Zoom-meetings | Everyone’s reaching out for connecting applications. Elizabethtown School District will be using ZOOM for its school board meetings. Maybe other public entities ought to look outside for ways to connect with shareholders.
There are no miracles | Snake oil salespersons always come out when people are fearful. This Lancaster Online article and this one show that. At times like this, rely on truthful, timely, authoritative information best received by government and medical sources — the entities we have to trust.
Community during difficult times | So many people, agencies, non-profits, faith-based communities and businesses have come together to build community: Lancaster Online has listed some examples:
- “Moms circle cars in lot, kids roll down windows for coronavirus-safe playdate”
- “Messick’s displays lighted star as show of support for the Elizabethtown community”
What’s old is … | A few days ago, a friend, during a phone call, asked, “Hey, have you ever heard of water pie?” Told him, no, why. He went on to tell me that his grandmother made a water pie. So, we went to the trusted internet sites to find out more about this. Here’s a recipe for Water Pie. In these times of barren shelves at grocery stores, this might come in handy: “Water Pie is one of those magical recipes that came out of the depression era where cooks with little to nothing figured out how to make delicious dishes for those they love.”
Tough times and the mothers of invention | “Times were tough in the 1930s and people had to be creative with the few ingredients they could find and afford. These dishes show just how inventive our ancestors could be!” – Taste of Home
Responders are not immune | “Six Susquehanna Valley EMS providers in quarantine after COVID-19 exposure in Lancaster County” – Lancaster Online
“Three more | Lancaster County nursing homes have reported positive COVID-19 tests” – Lancaster Online
Other stores do too | This LNP – Always Lancaster letter-to-the-editor praises Costco for preventative practices. Other stores (BJs and Giant) do too.
Columbia news, views & reviews 
Thanks for the recipes; I may try some for the fun of it. I started this last night
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-american-salt-rising-bread-recipe
This is a bit more exacting than most bread recipes; I wouldn’t recommend it for the novice baker.
Thank you. When we happened on to the depression recipes, we thought they looked really interesting and probably taste good. We”re planning on trying some of them. Definitely going to bake a Water Pie.
Haven’t tried baking bread yet; who knows during this stay-at-home period, maybe we will. So if you say, the Classic American Salt-Rising Bread may be a challenge for a novice, we’ll just wait for your review.
So, cause there’s naught else to do…
Most information on baking will tell you there are two kinds of leavened bread. Yeast raised breads and quick breads. Quick breads are leavened by an acid/base reaction which results in the release of carbon dioxide gas. These are breads such as muffins, biscuits, or pancakes. Yeast breads rise because gas is produced by the growth the yeast; they are generally seen as loafs, rolls, and buns. Unleavened breads are things like flat breads or crackers.
However there is a third leveling agent used to raise breads’. This action is caused by bacterial growth and the resulting gas releases. Evidently this is only practiced in three small localities around the world. Salt rising bread is local to parts of Appalachia, especially West Virginia. Other areas are that have developed this type of leveling are in northern Grease and Ethiopia. I believe it is important to preserve this rare and little understood piece of folk wisdom. It’s good too, makes the best toast you’ve ever had!
My current project appears to be quite successful. More later…
al, you wrote …since there’s “naught” else to do…. Well, using such words as “naught”, you might try to read the Herman Melville novel Moby Dick or his greatest short story Bartleby for starters. Cheers and stay safe.
Jethro Bodine used ‘naught’ extensively in his math. I too wish i were a ‘double naught spy’.