Anxiety Quilting and Yeast
Apr. 9th, 2020 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse First of all, I would like to welcome sourdough starter, Vera, to our family...
Image: a bubbly, sour-smelling gift from the goddess....
I am here to tell you that Naomi is absolutely correct about the abundance of wild yeast in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This stuff was actively bubbling within three days.
You may be wondering about the name. Interestingly several of the cookbooks that I consulted for a recipe to start the starter suggested that it was traditional to name your starter once it begins to show signs of life. First of all, it is, in fact alive... and needs to be fed, daily, on a schedule. Secondly, apparently the yeast that you have captured is UNIQUE to you and your household. So, this really is, in many ways, your baby. Though, Shawn and I have decided to think of our yeast not quite so much like a baby (though I did make a birth announcement on Facebook, because I am silly,) but as an old auntie that has come to live with us, since this is such an ancient tradition. Hence the name Vera. Yes, we named it after the BBC detective, but it's also just an old-fashioned name to our ears.
I am fascinated by all the things that seem to be true. When it started to bubble it really did smell pleasantly sour. When it wants to be fed, however? STINKS. And, then the instant you feed it? Back to smelling lovely and tasty.
Ironically (?), fortuitously (?), the day that Vera here started to bubble, our across-the-street neighbors texted us to offer up a loaf of Jonas's sourdough. Jonas has been practicing and perfecting his sourdough for months. We have been consistently been offered his second loaf (most recipes make two). Yesterday's loaf? AMAZING. He's really hit is stride. I may be texting him for tips and tricks once my starters is ready to bake with.
We have been trading in baked goods (and other pandemic needs, like a can of tomato paste and some pry bars for a home improvement project they started.) Since both of us have "air-lock" porches, we can do no-contact drop-offs very easily. I've never been happier that I am an extrovert and made fast-friends with them the moment they moved in. Jonas is a university professor of economics, a recent immigrant from Sweden, and Cherylynn has a PhD is some science, and is working with the Department of Health, I believe. Midway is the kind of neighborhood that appeals to professors (we have a Hamline anthropology professor and her artist husband to the north of us) because we are convenient to a lot of the local universities and we are cheap as hell because the houses are modest and tend to sell to working class folks and we have a number of rent-controlled apartments/duplexes, too.
In fact, I took a few pictures of some of the houses near us yesterday for Facebook. We didn't go very far from home because Shawn was feeling headachey. She got her first cluster headache of the stay-at-home order, alas. Interesting that it's been the longest in-between stretch. I think, even though there's stressful stuff at work, there's something about being home that has reduced some trigger or other.
Lastly, I thought I would show off the progress I have made on my anxiety quilt.
It is now large enough to hide under:
Image: Lyda hiding under the craziest of crazy quilts.
I added another line of squares and rectangles last night and when I pointed out to my family how AMAZINGLY crooked I'd stitched it, Mason just smiled and said, "Lyda Morehouse: putting the crazy back in crazy quilt."
I feel this perfectly encapsulates my crafting style. It is now my new motto.
So, that's me, in a nutshell. How are things where you are? Everyone staying well/well enough? Getting enough sleep?
Image: a bubbly, sour-smelling gift from the goddess....
I am here to tell you that Naomi is absolutely correct about the abundance of wild yeast in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This stuff was actively bubbling within three days.
You may be wondering about the name. Interestingly several of the cookbooks that I consulted for a recipe to start the starter suggested that it was traditional to name your starter once it begins to show signs of life. First of all, it is, in fact alive... and needs to be fed, daily, on a schedule. Secondly, apparently the yeast that you have captured is UNIQUE to you and your household. So, this really is, in many ways, your baby. Though, Shawn and I have decided to think of our yeast not quite so much like a baby (though I did make a birth announcement on Facebook, because I am silly,) but as an old auntie that has come to live with us, since this is such an ancient tradition. Hence the name Vera. Yes, we named it after the BBC detective, but it's also just an old-fashioned name to our ears.
I am fascinated by all the things that seem to be true. When it started to bubble it really did smell pleasantly sour. When it wants to be fed, however? STINKS. And, then the instant you feed it? Back to smelling lovely and tasty.
Ironically (?), fortuitously (?), the day that Vera here started to bubble, our across-the-street neighbors texted us to offer up a loaf of Jonas's sourdough. Jonas has been practicing and perfecting his sourdough for months. We have been consistently been offered his second loaf (most recipes make two). Yesterday's loaf? AMAZING. He's really hit is stride. I may be texting him for tips and tricks once my starters is ready to bake with.
We have been trading in baked goods (and other pandemic needs, like a can of tomato paste and some pry bars for a home improvement project they started.) Since both of us have "air-lock" porches, we can do no-contact drop-offs very easily. I've never been happier that I am an extrovert and made fast-friends with them the moment they moved in. Jonas is a university professor of economics, a recent immigrant from Sweden, and Cherylynn has a PhD is some science, and is working with the Department of Health, I believe. Midway is the kind of neighborhood that appeals to professors (we have a Hamline anthropology professor and her artist husband to the north of us) because we are convenient to a lot of the local universities and we are cheap as hell because the houses are modest and tend to sell to working class folks and we have a number of rent-controlled apartments/duplexes, too.
In fact, I took a few pictures of some of the houses near us yesterday for Facebook. We didn't go very far from home because Shawn was feeling headachey. She got her first cluster headache of the stay-at-home order, alas. Interesting that it's been the longest in-between stretch. I think, even though there's stressful stuff at work, there's something about being home that has reduced some trigger or other.
Lastly, I thought I would show off the progress I have made on my anxiety quilt.
It is now large enough to hide under:
Image: Lyda hiding under the craziest of crazy quilts.
I added another line of squares and rectangles last night and when I pointed out to my family how AMAZINGLY crooked I'd stitched it, Mason just smiled and said, "Lyda Morehouse: putting the crazy back in crazy quilt."
I feel this perfectly encapsulates my crafting style. It is now my new motto.
So, that's me, in a nutshell. How are things where you are? Everyone staying well/well enough? Getting enough sleep?
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 03:03 pm (UTC)Quilt squares, round two, coming up!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 03:36 pm (UTC)Sleep is so-so here, but I took a walk yesterday and plan to make soup tonight.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 04:04 pm (UTC)Our house is well enough. We attended a Zoom Seder last night and it was funny and lovely and delightful and good. Both of us had our hearts lifted, and today is a better day for us. I continue to advocate for video-contact when we cannot see our people in person.
K.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 05:19 pm (UTC)And, yes, the crazy is getting crazier, but in a comforting way. It's been nice to have busywork. Otherwise, I think I would be running around pulling my hair out. The quilt is a lovely mess, but, like the sourdough starter, it is my mess and it is organic and wild.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 06:00 pm (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 10:53 pm (UTC)That's worth about what you paid for it, I guess.
P.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 11:26 pm (UTC)* found it, but I don't think I can add a picture into the comments. Google "Jewish holidays chart/they tried to kill us" it's funny and informative! (Passover seems to go: they tried to kill us (Yes!) We're still alive (Yes!) Let's eat (Yes!) so my guess is a moderately happy festival, then.)
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 10:55 pm (UTC)My great-aunt was named Vera. To this day I do not know if she was gay, ace, or just very fed up with any standard heterosexual romance available to her at the time, but she was Not Having Any Stupid Nonsense (good nonsense was all right). She sold ceramic tiles for a living and gave me miniature samples for my doll's house.
P.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 11:21 pm (UTC)