Are You Going Bananas?

Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.– Thich Nhat Hanh

We got our produce delivery today and the box included four bananas. I still have two bananas left from the previous week. Bananas, it seems, are not in short supply. I haven’t been able to find flour anywhere, and I’ve gone so far as to put a 50 lb bag in my online cart at a restaurant supply store. I would have ordered it too, despite the $20 delivery fee. But it was sold out.

I see folks selling flour on Ebay, for twice the price at the grocery store – if the grocery stores actually had flour in stock. I’m not a charitable person. I’m wishing weevils on all those Ebay capitalists.

Andrew suggested we plant wheat, but our balcony is too shady for large scale farming. I’m trusting my 5 lb bag of flour will last until the current crisis is over.

I have, however, started a crop of a different sort.

Andrew and I are fortunate. We both have jobs and we’ve been working from home, our only inconvenience the inability to just run out and purchase things. This would be tolerable and healthy for our budget, if it weren’t for the stress the loss of control brings.

This morning as I unpacked our produce box and considered the two sad bananas left sitting on the counter from the previous week, I decided I wanted banana pudding.

“Do you want to go to the store and buy ‘Nilla wafers?” Andrew asked.

I considered the logistics of grocery shopping. Gloves, mask, hand sanitizer, dodging crowds of shoppers who can’t seem to grasp the concept of social distancing – “No thanks,” I said.

I decided instead to make the entire dish from scratch. It turned out pretty well, plus I had the satisfaction of creating something I wanted. Who knew cooking could bring back some sense of control to my life? (I guess the people buying up all the flour already knew about the power of baking.)

I found the recipe for my made-from-scratch banana pudding here: I Am Baker

I’m trying my own sourdough starter next, acting on faith that flour will be back in stock soon.

I found the sourdough recipe on I Am Homesteader.

Stay safe at home.