I made another batch of bagels this morning using a different recipe. This one did an overnight rise of the dough. Definitely better. I need to do a few tweaks to the recipe though as I put the bagels on the parchment paper like it said but this morning they stuck to the paper and were difficult to get off. I used a spatula underneath them but next time I will spray the parchment paper with canola spray. The boiling part went fine and so did the baking. I think bagel making is like bread making that it does take a few times to really get the feel for it and how it should be.
We had a nice rainy walk and it was a Christmas Miracle….. the AH was not there. It was amazing. Of course, it was raining and he doesn’t usually walk in the rain so maybe not a miracle.
Then we had decided yesterday to hit Costco today as Sunday before the churchgoers get there is usually a good time. We went right in and it was good. We were done in about 20 minutes and back out. This will be our last trip till mid -January or whenever we run out of coffee. I bought 3 bags of Starbucks so that should last us. Since we’re having a minimalist Christmas, there was no looking at the Christmas stuff or trying to figure out gifts. It’s very freeing. I think this is a natural evolution of our minimalism and everyone is on board. We’ve never not had gifts so it will be quite different. I am totally enjoying not being part of the Christmas madness. Well, everything is sorted and put in the fridge and freezer. I did get some chile tamales for Christmas dinner or Christmas eve so that will be tasty. The cheese and green chile ones are usually only available at holiday time.
This week is the bathroom zone so I plan on doing that later or even tomorrow. Wverything is tidied up and my daughter did a reset and tidied the kitchen for me while we were gone.
It’s snowing up at Tahoe and looks like the storm door is open all week. We need the snow pack so that’s good. We’re supposed to have rain all week too.
We’re watching the new season of Shetland and it’s good. We also started the Night Manager and it’s also good but gets a little intense.
Tahoe Girl 
I’ve had bad luck with parchment and wet doughs. When I make English muffins or naan, I now let them rise on a Silpat mat. Works great!
I don’t have a silpat anymore. Gave mine away years ago. Not sure if spraying will help though ??
I understand the weariness with gift giving especially as we age and try to get rid of stuff. However – we have young grandkids and that wouldn’t fly with them! One of our kids doesn’t participate in gift giving (except they want birthday gifts) but they have no kids: the others do. Instead of exchanging gifts hubby and I donate several boxes of food to the university food bank and also cases of food to the Humane Society. We do this for birthdays, Easter, etc. too.
I totally get it. We have no grandchildren and probably won’t. Both my adult children are uninterested in marriage or kids. I like the food bank idea. When Barclay was still with UNFI we would bring a van load over of his samples ( cases of stuff) that he couldn’t use.
“Go in peace; go to Costco”