A Different Life II

[Hittenstiehl]

Good commercial.

Lots of times people associate the word hero with soldiers, firefighters, and first responders.

Indeed anybody can be heroic just by doing the right thing, especially when nobody's watching.

Do your part!
Do what's right!

Loved how you said you would follow them Out of a burning building.

[Lily&Me]

Hi Hittenstiehl!

Hope you and your hubby are staying safe down there in AZ.


Has everyone read the article about the tiger at the Bronx Zoo testing positive for Covid 19???

And the other cats there also show signs of illness, after a handler fell ill.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/n...e=articleShare

That will be a whole ‘nother level of difficulty, if this can jump to animals and then back to people.


Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

Thank you, doing well.

Work gas and groceries have been the only things going on in this new normal. We will say that we are glad our 96 year old parents did not make it to this. That was lots of time at the doctor's, hospital's etc and it would have been very confusing and exposure for all.

Admit to doing our first non-essential outing yesterday. We participated in a 8 year old nephews birthday parade. No contact was made, no gifts exchanged and no accidents. Saw the grandkids, for the first time in a month through the car windows, and wrote them a message on the chalkboard.

50 days till retirement. We had a rent a caravan trip in Europe planned and are putting that off until safer times.

I did read the article about the Bronx zoo very unusual. There was another case where some birds got it from their handler. I wonder if animals can get it from other animals then.

Both of you stay safe!

[mimiandrews]

It turns out that cats can catch coronavirus from humans. My daughter is a microbiologist, and we're having some interesting discussions lately.

Dogs can't catch it.

[Lily&Me]

Good morning, Mimi, I’ve been thinking about you and watching the outbreak in Texas.

We need to be careful about specific discussions of the virus on this thread , but good to hear from you and to know you are doing well.

I’ve been to the grocery and pharmacy as of yesterday, masked, and was able to snag a 12 pack of jumbo toilet paper rolls, so am going to go as long as I can before going out again.

Fed my starter a small bit yesterday, and am going to start a loaf today, I think.

I am doing yard work and some deep cleaning here, because it’s spring and that’s what I do.

Take care, Mimi, and be safe.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I had some eggs I wanted to use up, and baked custard sounded really good right now, so I baked this yesterday afternoon.

Like the splits of champagne I found on sale at the grocery yesterday.

Self nurturing during these times is a good thing.

Baked custard is something I used to make often when my children were young, in individual custard cups, but it’s probably been decades since I last made it.

I found this recipe online, and it is delicious. The nutmeg and cinnamon settle into the top, and it is a yummy combination.

I just had some for breakfast.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/...custard/print/

The recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar, but one of the reviews said it was too sweet, so I cut that to 1/2 cup and it was plenty.

I baked this in an 8” casserole dish set in a pan of water, but you could do 6 custard cups if you have them.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I started a loaf of the no-knead Sourdough Bread this morning, and fed my starter again after I had removed the 2/3 cup for the dough.

If it looks a bit beige-ish, that’s because I used unbleached white flour.

This is happy starter.

[GratefulGal]

Maggie, I started a starter two days ago. When is it ready to use to bake? Thx, Oh Wise One!

[Lily&Me]

Good morning!

I do know a fair amount about some things.

2-5 days is the recommended timeframe before use, and I would lean toward the 5 days.

If your starter is bubbling good and starting to smell sour, I would today or tomorrow give it a small feed of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water, let that work another day or two, then make your bread or whatever.

I have my first loaf from the linked recipe in the oven, and it is a very wet dough, but they away bake up well so I’ll post a picture when it’s out.

Going to give half this loaf to my son and his, they’re going to do a drive by visit with Grandma this afternoon as I haven’t seen them in two months and we will be FaceTiming on Easter.

It’s just not safe for me, best we keep physical distance for awhile.

Maggie

[Goal15]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Good morning!



I do know a fair amount about some things.



2-5 days is the recommended timeframe before use, and I would lean toward the 5 days.



If your starter is bubbling good and starting to smell sour, I would today or tomorrow give it a small feed of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water, let that work another day or two, then make your bread or whatever.



I have my first loaf from the linked recipe in the oven, and it is a very wet dough, but they away bake up well so I’ll post a picture when it’s out.



Going to give half this loaf to my son and his, they’re going to do a drive by visit with Grandma this afternoon as I haven’t seen them in two months and we will be FaceTiming on Easter.



It’s just not safe for me, best we keep physical distance for awhile.



Maggie

Does constantly feeding starter use up a lot of flour in the overall scheme of things?

[Lily&Me]

Not really, but remember that sourdough starter is a living organism that has to be fed to do its work, which is making baked goods taste yummy and rise properly.

I made a 1/2 recipe of the starter I posted a link to, so I could get it working properly without having 3 cups of starter then to deal with.

Back in the day, people baked bread and/or biscuits, rolls, etc., every day, removing 1 cup starter or whatever their recipe called for, replacing in the starter an equal amount of flour and water to work overnight until the next baking.

If you aren’t going to use your starter every day or two, you need to refrigerate it and then bring to room temperature before using. If you’re not going to use it weekly, you should freeze it.

If you’re not familiar with sourdough, there is a wealth of information out there that can give you better specifics than I can here.

But, I have kept a starter alive for years on end over the years, and these are what I have learned and my experiences.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

This is my favorite sourdough biscuit recipe, which are a cross between a biscuit and a roll.

I used to make 1/2 batch of these for Doug and I.


Charlie Russell’s Sourdough Biscuits

1 cup bubbling starter
1 cup warm milk
2 cups flour

Mix well, cover, let set in a warm place for an hour.

3 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Mix in a large bowl, add first mixture, mix and knead until smooth. (I kneaded this in the bowl...less mess)

Roll out to 1/2” thick on a floured surface, cut with biscuit cutter, dip each side in melted butter, place on cookie sheet or in large cast iron skillet, let rise til doubled. (I pulled sections off and rounded them in my palm, as you would a roll dough, dipped them in butter and put them in a skillet...worked fine, saved the mess of rolling onto a floured surface)

Bake @ 375 degrees til lightly browned. Makes 10-12 biscuits.


This is my loaf from this morning...not the prettiest loaf I’ve ever turned out, but I’m sure it will be delicious.

[Lily&Me]

Sourdough biscuits, baked this morning...biscuits are my usual contribution to Easter dinner, so have offered up most of these to my son and his.

They are delicious, definitely a cross between a roll and a biscuit, and there is only the slightest tang to them which speaks to their sourdough base.

[Lily&Me]

I have taken to having a small coffee late morning while watching Governor Cuomo live doing his daily press conference.

In my small mug picked up at the roastery in Chicago in December, there is something that feels decidedly civilized about a small cup.

I have heard Cuomo referred to as “a touchstone for many through this”, and that is exactly the case for me.

Cuomo in the morning, and Pritzker in the afternoon.

Walk Lily, keep after spring chores, monitor the news, cook a bit, repeat each day...life during pandemic stay at home orders.

But for confinement and having to stay away from others, we are relatively unaffected, and I am acutely aware of this.

I cannot imagine going thru this at some other points in my life, and feel badly for those struggling to meet all basic necessities.

I am going to donate half of my stimulus check to my local food pantry, and encourage anyone else who doesn’t need all of theirs to do the same.

The rest I will set aside for economy-stimulating purchases once we are out and moving again.


When I FaceTimed with my daughter the other day, she asked me to ship them toilet paper if I came across some next time I am out, as they have been unable to buy it locally or purchase it online.

I found industrial sized rolls at Home Depot online this morning, but she passed on gigantic rolls that would not fit their toilet paper holders.

I guess it depends on how desperate one is.


It looks sunny and spring like out my back window, but we are expected to get up to an inch of snow overnight, and have lows in the upper 20’s the next few nights.

Mid-April. It happens.

Stay safe out there.

[Lily&Me]

April 15 in Central Illinois.

It was snowing so hard when I put Lily out early this morning that she came in with a blanket of snow on her back.

[Lily&Me]

Snowing again, although the prediction last night was for 1-5” plus a layer of ice , but fortunately most of that missed us and it is 33 degrees out right now, so this will not accumulate.

So, I’ve started a fire, and started the second rise on a loaf of bread I began yesterday while watching the NY Gov’s daily press briefing.

I have always, at least since I’ve been able to afford to , kept a modest backup supply of anything I use routinely...like dish soap, laundry detergent, flour, paper goods, salt, sugar, etc. I hate starting a recipe only to have to run to the store because I don’t have enough of something basic.

These days, I keep a slightly larger backup supply of things that are critical for me, like flour and coffee, which seem to be in particularly high demand.

The flour area has been particularly sparse in recent weeks, so when I see a few bags of unbleached white flour still on the shelf, I pick one up.

I can have two backup bags, and a little extra coffee, and not feel like I’m hoarding.

Because the shelves are so bare, what’s there kind of jumps out at you, like Bob’s Red Mill ground flaxseed meal did the other day.

A very nutritious add-in, so I bought it on impulse and added three tablespoons to the loaf I started yesterday.

Good and good for you.

I’m doing a lot of baking these days, you say? Umm, yes, that would be true, because it is...as it has always been...a creative outlet, and so satisfying.

I’ve been giving half of baked things away to my son and his, in drive by handoffs , also using my freezer so that I don’t have piles of biscuits and loaves of bread sitting around going stale.

So, it’s Friday...I will clean the little house, bake my loaf of bread, watch the Guvs give their updates, and maybe start looking into what else the grands and I might do instead of our train trip in June.

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

When I FaceTimed with my daughter the other day, she asked me to ship them toilet paper if I came across some next time I am out, as they have been unable to buy it locally or purchase it online.

I found industrial sized rolls at Home Depot online this morning, but she passed on gigantic rolls that would not fit their toilet paper holders.

Maggie,

Two weeks ago I shipped off a box of needed supplies to my son in Dallas. Four rolls of paper towels, hand sanitizer, wipes, and homemade pepper sauce. Just a few essentials. It cost just shy of $30 dollars and I about choked when two days after it arrived he told me he had finally learned if he ordered on off days he was able to purchase most of the things he needed. Paper towels are still unavailable but he finally got smart and bought cloth towels instead. Men don’t seem to have as big a problem as women when it comes to toilet paper.

I hesitate to make this suggestion but here goes. For anyone still having a problem purchasing toilet paper, you might consider making cloth wipes. No need to shop anywhere besides your own closet and drawers. Cull out the worn and torn clothes and cut them up into something more useful.

Carol

This is from an old pair of 100% cotton knit pj’s. Softer than any toilet paper you can buy and after a quick washing it’s reusable. Perfect solution in our current situation.

[Lily&Me]

That is almost too pretty to use for wiping purposes.

I had thought of cutting up old towels, which I keep a stash of for Lily’s feet at the back door.

If I can’t find toilet paper, I will not be wipe-less.

Maggie

[Mollysdad]

Enjoy your posts
Came across this:

[Lily&Me]

I love that!!!

I would have had to buy it!

And, thank you.

I stopped buying Lily those big rawhide chews because she wanted one every day, and would eat every last morsel.

That is a very expensive habit, and one that seems irrational to maintain, in my opinion.

But, at the store the other day, knowing cold and wet weather was coming that would derail walking, I bought her one.

She pounced and pranced and greeted it like a long lost friend, or one of the grands she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

It kept her busy for hours.