I haven't been baking so much lately. The beginning of the pandemic coincided with a relatively recent receipt of Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann; I found myself needing snacks and not inclined to go to the store; and it also just so happens that incessant baking is one of my stress responses. Much baking occurred. Much oo-ing and ah-ing was seen in response to a deluge of IG posts (oh IG, I do not miss you at all, remarkably). And then, just as fervently as it began, the baking stopped. Uninspired, uninteresting, more flops than fantasies, and my baking was reduced back to the basics - chocolate coconut buttermilk pound cake, chocolate chip cookies when needed, chocolate cherry mousse, not much, not often, and rarely enough to share.
In the past couple weeks, however, I have started ramping up my baking again. Through some testing that my doctor had me do, as well as a general look at my nutrition habits, my doctor recommended that I do an "elimination diet" for three weeks, not so much to find a potential irritant (she wasn't so concerned about that in my situation) but to allow my gut lining to heal and to (hopefully) improve my poops. An elimination diet is about as strict as you want it to be - there's a dozen different rabbit holes on the subject online. I researched around, reasoned it all through, and decided what my parameters would be. And right away, I realized that I had an excuse to do some experiments in the kitchen. I've baked three different small batches of experimental cookies (the first one was best, so far) and today - churros! (Coincidentally (?) these were the show stopper bake in the episode of Great British Baking Show that I watched the other night.) I've baked my own flake cereal for the week to go with my walnuts and pepitas in the morning. Making sure I have snacks on hand is a bit of a chore, but having to try to experiment within these different parameters has put a little spring back in my step in the kitchen. Anyone who has followed my baking in the past will recall that messing around with unique ingredients is one of my faves. Heck, I even made dinner for us the other night (Indigenous Tacos from The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, a great recipe book if you're trying to eat more plant-based, non-processed, food).
And that's all for now. Just a few thoughts on food and messing around in the kitchen, and finding inspiration within limitations. The rest of my non-working life is consumed with knitting projects right now - I've got five active at present, though two of them will hopefully wrap up soon. I am trying to get better at keeping up on the housework, too. Last week was the first time we got all the weekly and biweekly tasks done on our tracker chart since I made it, so I'm trying to keep that rolling.
Oh, and I've officially been flossing every day (with one exception) for over a month now. How did I get myself to do this thing I've been trying to get in the habit of for most of my adult life? I listened to the NPR LifeKit podcast episode about "Tiny Habits" (twice, or maybe even three times), and then I decided that only flossing half of my mouth was tiny enough to do without talking myself out of it. And every day and I do just that. Now I don't even have to think about it anymore, it's just what I do! Powerful...
That had nothing to do with everything else, but it seemed worthy of mention. I'm proud of this accomplishment, and I want to celebrate it. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've told Jack this at least twice now, so I had better start sharing it with someone else (albeit on this blog that most folks will never read...).
Until next time!
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