Thankyousam

Sourdough Starter - Day 8 - 17/09/14 1830

After 12 hours today the growth continues at the same rate, if not even stronger!

Same reduction back down to 100g, and feed as before.

So this evening I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 90g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 8 - 16/09/14 0800

This is the second day of twice daily feeds. Again the activity since the last feed has really taken off. The starter is like a thick sticky mousse with lots of bubbles which collapse down when stirred. The smell, which I’ve not noted down before, is a bit fruity today, almost like fermenting beer.

I reduced the starter down to 100g, this time saving the discarded starter and made some pancakes with it at lunchtime. What I’d discarded to one side had actually expanded over the top of the pot it was in by midday.

As an experiment to try and understand how the starter behaves I decided to up the hydration a bit more - up to 90g of water this time.

I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 90g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 7 - 16/09/14 1930

Plenty of activity during the day, so a second reduction down to 100g and feed this evening.

I upped the amount of water slightly as the dough was a bit drier than before.

So this evening I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 80g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 7 - 16/09/14 0800

Bringing yesterday’s feed forward to the early afternoon was a halfway step towards two feeds today.

I was surprised by the level of rising over night. I suspect it was helped by having the jar still warm from when it was washed.

Again I reduced the starter down to 100g, discarding 175g. The starter was nice and thick and bubbly when I mixed it and spooned it out during the discard stage.

I left the amount of water the same as yesterday.

So today I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 75g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 6 - 15/09/14 1430

I’m getting more confident this is heading in the right direction. Although there’s little activity on the top there has been a good rise, and pulling the dough from the side reveals a good density of bubbles under the surface. The bubbles are actually visible from the side today.

I’ve brought today’s feed forward a little in preparation for starting twice daily feeds tomorrow. I also emptied and cleaned the jar today whilst reducing the starter down.

Again I reduced the starter down to 100g, discarding 170g. I could see no trace of the raisins when I drained the jar out.

I left the amount of water the same, but ended up adding a splash more as the mix was a bit drier than yesterday.

So today I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 75g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 5 - 14/09/14 1830

Similar situation to yesterday - possibly it had risen a bit more today following the reduction in added water. The starter has gone runny again despite being quite stiff yesterday.

Again I reduced the starter down to 100g, discarding 190g, leaving the raisins in where possible.

I reduced the amount of water a bit more to see if it helps with the consistency and activity tomorrow.

So today I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 70g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 4 - 13/09/14 1830

Not so much activity since the last feed. The starter is more runny than yesterday which I suspect is limiting any rising. There are a fair number of bubbles on top though.

I reduced the starter down to 100g this time, discarding 300g, again leaving the raisins in where possible - I’ll sift them out tomorrow.

Reducing it a bit more means that after the next feed the overall mix will be roughly 1:1:1 between ‘old’ starter : new flour : new water. However, because the consistency was too watery I’ve reduced the amount of water I’ve added today.

So today I added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 75g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 3 - 12/09/14 2030

Plenty of activity, but the level has dropped back to what it was yesterday when initially mixed in.

Reduced starter down to 200g, leaving raisins in.

Added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 100g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 3 - 12/09/14 0900

Sourdough Starter - Day 2 - 11/09/14 2100

Added the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 100g tepid bottled spring water

Sourdough Starter - Day 1 - 10/09/14 2100

Started the starter with the following:

50g Doves Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Rye Flour 50g Tesco Organic Strong White Flour 100g tepid bottled spring water 10g Raisins (12)

This is the clean up job on a mid 1970's Kenwood Chef A701.  It was given to us when a family member had a clear out.  It worked fine, but was absolutely filthy (dust, decades old grime, paint, spiders and wood lice), so needed a complete strip down, clean and rebuild.

Everything unscrews fairly easily with a set of flat head and Philips head drivers.  I don't know about modern Kenwood Chefs, but 1970s safety was non-existent.  The rotors spin with the machine in its open position!

The felt sound proofing was particularly grim...

There are services where they'll recondition the motor, controller, and blast and re-powder coat the Chef, but fortunately this one only needed a good clean and re-lube.  I got some food-safe spray lubricant for all the moving parts, especially the rotary head which does the orbital motion.  I also replaced the power lead and plug with a molded plug and lead which I salvaged off an unused spare device.

Our Kenwood chef had a 13 Amp fuse in its old plug - presumably it had blown in the past and a "new" fuse was fitted.  This is way too much and I'm pretty sure the motor would have melted itself all over the worktop before the 13 Amp fuse would have blown.  The motor is rated at 450W, so should never draw more than 2 Amps on a 250V supply.  The new plug now has a much more reassuring 3 Amp fuse, and in the few months of light use has caused no problems. The motor and/or mechananism sounds a bit rough, but I doubt it was ever silent or smooth even when new.

The only other thing which was replaced was the set of rubber feet as the old ones had all dried and broken down. The news ones were a £3 set from eBay which just knock into the feet holes.

This is my ammendment to Chica and Jo's excellent custom Kindle case.  All kudos to them for sharing the instructions for making the orignal case and I duly note their ownership of the custom Kindle case instructions.  You should familiarise yourself with their method and instructions before embarking on my ammendment.

Chica and Jo's instructions (from here referred to as the original instructions) show how to make a wrap around case for all models of Kindle and other eBook readers as well.  I wanted to add a zip to the bottom of the pouch to allow my Kindle 3 to be charged, switched on/off or have headphones plugged in while actually in the pouch.  This ammendment only considers the Kindle 3 (because I change one of the sizes of the piece of material), but I would imagine the technic is the same for any eBook reader.

The original instructions show how to measure the material and the card.  I used the same sized pieces of card, but I made the single piece of material slightly smaller.  This is because the zip makes the pouch a bit baggy (but no less secure), so the Kindle sinks a bit further in to the pouch.  This in turn means the bottom of the screen would be obscured by the pouch itself when using my zip approach and Chica and Jo's original sizes.  The solution is to make the pouch shorter. Instead of a 6 3/8" x 5 3/4" piece of material I used a piece 6 3/8" x 4 1/2".

The first few steps are the same as the original instructions: fold the 6 3/8" x 4 1/2" piece in half and fold the corners over, then offer up a piece of the cut (5 1/2" inch for the Kindle 3) card and mark the two vertical lines:

Now we must add the zip before we sew over the two marked vertical lines.

Cut along the diagonal fold to just before the marked vertical line - do not cut all the way to the the marked line otherwise the seam will be a bit scrappy at the end:

Now unpin the material, turn it over and unfold.  We want to cut a line and remove/discard the part of the material between the two cuts on what would have been the back piece when folded - the back piece is the side with the "vertical" marks in the image below:

Next fold the piece back in half and fold a hem from the now overlapping piece between the diagonal cuts, then flip it back over. The left image shows the hem folded over and pinned from the underside:

Now we add the zip.  I used a No 3 zip and two pulls (fitted in opposite directions) to allow the zip to open either way and give access to either side of the bottom of the Kindle.

Pin the zip under the newly folded and pinned hem then stitch it in place (leaving the pulls outside to keep them out of the way during the stitching - move them back after). The stitch should run between the diagonal folds and the zip and pulls should be facing upwards.  If you can't visualise how this will end up then you might need to try folding the diagonals over and pinching between your thumb and forefinger where the vertical stitch will go and turn it inside out to convince yourself this is correct :) :

Now refold and pin the diagonals, stitch the two vertical marked lines and trim the excess material and zip.

This has created the basic pouch and you can continue from Chica and Jo's instructions "Now take one of your long pieces of fabric and place it face up on the table...".  Keep the zip and pulls facing upwards - but again you might need to experiment to convince yourself this is right.  The original instructions mention a 1/4" seam allowance - use the bottom edge of the zip as your bottom stitching guide line.  The only tricky part is moving the zip pulls under the sewing machine foot to allow a nice straight stitch.

Here's mine finished:

List of model shops in Cardiff.

Model Zone - 02920 644430

St. David's Centre, City Centre, CF10 2EW

Antics - 029 2022 9065

11 High Street, CF10 1AW

Lendons - 029 2075 2563

192 Fidlas Rd, CF14 5LZ

Seems to be more focussed on model railways, but have a good selection of kits, paints and model supplies.

Hobby Craft - 0845 051 6558

Near the new Cardiff City/Cardiff Blues Stadium in Leckwith

Capital Retail Park, CF11 8AZ (Google normally plots the postcode wrongly - should be further west, as linked map - and satellite ground images are older than new development - roads overlaid correctly though)

Ian Allan Bookshop - 029 2039 0615

31 Royal Arcade, Cardiff, CF10 1AE

Mostly a military and transport book shop, but stocks a selection of model kits and accessories.

Other model stockists - small selections

Toys R Us - 02920 394 305

International Sports Village, Olympian Drive, CF11 0JS

Smyths

Same location as Hobbycraft above, small selection of gift kits

WH Smith - 0292 0390088

83-85 Queen Street, CF10 2NX

[very] Small selection of Airfix gift kits

Art/Craft Supplies - no kits but art supplies (brushes etc)

Inkspot - 029 2049 0254

SR-71 Blackbird. http://www.revell.com/model-kits/aircraft/85-5810.html

1/72 Avro Lancaster. http://www.revell.com/germany/aircraft/80-4300.html

Italeri 1/72 Sukhoi SU-27 Sea Flanker http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1853_1_1358595.html

Italeri 1/72 Russian Mig-29 Fulcrum-A http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1853_1_16334.html

Airfix 1/72 Hawker Siddley Buccaneer S2B S2 Fighter Bomber Kit http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1863_1_12143.html