sourdough – Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs..

This year my friends and family have really leaned in to staying at home and finding ways to use this time – through creative projects and hobbies, to learning useful skills, and filling our spaces with life and things that make us happy and smile. These newfound passions are making their way onto holiday gifts lists in my circle, and I wanted to share with you a few of these ideas! (Amazon links are affiliate links, and marked with an *.)

A little bit of peace and happy

Crescent Moon Soap Making Set: This year I learned to make soap and I am loving it! I love the creative aspects, as well as the functional and resourcefulness of it. I love just going to my little stash that I have made and picking out the next bar that we are going to use. Brambleberry has a ton of kits and project suggestions for every interest. I love this crescent moon though..

Embroidery Kits: Ok so..there are three here. My favorites honestly, and the ones I added to my list for Billy to choose from. I hope to learn to embroider this year and these just seem so pretty. Wild and Free || Web || Moons

A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year: I have a book that is a poem for every night of the year, and we enjoy reading our poem every night. I think this would be a lovely way to start the day! *

Soapstone Carving Kit: My brother is a whittler, my stepdad was a whittler and woodworker; is there any more peaceful sounding endeavor? This soapstone kit looks like a great place to start.

Freshly made? Yes please

Handmade Sourdough Crock: The men I know have embraced cooking and food production this year, and this sourdough crock is gorgeous. King Arthur Flour has a few different versions, some that even include sourdough starter as well!

Bread Accessory Kit: I love this kit, it contains so many items for such a great price! A lame, a whisk, a bread bag..all for less than $25.00! *

Mead Making Kit: This is totally a Billy item. He wants to learn how to make mead and this kit makes it look easy! *

Things are growing

Wooden Propagation Station: Anyone else plant obsessed these days? My friends and I have started buying plants and sharing cuttings with each other. I am patiently waiting for my new cuttings to get here and I need one of these stations myself!

Marimo Moss Ball: Something else I am currently in love with. These marimo balls are so cute and can live for years and years, and are said to be lucky. Check out the website, it is worth reading and exploring!

Mushroom Kit: Grow your own mushrooms! We eat so many mushroom recipes over the fall and winter, that it would be handy to have some just ready and available in my own kitchen. (For a fantastic dinner, try the Mushroom Polenta from Rabbits and Wolves..) *

The Basics of Cozy

Men’s Pendleton Slippers: Billy hates having cold feet (well, I guess everyone does) and I love these slippers. They look perfect to slip into on those cold mornings and out of as well in the evening at bedtime.

Sackcloth and Ashes Blanket: I have one of these blankets (Camp Lake) and I love it. It is so soft and warm and bonus – the company donates blankets to homeless shelters!

Le Creuset Tea Mug: Also something I own and it is hands down my favorite to use, even with its little chip. It just has the perfect shape for holding, you know what I mean? It’s just a little thing that makes me happy everyday. *

Tom’s Plaid Slippers for Women: Because plaid is perfect in the winter. I like to wear slippers that are more fitted, probably because I am sort of klutzy and need my footwear to not give me anymore reason to trip. I like how trim and neat these look!

There are always subscription gifts as well! Cratejoy has a ton of ideas, and you can always buy a patreon for a year subscription if there is a maker they like to support! Also, gift cards for restaurants are a great idea for this year. We aren’t dining in but we are supporting our local eateries by ordering takeout!

I realize some of these suggestions are a little unusual, but so is 2020. I wanted to throw some of our loves and ideas out there, even to just get the ball rolling if anyone was looking for ideas! Even if these are not the items you are looking for, you may find the perfect thing on one of these websites!

Happy Shopping!!

Ok, so it’s not really obligatory to post about sourdough these days. But I have to admit, we are on the bandwagon! I actually started my mother back in February, before everything got crazy, and shared its progeny with Chrissy, my sister-in-law.

And my mother is really a father… lol. Yukon Cornelius the grand patriarch of many sourdough starters. I really just maintained him, keeping him fed and happy and didn’t use him for a long time. I did split him off into two starters – one for Chrissy in February, and another for my friend Gabe in March, respectively named Baby Yukon and Jack, after Jack London. I guess I like masculine sourdough names.

Chrissy was gangbusters with Baby Yukon, making all sorts of delicious looking baked goods that I was not able to eat as we are all in shelter-in-place. I could only ogle them through photos. Bagels, banana bread, cookies, breads, pancakes… she seems to have a magic touch. (Chrissy is also very talented at making soap and shampoo bars too!)

They looked so good and inspiring, that Billy and I impulse bought a Kitchen-Aid mixer. We have wanted one for years and never gave in, until now. It took a pandemic and some good looking bagels to commit and we are so happy we did! I am not a big spender so it was a tough one for me, but I feel like it was a smart purchase since I feel it will get a lot of use and will last for a long time. So I was ok with it, even though you don’t need one to bake sourdough. We ordered it online from Target then did pick-up so that we weren’t making any delivery people work harder than they needed to, and Billy masked and gloved up and ran in. And it’s been a valuable asset for us through this time, enabling us to make bread and also as a distraction. Plus, Wyatt has really gotten into baking too! He loves baking with us!

Gabe took his and ran with it too, making bread and pretzels – and getting his girls involved as well! I am jealous of his pretzel making skills, as I tried to make pretzels too and mine didn’t turn out at all! Like the dough was just not right. Gabe also had lots of little Jack progeny as well, and for that I was grateful, since I accidentally killed Yukon Cornelius and was able to get a new starter. Just traveling through that sourdough family tree. I named my new one Yukon Jack, a combo of their two names, and then also made another starter from him, just in case we had another unfortunate incident. His name is Mountie Jack.. I guess I have become a Heartie. Then we split Mountie because my mom wanted a starter, and I named her starter Elizabeth. We will have to wait and see what my mom makes!

Since I was abysmal at actually making something with our sourdough, Billy took that job over for a bit, although I am considering making sourdough crumpets and sourdough pancakes this weekend. Billy is still finding his footing, and while they taste amazing and have the perfect texture, the tops keep getting burned. I think we have the oven rack maybe too high, so next time we will drop it. Or he will rather. Lol. But it toasts up perfectly, and toast is one of my favorite things to eat.

A dramatic portrait of toast, if I do say so myself.

We spent a lot of time looking up recipes and information on sourdough! My favorite sources of info have been the Clever Carrot’s Sourdough Guide for Beginners, Binging with Babish Sourdough, and 15 Mistakes Most Beginning Sourdough Bakers Make. Pinterest has a million recipes for those interested as well!

I also want to acknowledge the fact that my brother-in-law has been magical in finding flour for us when we need it as well!

Any tips from sourdough bakers out there, I would love to hear!

Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs..

Tag: sourdough

The Stay-at-Home Edition Holiday Gift Guide

The Almost Obligatory Sourdough Post