Why Don't Fitted Sheets Fit?

OK, so here’s a question: why don’t fitted sheets fit on my mattress any more? I thought the purpose of the fitted sheet was to provide a smooth, unwrinkled surface for sleeping, without the hassle of trying to make hospital corners and tuck a plain sheet around your mattress. That would mean, to me, that you don’t get little bumps and pockets around the edges that catch your toes just as you’re falling asleep, jolting you back to consciousness.

Unfortunately, I’ve found over the past 10 or 15 years that this is not so. My fitted sheets never quite fit on my mattress, leaving little wadded-up twisted places at the corners, and wrinkles all around the sides. Granted, when I first discovered this affliction, I was buying discount sheets in the irregulars bin. Hmmm, was that what they meant?

So a few years ago, I upgraded to a nice, first-quality set of percale sheets from a lovely upscale retailer. I was so excited to think that I would have a wonderfully smooth sleeping surface that I couldn’t wait to put them on the bed. I washed & dried them, then took my nice, new, fresh-smelling sheets in and started making the bed.

I pulled one corner over the mattress, went to the opposite corner, and pulled that into shape. I noticed a few wrinkles, but thought they would surely go away when I had finished. Last two corners…voila!

But wait…what’s this? A backwards dimple on a couple of corners? Did I put the sheets on wrong? I took them off, turned them around, tried again, and…still had dimples. And wrinkles. And no matter how hard I tried, I’ve still never been able to get my sheets completely smooth. Which drives me up the wall, without fail, every week.

I don’t have a big pillow-top mattress. I don’t have a custom-made bed. Just a normal, everyday box spring—for which, I would think, sheets were made.

So I ask, plaintively, why don’t fitted sheets fit?

Guess I’ll go have a cup of tea to drown my sorrows.

Snow blogger

Snow Haiku:
Kids making snowballs
Bewildered dog among them
Trying to stay dry.

It's snowing today in Austin, TX (where, in February, it's usually 65 degrees), and in the face of this strange weather phenomenon, I can't get anything done. I've declared this a mental snow day.

I remember when I was little how anxious we were for it to snow--but only if it meant a day off from school. If that miracle actually happened (hearing the magic number "807" on the radio!), we got dressed in so many layers we could hardly move and piled out the door into the snow. I don't really remember epic snowball fights, although I suppose there must have been some. I do remember making snow forts and snowmen (and sometimes women), and especially snow angels.

It astounds me to think of it now, but I couldn't wait to get out there & lie down in the snow, windmilling my arms and legs to make an imprint. By the time I got up I was usually soaking wet (since, in New Jersey, we never had anything but heavy, wet snow), but I loved it. My sister & I would stay outside until our mom called us in with promises of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Once inside, we'd peel off our outer layers and drape them by the heater on the porch (not really a "porch", more like an enclosed sun room), and then traipse into the kitchen in clean fluffy socks to have our hot chocolate. We'd slurp down the hot chocolate, trying to make the marshmallows last. We never admitted that we were freezing to death and might have wanted to stay in for a while, but I'm sure my mom always knew. She'd keep us in until we got warm, then find dry coats & boots and let us go back out for a while. And that was the best thing in the world.

Now, I'm a wimp. When it snows, I might venture out to take a few pictures, but otherwise I'm content to sit inside, drinking tea and watching the flakes come down. On this completely flukey day in Texas, I've been sitting at my computer trying to concentrate enough to apply for a few more jobs, or send some emails, or do other work, but my eyes keep wandering to the window where white flakes of various sizes keep whirling down.

I love our Texas "winters", where putting on a sweater and closed-toed shoes is usually the only defense we need, but having the occasional freak snowstorm is kind of fun. I don't think the kids out in the field in back had much of a snowball fight, and their dog didn't look too happy, but it was a nice break from routine.


So I'll sit here with my puerh tea, which is somehow reminiscent of both chocolate and mushrooms, and enjoy my break from routine. Tomorrow I'll jump back on the wagon and try to get things done, hoping my daffodils survived the snow. But today is a snow day.

My latest obsession

Lately I've been obsessed with the whole "Julie & Julia" phenomenon. I had read Julia Child's memoir a couple of years ago, on a trip to Paris, and it was incredibly inspiring. Here was this woman who, at age 37, found her true purpose in life just because she liked to eat. What better inspiration could I have than that?

I love tea, therefore at this point in my life (unfortunately even later than age 37), I'd like to make it my life's work. And since I seem to have been getting signs from the universe that perhaps going back into corporate life may not be my path (see previous post), I'm taking the next month to work on getting my tea dream moving forward.

At the moment, that may be as a part-time, home-based business, with the goal of opening a brick & mortar location in the (hopefully near) future. I'm having some meetings this week to figure out more details on what I need to do in order to get this going. Sounds vague, I know--and I know I need to be more crisp on what I want and what I plan to do. However, at this point, even just saying something that vaguely is a step forward for me.

I need to contact some of my tea connections to talk about sourcing tea, as that is one of my biggest concerns at this point. Then of course there are all the various government regulations to navigate--but I have sources for that info which should be very helpful. And I need to figure out what it will all cost--how I can get things moving with limited funds, and then grow from there. Bootstrap Austin should be a good resource for that info.

And as I stumble through the fog in my quest, I'll keep Julia Child's journey in mind. I know there must have been many points when she questioned why she was doing any of it (eight years to write Mastering the Art of French Cooking!), but she persevered. So I'll use her as my role model. And I'll keep experimenting with recipes for my eventual tea shop--the cherry clafoutis dessert to our Julia-inspired roast chicken & asparagus with hollandaise dinner was a huge success--and hope to find some added inspiration as I bake!

Signs from the universe

This post is not really about tea or laughter, but I need to write it down and get it out there.

I just found out I didn't get a job I really wanted, and I think I need to question whether the universe is sending me signs to open my tea shop. My friends say yes--that I need to either raise the money now, or figure out how to go to pastry chef school and then raise the money--but I'm still not sure.

Maybe I'm just scared--scared to try it and fail, and then have to try to get back into corporate America in a few years with an even bigger gap on my resume. Scared that it won't really be what I wanted in the first place. Scared that it will make me happy but I won't be able to make enough money to make a go of it.

I know that when I think or talk about tea and baking, I get very excited and animated, and feel happy & like I know what I'm talking about. But is that enough to translate into being able to run a business? Would I be able to share my enthusiasm with my customers, and make them feel happy and comfortable when they visit my shop, or will I get so worn down with work & worry that I won't have the energy to be hospitable to anyone?

I know I need to finish my business plan and assemble a team to help me with the things I'm not good at and should delegate. I know I need to get serious about figuring out financing. I know this is a good time to be shopping for commercial real estate. I know all of these things, and yet I hesitate.

I jumped off a cliff when I quit my job with no job in reserve, and that was a huge step for me. Compared to that, this should be easy. This should be a no-brainer: the job market is insane, I have a great idea for a business that everyone I've talked to has shown interest in, a down economy is the best time to become an entrepreneur...why can't I just do it?

I don't have the answer to that question at the moment, but I'm actively trying to figure it out.

In the mean time, I'm drinking Iron Goddess Dark Roast oolong, and eating a glazed chocolate donut. It's comfort food. But it really doesn't go with oolong.

Tea and cake

Today, after what seems like months of 100+ degree heat, we're finally getting a little rain here in Austin. It seems like I only like to write blog posts when it's raining, since the last time I wrote was during another rainy day.

But on a rainy day, I usually want to stay inside with a cup of tea and enjoy the weather. Today's cup of tea is a lovely Darjeeling, with a nice winey, fruity flavor. Actually, there's just a hint of grassiness in there, too, which makes it a summery sort of tea.

I've been on a bit of a baking binge lately--my friend's mother died, and I was baking things for her family all last week--but all I can think about today is baking a pound cake. So I've been going through my recipes, trying to find a pound cake recipe for which I have all the ingredients. I always thought that pound cakes were the simplest, most basic thing to make, but as I've read all the different recipes, I've revised that opinion.

From the traditional 1-2-3-4 cake to pound cake with sour cream, yogurt, or more butter than you can imagine, the recipes are just all over the map. And, something I didn't know either, apparently pound cakes can be quite difficult to make--something about the fact that the ingredients are supposed to be all at room temperature, and if they're not, the batter curdles. That's not something I've ever encountered, and after my coffee cake debacle of last week, something I'd much rather stay away from!

The coffee cake debacle was rather surprising--I was using an America's Test Kitchen recipe that had 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and it overflowed the pan almost as soon as I'd put it in the oven. Then it took forever to even get close to fully baked--when I finally took it out after almost twice the recommended baking time, it still wasn't done in the middle. And no, it wasn't my oven, as everything else I baked that week came out fine. I've emailed America's Test Kitchen to ask them if possibly there was an error in the cookbook (since you have to pay to see their recipes on line), but they haven't responded with anything more than a form e-mail (and an offer email to buy more of their cookbooks!)

So that little adventure has made me a bit gun-shy in trying new recipes, where usually I just jump right in and see what happens. After careful perusal and consideration of my options, I think I'm going to go with my tried-and-true recipe from the "Paris Sweets" cookbook by Dorie Greenspan (one of my absolute favorites). It's actually a recipe for a lemon or orange cake, but she includes an option to make it a vanilla cake instead. I've made all of them before, and they always come out just perfect, with a fine grain and great flavor.

The only thing that had been stopping me from making it was that I didn't have enough cake flour, and had no heavy cream. So it looks like I'm off to the grocery store in between showers. Then I'll be able to sit down later and enjoy another pot of Darjeeling with a fabulous vanilla pound cake, just like I've been craving!

Rainy Afternoon

I've been sitting here listening to the rain and drinking a nice spice tea for the past few hours. Listening to the rain is a big deal here in Texas, since we're in the middle of a huge drought. Right now, there's a lake out behind my house, but it will be gone by morning, I'm sure.

While I've been listening to the rain, I've also been thinking about where I want to go with my career. I'm in the middle of a job search, for a new project management position, but things seem to be going very very slowly, to say the least. So I'm trying to think of ways to get some income going, and get closer to my long-term goal of opening my own tea shop.

I've come up with many options, although I'm not sure how to achieve any of them. I have been working on my tea shop business plan, learning about tea, and meeting people in the tea industry for the past year or more, but I don't seem to be moving quickly enough toward my goal. I would love to be an apprentice to a tea buyer for a major tea company, but I don't know if I'm pushy enough to make the connections to get to that goal. I'm working on getting that way, though--I've been to so many networking events in the past few months that I can walk up to anyone and introduce myself and start talking. So I should start working on the ability to introduce myself over the phone or via email.

A lot of people I've talked to have told me that now is the perfect time to start a business, since there's lots of space for rent at good rates due to the state of the economy. But I just don't feel ready to jump into my tea shop business yet, even though I have the vision of it in my head. I've conceptualized it, but I need to understand the details better before I begin. That's probably not the way of the true entrepreneur, but it's what I need to do.

Somehow I need to figure out how to bridge my supply chain and project management skills into the tea industry...but jobs there seem to be few & far between. And none of them are here in Austin. So I may be packing up my stuff and selling my house and moving on, even though I love it here. For a tea job, I think I would leave. For anything else, probably not.

Tea with the Brits

Well, it's been almost a month since I last posted...things have been a little crazy here. However, I'm ignoring all that, and am just going to write about a lovely tea I had with some friends just about a month ago.

My friend Mollie invited me to come over for tea one Sunday, with her (British) husband David and two other (also British) couples. Mollie was trying her hand at making pies, so she asked if I would bring something savory to complete the menu...along with a selection of teas for the group.

I wanted to use ingredients that I already had on hand, so I looked through my fridge, freezer, and cabinets to see what inventory I had. The combination I came up with was mushrooms, goat cheese, and puff pastry...but I didn't have a recipe for those items together. I did have a recipe for a mushroom & goat cheese bruschetta, though, and found a recipe on line for some goat-cheese-stuffed puff pastries, so I decided to combine them. Nothing like experimental cuisine!

So I sauted the mushrooms with garlic, shallots, and wine, then mixed them into the goat cheese. Then I rolled out the puff pastry & cut it into squares, filled them with a dollop of the mushroom mixture, and closed them up like little purses. I still wasn't too sure how they would come out, but when I tasted one of the first batch, I knew I'd hit the jackpot. They just melted in your mouth!

Next challenge: tea selection. I didn't want to get too exotic, and since the group was mostly Brits, didn't think that flavored teas would be the best option. So I chose a Lapsang Souchong, a Chinese green tea, a white tea flavored with champagne and berries, and a plain black tea.

When I got to Mollie's, we polled the group on which teas they would prefer. To my surprise, almost everyone voted for the Lapsang Souchong! I think the smoky flavor was appealing as a counterpoint to the sweets we were having--but it also went very well with the savory dishes. I started making the tea, and everyone else started nibbling on the goodies.

The mushroom & goat cheese puffs went over very well, so I will definitely add that recipe to my tea shop menu when I open it! I also served them at a party last week, and everyone liked them so much they requested the recipe, so I guess they're pretty good! Dot had made some lovely little tea sandwiches, too, so we had a nice selection of treats.

The Lapsang Souchong also got good reviews...I think we made two or three pots. I love the way the smokiness has a sort of palate-cleansing effect. It makes it an excellent accompaniment to all kinds of foods.

And Mollie's pies were wonderful--she made a mixed-berry pie with a fabulous home-made crust. The filling was just tart enough, and the crust was flaky and buttery, and a great contrast to the berries. We had some other goodies, too, but at this point I can't remember what they all were!

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing afternoon, with lots of good food, tea, and conversation. It was just the type of gathering I'd like to have at my tea shop, and gave me some great ideas for menus and tea/food pairings. Now I just need to figure out how to get such a great group of people to hang out there all the time, and bring in more customers!