May 16 2020 - Self-Rising Bread

I must be very old-fashioned.  I don't consider that the ingredients flour, salt, and baking powder make bread.  It is commonly called quick bread - also biscuits.  We call cornbread a bread, but it is more of a cake.  I consider yeast or sourdough starter essential for bread. The interest in quick breads has come about because yeast has been unavailable.  With the stay at home order, people have joined the sourdough starter movement and are baking bread.  Pictures of bread are everywhere these days. The CBC interviewed Ione Christensen whose sourdough starter has been alive since at least 1898.  She was visited by the sourdough librarian for the Puratos Sourdough Library in Belgium.  Ione's yeast was sent there to be tested to find out where it originated.  She calls it the 120-year-old Yukon Gold Rush sourdough starter, originating with her great-grandfather who trekked over the Chilkoot Pass on his way to Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush.  Ione is a former Canadian senator and was Commissioner of the Yukon in 1979. There is another sourdough starter within the same age range owned by Lucille Dumbrill in Newcastle, Wyoming.  Her family says it dates back to 1889 to a sheepherder's wagon near Kaycee.  Lucille loves to make pancakes with her sourdough starter. Lucille’s advice: “You just have to not be afraid if it doesn’t look good.” Once, Carol Rolfe, who assists Lucille at home, was cleaning the fridge and opened the starter jar. The contents had turned black around the edges, clear and oily on the top. Whatever this was, Carol thought, it needed to be thrown out.  Lucille instructed her to stir it all back together.  It was fine. Today's picture is a Trillium in my garden.  Commonly known as Toad Trillium, it has a yellow flower.  It is Trillium Luteum.  It is not considered a native of Ontario - a garden escape here.  This Trillium would be about 35 years old, purchased at a garden centre in Toronto.

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Can Bread be Wise?

Can bread be wise?  Wisebread is a frugal living financial advice website. "Stretch that dollar in style without sacrificing your... favourite luxuries." What about smartypig? Make. Dreams. Happen.  SmartyPig is a free online piggy bank for people saving for financial goals like holiday gifts, vacations, and even retirement.  Funny Money - this is a website empowering students with the knowledge they need to make good financial choices. It is live lecture tour - Steve Levine, James Cunningham and Denis Grignon are the three presenters.  Google says there are over 4.5 billion things indexed with the term money.  Can you imagine what all those things might include? Things like the top money advice: 1. Pay yourself first 2. Beware of lifestyle creep 3. Take advantage of an employer-sponsored 401(k) 4. Invest in the stock market, just don't try to time it 5. Build an emergency fund 6. Pay off your credit card balance in full every month ... and so on - there are variations on various sites. Here's something that popped up: a bank called Fifth Third Bank.  I initially thought it was a joke.  Its name is derived from the Third National Bank and the Fifth National Bank - they merged in 1908.  If you'd like to see other silly bank names click HERE. Here's a silly money joke: Q: What do you call a man with a head full of change? A: Headquarters.

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Shrouded in Mystery

What about the world news headlines today - so many aimed at pulling you in.  They certainly get my attention: Cheetah Approaches Man Sleeping New Zealand PM has beef with the Impossible Burger Hunted for their body parts and stigmatized:  Malawi's... After Man Saves Bear's Drowning Cub... A piece of chewing gum, a bottle of water and new... Of course there are more lurid ones and more urgent headlines - particularly about the Thailand boys trapped in the cave. I had found was an article about Scotland's 5,000-year-old carved stone balls shrouded in mystery on the CNN site. CNN's articles are 'sensational' - like the headlines above.  It is as though the stones were found yesterday.  Their articles typically are missing in background and context.  And then there are other aspects that fall short, but not to worry as there are reputable sources to go to.  I credit CNN with alerting me to this most interesting mystery. So off I went to Wikipedia to read an organized article on them.  It is HERE. These stones have been found over time.  By the late 1970's a total of 387 had been recorded.  The majority were found in the north-east in Aberdeenshire. By 2015 a total of over 425 were recorded.  There's a collection of 30 carved balls in the British Museum's collection.  They are generally the size of tennis balls or oranges. They have knobs in varying numbers and ornamentation.   The mystery of their function is what drew me in.  Could they be used as weapons, with fishing nets, as oracles, working on hides, megalith construction aids, or evidence of the knowledge of the five Platonic solids.  The most elaborate one is from Towie in Aberdeenshire, likely 3200 - 2500BC.  It is typically in the pictures that accompany their story.  There is no conclusion to what their purpose is.  Just the wonderful mystery... We visit the Grimsby Market today and pictured here is John, of Park Road Bread. He is among the artisan bread makers specializing in sourdough.  John makes a chocolate sourdough bread and a chocolate sourdough cake.  Sourdough remains magical and mysterious.   We know its function, unlike our Scottish Stones.  And we know that scientists have tried to 'solve the mystery of San Francisco sourdough.'  Two scientists are known for their landmark exploration of this wonderful living organism.  If you love sourdough, read the discovermagazine article HERE.