Update

Round one was not successful.  While I did ovulate according to the blood work, the vaginal ultrasound showed multiple follicles that had not released an egg (typical for PCOS).  As my ob/gyn so eloquently put it...my ovaries look like chocolate chip cookes.

So, this cycle, Dr. Harper wants to do IUI (feel free to google this procedure if you aren't familiar with it, I have yet to be able to describe it in a ladylike way). That said, it's about the most unromantic way to get pregnant, but  I am so glad he is being aggressive about this.  This procedure is about as high tech as we want to go...this process has been very taxing and I am done in June. 

We'll know the results in two weeks!

- Rebecca

Fresh Bread

Sorry I haven't posted for a while...I seem to get determined to tell a story and until it comes to some sort of conclusion, I don't really want to talk about anything else!

So, you all know my obsession with fresh bread.  And how much I miss "pan de lena" from Spain.  It's actually nothing like the bread we have here, not even close to the "french baguette" you can find in the grocery store..."pan de lena" (i think it literally translates to bread of wood...wood burning fire that is)

So, my beloved, knowing my obsession with bread AND my obsession with cooking from scratch, heard about this great book on NPR one morning called "The Lost Art of Real Cooking" by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger.  Paul told me about how this show talked about "catching" yeast by setting out flour and water on the countertop for a while.  (really???)  I thought this was a little odd.  I mean, who ever heard such a thing?

But, he kept talking about making "Alabama Bread" and a few months later I found myself on Amazon purchasing the book. 

So, a few weeks ago, I got started "catching" yeast.  Literally, all I did was lay a bowl with some water and flour (i used rye flour) for a day, only covered with one of those mesh plate covers you see in the summer time to cover picnic food.  I was horrified that other "bichos" (look that up in your spanish dictionary :-)  might find their way into my flour and water. 

This stage is kind of gross and smelly.  But you can tell that the yeast has found its way to the slurry by the pockets of air created in the mixture. 

The next day, I covered the bowl with a kitchen towel AND the wire mesh dome. Every day, I add flour and water. A week after I started this whole adventure, I made my first loaf of bread.

it's working!

and then it collapsed!

once baked, it could really have hurt someone!  But, persistance is key and I kept adding flour and water to the starter each day and kept on making bread each night. The next few times flopped, in a similar way to that first night, then...this loaf came out. Amazing. We are getting close!

And then a few days later THIS loaf came out, and while it might look like a deflated "french baguette" it is actually the same shape as my beloved "pan de lena"!  I heated up some marinara with parmesan and sliced up this loaf for an appetizer.

Then a few days ago,  i found a recipe for indian flat bread and decided to give it a shot....amazing. 

Curiously enough I decided to look up the bread recipe in my spanish recipe book that I have been using for over 15 years now and the recipe is amazingly similar to the one in "The Lost Art of Real Cooking", only they tell you to go to a local bakery and ask for "mother bread" (instead of yeast).  I think I will have this "mother bread" on my counter from here on out. I am now obsessed with my bowl of local yeast and check on it several times a day to make sure it is doing well...

I think my "mother bread" needs a name...any ideas?