A revival. NaBloPoMo.

So this is November the First, and I've been looking forward to this month all year long.  Maybe not literally, but I remembered how much fun National Blog Posting Month was in 2011 and how much introspective writing made its way onto FunghiFritti.  So this year, I've been jotting down ideas and thinking about what bits of my life might just be interesting enough to commit to the internet archives.

courtesy Bridget.

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I'd like to see November as the month when Joe springs to life, bringing vigor to his web presence where only a languishing website with sporadic posts previously existed.  Kind of like how our sourdough start sat in the fridge for 8 months completely neglected, and we had some hope of bringing it back to life.  Here's how that story goes down:

For Jen's birthday in February, she was gifted a sourdough start and a King Arthur Flour crock in which to keep it.  The sourdough start came home with us in a tupperware container, which was immediately thrown deep into the abyss of the fridge, and the crock took up residence on the counter holding our collection of ladles, whisks, a meat tenderizer, a potato masher, and our trusty ice cream scoop.

When we were in grad school, we had sourdough pancakes regularly, and were entrusted with a "secret family start" that was gifted to us with a friendship bread recipe.  It was given with great solemnity and we had accepted the responsibility to care for that branch of the family tree.  We had good success with that start for years, and even moved it across the country with us, ultimately discarding that creature after it gooed all over our fridge.

Understand that sourdough is a living, breathing organism.  Bakers and enthusiasts take great pride in cultivating their "mother."  I understand that beverage manufacturers also prize the particular flavor of their mother, as it differentiates them from their competitors.

Anyway, back to our "new" start and the crock.  After 8 months, the starter was in bad shape.  The sludge settled to the bottom, the watery sour smelling liquid was all at the top.  I was sure that the acid/yeast/bacteria levels were way out of whack.  But I was willing to nurse it back to health.  After some intense internet research (and really, is there any other kind?), I decided to clean out the crock, dump the liquid into it, and peel the pasty mass out of the suffocating tupperware and into the breathable crock.  It was more like silly putty than our previous sourdough start.  With a glimmer of hope, I poured about 3/4 cup water and 1 cup flour in the crock and stirred and stirred and stirred until the consistency was smooth.  I covered it and went to bed praying for bubbles.  Was it going to be dead?  Could it be resurrected?

Well, the next day, there were a few bubbles.  The question was, were the bubbles from life, or because when I was stirring the night before the wooden spoon punched some air into the depths of the crock?  It hadn't really grown persay, but I saw a chance of rejuvenation.  So I added another 3/4 cup water and 1 cup flour, stirring until smooth.  Surely, if there was life, I would see it soon.

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I repeated this process daily for about a week taking out a cup here or there to make bread or pancakes, and what do you know?  It now froths and bubble when I feed it and leave it over-night!  IT'S ALIVE!

So the moral of the story is this:  If you want to pick up a neglected, pasty blog and make it alive again, all you have to do is add a little flour and water (pictures and words, perhaps?) each day and it'll become a refreshed creature soon, adding some very satisfying flavor to your life.  Here's to hoping that NaBloPoMo does just that for this blog.  :)

Editor's note: It may be that the start really was dead, and I was just creating a new one from the natural yeasts and bacteria in the flour, according to this enthusiast website.  I may never know for sure, but it's nice to be back in business!