May 7
Ah, these days off are too short.
I had whipped up a sponge Saturday night, after the walk in the park with Jane and her family. I chose to finally use the sample of Canadian hard spring wheat.
This flour has a strange color; brownish. I opened the sealed bag and a strange odor rose. The closest name I could attach to it was chocolate, though obviously it wasn't chocolate. It has a lot of large and small bran flakes. I mixed it with the water and yeast, thinking I would make another ciabatta. But Sunday night I rethought that idea. I didn't think it would work as ciabatta.
I left the sponge out for four hours, and it didn't seem to be bubbling up. I left it another hour, then put it in the fridge. As I moved the bowl, it did give a ripple and a burp. The yeast was active.
I am amazed at the generosity of these Changzhou people. On Saturday night Jane took me to her mother-in-law's for dinner, where I met her father, her son, her husband and also her girl friend who is a cop like Jane's husband. After dinner we strolled through the very big park until we reached the dancing plaza. I tried the line dance they were doing. Her mother-in-law...or was it her mother?..was already there in the middle of the lineup. I finally excused myself; it was 8 pm and I was eager to whip up a sponge.
My bag was still in her car, which was in the apartment complex underground garage. But I had taken my keys with me, and my cell phone. So I rode my ebike home. She insisted that the next morning she would pick me up because she wanted to see the house Lisa is giving me. She seemed to have her doubts.
Sunday she came by at 11:30 to my apartment. Her nine-year old son was in the back seat. She said he insisted on coming with her to get me, that he really liked me and was calling me grandma. He's a cute kid.
As soon as I got in the car she said we'd go to her mother's for lunch. I had already prepared a salad for myself, which I had left in the fridge thinking she'd drop me back to my flat in time for me to ride my bike to work, at 1 p.m.
I persuaded her to take a look first at Lisa's house, at Zhong Tian Ming Yuan. OK, she said, but afterwards we were going to eat with her parents.
Amazingly, when I tried the door to Lisa's house it was unlocked. We went inside and looked around; I gave her an idea of how it would develop. She was nodding her head in agreement as we wondered the three stories; she saw it, she got the picture.
We further discussed the next step of getting the business license so that I could get a visa. For a business visa you must have a letter from a company saying you were a foreign expert whose consultations were critical to your business. Could I write a letter for myself? I still hadn't quite figured out how that would work, when she said no, I shouldn't get a business license yet.
But what about the visa? She said that her company would sponsor me for the visa. Her husband the policeman would shepherd the application through the system. Problem solved.
Or so it appears. Things in China aren't always as they seem. But at least we have a plan.
Then it was time to go to lunch. Her parents have a large flat on a modest fifth floor of a 28 floor building. It has four bedrooms. One is used for an exercise room, another for an office, and the third for the grandchild's sleepovers.
Both her parents seemed young, though Jane said they were 60 and 62. The father has a business which seems to be that of a landscape architect. Putting in gardens around new buildings, was sort of how Jane explained it. I typed out those words on my phone and she looked them up on her phone's better dictionary. She seemed confident in that translation.
I am still not sure who we saw dancing in the square the previous night. I need to get to know the two mothers better in order to tell them apart.
Her mother's apartment building is one that I watched being built. It is next to the new elevated road, on the left of the lane. When I first came to Changzhou I lived in University Town and worked at the Mechatronics College, so I would ride my bicycle to the RT supermart. It is a superstore where I could get everything I needed, including pet supplies, gardening supplies, clothing, shoes and of course, groceries and alcohol.
But then the construction began on that section of the elevated road, closing off all access to RT mart from their south entrance. One had to go north one very long block and circle around to get back to that south entrance. I think their business dropped off seriously during those long months of construction.
My second year in Changzhou was also in the same neighborhood of University Town; I had moved east a block on the same avenue. RT was still my store of choice, especially once the construction was completed and it could be accessed directly from the south again.
That tall new building which would become home to Jane's parents had yet to be landscaped, however. A pond was being built between it and the elevated road, on both sides of the lane I traversed to and from RT mart.
First a huge machine came in and punched holes in the concrete of the portion of that short lane that had previously been finished. By this time I had an ebike. It was like an obstacle course, trying to avoid the holes. But there couldn't be more than six inches between them, and they were randomly placed, so I hit my fair share of them. Then the last 20 meters were as yet unpaved, pipes were being laid. During rainy season it was sheer mud. I doggedly steered my electric bike through the ruts and up and down the mounds and gulleys. Then finally one day the entrance to that 1/4 mile road was actually roped off. The guards that stood at the apartment complex gate on the right saw to it that no one tried to pass through the ropes. Anyway, the drop off from the asphalted portion to the as yet unpaved portion was a foot or more. It stayed that way for at least a month. I constantly asked them, in my mind, how long does it take to pave one small strip of road?
Sunday the drive to Jane's parents' apartment was a smooth one, and a beautifully landscaped one.
From the window of the apartment, which is south-facing, a looked down on the other new development, a gated community of townhouses with peaked roofs. I have admired them for a long time now, thinking that if I settled down in Changzhou that's the sort of place I'd like best to live in. It was delightful to actually see the property close up, so to speak, rather than just passing by the gate.
A narrow east-west channel separated the two properties. The channel is bordered by thick trees, adding privacy to the homes. There is a swimming pool under construction in front of one of the buildings. I am not sure, but I think there are four attached townhouses in a row. That is the arrangement at Lisa's development, at least. The yards immediately across from the apartment balcony were attractive. One actually was all lawn, with a curved sidewalk in the middle of it. The one to the right of that was much more typically Chinese, being mostly paved with cut stone and low walls.
When I see how these two ladies, Jane and Lisa, seem so committed to my success, I have to marvel at it. I speculate about the psychology of it, their motivation. Changzhou has gotten wealthy very, very fast. Students have told me what the city looked like ten years ago. The change is dramatic. Can it be that these people are also somewhat amazed at the rapid rise of their personal wealth? I wonder. Clearly, this has been a farming community until just recently. Many of my students talk about visiting their parents and grandparents 'in the countryside'. I was invited along one time, and the house was indeed in the middle of planted fields. I myself have ridden the ebike to the edge of the city and discovered simple farm homes with their large fields, some hydroponic applications, and some fish farms.
Perhaps they are still simple farmers at heart. Farmers have a hard life, being subject to the whims of nature. This can foster a close communities, interdependent, families lending a hand to each other when and where it is needed. And maybe this generous caring spirit is still alive and well in the hearts that beat in the chests of the kind folk of Changzhou.
Life has taught me to be a bit of a cynic, to expect everyone to put their own self-interests first. I look at the people I have met while teaching at Web, and all I see are simple-hearted, sincere and generous people. I cannot see greed or superficial status building behind their actions. They have nothing to gain from helping me. They are just nice people!
Canadian Hard Spring Wheat
Getting back to today's bread experiment, I labored over the books until I had figured out how to convert the ciabatta sponge into a sandwich loaf dough. I was surprised to find that the sponge used far less yeast than I would have used had I been making a sandwich loaf sponge.
I used some white unbleached bread flour for the rest of the batter, a little dry milk powder, clover honey and a small amount of olive oil. And lots of yeast.
First proofing
While the dough was having its first rise, which would take up to two hours, I rode the ebike to the garden market. It was much larger than I had realized on my previous visit, and I wandered up and down the lanes of stalls with a big grin on my face. It was so lovely to see so many old 'friends' again. Honeysuckle bushes, gardenias, peonies, and lots of shade-loving green plants. I saw quite a few pots of spearmint and peppermint, but no other herbs.
I forced myself to break off the strolling and get back to business. I found the young man I had spoken with on my previous visit. I got a large sack of soil and two large round plastic pots for sixty rmb, less than $10. I layed the dirt sack crosswise at my feet, and the pots on their side on top of the sack. My knees straddled the pots, my feet rested on the sack.
I took that directly to Lisa's house and left it there, outside. I'll have to get someone to help me carry the sack up to the third-floor balcony (not second floor, as I previously reported). This week or next I will bring the herb seedlings there and transplant them. I need to buy a five gallon bottle of water, since the house still is without utility service.
The batter was way too wet. I still have never been able to use all the water that Ruth Levy Beranbaum requires in her pullman loaf. I should have kneaded it for ten minutes after I first mixed it, but it was too wet. I let it rest, then kneaded it for five minutes since by then some of the moisture had been absorbed. I used copious amounts of flour to dust the board, working it in to the dough as I kneaded.
While it was rising the second time I constructed a couche, because there would not be enough dough to make a decent high loaf in the loaf pan. I used aluminum foil, which Peter never mentions. I made two long wells about two and a half inches wide, sprayed liberally with oil and then dusted. After about an hour and a half of the second rise I dumped the dough out again on the board, but while in the bowl, using the bench scraper, I divided it in two.
I shaped each one into a squat batard, stretched them long to put tension on the skin, and laid them in their wells. I sprayed oil on the plastic wrap and covered them. I could see that they would rise to join at the middle seam. It was just an experiment, I had ripped off a random length of aluminum foil and that's as far as it went.
I baked the two loaves for 50 minutes; the tops were almost scorched, as I had this time set the rack higher, more towards the middle. I only tossed in ice cubes, about half a cup, and sprayed at 30 second intervals. I did not use the water pan. I feel it blocks the heat and causes uneven baking, in such a small oven, so I'm not using it.
It is hard to describe the taste of this bread. It is chewy, a nice crust. I would say that the flavors are not subtle, but rather heavy as well as hearty. There is a slight tingly sensation to the aftertaste. Perhaps slightly sour.
Ah, these days off are too short.
I had whipped up a sponge Saturday night, after the walk in the park with Jane and her family. I chose to finally use the sample of Canadian hard spring wheat.
This flour has a strange color; brownish. I opened the sealed bag and a strange odor rose. The closest name I could attach to it was chocolate, though obviously it wasn't chocolate. It has a lot of large and small bran flakes. I mixed it with the water and yeast, thinking I would make another ciabatta. But Sunday night I rethought that idea. I didn't think it would work as ciabatta.
I left the sponge out for four hours, and it didn't seem to be bubbling up. I left it another hour, then put it in the fridge. As I moved the bowl, it did give a ripple and a burp. The yeast was active.
I am amazed at the generosity of these Changzhou people. On Saturday night Jane took me to her mother-in-law's for dinner, where I met her father, her son, her husband and also her girl friend who is a cop like Jane's husband. After dinner we strolled through the very big park until we reached the dancing plaza. I tried the line dance they were doing. Her mother-in-law...or was it her mother?..was already there in the middle of the lineup. I finally excused myself; it was 8 pm and I was eager to whip up a sponge.
My bag was still in her car, which was in the apartment complex underground garage. But I had taken my keys with me, and my cell phone. So I rode my ebike home. She insisted that the next morning she would pick me up because she wanted to see the house Lisa is giving me. She seemed to have her doubts.
Sunday she came by at 11:30 to my apartment. Her nine-year old son was in the back seat. She said he insisted on coming with her to get me, that he really liked me and was calling me grandma. He's a cute kid.
As soon as I got in the car she said we'd go to her mother's for lunch. I had already prepared a salad for myself, which I had left in the fridge thinking she'd drop me back to my flat in time for me to ride my bike to work, at 1 p.m.
I persuaded her to take a look first at Lisa's house, at Zhong Tian Ming Yuan. OK, she said, but afterwards we were going to eat with her parents.
Amazingly, when I tried the door to Lisa's house it was unlocked. We went inside and looked around; I gave her an idea of how it would develop. She was nodding her head in agreement as we wondered the three stories; she saw it, she got the picture.
We further discussed the next step of getting the business license so that I could get a visa. For a business visa you must have a letter from a company saying you were a foreign expert whose consultations were critical to your business. Could I write a letter for myself? I still hadn't quite figured out how that would work, when she said no, I shouldn't get a business license yet.
But what about the visa? She said that her company would sponsor me for the visa. Her husband the policeman would shepherd the application through the system. Problem solved.
Or so it appears. Things in China aren't always as they seem. But at least we have a plan.
Then it was time to go to lunch. Her parents have a large flat on a modest fifth floor of a 28 floor building. It has four bedrooms. One is used for an exercise room, another for an office, and the third for the grandchild's sleepovers.
Both her parents seemed young, though Jane said they were 60 and 62. The father has a business which seems to be that of a landscape architect. Putting in gardens around new buildings, was sort of how Jane explained it. I typed out those words on my phone and she looked them up on her phone's better dictionary. She seemed confident in that translation.
I am still not sure who we saw dancing in the square the previous night. I need to get to know the two mothers better in order to tell them apart.
Her mother's apartment building is one that I watched being built. It is next to the new elevated road, on the left of the lane. When I first came to Changzhou I lived in University Town and worked at the Mechatronics College, so I would ride my bicycle to the RT supermart. It is a superstore where I could get everything I needed, including pet supplies, gardening supplies, clothing, shoes and of course, groceries and alcohol.
But then the construction began on that section of the elevated road, closing off all access to RT mart from their south entrance. One had to go north one very long block and circle around to get back to that south entrance. I think their business dropped off seriously during those long months of construction.
My second year in Changzhou was also in the same neighborhood of University Town; I had moved east a block on the same avenue. RT was still my store of choice, especially once the construction was completed and it could be accessed directly from the south again.
That tall new building which would become home to Jane's parents had yet to be landscaped, however. A pond was being built between it and the elevated road, on both sides of the lane I traversed to and from RT mart.
First a huge machine came in and punched holes in the concrete of the portion of that short lane that had previously been finished. By this time I had an ebike. It was like an obstacle course, trying to avoid the holes. But there couldn't be more than six inches between them, and they were randomly placed, so I hit my fair share of them. Then the last 20 meters were as yet unpaved, pipes were being laid. During rainy season it was sheer mud. I doggedly steered my electric bike through the ruts and up and down the mounds and gulleys. Then finally one day the entrance to that 1/4 mile road was actually roped off. The guards that stood at the apartment complex gate on the right saw to it that no one tried to pass through the ropes. Anyway, the drop off from the asphalted portion to the as yet unpaved portion was a foot or more. It stayed that way for at least a month. I constantly asked them, in my mind, how long does it take to pave one small strip of road?
Sunday the drive to Jane's parents' apartment was a smooth one, and a beautifully landscaped one.
From the window of the apartment, which is south-facing, a looked down on the other new development, a gated community of townhouses with peaked roofs. I have admired them for a long time now, thinking that if I settled down in Changzhou that's the sort of place I'd like best to live in. It was delightful to actually see the property close up, so to speak, rather than just passing by the gate.
A narrow east-west channel separated the two properties. The channel is bordered by thick trees, adding privacy to the homes. There is a swimming pool under construction in front of one of the buildings. I am not sure, but I think there are four attached townhouses in a row. That is the arrangement at Lisa's development, at least. The yards immediately across from the apartment balcony were attractive. One actually was all lawn, with a curved sidewalk in the middle of it. The one to the right of that was much more typically Chinese, being mostly paved with cut stone and low walls.
When I see how these two ladies, Jane and Lisa, seem so committed to my success, I have to marvel at it. I speculate about the psychology of it, their motivation. Changzhou has gotten wealthy very, very fast. Students have told me what the city looked like ten years ago. The change is dramatic. Can it be that these people are also somewhat amazed at the rapid rise of their personal wealth? I wonder. Clearly, this has been a farming community until just recently. Many of my students talk about visiting their parents and grandparents 'in the countryside'. I was invited along one time, and the house was indeed in the middle of planted fields. I myself have ridden the ebike to the edge of the city and discovered simple farm homes with their large fields, some hydroponic applications, and some fish farms.
Perhaps they are still simple farmers at heart. Farmers have a hard life, being subject to the whims of nature. This can foster a close communities, interdependent, families lending a hand to each other when and where it is needed. And maybe this generous caring spirit is still alive and well in the hearts that beat in the chests of the kind folk of Changzhou.
Life has taught me to be a bit of a cynic, to expect everyone to put their own self-interests first. I look at the people I have met while teaching at Web, and all I see are simple-hearted, sincere and generous people. I cannot see greed or superficial status building behind their actions. They have nothing to gain from helping me. They are just nice people!
Canadian Hard Spring Wheat
Getting back to today's bread experiment, I labored over the books until I had figured out how to convert the ciabatta sponge into a sandwich loaf dough. I was surprised to find that the sponge used far less yeast than I would have used had I been making a sandwich loaf sponge.
I used some white unbleached bread flour for the rest of the batter, a little dry milk powder, clover honey and a small amount of olive oil. And lots of yeast.
First proofing
While the dough was having its first rise, which would take up to two hours, I rode the ebike to the garden market. It was much larger than I had realized on my previous visit, and I wandered up and down the lanes of stalls with a big grin on my face. It was so lovely to see so many old 'friends' again. Honeysuckle bushes, gardenias, peonies, and lots of shade-loving green plants. I saw quite a few pots of spearmint and peppermint, but no other herbs.
I forced myself to break off the strolling and get back to business. I found the young man I had spoken with on my previous visit. I got a large sack of soil and two large round plastic pots for sixty rmb, less than $10. I layed the dirt sack crosswise at my feet, and the pots on their side on top of the sack. My knees straddled the pots, my feet rested on the sack.
I took that directly to Lisa's house and left it there, outside. I'll have to get someone to help me carry the sack up to the third-floor balcony (not second floor, as I previously reported). This week or next I will bring the herb seedlings there and transplant them. I need to buy a five gallon bottle of water, since the house still is without utility service.
The batter was way too wet. I still have never been able to use all the water that Ruth Levy Beranbaum requires in her pullman loaf. I should have kneaded it for ten minutes after I first mixed it, but it was too wet. I let it rest, then kneaded it for five minutes since by then some of the moisture had been absorbed. I used copious amounts of flour to dust the board, working it in to the dough as I kneaded.
While it was rising the second time I constructed a couche, because there would not be enough dough to make a decent high loaf in the loaf pan. I used aluminum foil, which Peter never mentions. I made two long wells about two and a half inches wide, sprayed liberally with oil and then dusted. After about an hour and a half of the second rise I dumped the dough out again on the board, but while in the bowl, using the bench scraper, I divided it in two.
I shaped each one into a squat batard, stretched them long to put tension on the skin, and laid them in their wells. I sprayed oil on the plastic wrap and covered them. I could see that they would rise to join at the middle seam. It was just an experiment, I had ripped off a random length of aluminum foil and that's as far as it went.
I baked the two loaves for 50 minutes; the tops were almost scorched, as I had this time set the rack higher, more towards the middle. I only tossed in ice cubes, about half a cup, and sprayed at 30 second intervals. I did not use the water pan. I feel it blocks the heat and causes uneven baking, in such a small oven, so I'm not using it.
It is hard to describe the taste of this bread. It is chewy, a nice crust. I would say that the flavors are not subtle, but rather heavy as well as hearty. There is a slight tingly sensation to the aftertaste. Perhaps slightly sour.
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