I saw a t-shirt online that said, “2020 is a unique Leap Year. It has 29 days in February, 300 days in March, and 5 years in April.” Can you relate?!
My family is in good health, Andrew is working, and we continue to homeschool. We have much to be grateful for! What I’m finding hardest about the lockdown is the uncertainty about what the summer will hold. Will my parents be able to visit soon so I can make them the best pizza ever (see below)? Will we be able to join Andrew’s extended family at camp in the Adirondacks? Will we be able to go thrifting for rubber boots, puzzles, and summer clothes? Will the library reopen? Will we have church in person instead of online? (I found out today that our painter should still be able to paint the exterior of our house in July, which I’ve been looking forward to.)
As usual my “Favourite Things” post is a reminder to look back at recent bright spots.
Read
Somehow I feel like I didn’t read enough this month…
I did finish reading The Phoenix and the Carpet to the kids (recommended if you like a classic [1904] novel of imagination and sibling relationships).
Oh, and I finished Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, which made some fascinating points I could definitely revisit, but also was a slog for me at times (I just can’t wrap my head around the workings of NASA!).
I found A Long Petal of the Sea to be informative about the Spanish Civil War and the political upheavals of Chile but didn’t fall in love with it as a novel. (Dislaimer: I listened to the audio, which isn’t my favourite format for unfamiliar books, but I’ll take it when the library is closed!)
Finally, I am frantically finishing Reading Lolita in Tehran for Skype book club tomorrow night. I predict that there will be lots to discuss about life in Iran and literary criticism. (It would be nice if I’d read more of the novels covered — though I have no plans to ever read Lolita.)
P.S. I also recently rediscovered LibriVox, where you can listen to free audiobooks of books in the public domain, and have been listening to Jane Austen’s Emma.
Eat
Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly) April was fairly cool with snow on the ground several mornings, but that’s good for comfort food! Shepherd’s pie, ham and pea soup, apricot chicken, jambalaya.
Plus I am this close to making the perfect pizza! The trick is you have to prep the sourdough crust the night before, giving it lots of time to develop flavour, air pockets, and a chewy texture. The other factor that might take homemade pizza over the edge is 00 pizza flour (I’ll explain more in next week’s blog post). I’ve only bought this flour once and it seems it might not be easy to find. If the stars align and I find it again and follow this sourdough pizza recipe (and cook it at 550 degrees F) I think I’ll hit the jackpot. (And yes, I’ll be happy to have you over for pizza when the lockdown is over!!)
We also continue to watch the Great British Baking Show. Here are a few of our accompanying treats.
Do
Some of my favourite April moments
- seeing daffodils bloom
- setting up an Easter egg hunt
- sewing while the kids made crafts
- doing a nature scavenger hunt with the kids
- finding free honey labelled “Stay well, good neighbours”
Meditate
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
I need this pizza in my life…
Two other things I don’t have that I bet make amazing pizza are a pizza stone and a wood-fired oven. #lifegoals
I usually do pizza at 500 F, but I’ll try 550 F! And last week I used my sourdough discard, but didn’t prep it the night before, so I’ll have to try that, too. 🙂
What about non-crust components of the perfect pizza? I think whole milk mozzarella makes it so good! Especially compared to the horrors of pre-shredded cheese. 😛