Tag Archives: baking

Quarantine Baking Blues

Life Moments, , , , , ,

When these silicone loaf pans came out of the package, The Husband truly believed them to be bedside vomit trays. You know when a dog sees or hears something strange and their head tilts? Now picture a grown human man–sans floppy ears–doing that. Albeit, these are a little odd. I had ordered them over a month ago when we were still using Amazon (we’ve since shifted our bucks elsewhere) and I wanted them fast (we had just watched Bread Week on The Great British Bake Show) and were jonesing for home-baked bread. By this time, the rest of the quarantine bakers (who had already bought up all the yeast in America) had just cleaned Amazon out of loaf pans, but I was willing to settle in order to get baking quickly.

I didn’t know they were going to take so long to receive. And be so ugly. Plus, they’re bigger than I anticipated (9×4). I’m not always good about checking measurements before I buy. (I still have 95 extra die if anyone has a hankering for Yahtzee.) These trays came with measuring spoons that look to have come from a child’s play kitchen, or the baby aisle at Target, casting further doubt unto the intended purpose of this “bakeware.”

One last detail and you’ll be caught up on the backstory of these double-duty household trays: they were free. Two days before they arrived, Amazon deemed them lost at sea and issued me a refund (I’ll inform them as soon as I have a free moment–you know, things are super busy right now).

So, I need some inspiration, dear loyal readers. My baking dreams have waned since that first Bread Week but I’m not yet ready to relegate these versatile trays to under the bathroom sink or nightstand. Can you send me a yeast-free recipe? Sweet, savory, and oh by the way, veggie (veganizable, if possible). I just lost you all, didn’t I? Look, I’ve been veganizing stuff for ten years, so I’ve got confidence in my faux-egg skills.

The Great Be-gan Challenge. Get it? Baking . . . vegan . . . sorry, The Great Quarantine Delirium has began. See? I did it again. Ugh, sorry.

G: Gowanus & The Great British Bake Show

2020 A to Z Challenge, , , , , , , , ,

A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GOWANUS: Gowanus, once known as South Brooklyn, is the neighborhood where I live. It saw the first settlement of Dutch farmers, who staked their claim along the 1.8-mile-long Gowanus Creek. British ships navigated the creek during the American Revolutionary War, the manufacturing industry turned it into the Gowanus Canal in the mid-1800s, and allegedly, the Mafia used it as a dumping ground. Pollution has made it a superfund, and thus, the Gowanus Monster was born.

(“Aqua Incognito” by street artist, Raul Ayala, in 2014)

Tales of its toxic waters has made it into novels and movies, but it wasn’t until 2014 when author Dave Kelly published an issue of his comic series called, “It Came from the Gowanus Canal,” that the legend of a grotesque Loch Ness emerged from the murky, contaminated sludge. The comic series publisher teamed up with the Gowanus Souvenir Shop (a fantastic shop, by the way) to create a fake movie poster, which also lead to a number of items such as postcards, hats, t-shirts, prints, etc. My time here wouldn’t be complete without some souvenirs of my own.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW: Yes, I’m slow to the party. Everyone has already binge-watched this charming, highly addictive baking show on Netflix, that pins kind and lovely amateur bakers against each other. It’s refreshing to see a reality show where the contestants are actually nice to one another, whereas, in the U.S., abhorrent behavior is a staple of American reality television (a.k.a. “I’m not here to make friends” entertainment).

I don’t bake often, and aside from bread, we rarely consume home-baked goods such as cakes, cookies, pies, etc. Unless I’m baking for a crowd–which isn’t happening these days–a half-eaten lemon bundt cake will start to resemble the Gowanus Canal lurking under the foil.

But dang it, I now have a hankering to bake and eat it all. Suddenly, I’m perusing old cookbooks and spending way too much time on Pinterest building my baking boards. When I cook dinner, I find myself with an inkling of anxiety as an imaginary clock ticks down, signaling I have little time left to assemble our veggie bowls. I’m taking the show in doses, and because I’m only on the second season (or collections, as they call them), I should be able to sparse the show out in a nice, even layer.