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Sourdough Rules

Back in March I, like the rest of the world, became an owner of a new pet sourdough. Because of – let’s call it sheer dumbness – I went overboard.

To start at the beginning, my sister and I had discovered Easy Tiger Linc a few months prior and loved nothing more than sitting at the bar in front of their commercial bakery and watching them make bread while enjoying a pint. I wanted to have a piece of normalcy from pre-pandemic. At that point nothing was open so I of course called my aunt (who is an amazing baker and cook) and asked how to make sourdough. At that point I thought they were all the same and didn’t understand that all sourdoughs were different. She sent over a yeast based recipe to create it and I sloshed it together (using wheat four) and waited. (it had to sit for several days to gather natural yeast like mana from heaven) In the next few days I was sure it was dead – but in reality it was just good at playing dead. But, because I am also not great at tidying up, the mixture sat out for about a week.

Then – I got an amazing email from Easy Tiger who was starting to sell their starter. Hallelujah – I set up my curbside delivery and off I went. (This was actually my first trip out of the house post lock-down) But, because I am a good sister, and because I had no idea what I was doing, I bought 2 with the idea that I would gift one to my sister when lock-down cleared up. I read the instructions, put them in their new homes, fed them, and named one Easy and the other one Tiger. I then thought it was only right to put the other starter to rest in the compost bin. However, the starter had different plans. Sometime between me confirming it’s death, and the trip to Easy Tiger it nearly quadrupled in size and was bubbling like a cauldron. Because I am a hippie at heart I felt it had earned the right to live and I named it Nice Buns.

After consulting the interwebs I figured out that Easy and Tiger were identical, so I could get back down to two, right? Nope. I somehow contaminated Tiger with Nice Buns – It became this really great in-between. I am not a scientist, but I do like to have fewer dishes to wash, so the contamination happened when I was feeding them and used the spatula from NB to stir Tiger. Because yeast and bacteria are alive they created a new colony.

So here’s where it got complicated. You have to feed your yeasties or they start tasting funny, but what do you do with that much starter discard? It seems you make friends. I started by posting on next door that I had bread if someone wanted some. Bad idea – I spent the next few hours apologizing to people that I ran out. (this actually went on for a few days) Then I strategically gave some to neighbors as a pick me up, but I got responses from a few that they wanted confirmation I did not have Covid. I removed them from the list. So what have I done?

  • I give some out to the homeless in the area
  • I always take something to an appointment – nothing makes your vet forgive your cat for being a jerk like fresh cinnamon rolls
  • I learned how to make new things an buy less – who knew I could make my own pasta

In a nutshell – they are a pet and require care and feeding. But they are also really neat to experiment on and see where their different flavors shine. for example:

  • If I mix NB with Easy – my bread comes out light with a touch of wheat.
  • If I make pasta I should only use Easy or the taste is too strong
  • If I make crackers, NB is the one to use as it comes out more dense

All-in-all – It’s a fun diversion and I have learned a lot, and still have a lot of learning to do.

Happy Baking!

Erin

Life thus far…they can’t eat you.

I’m not going to pretend to be all that interesting, or to have the answers to all the things. What I can offer is someone who my be going through something similar to you, or possibly give you a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes for a bit if you are happily employed or doing whatever it is that gives you joy. I will bore you about knitting, baking, sharks, NASA, some cool show I saw on TV, and what my cats did today…and possibly some experiences about failed baking, failed interviews, and new things I find on the interwebs.

I just hit my last official day working for my company and I am a survivor of being unemployed during the 2000 tech crisis, the 2008 housing crisis, and now Covid-19. For those of you that are looking for a new opportunity, I can honestly say, it’s going to be ok. You may have to give up a few things, you may have to do some things you don’t like for a bit, but to pass on the best advice I ever got…“They can’t eat you.”

Here are some thoughts to get you started:

  • The adage that your new job is to find a new job is absolutely true…however…a couple of rules
    • Do not waste people’s time. If you are not a fit for the job, or not all that interested in the job, do not fill out an application. You are wasting your time, the recruiter’s time, and most importantly the time of the person who really wants that job. Think of this as the universal karma test. You are wasting time and space in the universe that belongs to someone who wants that job, and karma-wise, someone is now doing that to you as well because bad actions come back at you three-fold.
    • Avoid burnout. Just as spending 12 hours at work got you burned out, the same is true for job searching and you don’t want to be burned out when that prime opportunity calls you. You want to be able to remember the company and what you applied for.
    • Get Organized.
      • Make a spreadsheet so that you know what you applied for and when.
      • Make a list of your amazing accomplishments – use them for your cover letter. If you are just copying and pasting the same cover letter over and over again – see rule number 1 about wasting people’s time.
  • Make sure you take some time to find some joy. So this is stressful, and if anyone says it isn’t, they are a liar or plain stupid. Most people call out that it’s way more stressful for families, and I’m going to call out it’s stressful no matter the situation: if you have kids, if you have cats, if you’re married, if you’re single, if you’re already living in your parent’s basement…I don’t care, it’s a huge stress on anyone. Here are some joy options in quarantine
    • Take a walk outside (social distancing and masks apply)
    • Pet something furry, your pets love to play and probably aren’t used to the attention you can now give them
    • Clean out the clutter
    • Try something you’ve never tried before – I am going to have so many stories about sourdough you are going to hate me
    • Do something you haven’t had time to do – I am knitting for charity / brushing up my skills for future zombie apocalypse and signing up for webinars
    • Do something you’ve been scared to do – sign up for that certification or learn to sew face masks for your friends and neighbors
  • Do the important things, even though it’s hard
    • Set a budget
    • Apply for unemployment
    • Remember to take out the trash (you may have to set a phone reminder)
    • Set a routine
    • Keep in touch with your friends and family – they love you and they want to be supportive, they may just not know how to be supportive – cut them some slack

At the end of the day, be the best you you can be today, and understand it may not be a you that you like. You have many opportunities to get to a better you.

Be Kind – Erin