Our drafty old house is, well…a drafty old house. Despite our best efforts in throwing new windows and insulation and caulk (lots of caulk) all over the place, it’s not at its most comfortable in the single digit weather we’ve been having here the past few weeks.
The icicles are starting to assert their rule over our roofline.
But there’s one spot in the house that stays nice and toasty all day and night: Molly’s room. She goes to bed at night when the rest of the house is near its high temp of 65 and her room feels like it’s at least 70. She wakes up in the morning and there are solar flares radiating from her. It’s like cuddling with a furnace.
It turns out that Molly’s room isn’t only good for keeping her warm – it’s also good for yeast and all the good things it can make.
Admittedly, most 5 year olds don’t have a huge need for fermentation, but Molly’s been nice enough to share her space with a few things.
There’s a batch of sourdough starter that’s been spending its nights with her, either on her dresser or nightstand…
There’s also 35 pints of beer (oatmeal stout) hiding behind her door in the closet, under a blanket, finishing up their fermentation before they hit the cellar…
I’m counting the days until Molly decides to tell her kindergarten teacher, “My daddy keeps his beer in my closet. Two big crates of it.”
She knows about yeast and bread and all that, so I think she’s cool with it and won’t turn me in.
Our bedroom, on the other hand ,is like a meat locker. It’s perfect for sleeping, as long as you never need to leave the bed. It would be perfect for hanging some pancetta, but I’m assuming if our room found itself with a rolled-up slab of pork hanging in the closet, I’d need to find a divorce lawyer.
So…that’s what’s coming soon. Posts about beer and bread, and also the batch of graham crackers that got mixed up tonight. And the peanut soup that has been waiting to get written about for about 3 weeks. Plus a whole thing on braising. Gotta get on it.
Hoping while Molly sleeps soundly tonight that those 5 billion yeast cells are nice and busy.
(a year ago)
