Warehouse 13

This show really bothers me philosophically. It's the 'There are things man was not meant to know' thing writ large combined with an almost animist magic system. Yeah. Cargo cult stupidity with guns and badges running around modern day America. This is anti-science fiction.

The cast is likable, but I keep hoping they will develop a super-villain I could really identify with... maybe a former insider.... who rejects the whole premise and fights for transparency instead of secrecy, study over storage, inquiry over ignorance, science over magic.

And then maybe the main characters might start to sympathize with the villain, but realize they are in too deep... Oh hell, we'd need Joss Whedon to pull it off.

In Mortal Danger

So I made these really perfect brioche Monday/Tuesday. Brioche are a multi-day affair with all the risings and punching down and dough-slapping. I know, sounds like a family get-together.... OK, that's disturbing, moving on.... Started with the NYT Cookbook recipe for French brioche and a dim memory of making brioche for Brunch at the L'Auberge du Cochon Rouge in Ithaca maybe 17 years ago. Actually, when I started doing it we were buying these frozen brioche from France, proofing them and baking them off. They were pretty good honestly. But when I took it over I made my own from scratch a lot of the time. Money was tight and my time was cheap. Or maybe it was because it gave me an excuse not to be cleaning the line Saturday night. Anyway, the recipe starts out pretty good, 1 pkg. 105F water dissolved yeast, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 cup flour, wee bit scalded milk, make a ball and submerge in 105F water till it floats. Nice starter. Now 3 cups flour, salt, 3tb sugar, 1/2lb butter,2 eggs and the starter, combine, knead, make a ball...rise for an hour. All this works good. But then you're supposed to integrate another 2 eggs and 1/2lb of butter without adding more flour. I managed to integrate them, but there was no way the gloppy, sticky mess was ever forming a ball to be worked. Maybe I needed to be working cold.... the kitchen was 90F at this point. Anyway, broke down, added enough flour to pull it into a ball... about 1 cup. Then you work it, and incorperate another 2 eggs. I did one. and added more flour as needed. Worked it some more and let it rise overnight in the fridge. From there everything was back on track... well, no... the recipe says proof for an hour. That is utterly inadequate with dough coming out of the fridge even into hot humid air. It will take 2, or more if the environment is cool and dry. Bake 15 minutes @475. Oh, and the dough freezes well. Not that I have the discipine to not immediately cook off and eat all the brioche possible. I really need a camera.

This is in danger of becoming a food blog.