Texas Cottage Food Law

While I am toying with the idea of selling Field Lab Solar Oven Bread...I decided I should look into the legalities.  Prior to 2011, in Texas, selling any food from a home kitchen made you an illegal "food establishment" in the eyes of the Texas Department of State Health Services, even if you operated on a very small scale selling low-risk foods like baked goods.  You could legally not sell homemade food.  A group of dedicated home bakers changed that.  SB 81 was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on June 17, 2011, and the law was expanded in 2013 by HB 970.  Texas continues to be one of the friendliest states for small business startups.  A number of foods covered by these laws includes - baked goods that do not require refrigeration, such as cakes, cookies, breads, and pastries.  To start a cottage food business, there are no permits, inspections, fees, or licenses required beyond a basic food handler's license.  I got my Texas Food Handler's License by taking an online course and passing the online exam (it took 45 minutes and cost $7.99).  And if I end up selling to the public, I will have to add a label such as this.  72,83,58, .03",W

Prosciutto Bread

Back in my NYC days ,I would pick up a couple of  prosciutto rings for my weekend breakfasts.  I used to buy them from D&G Italian Bakery at 45 Spring Street in Little Italy - a couple blocks away from where I used to live.  The store is now owned by my croissant friend Maury Rubin of City Bakery fame.  I found a recipe on YouTube that just about nails it.  I cooked up a test batch of loaves (not rings) and it tasted pretty much exactly how I remembered them.  Big chunks of prosciutto to dice up are cost prohibitive to buy in Texas (or even online) so I substituted summer sausage and it worked out pretty well.  Since it isn't truly authentic prosciutto bread, I think I will call it Chupa Bread instead - since they are the same color.  74,86,43,0,W 

a monday matinee...

the bread of life...

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

a surface for dough

Sanded and conditioned the old butcher block cart top I've had for 15 years.  Almost ready to start prepping some dough.  Video of the effort coming Monday.  72,80,40,0,B

a friday night film

a surface...

Was about to buy some kind of large surface for dough prep when I remembered I already have just what I need.  Unearthed one of my butcher block topped carts from the bowels of a shipping container yesterday.  I bought two of these (from Ikea) about 15 years ago for my kitchen in upstate NY.  I have been using one of them as a tool bench out here and have pretty much destroyed the top.  The other is still in pretty good condition and I am about to sand it down and condition/seal it for a second life.  The butcher block top is 24" x 38".  Video tomorrow...  58,66,32,0,B

that new episode

Ben Fogle: Return to the Wild - the episode they shot last July just aired in the UK last night.  Getting swarmed with messages and new subscribers to my YouTube channel.  I kinda cringe when I watch myself in one of these productions, but they did a pretty good job with it (they sent me a private link so I could see it on Vimeo).  I imagine it will be a couple of months before the episode is available to see here in the US.  52,60,42,0,W

cash back...

I have been an Amazon Prime member for 10 years.  I always breezed right by all those Amazon Visa card offers...until today.  1.  Amazon informed me today how much cash back I would have earned from last years purchases.  2.  I ordered a few more items for baking that I don't necessarily NEED.  Applied for the card and was approved within 15 minutes and got an instant $70 gift card.  Since I am long over the days of racking up credit card debt, this is nothing but a win-win. 71,81,58,0,W

a monday matinee...

another school shooting...

On occasion, I have been chided by atheists for not addressing mass shootings from a Christian point of view.  The answer is simple.  Horrible things happen to 1000's of people every day throughout the world, yet it is only these kinds of events that gain the interest of the public. Satan is everywhere and the problem is confounded by what people choose to focus on and how limited their attention span is. 

2 Timothy 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Been almost nine years...

...since Bill and Porter visited TFL.  It was really nice to see them again.  Bill is sporting his vintage #001 hand made TFL shirt from the numbered limited edition I did 8 years ago (he must have been keeping it in a vault).  I still have the stencils I used for the edition.  Ben was more than happy to do a selfie.  69,80,47,0,C

a friday night film

non lethal force...

Javier and family (4 javelina in total) have become a bit of a problem coming in at all times during the day and constantly running the bunnies and Ben off their feed.  Of course it is entirely my own fault for feeding them in the first place - but I am extending efforts to dissuade them from visiting.  I am keeping the feed locked up tight now and Javier can no longer get into Ben's pen and I'm no longer leaving water out overnight.  I am changing up the feeding schedule for the rabbits and fending off the piggies with an air soft gun when they do come in.  It might be a losing battle but perhaps they will decide to look for food and water elsewhere if I make it more of a problem for them here with nothing to partake of other than little plastic pellets at 300 fps.  78,87,50,0,W

Pepino test...

Started getting a little warm inside today so I figured that was a sign to fire up Pepino for a shake down test.  Had a high of 85° outside today.  I need to change out the pad and clean it up a bit but it still does the job chilling down the outside ambient air.  76,85,55,0,B,

a little welding...

Welded up a solar panel rack for the new owner of my old water tank.

64,71,36,0,B

a monday matinee...

Is there PTSD in Heaven?

Can heaven be a traumatic experience?  Will we remember all the pain of earthly life?  Will we mourn the fact that some friends and loved ones did not make the grade?
Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

more storage bins...

Out with the old - in with the new...

72,81,44,0,B

a friday night film

throwback thursday...

monkey addiction

Somehow, I came across ventriloquist Nina Conti on YouTube.  Next thing you know I find 5 similar monkey puppets on ebay (vintage 1994 Hosung plush stuffed chimpanzee monkey hand puppets) and buy them cheap.  Apparently there isn't much demand for them...other than me.  Not sure what I was thinking other than I seem to strongly identify with the demeanor of her puppet...speaking his mind much like the way I do when I come across utter nonsense on Facebook.  I often time find myself saying the things that one would ordinarily keep to themselves in polite conversation - especially when people are being so utterly stupid (oops...did I just type that out loud?).  Until I can come up with a proper use for them, you will find my monkeys trying to fend off the javelina during my nightly live streams of the bunnies having dinner.   50,60,46,0,B

stuck buckets

Part of the clean"o"thon out here is separating planters that have been stacked and stuck together for years.  Find out how I unstuck them in the next friday night film.  69,79,44,0,B

a monday matinee...

know when to fold 'em...

I had a conversation today with a friend who got roped into helping someone who has a certain reputation and has found themselves in a vulnerable circumstance because of a recent injury.  I warned the friend that nothing good will come out of helping this particular individual who has, let's just say, a history for being dangerously unstable, unpredictable, and particularly and irrationally vengeful.  This brings to mind the dilemma of ...aren't we commanded by God to "love thy neighbor"?  But does God not also command us to avoid evil and those who have become deeply entrenched in Satan's grasp? 
1 Corintians 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Proverbs 4:14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.  15 Avoid it, pass not by it, 
turn from it, and pass away.  16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, 
unless they cause some to fall.  17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

CLOSED

a friday night film

cracks in the windshield...

Staging has begun...looks like the county is prepping to resurface Hwy 118 again this summer.  They have been doing this every 4 years since I have been here.  58,78,40,0,B