An example of some of the weird crap I do to entertain myself...

So have you ever found yourself wondering what you would do if you didn't have to go to work each day? Well, this stay-at-home adventure I'm on has led me to some interesting hobbies- from taking day trips and writing about them, knitting a ridiculous number of hats, gardening, cooking, to well, making a sourdough starter from scratch.

My mom gave me a cookbook for my birthday: Family Meals, Creating Traditions in the Kitchen, by Maria Helm Sinskey. The author actually grew up in upstate New York. It's a great book that discusses how to create meals as a family and getting your children excited about food, etc. It also talks about the importance of knowing what goes into a meal by making things from scratch. In a world as fast-paced as ours, it's kind of a nice reminder to slow things down and appreciate some simple things. There is a recipe for a sourdough starter that has intrigued me since June and I have decided to take it on. First, I did a little research on various recipes. See, it's a little freaky. You have to think about what makes it "sour" dough.

My recipe calls for grapes, flour, and water. The grapes will ferment and create a yeast naturally. Another recipe calls for milk- but for some reason, milk grossed me out more - so I decided to stick with the grape method. After all, fermented grapes do produce wine, so how bad can this be? In fact, when I was on the wine tour at the Finger Lakes, the winemaker discussed this very thing- how grapes create a natural yeast. I found this sort of fascinating and decided it was a sign that I must not ignore this experiment.

As my garden has winds down, I will take you on a new adventure with me. Now- full disclosure, this could completely blow up and be a tremendous failure! But, what the hell, let's try it out!

Day 1:
1 cup organic grapes
1 cup unbleached bread flour and 1 cup warm water, whisked together in a metal bowl
squish grapes with your hands (secretly wishing you were making wine)
Add the grapes to the flour paste and stir. Put the bowl, uncovered, in a warm place.

Stay tuned for day 2- where we "feed the beast"