IreneBeegins

IreneBeegins Sharing projects, experiences, cooking methods and whatever I happen to be working on in the kitchen

This page is for me to share with you what I know and love about life after 50. Tell me what you want to know how to do and I will give you my best advice, recipes or thoughts. I am also available locally for private cooking lessons or small catering parties.

01/18/2026

I sometimes question whether I have mourned my mother sufficiently. And I realized that my mourning is more is not in tears or sadness but in memory, and in moments.

Moments like this are when I know that actually do I miss my mother, as I realize how much I love to live in themoments and memories that she gave me.

These beautiful technicolor musicals from the 50's and 60's, like The King and I, The Sound of Music, Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.❤️ In these moments I hear her laughter and joy as together we would sing the catchy songs out loud, and marvel at the grandiose costumes and elaborate sets. We would cry at the sad scenes we've seen a hundred times and laugh at the same funny moments we knew by heart.

This is how I remember my mother. This is how I know I'm ok.

01/05/2026

Final result for Sourdough Attempt #2

I'm giving myself a B+ on this one. She did wonderful in all of her steps, considering my rookie status. I'm anxious to try different sourdough recipes and things to do with my starter, but I'm going to be patient and make a few more of these over the next few weeks, to make sure that I have my steps down, that I have my confidence built. And I'm going to be very intentionally slow to learn.

Please SHARE, LIKE or COMMENT to see if we can reach others who are still learning like me.

01/04/2026

Here's the update. I am going to follow some advice that I have been getting. I have received some great support over this learning process. And so I'm kind of taking a little bit here and a little bit there because things seem to be going according to plan and the advice I'm getting is from people who are very familiar with this process I'm gonna trust.

Thank you to everyone for joining me on this journey.

Stick with me...LIKE or COMMENT so I can see who's vested! 😁 SHARE it to see if we can reach others out there afraid to try something new.

01/04/2026

This is my "bread flour" attempt and each step has been going textbook perfect. I went into to this one way more confident and at each check point I have been nothing but encouraged.

She's going to cold ferment for at least 18 or 20 hours due to our schedule tomorrow. So patience is my next test.

01/01/2026

Part 4..Sourdough Saga

First of all..HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

While it wasn't a complete fail, it was definitely not a complete success. I'm certainly a little bit disappointed, but absolutely not devastated and certainly not going to stop until I can make at least one decent loaf of sourdough.

My 1st main error was using wheat flour for my first time, making sourdough, which has to be treated differently because it responds differently to how much you have to measure the water, the starter, the salt, the flour as well as the timing in the proofing and the baking in all of it. So I need to not use wheat flour until I know how to use regular bread flour.

The second and most crucial error was that I did not go into this with one hundred percent confidence. I expected to fail, so I failed. I think I was trying to let myself down easy before I even started. In baking, confidence is key. I've always said, I'm not a baker. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to bake. So here's to learning how to bake without kneading to become a baker.

I see people posting their beautiful sourdough loaves making it look so easyit's this easy. I don't know that I've ever seen a sourdough fail video, and i'm sure that those beautiful loaves that are shown are not their first loaves, and were preceded by some loaf failures. I hope this video shows how it's not magically easy and it takes some trial and error. Most of it requires NOT GIVING UP!


12/31/2025

Part 3

BREAD REVELATION!! Wheatfkour measurements are different than bread flour measurements!!

I now have a support person.❤️

12/31/2025

Part 2

Am I doing the right thing? Radiant heat contained.
Winter in the midwest is probably the wrong time to attempt baking sourdough when you're new at it.

ANY ADVISE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

12/31/2025

CALLING ALL SOURDOUGH BAKERS out there to help this rookie out. I'm not sure what rookie mistake I made, but she deflated on me, and I'm not sure what to do next.

You see all these reels out there and everybody's like "it's not as hard as you think." And "you can do it." But this is probably the second or third time in my life that I've tried to do this. And I have never been able to even get to the baking part. And if you watch my reels, you know that I research, I follow instructions and do what I'm supposed to do. For whatever reason this sourdough thing is eluding me.

I need someone who can walk me through this or tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Please help comments, DM's or a phone call if you know me would be really appreciated and maybe talk me off this sourdough ledge.

12/30/2025

My first ginger harvest! I'm going to leave the other plant in for a few more months and see if it gets bigger!

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