This is pretty pathetic, I'll admit...but here I sit, 3:50am on a Saturday morning, watching my starter bubble waiting to make English Muffins. A bit nervous...I've had a 50-50 success rate...first batch was amazing to me, recognized areas of improvement...second batch went in the trash at the grill stage.  I'm new to this realm, but in these economic times, I'm looking for both cost-cutting and fulfilling projects...making my own baked goods saves me scads of cash that my office building's cafeteria will never see. As i browse the site, I try to act like the starter sponge...absorbing knowledge and nutrition slowly.  I love it in here. Now comes the pathetic part.

I was sitting here thinking about buying Peter's books...having the internet as a resource is the best, but sometimes you just like to have something tactile to peruse...pages to dog-ear, highlight and splash flour on. Add to that an unreliable laptop and cable access that seems so frivolous to pay for...the thought occured to me that my sponge development could be halted at any moment. Equally frivolous is the concept of paying $30 for a book right now...borrowing out of the local library is out of the question (ask the daughter that "borrowed" a $50 Japanese-English dictionary on mom's card that she now can't find)...so I look in the forum for help.

I know it's a lot to ask, but if anyone has an copies of any bread books and baking paraphernalia...in any condition...or a line on a garage sale in Upstate NY, keep me in mind. Every other Saturday (I get paid bi-weekly), I make the local rounds of tag sales, hoping to find that baker that's upgrading their kitchen...or moving to Europe and can't take the cookbooks, utensils and gadgets they've accumulated...the best I've done so far is a really wobbly GE plastic stand mixer with a detachable beater but without a bowl. Pathetic to the hilt...but there it is.  Thanks for being here, for listening, and for giving me something constructive to do with my free time...