A few promises at a time as we ease back into this. You won’t have to wait until September 2012.

(A man's hand holding a man's coffee.)