New recipe, this time calling for heavy cream as the only liquid, and it needed a lot more than the instructions said in order for the dough to hold together. Texture was okay, crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, but less crumbly than other recipes I’ve tried. Not sure I like that about it.

This time I tried half red and half white whole wheat flour, where the recipe said just “whole wheat”. Definitely a no. Using red wheat gave the end result a nutty flavor that would have been pleasant in some other recipe, but here completely covered the flavor of lemon zest that I wanted to come through.

Alright. Temperatures are hazardous in a significant chunk of the U.S.A. right now, and the rest of the country will get worse in that respect as summer moves in.

Heat exhaustion is what happens when your bodies’ ability to cool itself is pushed to the edge of failure. Learn how to spot it, because this is the last chance to stop a life-threatening emergency.

Untreated heat exhaustion progresses to heat stroke. When your core body temperature reaches 104°F (40°C), it starts to cook. Since your brain is baking in the least fun way, you’re not likely to recognize what’s wrong, or be able to help yourself. The last person to know when somebody gets heatstroke is the one who has it.

With immediate cooling and prompt medical attention, heat stroke has a mortality rate of ~10%. If you can’t escape the heat, your odds of dying rise to 80% in less than 2 hours.

To sum up? Please keep an eye out for one another. Heat doesn’t look like other dangerous weather, but it is.

Today’s scones are orange, cardamom, and poppyseed, made with white whole wheat flour so I wouldn’t have to fight the tannin-ey flavor of wholemeal red wheat flour. When I’ve got the base recipe down, I have some ideas for more assertive flavors to use with ordinary whole wheat. Chai-spices with candied ginger, for example.

I think I’ve figured out what’s going wrong when versions with larger sized add-ins fall apart on me. The recipe doesn’t use enough fluid to account for how dry the flour is when it’s stored in the ‘fridge (to avoid pests & prevent staleness). Also discovered this time around that egg wash is vastly easier to apply evenly than cream.

(P.S.: Why is my pic upside down? It’s correctly oriented in the phone gallery. Hope that’s just a preview glitch.)

Since #carp has been going around, I figure it’s as good a time as any to make note of the species under the umbrella of “Asian carp”. They’re invasive in North America, Europe, and probably other regions I don’t know about.

They are (clockwise from top left) the black carp, silver carp, grass carp, and bighead carp. If you catch ‘em while fishing, please kill ‘em. And then eat them—they’re tasty.

*Especially* juveniles, so they don’t get the chance to breed.

#EatYourInvasives

First try at an entirely whole wheat quickbread.

Pro:
* Waiting until the bananas are almost inedible (sugar spots starting to merge) gave it a strong flavor that could stand up to the tannins in wheat bran
* Has a nice lingering little bite from same tannins
* Doubled walnuts from original recipe without overpowering other flavors

Con:
* Not as moist as I was hoping for. Still good, but not perfect. Next time use additional bananas (6-7 total) and/or more oil.

Hey, folks. I've got four research quests pending on 'make new friends'; add me and I'll throw gifts at you from time to time?

Boosts are ok. This post will be deleted when quests are complete. :)

NtS: Next time, make the fish stock stronger.

Still tasty, though.