Shortages due to corona virus

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Shortages due to corona virus

1MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: mrt 25, 2020, 11:59 am

Our supermarkets are all out of ................... yeast. It is very hard to get either dry or fresh yeast for baking. Hard to tell if people are just baking more because they are at home or buying stockpiles because they are afraid they will have to bake their own bread. On the other hand, flour seems to be fine.

I bake most of our bread as well as other things, and currently have enough on hand for a few weeks, but only a little more than I usually would. I've told my husband not to buy more for now, but when this supply gets low, I may get desperate. Someone at the supermarket suggested keeping dough back from each bake to raise the next batch.

The company that is a major supplier says they are producing at full capacity, and there really ought to be enough to go around.

2lilithcat
mrt 25, 2020, 12:42 pm

I can't find yeast, either! And apparently people are baking bread more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/03/24/people-are-baking-...

3MarthaJeanne
mrt 25, 2020, 1:03 pm

Today's bake didn't need yeast, just baking powder. I made garibaldi biscuits, except whole wheat and spice, no sugar in the pastry and finely chopped mixed 'vine fruits' and peel instead of just currants. We can easily go through a double recipe of these in a few days. Luckily they only take about half an hour, start to finish.

4LolaWalser
mrt 25, 2020, 1:16 pm

Have you tried non-yeast breads? I bake very little so my experience is limited, but I had good results with chapati recipes. Easy and fast and baking in a skillet is a plus.

5MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: mrt 25, 2020, 1:29 pm

Yes, I do chapathis now and then - I spent part of my childhood in Western India. I also make Irish soda bread or damper bread. They don't keep well, though. Cornbread the same. Crackers are also a good bread, and many do without yeast.

When it comes right down to it, I like having a good hearty German/Austrian style loaf made of wholegrains (usually mostly spelt) on the breadboard. And I often fit my baking to my husband's dinner days, so we have fresh hamburger or sausage rolls from the same dough.

6LolaWalser
mrt 25, 2020, 4:53 pm

Yeah, I do miss real bread, it's practically unavailable here.

Commercial flatbreads can last longer, I think. I buy rotis as a quick substitute when I'm out of pita (that's basically the only bread I bake, for my zaatar pies) and those keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

7MrsLee
mrt 27, 2020, 12:02 am

I have Bob, my sourdough starter, so I didn't even look for yeast at the store, but flour, there is none to find. Not plain, not bread, not whole wheat, not chickpea, not masa. Nada. I take that back. There was gluten free and some other odd bits that I don't know how to cook with. I have enough for several weeks though, we are not huge bread eaters. I've been baking one large round loaf every week and that seems to last the 2 of us.

No eggs, no milk in our stores either, although there seem to be vegetables. There is also wine, gin, corn chips and ice cream. I know because I bought some for a friend. ;) The store only had light brown sugar.

We are well stocked for now, and don't plan to go shopping for a week or two. Hopefully things will be better.

I keep thinking about planting a garden, but where do I find the time to maintain it?

8MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: mrt 27, 2020, 1:46 am

I'm desperate to get my garden going, but the garden centres are closed, and the choices of seed at the supermarket are dismal. Besides, for lots of things I prefer to buy plants. Whatever. We are now having the coldest weather we had all winter, after most of the fruit trees started to blossom. So far our peach tree seems to be surviving, and our apple and pear aren't that far along. But the commercial growers are very worried.

I'll plant spinach and peas once the cold snap is over.

9haydninvienna
mrt 27, 2020, 3:00 am

Maybe there are some advantages to living in an autocracy! Supermarket running out of something specific (such as a particular brand) isn’t unusual here, but no obvious general shortages. I don’t bake, so I don’t know about flour and yeast, but earlier this week my local was out of ... onions. Restocked as of this morning.

10mnleona
mrt 27, 2020, 6:00 pm

Going through my emails and Sally's Baking Addition.
Using minimal ingredients.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/minimal-ingredient-baking/

11Marissa_Doyle
mrt 27, 2020, 6:09 pm

Went grocery shopping today (Boston area); no flour (though some other flours, including gluten-free), eggs much depleted, plenty of milk but low on other dairy including cream and cream cheese (of which there's been none), sugar in stock. Finally some chicken available; produce remains well-stocked. I bought the last two packages of shredded cheese in the store to make macaroni and cheese tomorrow; happily, they were a Mexican blend with chilies, so my mac 'n cheese will be yummy.

12Lyndatrue
mrt 27, 2020, 8:01 pm

I can explain the run on yeast (at least in the USA). There are any number of items for which yeast is a required ingredient, besides breads. There's beer, for example.

I use it for several things, including the encouragement of my septic system now and then (this is in addition to the Rid X, which I use faithfully once a month...mostly). It's good for freshening the drains in the upstairs shower and sink, too (I avoid most chemicals, and did even when I lived in the big city).

There are other uses also, but those are ones important to me.

Funny thing is, I almost never bake bread. I prefer to just get two or three loaves from the local "Great Harvest" store, instead. I live alone (and I prefer it), and making two loaves of bread is easy enough, but it's nicer to support a local business.

There's even a website.

https://www.greatharvest.com/

My jaw just dropped. They got their start in Great Falls, Montana. The joke about most of Montana is "If summer comes on Sunday, you go fishing." (I haven't been there since 1968 or 1969, so there may have been some changes. ;-} )

13MrsLee
mrt 27, 2020, 11:22 pm

>12 Lyndatrue: You just reminded me that I have champagne yeast in my cupboard for my wine making. I wonder how that would do in bread? I don't need it, as I say, I rarely use yeast for my bread, but nice to remember it's there if needed.

14Lyndatrue
mrt 28, 2020, 2:05 am

>13 MrsLee: Interesting to hear about it. I haven't seen it in many years; as I recall, it isn't strong enough for decent bread. You could probably take it out of the package and attempt to get it to grow, but that seems like an awful bother in these modern times.

15MarthaJeanne
mrt 28, 2020, 4:45 am

Yeast for beer and wine is cultured to create more alcohol and less carbon dioxide. Bread yeast gives off more carbon dioxide and less alcohol.

My supermarket had yeast today.

16southernbooklady
mrt 28, 2020, 8:15 am

Oh lord, I'm reading this thread and feeling so guilty. Baking is one of my de-stress things, so I bake bread every week. And I like to try different kinds of baking -- including a foray into gluten-free baking on behalf of a friend who needs it as part of her diet. As a result, I have a ridiculously well-stocked pantry including big glass canisters that hold ten pounds of organic unbleached flour, bread flour, and organic whole wheat flour. not to mention the galaxy of other odd flours I keep in stock (I'm on an amaranth kick). I swear I've been like this for years, but now I feel like some crazy doomsday prepper.

17MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: mrt 28, 2020, 8:38 am

I felt funny putting 4 packs of five different flavours of yoghurt into the shopping cart today. But seriously, we're also not supposed to go often, and we each eat at least one a day. This wasn't long hamstering. It was about a week's supply.

For flours I'm trying not to buy more than I otherwise would, but I also have a lot of flour. I probably use 2-3 kilos a week, so keeping the various ones I like means a big amount. One of my suppliers now has a mixture of spelt and 'waldstaude' which is to rye what Spelt is to wheat. I'm not too keen on rye neither from flavour or baking qualities, but the waldstaude is nice if I add extra gluten.

18MrsLee
mrt 29, 2020, 1:50 am

>14 Lyndatrue: & >15 MarthaJeanne: Thanks! Good to know!

19MrsLee
mrt 31, 2020, 10:09 am

Our stores seem to be mostly back to normal. Husband went yesterday and came home with an assortment of flours. I don't stockpile, but I am keeping one replacement bag in the cupboard in addition to the one I am working out of.

Tonight I will bake a plain loaf of sourdough. I've been adding things like oatmeal, whole wheat or various seeds. All good, but sometimes plain is good too.

20MarthaJeanne
mrt 31, 2020, 10:21 am

I'll probably bake tomorrow. Last night I defrosted a few buns from an earlier batch, so for today we have bread.

21MarthaJeanne
mrt 31, 2020, 12:26 pm

We're supposed to wear face masks now, so I made one today. It looks a lot better than it feels.

22MrsLee
mrt 31, 2020, 6:49 pm

I am much sadder about this than about flour. Husband said no fresh ginger in the stores.

23MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 1, 2020, 2:48 am

I've seen ginger recently. Wish I could send you some.

I would miss flour badly, but it's the 'luxury' products I really miss. The ones that bring joy, and not just nutrition.

24southernbooklady
apr 1, 2020, 8:00 am

>23 MarthaJeanne: Pistachios and dried apricots

25MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 1, 2020, 8:12 am

Pistachios present both in store, and enough at home that I didn't buy. Flour here is normally in 1Kilo bags. My husband saw a display of 5 kilo bags at the store today. In the US that may be normal, but not here.

26MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 1, 2020, 2:15 pm

There are very few stores (allowed to be) open that carry elastic. Now that they are introducing required face masks and encouraging 'make your own', the little bit of elastic that is left is wide and strong. I managed to find a sewing box that had 4m of elastic in it. 2m regular and 2m super. It's at least narrower than what I had at home. I left the rest of the box in the store, as I wouldn't use the rest of it. Maybe someone else will want it.

At a second store I got buttonhole elastic. I should be able to split it and use the two halves. They also had several colours of bias binding and pipe cleaners. My pattern includes bendable metal nose adjustment. So far we've used a few old twist ties I found. This should be better.

ETA The buttonhole elastic is barely different from what I had once split. Bah!

Also all the stores with on line sales are out of the narrow sizes of elastic.

27Sovay
apr 1, 2020, 5:41 pm

>22 MrsLee: Here in Yorkshire I can get ginger, but there are few lemons - presumably they would normally be coming from Italy or Spain ...

Flour, sugar and eggs are all in short supply which suggests orgies of cake-baking, except that it's the PLAIN flour that's gone - self-raising is available. My Mum over in Lancashire reports lack of yeast (I'm not sure why she's noticing this since as far as I know she has never baked a loaf of bread in her life) and I suspect it's the same here - however I haven't baked yeast-raised bread myself for about 30 years, and even before the situation escalated I had enough flour to keep me in rotis for several weeks.

Pasta, tinned tomatoes and tinned and dried pulses are also still pretty scarce - turns out red kidney beans are the least popular tinned bean, which surprised me. Multiple tins still on the shelf when every other kind, including flageolets, was gone.

28MrsLee
apr 4, 2020, 2:40 am

As of yesterday, we found our fresh ginger, so I'm happy.
>27 Sovay: My husband said earlier when he was trying to buy some frozen veggies, everything was sold out except the kale. lol

29torontoc
apr 4, 2020, 4:34 pm

This is exactly the opposite- I cleaned out one of my pantry shelves today and found- too many jars of mustard- fancy jars, small jars, all kinds- so I have to look for recipes involving -mustard.

30Sovay
apr 5, 2020, 2:40 am

>28 MrsLee: I'm not too surprised about the kale - I like kale but never buy it ready prepared because of the many chunks of super-tough and fibrous leaf rib that are always included. Glad you've found some ginger.

>26 MarthaJeanne: I'm puzzled about the face masks - up to a few days ago the message here has been that they offer minimal protection and need to be changed often and the used ones carefully disposed of if they're not to pose risks in themselves. Now there seems to be some backtracking and I've been looking around to see what I have that would make one. What fabric did you use for yours, and is it re-usable (I hope so, since you're clearly having to go to quite a bit of trouble to make it!).

31MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 5, 2020, 5:27 am

>30 Sovay: As I understand it, cloth face masks offer YOU minimal protection. However, they are beginning to realize that most people who get infected are contagious before they get symptoms, and many never do feel sick. The masks help keep your breathe and droplets from infecting others. It is not an all free to get close to others. Austria started with each infected person infecting three or four others. We are now down to 1.14. This is a big improvement, but we need to get down below 1.

On the elastic front, my neighbor gave me several meters of elastic that works well. I was also able to get a choice of bias binding.

The cloth you use needs to be cotton, or at least high cotton content so that it absorbs the moisture in your breath and hangs on to it. And is easy to wash. They need to be washed at at least 60C if not boiled, preferably with a hygiene rinse. A fine weave (not jersey) is best because the holes are smaller. I used a few things in my quilting stash. Old sheets and shirts would work just as well if the fibre content is good.

There are lots of videos on line. I chose one that creates pockets for a pipe cleaner or similar over the nose. If you wear glasses this is important. Otherwise all that warm moist air flows up onto the glasses, and if the air around you is cooler than your breath you get condensation, and can't see.

Mine also have a big pocket for a filter. So far, we don't need that, but if there is any chance that you might have to care for a covid19 patient, it would up your personal protection a lot if used with goggles and other protective clothing. Apparently some vacuum cleaner bags or filters have the right characteristics. However, I find breathing through two layers of cotton hard enough.

My pattern calls for 18 x 38 cm of cloth. This seems a good size for us. The pockets get formed, then pleats, then bias tape at the sides. This is added without sewing across the top and bottom so that elastic or ties can be threaded through the bias tunnels. I did one with the bias tape extended into ties. It doesn't give as fitted a result at the side. If you have, or want to make, wider than normal bias tape, you would be able to hide the knots in the elastic.

I used https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BCJcE-r7kcg, but made the wire replaceable, too. I didn't bother measuring anything except the piece of cloth and the elastic. Those seem a bit short for us and our elastic.

32MrsLee
apr 5, 2020, 5:04 pm

There is a very simple video online to make masks using a large bandana or handkerchief a 2 rubberbands. I tried it, no sewing, and fits snug on face.

33Sovay
apr 5, 2020, 6:34 pm

>31 MarthaJeanne: Really helpful, thank you - if standard cotton fabric will do the job, I have plenty - not sure about elastic but I will have or can make bias binding for ties.

34MarthaJeanne
apr 6, 2020, 2:25 am

I would still make the side 'tunnels' and then put the ties through. The fit will be better.

35Sovay
apr 16, 2020, 8:00 am

More and more difficulty buying some things in small sizes (ie suitable for 1 person) - today despite visiting three different shops (and queueing outside each one) I've had to buy a 4 pint bottle of milk (3 pints more than I need) and a 2 kg bag of sugar (probably won't need any more for a year).

A very minor issue compared with what many people are dealing with - at least the sugar won't go off, and I can always make a lot of paneer (with vinegar - can't spare the lemon juice at present) ...

36MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 16, 2020, 8:18 am

I've decided that I like goat's milk better than cow's milk, and because it comes in 0.5 l packages there is a lot less waste. (Of course the price per package is about the same, but in the end it doesn't cost me more.)

Several suppliers have reduced choice. I usually buy half loaves of whole grain toast bread. Not as our regular bread (as stated above, I bake that myself), but as a back up and for things like grilled cheese sandwiches. Now and again you just want pillowy bread. Anyway, now all that is available is full size white stuff. So I don't buy it. The usual sliced goat's cheese isn't available, so I have to buy organic, which is in a totally different area.

I went downtown today. Rather ghostly. No Fiaker (horse carriages) or Mozart ticket sellers at the cathedral. Or tour groups either. Of course several shops that could be open, aren't. Most of their customers are tourists. I'd have bought our normal lebkuchen, but that won't cover costs. The luxury supermarket was also very quiet, but they had most of what I wanted. Scallops for supper tonight!

37lilithcat
apr 16, 2020, 9:08 am

I have yeast!

I got a small parcel in the mail yesterday, and upon opening it discovered a plastic bag of yeast. When my younger sister took a bread baking workshop awhile back, she bought some instant yeast in bulk. So she sent me some! Wasn't that nice?

38haydninvienna
apr 16, 2020, 10:57 am

>36 MarthaJeanne: I wouldn't miss the fiaker, or the ticket sellers, or the tour groups. But I would miss Julius Meinl, which I take it was your luxury supermarket.

39MarthaJeanne
apr 16, 2020, 11:05 am

Where else would you buy scallops in the first district? I admit, I have tried the frozen ones at the normal stores, but they are not the same. Normally I am downtown about once a week, buying the scallops only on my first visit of the month. I've begun climbing the walls missing my Meinl fix.

I didn't miss the tourists, it just felt funny without them. But it did make getting from Wollzeile to Graben a lot easier.

40haydninvienna
apr 16, 2020, 11:13 am

>39 MarthaJeanne: I've begun climbing the walls missing my Meinl fix: Bless you, you made me laugh. I'm not familiar enough with Vienna to know the alternatives, if any. I'd miss Buchhandlung Frick and Shakespeare & Co though, and I take it neither are open.

I seem to remember you mentioning somewhere that people were leaving flowers at the Pestsaule.

41MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 16, 2020, 11:52 am

It was candles, but if they are still doing it, I missed it.

Frick's on Graben is open. Morawa is not. (I need my magazine fix, too.) I can't get into Shakespeare and Co any more. They are not set up for people with mobility issues. The remainder store on Wollzeile with a table of English paperbacks was open, and I bought a small stack, including The Plague which I do NOT intend reading soon. (I think that may be Frick's as well.)

42Sovay
apr 17, 2020, 12:54 pm

>36 MarthaJeanne: Morrisons supermarkets used to sell half pints of milk (aimed at kids' lunchboxes, I suspect) which was ideal for me since I use so little, but that stopped several years ago.

I love scallops but never cook them - the price at the fish counter makes me flinch. I do order them in restaurants, I suppose because for me eating out is an extravagance in itself so I go prepared to pay for a few luxuries!

43MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 17, 2020, 1:01 pm

>42 Sovay: Like I said - I buy them on my first visit of the month when the price doesn't make me flinch quite as much. When we were in England last year I had a scallop appetizer in a pub that also included chorizo and black pudding, and the whole thing cost less than I would expect to spend on just the raw scallops here. But I really like scallops.

Basically it's very hard to get good seafood here, so when I buy it I might as well buy what I really like.

44hfglen
apr 17, 2020, 1:46 pm

>43 MarthaJeanne: And freshwater fish?

You remind me that some 40 years ago a friend who lives in Vienna (or at least did then) took Better Half and me to see where he'd done his PhD fieldwork, on Lake Neusiedlersee. Lunch was at some eminently forgettable village, hardly more than a fly-dirt on the map. But the pub was offering Zander as a special -- bliss! and a few doors down the road we found an old dear with an impenetrable accent selling the wine she made in her own back yard -- more bliss!

45MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 17, 2020, 2:05 pm

The most common fish is Carp. Not my favourite. Yes, on Neusiedlersee you get Zander. But there isn't a lot of fish in the supermarkets. Right now, of course, no restaurants. When things open up again we will eat Zander and other fresh water fish in restaurants in Illmitz an Neusiedlersee, in Orth an der Donau, and Mediterranian fish in one or two restaurants we know who import their own in Vienna. I buy frozen fish a lot. We eat salmon quite often, and I make fish pie with a variety of fish. When we lived in Geneva I bought fresh fish frequently, but the fish in the stores here is just not that good.

Of course, visits to England start and end with our favourite seafood restaurants in Kent.

46hfglen
apr 17, 2020, 3:28 pm

>45 MarthaJeanne: You inspired me to get out an old, falling-apart road atlas. The village was Halbturn.

I sympathise about fish in the stores; here we have the same problem. Durban is on a warm ocean, and so the best fish comes frozen (rarely) from the West Coast, which faces on to an Antarctic-cold current. (Thinks: It was all over the news that independent fishermen were to be exempted from lockdown regulations so that they could make use of this year's snoek run. I wonder if any of the catch has made / will make its way here?)

47MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: apr 17, 2020, 3:57 pm

Halbturn! Yesterday I was wearing the (Indian) tunic I bought at the Christmas market in and around Halbturn palace.

This town and Illmitz are both in Seewinkel, the corner of Austria between Neusiedlersee and Hungary. 40 years ago the towns were in horrible condition. Very few young people were interested in staying there if they could get jobs somewhere else. However, the breaking down of the iron curtain has made a big difference. So has the National Park, which is actually an International park. I think you would find that the town looks very different today. But it is very likely that you will be able eat Zander at the local Gasthaus once corona restrictions are over.

Wine and vegetables are grown here because of the amount of sun they get. The other big industry is tourism.

Currently the lake is closed to anyone living more than 15 km away. Day trippers who can't even eat in local restaurants aren't wanted.

48hfglen
apr 18, 2020, 3:56 pm

Then the best thing to do, in the words of an (alas!) long-departed honorary Aunt is to "take out a memory"! I hope you enjoy mine.

49MarthaJeanne
apr 18, 2020, 4:06 pm

We should be headed to the lake next week for the annual 'Bird Experience'. I will really miss it.

50lesmel
apr 18, 2020, 8:31 pm

I'm working on my fourth or fifth attempt at getting flour from a grocery store. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to happen. I'm just going to have to live with what I have and maybe start baking gluten free for a time. I was talking to a friend -- they have had success in finding flour but not paper towels. I offered a trade if they could get me a bag of KAF AP flour. I can't believe it has come to that. What do we think the going value is on paper towels vs flour?

51Sovay
apr 19, 2020, 4:05 pm

>50 lesmel: Flour's still really hard to find here as well, though most of the other things that were in short supply are now obtainable, if only in limited quantities per shopper.

52MarthaJeanne
apr 19, 2020, 4:10 pm

>50 lesmel: I buy most of my flour (normally) from health food stores or small farmer's shops. They might not be as sold out.

53LolaWalser
apr 19, 2020, 4:26 pm

No flour here. Wouldn't notice normally but someone asked me to get it. There was, however, cassava flour and banana flour (which neither of us knew what would be like or to do with).

54MarthaJeanne
apr 23, 2020, 4:59 am

My husband just pointed out (I think he's reading Facebook) that a roll of toilet paper is now worth more than a barrel of oil. Actually, almost anything is worth more than a barrel of oil, since the oil now has a negative price.

55MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: mei 2, 2020, 2:45 am

Not quite on topic.

Belgium is still in lockdown and not ready to loosen up. However, they have added fabric stores to the list of essential services. Making it easier for people to make face masks.

Of corse, during the past few weeks I have made 8 face masks, 5 pot holders, and am now working on a seat cover, all with fabric that I just happen to have around the house. My guess is that most people who sew have cloth. It's the elastic that has been a problem here. The local stores with online sales have been sold out.

56Sovay
mei 2, 2020, 5:54 pm

>55 MarthaJeanne: I'm planning to try some face masks tomorrow - may have to adapt the pattern as having seams (and therefore seam allowances as well) down the sides will probably create far too many layers of fabric in the pleats for my sewing machine to get through. I probably have enough fabric to outfit the entire population of North Yorkshire, but no elastic - I had to send off for some 10 days ago, it finally arrived today. Can't decide whether to make the elastic removable and therefore easily replaceable (since I suspect boiling or washing at high temperatures will not be good for it).

Still no flour - I shopped early this morning, being Saturday, so don't think it can all have been snapped up before I got there.

57lesmel
mei 3, 2020, 12:55 am

>56 Sovay: I highly recommend the Olson mask. It's fitted, has a pocket for a filter (if you want it). The pleated masks don't seem to work for me, even though they are ridiculously easy to make. https://www.unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/sewing-surgical-masks.aspx Elastic is impossible to purchase around here (Texas). I've been making fabric straps instead.

58MarthaJeanne
mei 3, 2020, 2:45 am

The mask pattern I used (and seem to have lost the link) has the bias tape at the sides work as tubes that hold the elastic, so it is easily replaceable. We have one that has that bias tape extended to make straps. It is much harded to put on and doesn't fit as well. I think even putting fabric straps through the bias tubes would work better.

59Sovay
mei 4, 2020, 2:39 am

>58 MarthaJeanne: I remembered you'd posted a link (above in message 31) and had a go but, as I feared, my elderly sewing machine couldn't cope with all the layers and I had to finish it by hand, which was not easy especially as I am not a natural thimble user. However the same Youtuber has also posted a pattern for something very similar to the Olsen mask mentioned by lesmel, so I tried that one with greater success. I had to tweak the pattern after making a prototype (the original would be ideal for someone with a big chin and no discernible nose) but the Mark 2 version is a good fit.

>57 lesmel: I too can't get on with the pleated masks - gapping all round no matter how I adjusted it. Olsen-style is definitely the way to go though I do think the pattern needs tailoring to the individual wearer.

60MarthaJeanne
mei 7, 2020, 8:33 am

We are now allowed to travel a bit, and nurseries are allowed to sell plants, so we went to Seewinkel yesterday to buy heritage tomato plants, as we usually do this time of year. We knew, of course, that we would not be able to eat at our usual restaurant, but we did arrange to buy some wine. (We should have done that in April when we should have stayed at the vintner's B&B during a birder's event.)

So, what's new this year? how did this wine turn out?

-Not bottled yet.

That one?

-Not bottled yet....
We couldn't get bottles, and each batch needs a quality control number, and the government office that gives those out was shut.

Can we come to the B&B in June?

-Yes, we are booked up for Pentecost, but nothing after that. By then the wines should all be bottled.

The other parts of the trip were frustrating,too. What had been a brisk breeze in Vienna was stormy wind in Burgenland, the few birds that dared be out in it could be seen to have made the wrong decision. (Except the Marsh Harrier, who seemed to handled the conditions well.) The lake is said to be 20 cm lower even than last year. Some of the soda ponds have totally dried out. It's not really a consolation that the Bird Experience would not have been a good year for seeing birds if it had happened.

61southernbooklady
Bewerkt: mei 7, 2020, 9:51 am

One of the more encouraging shortages I've experienced is seeds. All my usual seed companies had to stop accepting orders while the attempted to fill an unprecedented number of orders. And of course with seeds, once something is sold out, it's sold out. You can't exactly tell the grower to make more. The only "panic buying" I have done so far was to place a backup seed order from my favorite heirloom seed company when they opened up a brief window to accept orders because I didn't want to risk not having my greens to plant come fall.

I love that everyone stuck at home is apparently trying to garden though.

62MarthaJeanne
mei 7, 2020, 10:21 am

Stekovics sold some of their plants online this year, and promptly sold out as much as they felt they could handle. I considered it, but love going to choose my own. They were offering a dozen random tomatoes or a dozen random peppers. I could probably give extras away, but that is more plants than I can use. Never mind that a 10 chilli is more than I can handle other ways. Anyway, as it turned out our lockdown is loosening fast. Just no word on the library yet.

64southernbooklady
mei 8, 2020, 9:44 am

>63 MarthaJeanne: I had a flat of extra tomato plants I had started from seed that didn't fit into the garden because of a miscalculation on my part involving the space I'd devoted to potatoes. So I put them out by my Little Free Library and posted "free tomato plants" to my neighborhood facebook group. They were all gone in twenty minutes. I hope people actually get tomatoes out of them.

65MarthaJeanne
mei 8, 2020, 10:20 am

Buying plants not only means that I don't have to fiddle with the whole raising from seed bit, but I also get to grow as many different kinds as I have plants.

66MarthaJeanne
mei 8, 2020, 2:55 pm

Please everyone, be safe, take care even when gardening. There are still other things besides Covid-19 to worry about.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52594627

"I managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds in a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening," Does not sound like a good idea.

67Sovay
Bewerkt: jun 18, 2020, 2:52 am

I have YEAST!

I can now make Staffordshire oatcakes, which I've been planning to try for months! Or at least I could, if I could find the recipe. Which I can't.

I could have sworn it was in either Jane Grigson's English Food or one of two books by Elizabeth Ayrton, but no. I've checked several other likely books; no joy. I have a nasty feeling it must have been in Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery, which I parted with at the end of last year because I so seldom use yeast ...

On the upside, Waterstones in Leeds is now open so I have donned my face mask and lashings of hand sanitizer and ventured in. I've invested in Hibiscus: Discover Fresh Flavours from Africa and The Saffron Tales - both currently in quarantine under the sofa for a week or so.

68MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: jun 18, 2020, 3:51 am

>67 Sovay: Yes, it's in Elizabeth David, but try https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/02/how-to-make-the-perfect-sta... It's very similar. Hmmm. She has recipes both for blini's and for English buckwheat pancakes.

My husband was supposed to bring the wine for a small party last night. (5 people, held outside. This is permissible by current Austrian rules.) He wanted to take a favourite French rosé, but the supermarket has greatly reduced its French offerings. He's hoping it's just a supply issue. In the end he found that he still had a bottle, took it along with a bottle each of his normal Austrian reds and whites, and threw in a bottle of Austrian rosé bubbly. (He managed to come home without any wine. The host took the remaining white and another party was starting when theirs broke up. They were happy to take the remaining red.)

We've been allowed to shop without masks this week. What a difference. My husband is still wearing his at times, and I have mine along, but haven't seen enough crowding to feel I need it. I can see and think!

69Sovay
jun 18, 2020, 7:26 am

I shouldn't have got rid of the Elizabeth David - I parted with it reluctantly as it's an interesting book, but it's also bulky and I have finite shelf space ... Florence White's Good Things in England has a recipe for West Yorkshire oatcakes which are pretty similar to the Staffordshire ones (and more local to me) but require a large bakestone, which I haven't got, and a specific technique which I think I'd want to see demonstrated repeatedly before I could attempt it!

Masks aren't compulsory in shops here (they are on public transport) but it seemed sensible to wear one. Not comfortable, though, and as you suggest, surprisingly limiting to the vision eg when going down stairs. I'm glad to hear things are getting easier where you are.

70MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: jun 18, 2020, 8:47 am

I wear glasses, and they condense every time I breathe out. Of course the fog goes away when I breathe in again, but that doesn't last long. Makes it hard to read ingredients. And I do feel that my brain doesn't get enough oxygen through the mask.

Library today. Masks not required, AND the normal lift was working. The last two visits I had to call and have someone come down and escort me up a freight lift. Then send me down again after I was done.

71hfglen
jun 18, 2020, 10:33 am

>69 Sovay: Which Elizabeth David? I suspect a full collection would occupy about half a metre (or more) of shelf space.

72MarthaJeanne
jun 18, 2020, 11:14 am

73MarthaJeanne
Bewerkt: jun 21, 2020, 6:15 am

I read a lousy bread book (from the library. Should have known by the publisher. Brot &Bier) but it did give me the idea to replace most of the water with a bottle of beer. The result was amazing. Very light fluffy bread. We're talking wholegrain wheat and spelt with oatmeal. I'm not even sure I like it. My preference is for a solid piece of bread, about halfway between this and the bricks that some whole grain bread can be. However, it looks and tastes really good, and fluffy is good for some purposes.