A few chinks of light

If I hear one more person say ‘this is the new normal’ I swear I’m going to scream, or at least walk off with a  petulant flounce. Given the way things change on a daily basis and how the UK is coming out of lockdown in such a seemingly ad-hoc and random manner I don’t see how anyone can know what normal is now or for any point in the foreseeable future. One day at a time was an acceptable mantra in the early days of lockdown but after the eighty sixth time of asking  it’s starting to feel a little ragged. The pining for a coffeeshop visit just gets stronger by the day.

I realise we have to be careful but it does feel to me as if the importance of opening up places where people who’ve been indoors for so long can socialise with others is being overlooked. In recent days newspapers and TV have been carrying pictures of restaurant and cafe life starting to resume in France. I fear it’s going to be some time yet before you’d get the same pictures from the UK.

It’s not all doom and gloom though as there are a few chinks of light starting to happen. Now people can mix more outside of the home we’re finally going to see my dad on Friday. We’ve been calling each other regularly but this will be the first time we’ve met up in nearly three month’s. I wrote in a previous post about how well he was coping in lockdown and how supportive his neighbours have been. I still love the fact that when they asked him if he wanted any supplies fetching in the first two items on his list were a bottle of red wine and some dates. It will be good to finally get to see him and it also gives me an excuse to bake tomorrow as I’ll make sure to take him a few treats when we go. 

Another good sign is that my partners son is visiting soon. He lives in central London and has been stuck pretty much on his own for the last few months after his house mates decided to go home just before lockdown started. There have been regular Zoom calls throughout but I know  his mother is desperately looking forward to having him home for a few days.

On the food front there was a noticeable first for me this week when I finally got to bake with fresh yeast. I’ve always used dried yeast for my bread baking until now but it’s become as scarce as hens teeth in the shops at the moment. I do have a small amount left but when I saw a local baker was offering the fresh version via their online shop it was too good an opportunity to miss. They also delivered me some malted flour, another first for me, and the two combined made a wonderfully soft and delicious loaf. Having never used fresh yeast  before I needed to do some homework to make sure the dough was going to rise. The general consensus seemed to be fresh had to be added to the recipe at twice the weight stipulated for dried and that certainly worked for me. The picture with this post is the proof.

The weeks other food highlight was a pavlova with fresh cream and Pimm’s roasted strawberries. Believe me it’s every bit as delicious as it sounds and I’ll share the recipe in my next post. Get ready for a sugar rush.