Tag: coronacation

Coronacation

On By Madison WhiteLeave a comment

In her bullet journal she is chronicling her extended leave from school, friends, and the world in general due to the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, it has been only a couple months of quarantine at home, though I wonder what her journal will contain six months from now. So far, she has been doing her online schoolwork in a dutiful fashion and, knowing her, will continue to do so until the regular school term is over. But I wonder what will happen if regular school doesn’t start up in the fall which will be her senior year in high school? What will she write about then? How will she cope with quarantine then or the changes that coronavirus has made in the world? Gen Z of which she is a part already has an entirely different take on society and its mores than her current ancestors – parents and grandparents. While we are quarantined together as a family without much tangible loss other than socialization with others, we are not seventeen. She is. We will never know the full effects that such a mass social quarantine will have on one’s psyche and perspective in the long run.

image credit: Mario Azzi on Unsplash.com

Q Fail 2

On By Madison WhiteLeave a comment

I was feeling more-than-normally quarantined, but also more-than-normally energetic. It was too early to drink so I found a Bourbon Nut Bread recipe for the borrowed bread maker taking up room in my pantry. Tested the bourbon…ok. Tested the brown sugar…ok. I was pretty sure the baking powder and flour were ok, so I proceeded to bake which means I pressed the appropriate buttons on the bread machine.

(see photo)

This was by far the ugliest, crumbliest so-called bread substance I have ever created mechanically enhanced or not; however, it doesn’t taste that bad heated up with a LOT of butter on it. Nevertheless, next time regardless of what the clock says I will be drinking the bourbon with ginger ale and eating Sara Lee.

image credit: Madison White

Q Fail

On By Madison WhiteLeave a comment

It’s still quarantine and everyone is focused on living more healthy, more calm, more fulfilled lives…right?

In my continued attempts to quarantine successfully, I borrowed a bread maker. I was going to make more bread, the easy way, which only makes the results worse since I didn’t have to really ‘do’ anything. Flour and yeast are hard to come by but after waiting more than two days for my Amazon delivery, I procured both. However, it seems I bought spelt flour. The Internet told me that was permissible. So I followed a recipe in the bread maker cookbook and ended up with some thing the dog won’t eat.

My special spelt bread was caked, not dusted but caked, with raw flour around the severely overdone crust. Not an attractive loaf and to top it off, very soggy in the middle. No amount of butter, sorghum, apricot jelly, or wine made it taste good or look better.

I have a spent spelt loaf of mash. I wonder if I can make beer from the remaining spelt flour? Also, I am ordering Wonder Bread from Amazon today.

(Full disclosure: In my last post, I raved about the comforts of making an old-fashioned dill bread by hand. That loaf was delicious…believe me, but apparently that effort didn’t portend success for the future.)

image credit: of batter and dough.com

Dill Bread

On By Madison WhiteLeave a comment

Today I am channeling Julia Child while making coronacation dill bread from my dear aunt’s 1960’s recipe. There is flour everywhere and the smell of baking bread fills the kitchen. I must admit that I am quite proud of myself today. That is a rare happenstance during my weeks of quarantine. I have not been overly depressed during this past month, but I have been rather lazy! Can’t wait for it to get done…

image credit: Taste of Home