It started like any normal Friday night, at least as normal as things are around here. We met our niece and nephew for dinner and then went to watch the Nanooks beat Bowling Green in hockey. We got home, and as I'm pulling into the garage, the Chick comes out and stands at the door.
"That can't be good," the nephew says.
"Crap," is all I can get out.
We get out of the car and I ask..."What's up, honey?" (I'm thinking blood, severed thumbs (have I told you that story yet?) dead relatives or dogs...)
"Don't go inside, Mason is in his underwear," she says.
"What? Why?" I ask as I walk past her into the house, only to be met by my grown son peeking around the corner of the living room yelling "Don't let them in, I'm in my underwear."
I walk into the living room and ask, "What is going on?"
"There is a huge rat in my room and I can't get my clothes."
A huge rat? Where would a huge rat come from in February at -20 in Fairbanks? We have had voles and little mice get into the house before, but a rat?
"Where is it?" I ask.
"In my room, that's why I can't get any clothes."
About this time, Dave has let the dogs out of the kennel, they are running around and barking, and everyone is coming into the house, which makes the Baby boy yell about no one coming in to see him in his underwear.
So I go into his bedroom room and grab him some clothes so he can get dressed, all the while looking for this huge rat.
A tiny mouse scurries across the floor from the closet to under the bed...
My grown son, who stands over 6', is standing in his underwear yelling about a huge rat, that really is a little mouse about 4 inches long and can fit under the closed door of the bedroom...
Now I'm really not making fun of anyone here, put a spider the size of a pin head in a room with me, and I'm throwing elderly women and babies at that thing so it doesn't jump on my head and suck my brain out, but a mouse?
It turns out the kids were going to bed and the Chick went to turn off the light when she saw the mouse. She jumped out of bed and down the hall and yelled back at the boy, "There's a huge rat in our room." Mason jumped up, grabbed their little dogs and came running down the hall. The mouse followed and about that time we pulled into the garage. The boy tells the Chick not to let us in the house because he is standing there in in underwear and the mouse is following them down the hall so he couldn't get his clothes...
We spend the next hour and a half baiting traps, watching the dogs try to catch the mouse (more yelling from me "Don't let them do that, I don't want blood on the carpet. What if it has diseases, get them back, Dammit Dave, stop that.")
I finally went to bed, offering the sofa upstairs to the Chick to sleep on if she didn't want to sleep in her room with the mouse.
When I got up the next morning, the kids were asleep in their tv room and the bedroom door was open. I don't know if the mouse was caught yet, I'll have to ask when everyone wakes up.
In the meantime, I'm practicing these rolls. The Seattle DIL loves King's Hawaiian rolls, and has to have them for Thanksgiving. I found this recipe in a America's Test Kitchen magazine and had to try them. I figured after all that yelling and trauma last night,(everyone did see the boy in his underwear), we all deserve a treat. If nothing else, we can use some of them to bait the mouse traps.
Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
America's Test Kitchen, Best of 2016
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup whole mild
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
2 tsp. distilled white vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Grease large bowl and 13X9 inch baking dish. Combine pineapple juice, milk, melted butter, and honey in a 4 cup liquid measuring cup and microwave until mixture registers 110 degrees, about 1 minutes. (Mixture may appear curdled.)
Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, yeast and salt on low speed until combined, about 5 seconds. Slowly add pineapple juice mixture, followed by egg, vinegar, and vanilla and knead until cohesive mass starts to form, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 5-7 minutes. (Dough should clear sides of bowl but will stick to bottom.)
Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form smooth, cohesive ball. Transfer dough to prepared bowl and turn to coat with grease. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size and fingertip depression in dough springs back slowly, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Gently press down on center of dough to deflate. Place dough on clean counter and divide into thirds. Cut each third into 6 equal pieces (about 2 3/4 oz per piece). Form each piece into rough ball by pinching and pulling dough edges under so that tope is smooth. On counter, cup each ball with your palm and roll in circular motion into tight, smooth ball.
Arrange into 3 rows of 6 balls in prepared dish and cover loosely with plastic. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (rolls should almost reach top of the dish and edges should be touching.) Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove plastic, transfer rolls to oven, and bake until golden brown and centers register 190 degrees F, 20-23 minutes, rotating dish halfway through baking. Let rolls cool in dish on wire rack for 10 minutes. Using spatula, slide rolls out onto wire rack, brush with softened butter, and let cool for 20 minutes. Serve warm. (To reheat room-temperature rolls, wrap in aluminum foil, place on baking sheet, and bake in 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes.)
