Roughly four weeks ago we welcomed a new member to our family.  This wasn’t something we had necessarily planned on or talked about in any great detail, but at the first mention of us taking the leap, I couldn’t ignore the feelings I had about it.  Once I mentioned it to the kids, there was no turning back.

In hindsight, perhaps our timing wasn’t ideal, as we were just on our way to Ottawa for the better part of a week, which meant we had an extra passenger and mouth to feed that I hadn’t really accounted for in our planning; but lack of planning should not absolve us from responsibility, and so we packed a few more things to bring with us, and we made it work.  At first she wasn’t eating very well, which also means she wasn’t growing, which gave us some initial concern but we adjusted her diet, ensured she had a warm place at night (I think it was too cold for her to sleep without a blanket), and now, only weeks later, she has doubled in size!  I feel bad leaving her alone during the day, and she’s the first thing I check when I wake up in the morning, get home after work, and before I go to bed,  The kids are intrigued by her and love participating in taking care of her, so much so that she indeed needed a name.  I’m speaking, of course, of Patricia, our sourdough starter.

Years ago I had a sourdough starter that I maintained and was loyal to for quite some time, but with growing kids, our busy schedules, and amidst major house renovations, I ended up losing it and hadn’t considered it be something I ever pick back up.  A sourdough starter, especially in the beginning stages, is a commitment.  You need to feed it, water it, keep it at the proper temperatures, and watch it closely to ensure it’s thriving in your environment.  You need to think about the water you’re using, the flour ratios you create, and be sure not miss a feeding.  It can take a fair amount of time if you don’t have the right environment, and let’s face it: I’m more of a cook than a baker, so when it comes to the science of these things, I’m not exactly the most patient.  That said, it has been a very fun project to take on with the kids.  They are interested (even if only for moments at a time) in the science behind what is going on inside this little jar that lives in our kitchen.  They’re curious about how two ingredients can grow, bubble, expand, change texture, bouquet, and appearance in just a few short hours.  They like caring for Patricia, weighing and mixing the flour, water and starter, and warming her blanket before tucking her in at night (for real).  It sounds silly, but this little experiment has turned into something we’re all really quite proud of!

Of course, a sourdough starter is only the basis for their excitement – what truly drives them is that we’re somehow going to turn this goopy blob into a fresh-baked loaf of bread, something we’ve so far only tried once at…and failed.   Again, I’m not the most patient, and so perhaps I rushed the process at first, eagerly thinking that Patricia was ready to graduate, and me knowing full well that I didn’t allow her the proper time, or mix of flour to make it work properly.  Still, the kids were as excited as me to try it out, and so we put in the 24 hours of work in folding, shaping, proofing and baking, only to end up with a dense and solid brick of inedibly and remarkably both dry and wet ‘creation’ (I can’t call it bread because it was far from it).  Nevertheless it was a good exercise to go through, not just for the kids to practice, experiment and learn, but for me as well.  Now that we’ve given her a bit more time and have invested in the proper flour, we’re ready to give it a another shot, and perhaps I should have waited for the results to go ahead and post about it, but for me the success or failure of the bread isn’t really what I care about.  For me, it’s that I get to spend time with my kids doing something I’m passionate about and they are curious to learn.

Time in the kitchen, no matter what it is we’re making, scheming, prepping or cleaning, is time spent in what I truly feel is the heart of the home.  Learning about food, even if it’s though subconscious observation, provides a way of respecting the ingredients and the process.  So much can be taken for granted when we they are understood, and our kids being able to prepare a meal for themselves later in life means a lot.  Whether it is a loaf of bread, or a plate of fresh pasta, someone, somewhere, has taken great time and care to bring it together, so rather than just scarfing something down, I hope that, in caring for something like a sourdough starter, they are able to take the briefest of moments to recognize the effort behind the product.

Who knows how long Patricia will be with us – I hope it’s for a very long time, and I hope their interests in the kitchen continue to grow.