31 May 2020

Five Highlights From April & May

Two months of lockdown later…

As we enter week 11 of lockdown and rapidly approach the half way point of 2020, I’ve kinda hit the point where I decide that this year is a write off. It ain’t happening girl, take cover and let it do its thing. We’ll go again in 2021. In the meantime, I’m filling all the classic lockdown clichés: I’ve made sourdough, I’ve allowed Gary to cut my hair, I’ve got Zoom fatigue and I’ve used the phrase ‘groundhog day’ a lot.

A few highlights from the past couple of months:

When life gives you rhubarb… make stuff with rhubarb in it? The previous owners of our house clearly liked to grow rhubarb because there has been an explosion of enormous leaves out in the garden, despite little to no maintenance on our part. Naturally, we’ve pulled it up and so far I’ve made two rhubarb crumbles and a rhubarb & custard cake and there’s something quite wholesome about it all.

Real life hoomans: the loosening of lockdown rules has meant I’ve been able to see a couple of family members and cor, it’s exciting to remember there are other people out there right?

Baked blossoms: I managed to get my hands on a bunch of baked blossoms from The Happy Blossoms and they are honestly just the most colourful, sunshiney bunch of happiness. I’ve put them in our bedroom and am hoping they last for as long as possible because they make me smile every time I see them.

Fortnightly pub quizzes: not something I would have ever imagined making it onto my highlight list once upon a time but, hey, it’s 2020: we do quizzes now. Having a fortnightly date with my girls has definitely been a silver lining of lockdown.

A slower pace: when I’m not worrying about the impending sense of doom that seems to be 2020, I realise that I’m sinking into the slower pace of life that has been forced upon me. I don’t want to be that person and, hell, there’s a lot that I miss right now but I’ve also realised that the slower pace is doing me some good and am starting to wonder about what changes need to become permanent once life returns to normal…. Whenever the hell that is.

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14 May 2020

On Baking For Sanity & Making Sourdough For The First Time

The small pot of a sticky dough-like substance has a distinctive alcoholic smell. I have no idea what to do with it but it is in my kitchen. Once again, I have made a slightly random internet purchase and a 2kg bag of strong white flour, fresh yeast (which I didn’t know looked like that) and a tub of alcoholic-smelling sticky substance has arrived on my doorstep. Also known as the sourdough starter. I mostly ordered this kit because I wanted the flour amongst the National Flour Shortage Of 2020. But I now I have tools to make a sourdough loaf. It does not come with instructions. I pick up my phone and message my friend Beth: you’ve made sourdough before right? I knew she had. When we worked together, sat in the corner of an office, she once brought me a homemade sourdough roll. How else are good friendships meant to start? She sends me screenshots of recipes and asks me if I have a proving basket. I do not. I look through her recipe, and scour the internet, and come to the conclusion that sourdough seems to involve maths and effort, neither of which I want when it comes to baking. I’m more of a spontaneous last-minute baker but, given the whole lockdown situation, I figure I may as well give it a go.

If you have read this blog since the beginning (since 2015 – woah), and I know there are a small amount of you, then you will know I originally used to mostly blog about teaching myself to cook. It seems strangely alien to me now, to think that there was once a time where baking and cooking were just not something I did. That I didn’t even own a cookbook – eyes the shelving unit in kitchen weighed down with cookbooks. But when I decided, fresh out of university, that I probably needed to be able to create meals that weren’t just a pasta-pesto type scenario, I didn’t realise that baking was going to be come something that would keep me sane. When I feel low, when I feel like I’m in a funk that I can’t shake off, I try and remember that I should bake.

When I realise sourdough is going to potentially be a three day job (following this Bread Ahead recipe), I am a bit bemused. I like the relatively instant satisfaction of baking so am unsure if this is going to be something I lose patience with. But I kick things off by adding the starter to 50g of water, and then pouring that into a bowl containing 500g of strong white bread flour. I bring the dough together with my hands and then leave it rest for an hour. When the hour is up, I sprinkle with approx. 4g of sea salt, pull it through the dough, cover and then leave in the fridge for 24 hours. The next day, marvelling how this would have been a week-long process if I’d had to make my own starter, I stretch the dough out, pulling the ‘corners’ up and over and flipping the whole thing on its head. It rests for half an hour, and then I shape it into a ball. I create a ‘proving basket’ out of a pyrex dish and baking parchment, heavily dust it and put the dough in. Then it went back into the fridge overnight. On day three, I leave it to rise out of the fridge for two hours before finally pre-heating the oven. It bakes in a cast iron dish for an hour.

I struggle with feeling like a failure or like I’ve wasted a day if I haven’t been productive in some shape or form. I know you shouldn’t berate yourself for not being productive, but for me it’s all tied up in knowing that I feel better if I am productive. If I want to feel better in myself, I try and force productivity which isn’t a great tactic because some days it’s just not happening and trying to force it is only guaranteed to make me feel worse. But not if I bake. Baking is the gentlest form of being productive. It forces me to step away from a screen, to use my hands, to create something. It gives me a break from it all, makes me feel like there was a spark of productivity in my day and makes me happy. Because I’m never happier than when I’m creating something. And I honestly believe there are restorative powers in kneading dough, whisking creamy cake batter and turning a bunch of ingredients into something that will make the kitchen smell divine. Plus at the end of it all? There’s a baked good to devour.

My loaf is not perfect. I have to take it out 15 minutes earlier than planned because it has gone past the ‘golden’ stage and is heading towards ‘burnt’. Yet it probably could have done with longer in the middle. But it’s sourdough. We snaffle down warm, fresh slices without even stopping to butter them.

It feels like a faff for just the one loaf of bread. Yet, it forces me to slow, to be patient whilst coaxing the loaf together. When I cut into it, still warm, and saw all those beautiful air holes synonymous with a sourdough loaf, I was thrilled with my creation. My usual feelings of calm, satisfaction and happiness that come with baking were all amplified because three hours had been three days and those three days had resulted in something wholesome and beautiful.

A small detail, but one that lifts the day.

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5 May 2020

California Adventures: San Francisco Travel Diary Pt 3

The many views of the Golden Gate Bridge

Once we got back from Yosemite, we had one and a half more days in San Francisco (part 1 and part 2 here). After our first attempt to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge was somewhat of a failure, we knew we had to get back to that bridge pronto. Who can come back from San Francisco and not have walked the Golden Gate?!

After falling in love with Zazie just before we went to Yosemite, we decided to head back there for brunch and, quite frankly, I’m still dreaming of the French toast I had; it was that good.

We hopped on the bus over to the bridge and when we arrived, hooray no fog! We could finally walk all the way across. It was still pretty windy but not so much that it was actually hard work walking through the air like last time. I will admit, what you don’t think about – or at least I didn’t – is that the Golden Gate is a working bridge so it is essentially like walking alongside a very windy motorway. However, we could see for miles and the views were pretty spectacular so it was worth it.

Having said all that, we did spend the rest of the day seeking out different views of the bridge which are definitely better than the views on the bridge. Once we were over the other side, we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge view point which is the classic tourist bit with the view back across the bridge and everyone taking photos. It was great but if you’re ever there yourself, I would implore you to not just leave it at that. Get across the road and take a small climb, and you’ll reach Battery Spencer which, in my opinion, was the best viewing point. Slightly above, and to the west of the bridge, this vantage point offers spectacular views – one of the photos I took from there is now framed on our living room wall.

Our next view required a bit of a walk and a café stop (where I ate a Golden Gate Bridge shaped biscuit obvs). We walked back across the bridge and along the coast line which was gorgeous. Beautiful sea views and pelicans flying above our head – what’s not to love? The path eventually led us to Baker Beach; somewhere I’ve wanted to go to ever since I first saw a picture of it online. I think there’s something quite special about that view of the beach and the bridge together.

That evening we went back to, you guessed it, Zazie for the third time (and second that day). It really was our favourite place to eat in San Francisco! Beforehand, we stopped off for a drink in the bar next door which had all the components of a classic ‘American’ bar and we were here for it. We sat at the bar, chatting to the friendly barman and feeling very at home before heading off to inhale the Zazie menu.

Twin Peaks

On our final morning in the city, we walked up the Twin Peak hills – a pair of 922-foot-high summits which, on a clear day, provide 360-degree views of the bay area. As our Airbnb was nearby, we had walked half way up them on a previous day but didn’t bother going to the top because of that pesky fog again. Luckily, this time, the sky was a perfect blue and we could see for miles. I would highly recommend the steep climb for those panoramic shots. Looking out across the entire city from above felt the perfect way to finish our trip.

Before heading to the airport, we had lunch at Crepes on Cole (would recommend) and took a wander around the local area to drool at the beautiful houses once last time. My final experience of San Francisco was having one of their famous sourdough bread bowls at the airport – just in the nick of time!