Sunday, December 6, 2020

Savoring Sunday

Is it reasonable to expect a neglected blog to come back to life? We'll see, won't we.

We're all dealing with everything from disappointment to outright panic right now, and a bad case of the "Sunday Scaries" doesn't help one bit. While expecting to organize the whole upcoming week on Sunday is a fast way to go completely crazy, I do like to take a deep breath or two, clean out and re-stock the pantry and refrigerator, and reflect on what's been good, fun, and delicious in the last week.

**Baking. Much like adventurous quarantine-ers, I've been messing with a sourdough starter. None of my loaves have been quite what I hoped, or particularly photogenic, but they're still pretty exciting. I made a round loaf yesterday that tastes great and has a nice soft texture, and I have some dough in the refrigerator that is based on the sourdough focaccia recipe in the most recent issue of Fine Cooking Magazine.

I finally took a more disciplined approach to Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I'll post the recipe, and the technique I used, soon.


Thanksgiving, of course, involved Grandmama's Pumpkin Pie.

 


I've been trying to make quick breads for weekend breakfast, whether it be in the waffle/pancake family, or something more casual and hand-held, like muffins or scones. Today's breakfast was these Pumpkin Molasses Muffins. A couple weeks ago, it was these Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins, (which were better than I remembered), and I tried out a Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin that I need to share here.


 

**Other cooking. Today's snacking included a Curry Lentil Hummus, which is also destined to be shared here.

I've been going nuts with infused liqueurs this year, mostly using vodka, but also brandy. I made a rhubarb liqueur this spring, and a delicious mint liqueur and a sweet cherry liqueur this summer. Lately I've made apple, cranberry, and orange, and still plan to try out cinnamon and ginger, or perhaps other citrus fruits. This is particularly weird for me because I have virtually zero tolerance for alcohol. I'll have to start making these good enough to give as gifts!

I've been leaning on old favorites for easy and comforting meals lately, too. Pizza still happens on most Saturdays, and I've recently made Spaghetti Pie and Italian Chickpeas. I still love them all!


 

**Reading and other entertainment. I have joined the ranks of devotees to "The Mandalorian". I can't help it. It's just so much fun!

I've read novels by three authors recently that I can't recommend enough:

Naomi Novik's Uprooted and Spinning Silver are two of my favorite books, so I wasn't surprised to also really enjoy A Deadly Education, which came out this fall.

I loved Alix E. Harrow's 10,000 Doors of January, so I looked forward with desperate longing to Once and Future Witches. It is great! Read it! Read them both!

A friend recommended Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir with such geeky glee that I had to read it. I was blown away (as everyone who reads it seems to be), and waited for the follow-up, Harrow the Ninth with more than my usual impatience. Mind. Blown. Again. Harder this time. (You might want to read them with a close friend just so you have someone who will understand what has happened to you.) 

** The week to come. It doesn't look like a good one. COVID-19 is a bad, bad, bad thing, and too many people don't know that or don't care, which means the particular industry in which I work is a virtual mine field. I need to rely on some of the favorite things I savor on Sundays (or some other day that I might get time to contemplate) for comfort and escape. I hope you have some outlet, too. These things may not solve our problems, but, with any luck, they give us a place to rest our consciousness. They help us keep what it means to be human.

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