Week Notes #4: 4 May, 2020

Yeah. A new month. Same Lockdown.

• As I've mentioned a few times this lockdown has actually not been too bad. As a family it seems we can live in each others pockets 24/7 and it mostly be pretty good. I say mostly but all it takes is for one of us to wake up on the wrong side of bed for it to be a massive chore right from the second we're woken up.
• We kicked Monday off with two loaves of sourdough. We're struggling with a lack of steam. I think. So the crust is bursting. One of today's loaves looked like a turtle. Still tasted really good though. It's only matter of time before we get a big cast iron pot.
• My ear infection is threatening to come back. I am not pleased.
• Tuesday started with a nice surprise car package from work. An M&S hamper thing chock full of essentials like ... well shed loads of chocolate. A lovely little gesture to brighten the day.
• My ear is still ... weird ... normally I'd go to the doctors, but that still seems unnecessary. It's not sore, as such ... but it's definitely not right either.
• We had an envelope pushed through our door by a neighbour. Our street is doing that VE Day celebration thing. I have nothing against people getting involved ... but I'm trying to engineer a visit to Asda that will last for 10 hours.
• We needed a few bits of shopping before our big click and collect. Decided to push the boat out and went to the M&S Food at the retail park. It was brilliantly organised, the best Covid shopping experience so far. Made better by picking up 4 reduced custard tarts for 55p.
• The street party was fine. In a weird way. It's a bit unsettling that it was all the governments idea ... it was nice to see people out, even with the uber Brexit vibes ... but it doesn't feel quite right ... I'm sure it's not some Herd Immunity plan. Probably.
• We slept out in the tent again. We've now used it more during lockdown than the last 3-4 years. The whole family managed it this time, which was nice. And I had a proper mattress, so that was a huge improvement.
• We finished the week with pizza. It ended up with the kids making a menu for our restaurant. Early names such as Pizza Express and Corona Express give you a clue to the inspiration. They went with The Constellation which is an expansion of the bar our daughter did for her mixology Guide badge (yes there is a Mixology Guides badge.
• The pizzas were good. Did a 6 hour slowish rise. We haven't got any good 00 flour, but they worked nicely. We're still respecting the request not to burn wood so we just used the normal oven rather than the Ooni. And I did some dough balls which worked brilliantly. A nice little change.
• Beer wise I had another cracking Polly's IPA - The Daphne Touch. This one had a bit of lactose in it, and was one of my faves from them, which says a lot. Also had a Arbor coffee stout that I picked up from M&S who have improved their offering again. It was pretty good.