Buttercup the cat

About!

Sheba, Frisky, and Buttercup


are the Eponymous Cats. As the namesakes for Los Gatos Bed & Breakfast, they keep an eye on the operation- supervise staff, greet guests, and chase off intruding barn cats and squirrels.

Sheba

Sheba

Frisky

Frisky

Buttercup

Buttercup

Glazed — Yeast Potato Donuts

I’m not much for donuts, generally. Over-sweet fat-bombs that leave me lethargic are usually pretty easy to pass by. These, however, are something else again… the raised dough is not over sweet, stays light, and the topping can be a light dusting of powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. When they are warm out of the fryer, they are very hard to resist!

pre. 1 pkg. dry yeast
1-1/2 C. warm water
2/3 C. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 C. shortening
2 eggs
1 C. lukewarm mashed cooked potatoes (no salt in prep)
6-7C. flour.

pre. GLAZE
1 tsp. vanilla
3 C. powdered sugar
1/2 C. boiling water
Mix until smooth.
Mix more as needed.

In a large mixer bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, potatoes and 3 C. flour. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Mix in enough remaining flour by hand to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough out onto well-floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Place dough in greased bowl and then turn greased side up. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Pound down dough. On a lightly-floured surface, pat dough down to 3/4 inch thick. Cut with floured 2-1/2 inch doughnut cutter. Place on lightly floured surface and let rise for about an hour in a warm place.

Deep-fat fry at 400̊. a few at a time, turning once. Fry for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from fat and drain on paper towels. While warm dip in glaze and place on a cooling rack so glaze will dry.

Makes about 2-1/2 dozen.

Winter projects

The B&B has pace that varies throughout the year- in the spring, as the weather warms, the focus is on cleanup of the grounds, outdoor maintenance, and landscaping. Through summer, any time not consumed by B&B operations (breakfast prep, serve and cleanup, turning over rooms, checking guests in or out) is all outdoors with landscape maintenance, pool, and construction. Autumn starts to allow more time for light indoor projects and the outdoor work is mostly cleanup and pruning. Winter is the time when the big indoor projects get done.

In the past we gutted and rebuilt the apartment that is our private residence as a winter project. We’ve remodeled rooms, the patio, and bathrooms while the snow flew. Winter has had its own challenges for construction. Cutting open walls to install windows when it is -9̊ F outside. Cutting tile when the spray is making icicles on the saw. Last year we hand mixed concrete for piers on a raw 18̊ F day.

This year we are going to try to avoid the big dusty jobs and work on some finishing touches- Susan wants to add some lighting in the living room by making a valance bar over the window. We have had the metal ceiling in the patio on our hit list for some time- it is coming down to be replaced by bead board that is white. And the big project is a series of stained glass windows to go in the transom windows in the patio.

Stay tuned- we will have details on the projects and see how they come out!