27th April 2020. day 36.

Serious baking going on today among other things.We made fresh bread.

This was no mean feat when supplies are at a minimum. it seems like everyone else is preparing to have to home bake too and you can’t buy flour or yeast anywhere. In the end my Dad managed to buy some flour and yeast from a local bakery.

I found an interesting article in the Guardian that partly explains why the shortage is taking place. In a nutshell it is about a change in the supply demand chain. Usually demand is higher in the commercial market than home baking market so supply provides ingredients in bulk. That demand has shifted. Restaurants, hotels etc all closed so not buying. Instead we are all at home trying to make ourselves feel better, fill up our time and do something both creative & productive. With the added bonus that you get to eat something yummy at the end.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/apr/14/grains-flour-shortage-tells-us-about-who-we-are

We also made apple pie & didn’t use freezer pastry we actually made it. There is something really nice about home cooked or baked food. I home cook a lot and love to bake so it is nothing new for me I just don’t usually have this much time, day after day, after day. I do however have an impressive array of cookbooks so I might start getting creative.

While we were on a roll we then made dough to make pizza for dinner. Impressive or what.

I ironed & did 2 loads of washing. Oh my gosh I am never usually this domesticated.

Boris Johnson is back at work & tells us to keep on coping with lockdown as now is not the time to let things slip. We passed the 20,000 death toll which is incredibly sad.

The weather was gloomy today. Having studied English Literature at University and talked about how lots of 19th Century authors in particular used weather to portray mood I can’t help but feel that gloomy rainy days are an expression of dickensian gloom. Probably helped by the fact that it is my least favourite type of weather. Yes we brits talk about weather a lot. But then we get so much of it ! It changes a lot. It makes for a great neutral subject of conversation.

I have resigned myself during this lockdown to the fact that the kids are at home all day and some days their stuff, toys, art, books etc will spread across the house. Usually I restrict this mess to their bedrooms but this week we have a Barbie dressing up area in my lounge. I quite like that she is playing near me and honestly sort of glad the dolls are getting dressed. Why is it that Barbie seems to spend most of her time naked? When we buy these things or receive them as gifts they definitely come with outfits. Very quickly though they seem to loose their clothes and stay undressed. They spend a lot of time in the bath and almost as much time drying out on radiators around the house. I’m as baffled by the lack of clothing on dolls as I am by the fact that lego people appear in very random unexpected places around my house. I am pretty sure they breed !!

There was some good news this week. The total number of deaths recorded was the lowest in last 2 weeks which is great news. I have become obsessed with following the news reports. I am trying to minimise my news consumption to just update reading the headlines on the BBC news app and the daily Govornment briefing but I often find myself on BBC world news late at night. It saddens me that they talk about the numbers every day. Somewhere today that number is people, people who are fathers, mothers, granadparents, siblings etc who have lost their lives who’s families are grieving and who can’t even hold a proper funeral. Meanwhile the hospital staff who’s shift at work involved all those people are working through their worst nightmare. It makes my heart bleed.

Which is probably why we are all baking. We are all of us trying to hold onto something normal and good. Doing something to occupy ourselves and make us feel better.

Keep baking people. To hell with the waistline. Don’t even think about those skinny jeans, just get out those jogging bottoms.

Oh I also did some sewing this week. It is the tea dress project from week 1 of the Great British Sewing Bee. My daughter helped me fit test my pattern pieces for the teadress & I cut out the pieces ready to sew.

She also decided to learn to ride her bike & I managed to get a shopping delivery slot at last. Maybe not such a gloomy day after all. I also decorated 2 new envelopes to write letters this week. All in all despite the weather it felt like a very productive day and a peaceful week.