Heading into a concert at the Music Academy of the West, I stopped to take a photo of a voluptuous magnolia blossom. This one was just above eye level, so I held up the camera and hoped for the best. When I looked at the photo later, I was delighted to discover that stamens had pooled in the petals.
The concert was a master class, in which professional musicians give notes to students on their performance. Adam has been to several with vocalists and pianists that sounded interesting, but this one featured string quartets; whenever the pros would make the students play a section differently, I couldn't begin to tell what changed. I did, however, learn that the campus includes an antiques shop (?). A return trip is in the cards.
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Now that is dedication to one's cat(s).
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I took another stab at the brown bread from Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm, with two changes. First, I ignored the advice I had found online—damn bloggers!—to use 10% less flour because North American flour supposedly has more gluten than European flour. Second, Adam's aunt Tracey suggested I bake it at 275º instead of 300º. The recipe says the bread should require around an hour in the oven, but after an hour and 45 minutes, the center still hadn't reached the desired 210º. I jacked up the temp to 300º, but that didn't really help. After two hours and ten minutes, I took it out anyway. The inside is definitely breadier and not at all gummy. Adam said he thought it was akin to what we had at the hotel—and that he'd prefer it somewhere between this version and the last one.