Sunday Smorgasbord Vol. 1
Last Updated on May 3, 2020 by Annie
I am not sure what spurred this brain child but I would like to think it started with Karen. I’ll tell you more about Karen later but, for now I will start with a story about the title for this new weekly post.
The word smorgasbord comes up often in our house. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I pronounce it completely wrong and it drives my husband crazy. I say smor-gish-borg which I have come to learn is completely incorrect, but I kinda like it so I keep saying it. For those who don’t know, a smorgasbord is used to describe a wide variety of things.
These weekly smorgasbords will contain a smattering of things going on in the life after dairy world. Ranging from recipes we are playing around with, things we are doing in the house (because who isn’t doing things in the house these days), and probably anything that comes to mind which brings me to the first item, Karen.
Karen
I should start by saying it’s only a matter of time before I write to you about Karen’s untimely demise. Karen is young and not yet full of life, she is my sourdough starter. I know what you might be thinking, I joined the craze and yes, you are right. You might also be wondering:
Did I run out of yeast? Yes.
Did I need something else to occupy my time? Probably.
Do I now have 4 things to feed and water? Yes.
Will I forget about Karen? Possibly, but I set alarms to feed her daily.
By telling you about Karen I am hoping it will hold me accountable to keeping her alive long enough to tell you about her next week.
Around the House
What stage of quarantine is cleaning? I have come in like a wrecking ball, cleaning every board and wall. I am not talking your run-of-the-mill cleaning. I joined a cleaning army. One where water, bleach, and tide reign supreme. A few weeks ago I began following an account on Instagram called @gocleanco and have quickly been inspired to clean every nook and cranny in the home. So far I have successfully cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms, as well as our bedroom; and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.
My husband has a long-standing habit of picking furniture up off the street. This habit comes with a few stipulations. He needs to be able to tell me where he wants the piece of furniture, nothing with cushions, and it has to be good wood. We have converted a coffee table, refurbished a glider for our neighbor, and painted a bookcase for the front porch. That is of course in addition to all the furniture we have rehabbed from CraigsList. Most recently he brought in a nightstand we will put in between our porch rockers. We sanded it down, stained the top, and painted the base and are in the final steps of coating it with polyurethane.
Currently Reading
I have a bad habit of reading many books at once. In the mornings I typically read a personal development/ get your shit together kind of book. I am currently reading The 4 Hour Work Week (ha!) and using that lifestyle as a reason for us to pack up and move to Spain, Scotland, or France for a month… or life?!
In the evenings I read fiction, which is currently A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is the shared book my husband and I are reading this month. Well, actually, he already finished it and I guess it’s what we were reading in April as it is now May I really need to get a move on. Typically, we create a list of twelve broad categories to help frame our monthly reading journey. Some of these include: First book in a series, published in 2020, and becoming a movie.
Recipe Testing
I was truly not my best in this category this week. I am trying to be conservative with food and ingredients during this time and found that I wasn’t testing too many new recipes. The one exception came in the form of cookies (of course). I wanted to make a cookie with every bite of s’mores throughout but found the marshmallow made the cookies run. So, I smooshed all the dough together to make cookie bars. They don’t quite taste like s’mores but that’s not stopping me from eating them.
If you read all the way through this smorgasbord, you’re an absolute peach! I’m off to finish Hitchhiker, so I can get on to a new book! Any suggestions? Also, does anyone think Karen will live to see the end of the week?