When Life Gives You Vinegar...

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Tasting History with Max Miller. Every Tuesday -- sometimes more often -- Max makes an old recipe and "while that's cooking," he dives into the history behind the dish. He is charming and informative and blessed with a hundred ways to reference hard tack.

Usually, I watch from the comfort of my couch as Max cooks and noshes on historical foods. However, he recently made something that I just had to try...

The past 5 weeks since my main source of income dried up have been... interesting. The future is more steeped in uncertainty than usual, which leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

If I had a dollar for every person who told me "when God closes a door, He opens a window," I'd be able to pay this month's electric bill.

Sure, make lemonade when life gives you lemons. But what about when life hits you with vinegar...?

Well, Max recently came up with the solution:


  

Make shrub! 

This once in-vogue drink made from a sweetened vinegar-based syrup hearkens back to Colonial America. Delicious, beautiful, and oh so refreshing, it pairs as well with sparkling water as with gin.

To Make Shrub:

Simply cover bruised, mashed berries (I used strawberries) with white wine vinegar and let sit undisturbed for a day. 

Yes, it smells like vinegar. Ya can't avoid sticky situations when making shrub. Instead, you just have to soldier through...

At the end of 12 - 24 hours, boil for a minute, then strain the mixture through a sieve, saving all that clear liquid. Discard any seeds and pulp. (My chickens thought it was Christmas!)

Add sugar and simmer till well dissolved. 

Cool. 

Chill. 

The result is a decadent jewel-tone syrup. It's the sort of thing that makes you hold it up to the light and drown your gaze in its super-saturated color.

Just pour a bit of the shrub over ice, fill the rest of the glass with sparkling water, and stir. It. Is. Divine. No vinegar taste. The vinegar ordeal is over.


Mmmmm... 

Shrub is my new favorite summertime drink. It is impossible to make without the vinegar. And it got me thinking...

When your plans have been smashed, doused with an acid bath of setbacks and naysayers, it's in your best interests to take some time to ruminate. To sit undisturbed and reflect. To let good ideas marinate.

Then you owe it to yourself to act. 

This past week, I began working with a superb business coach. I can confidently say that had Scribe not imploded, I would never have entered into this new relationship. I can also state with equal confidence that this new adventure has energized me more and brought me more creative excitement than anything else has done for years. It's a very shrubby experience.

Don't be afraid to put your good ideas to the test -- to see how they react when you get fired up.

Keep your vision clear on what you intend to accomplish. Discard what threatens that clarity.


Sweeten your new endeavor with supportive allies as you persevere toward your ultimate goal. 

I have no doubt you're like me -- you've been around the block enough to know that life ain't always easy. It's full of complex ferments and unexpected acid tests. When overwhelm threatens to mash us down, that's when it's time to take a page from the ones who came before us: 

Make shrub and find a way to enjoy, rather than be overcome by, this wild ride that is your life!

Chin up, my pretties! I have faith in you. You can do this!

Super Simple, Easy, 4 Ingredient Homemade Artisanal Bread

I don't usually use this blog for recipe posts (my exploration of some of my Grandma's recipes was an exception, rather than the rule). But I can't stop telling everyone about this bread and how easy it is to make.

Since many people are trying their hand at baking as they self-isolate to keep the Coronavirus at bay,  I had to share. (And since I loathe those recipe blogs that take six days of anecdotal storytelling to get to the point, I'll just skip to the good stuff.)

SUPER SIMPLE, EASY, 4 INGREDIENT HOMEMADE ARTISANAL BREAD

3 C flour (Any kind. Bread flour. White. Wheat. Rye. Doesn't matter. For this loaf, I used 1 C whole wheat and 2 C unbleached white.)
1/4 tsp. dry yeast (NOT a whole packet. If using pre-packaged yeast, measure what you need & save the rest for another batch.)
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C very hot tap water

(* Optional 5th ingredient: 1 Tbsp. sugar, honey, molasses, or other sweetener. For the loaf featured, I used raw sugar.)

Step 1:
Dump all ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until well combined.

No need to knead.

Step 2:
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to proof at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours. Instead of rising, like typical bread dough, it will look more like a gummy, pillowy porridge.

Step 3: After proofing 3 hours.

Step 3:
After proofing, remove plastic wrap and discard.

Step 4:
Sprinkle dough with 1 to 2 Tbsp. flour. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, work dough into a self-contained ball.

At this stage, you can add a few tablespoons of old-fashioned oats as an optional 6th ingredient. Just sprinkle them over the dough and roll it a bit so they stick. (I didn't do that this time.)

Step 4: Resting on parchment.

Tear a large square of parchment paper. Place dough in center of paper. Place paper back into bowl.

Cover with clean towel. Let rest 30 - 40 minutes.

Step 5:
Place empty Dutch oven, with lid, in oven and preheat to 450 F.

When oven is hot, place dough (parchment and all) in hot Dutch oven. Cover and bake at 450 for 30 minutes.

Step 6: Baked for 30 minutes.

Step 6:
Remove cover.
Remove bread from parchment.
Return loaf to Dutch oven and bake, uncovered, for 30 - 45 minutes.

Between Steps 6 and 7. Mmmmmm!

Step 7:
Cool completely before cutting and eating. (From start to finish, the hardest part is waiting for the bread to cool before cracking it open...)

This recipe is (mostly) taken from "Faster No Knead Bread" via Jenny Can Cook -- a 7 minute how-to video version of the process. Share and enjoy!

Grandma's Recipes

I recently spent some time sorting through my late Grandma's recipes. (I was the only one in the family who wanted them. When she died, they were the only thing of hers I wanted... A true treasure!)

Some are over 100 years old. The vast majority of them are for cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, or something else vaguely dessert-like. Many use creative measuring techniques and require leaps of culinary faith.

For instance:

Dutch Cake recipe: choose your own ending!

Exhibit A:  DUTCH CAKE 
2 C flour
1 C sugar
2 tsp. B.P.
pinch salt
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 C milk

That's it. What you see is what you get. No mixing or baking instructions. B.P. is baking powder, obviously. I assume you just stick it in a 350 oven & watch till it's done?

Whoever thought this was a thing the world needed?

Exhibit B: TOMATO SOUP BARS 
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can water
1/2 C melted shortening or cooking oil
1 box mincemeat or 1 C raisins
1 tsp allspice
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp soda
1 C sugar
2 1/4 C flour

This one has mixing and baking instructions, but... SOUNDS SO YUCK!

One of my faves, titled "Sun Cooked," is written in prose like flash fiction:

"Take 2 lbs of strawberries and 2 lbs of sugar. Put 1/2 C of hot water in a kettle. Add sugar & stir until boiling. Then add cleaned & hulled strawberries & simmer slowly for 5 min."

After boiling, you put the berries on a large platter, cover with cheesecloth "to keep out insects and let stand in the sun for 3 days, taking them in at night." (!!!) "The 3rd day they will plump up and be firm."

Me: Fermented is more like it...

"Sun Cooked" ends with a little editorial: "Place in sterilized jars without heating. Do only two pounds at a time. These are super-duper."

Me: Riiiiiiight...

Orange Pudding started me down this recipe rabbit hole. Dad was reminiscing about an Orange Pudding his mother made. I don't have her recipes, but looked and -- lo and behold! My other grandma had that one too...

ORANGE PUDDING ("Elva's") 
1 C Sugar

2 oranges (juice)
1 1/2 C water
Butter the size of an egg

Boil first four ingredients while mixing batter

1/2 C sugar
1 T. Butter 1
/2 C milk
1 C flour
1 tsp BP

Drop in juice by spoonfuls and bake. Don't grease pan. As with "Dutch Cake," time and temperature not given.

If you're wondering why all of Grandma's recipes are typewritten: my Grandma came from a long line of teachers. She typed instructions for *everything.* Some of the recipes are handwritten - in her spidery cursive; often in pencil. Deciphering them takes... patience and luck.

Going through her recipes makes me miss her terribly. She was a fantastic baker and cook. I've made many of her recipes -- but not these recipes. Since Dad has a hankering for Orange Pudding. I may have to try my hand at making it soon... Further bulletins as events warrant.