sourdough days

In August, I was having lunch with a friend and we had not seen each other since before the world was turned upside down by Covid. We talked about the normal updates: Are your kids away at school or online from home? Is your husband working from home? Are you going crazy? Then, she told me that she had spent some time during SIP making jam from fruit off her own trees. The idea of her making jam was so surprising to me since she is a very stylish, put together person and not normally focused on cooking, baking or harvesting fruit. 

After our lunch, I just kept thinking that most of us have probably done something new since March that would be surprising.  So, I sent out an email to about 100 friends and asked “Is there anything you have done since COVID began in early March that you would have never thought you would do?” I received some amazing responses, including one that made me cry.

I’ll start with a full description of the jam project:

“I had a sourdough phase, which was fun for about two days, but lasted almost 6 weeks! I became obsessed with perfecting the sourdough starter. I became uncomfortable with the amount of waste created by the process so then I became strangely focused on what to do with the discard. My family got to enjoy pretty much anything you can make with sourdough starter including pancakes, waffles, you get the idea. It was a carb fest! 

My more preferable hobby is jam making. This is not an insignificant development as I am not the most crafty/homey gal. It started with the orange trees I have in my front yard and my love for marmalade but my inability to find a commercial marmalade that I love. I started searching for the perfect recipe and making batches of it from the oranges growing right in my front yard! THEN it became plum and apricot season and my trees had EPIC production.

So, the Pioneer Gal in me, who I never knew existed, got to work on “putting up” (that’s what people say) jars and jars of jam. My pressure cooker has really helped with the whole canning process, which is nothing to sneeze at, because it’s a total pain. Word got out and people started texting me that they had a fruit tree popping off, so I made a few batches of each of apple, pear and fig jams. I even invented a fig jam recipe where I ROASTED the figs first in a little balsamic vinegar, then made jam out of it! It’s delicious with cheese. This morning, I just noticed that my orange trees have a ton of fruit on them, which is great because I just put my last spoonful of my marmalade on toast this morning!”

Here are a few of the shorter, more entertaining responses: 

From my step dad: “I got accustomed to watching someone [your mom] eat salad with chicken and dressing on the side seven days a week!”

“Signed up to work with a nutritionist so I didn’t eat my way through quarantine and drove to phoenix – just to get out of the house -and drove right into a COVID hotspot! Sigh.”

“Got divorced and sold the house.  Not glorious, but true!”

“I set up a paddle tennis court in my cul-de-sac and have played with my kid, friends, random neighbors, etc.  It was quite the spectacle at first but now it’s turned into a pretty common thing that frequently involves wine and music.”

“I started a virtual Thursday night Zoom + private online poker game with nine college buddies who live all across the country.  I hadn’t talked to some of these friends in years and we are now going on 6 months without missing a week. Key insight: You can have one person play music via Zoom for the entire crew by going to “Share Screen/Advanced/Music or Computer Sound” – the music improves the Zoom vibe by about 1000%.”

“We drove 17 hours to Montana as a family of 5, stayed a week and then drove home without stopping.”

“My husband and I have taken up tennis again after 18 years!  I’m probably in the best shape of my almost 78 years.   We are active ‘Zoomers’ – keeping up with friends and participating in different educational programs. We never heard about Zoom before March and now it’s our lifeline to the world!”

“I have literally done nothing other than watch MSNBC obsessively and play pickleball.”

“I bought a Ukulele and have been teaching myself to play via YouTube.  I actually have been thinking for some time about learning to play the guitar.  My good friend from high school is a musician and I was asking him about used guitars I could buy. I didn’t know if I would like it so I didn’t want to go ‘all-in’ at first.  He suggested the Uke because it is so easy to play – there are only about 4 chords you really need to know to play numerous songs.  Anyways, I got it about a month ago and have been really enjoying it.”

“I spent one month living with my parents and then one month living with my in-laws!”

“I never thought I’d be boozing with my college kids so often. I’m certain they have done much less binge drinking than they would have at college (a good thing) but, unfortunately, I have done more cocktail hours than I would have otherwise (more sangria = more lbs.) Still, I think it’s been a good lesson for my kids in social drinking (1-2 cocktails) versus the typical college binge drinking.”

“The obvious one is that I’ve cared for a 5 month – 1 year old infant while working full time from home. That is not something I thought I would ever do (maybe one or the other, but not both simultaneously). I also took an 8-week introductory Hebrew language class and hosted 18 consecutive weekly virtual Shabbat gatherings with friends from our Israel trip (got more connected to my Jewish community/heritage).  We also did an overhaul of our backyard and planted a ‘covid-victory garden’ and put in a fire pit.”

“I tried painting and it turns out I’m pretty good at it. I had always assumed I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body but I was wrong!”

“I have made more homemade/from scratch food than ever before –  pasta sauces, veggie burgers, falafels, enchilada sauce, pesto and jam. And, no, I did not do sourdough starter and am totally OK with that. Also, because our neighbor started his own ‘direct from the ocean’ fish market, we have been doing weekly poke bowls which would have never happened but for getting insanely fresh (day of being caught) fish from him.”

*****

Here is the longer narrative that gave me pause. Because this friend was willing to be so honest, I learned several things about her and feel closer to her. I am grateful she is letting me share her touching story.

She first replied to my email questions with a couple of intriguing sentences:

“I learned how to shoot a handgun, I acquired my firearm safety license, I purchased a Glock 19 pistol after being on three waitlists, I joined a gun club and store my gun in a locker, I have waited in line before stores open to buy ammunition and have been told they have sold out more than once.

Never in a million….”

I had never heard her discuss wanting a gun so I emailed her back looking for more information. “ I have to ask – why did you suddenly decide to learn to use a gun?”

“I have always been petrified of guns.  I had a friend die when I was 12.  We sang in a choir together.

I have always wanted to learn to overcome that fear and be able to protect myself.  My son is very interested in and knowledgeable about all things gun.  He really should be in the military.  So, he played a big part in talking me off the ledge.  He had me buy a BB gun that is the exact make of the real glock we later bought.  I would be making dinner and he would set it down and say, “Clear it.”  Making sure a gun is not loaded and safe is “clearing it” and a skill you must demonstrate when you purchase a gun.

We live in an area that is targeted for protests.  My husband’s friend (a former sheriff) told him that he thought it would be smart to have a gun in the house.  We have one of my father-in-law’s shotguns in the house.  Handguns are not coming into the house for a while.

It’s pretty crazy how hard it is to get ammunition and guns.  People are afraid they won’t be able to buy guns in the near future so they are scooping up all they can when they can.  It’s a world I didn’t know existed.  Lots of people shoot guns.  I see young daughters with their dads, old guys meet each other at the range, husbands and wives make it a date night.  It’s a hobby. 

And it’s pretty exhilarating to hit the bullseye.”

And, then I asked about her friend that was shot. Get out the tissues.

“He had recently moved from the south where he hunted and knew how to use a gun.  He had his own gun.  He was hopping from rock to rock at the base of the mountains he lived near.  The gun bounced out of the top of his shorts and hit the rocks just right to pull the trigger and shoot him in the face.  

From what I now know, this was a freak accident.   I think his mom probably blames herself.  Why no holster?  Why carry the gun in general?  In hindsight, I think his mom was newly divorced and working.  He was probably killing time after school. He was adorable – blond and blue.  Sweet with a southern accent. I had a huge 12-year-old girl crush on him.  …There was a big ceremony at our church for him. 

I think of him when I shoot.  I want to be as careful as possible, know what I’m doing and hit that target.  My son is away and I’m going tomorrow for the first time to shoot by myself and it freaks me out. The Range Safety Officers (RSO’s) are great and will help me.

Big tears when I type this stuff to you.”

*****

I am not a fan of guns but this was a moving story and helpful for me to get to see a different way of thinking about guns. This is definitely not a political statement and not meant to convince anyone of anything.  It is just fascinating how this global pandemic has taken us each in so many directions, doing things we didn’t think we would do and appreciating things we previously didn’t have time to try.