sarah in nyc

We get through our weeks with Zoom funerals and Zoom Shivas and our Google Hangout Shabbat dinners. A friend from synagogue suggested that we also have virtual Kiddush, so last night several of us gathered to schmooze virtually. It felt like a real kiddush, a real blessing, even though it wasn't Shabbat and we weren't even eating. My youngest mentioned last night before he went to bed that he was looking forward to Shabbat.  One advantage of having virtual guests at our table is that we only need to cook for four. My older son made the chicken. It is cooked on a bed of potatoes with tons of lemon and parsley. I didn't photograph the roasted string beans also made with lots of lemon, because we had lots of lemons in the fridge.  We were able to get both yeast and high gluten flour. It feels luxurious to be able to put together a meal without worrying about having enough ingredients.  Yesterday I taught a class via Zoom for my synagogue on mask-making. It was recorded and y...

In these days of lock-down the days seem to run into one another. My husband was surprised this morning that it was Sunday rather than Monday. There are days when you wish you could just sleep the days away.Yesterday, I mostly slept. Today thought I decided to be productive. I wrote to some friends.  I made seven masks, This brings my total to about 80. All of the hand-washing we have to do means that we are low on hand cream. I made a batch. Due to the yeast shortage my older son and I have been experimenting with various methods of making sour dough. He has been nursing a classic sour dough. I have been doing our usual method of using bits of old bread and old dough  mixed with flour and water and letting the slurry hang out in the fridge. As I formed today's loaf of bread, I pinched off a bit, a K'zayit, about the size of an olive to add to our bread starter in the fridge. The movement of pinching off the bit of dough was so familiar from taking challah when I bake our chal...