I know, the only constant in life is change. But here’s one that basically won’t affect anything that has an emotional impact on me.
When I was little, the first thing Mom taught me to bake was her grandmother’s mondel bread. It’s been a constant in my life, a recipe I haven’t looked at in years because I can do it without even thinking, pure muscle memory.
The main ingredients are flour, sugar, eggs, and Crisco. And for all the years I’ve been making it, the can on the right has been the one I bought when I needed more (I buy it at Costco, because I bake often enough that it lasts). The can on the left is the new design, and it was a shock when I first saw it. It was almost painful when I had to buy it, and today, I used up the old one and opened the new: the end of an era. The contents are exactly the same; the only thing that has changed is the look of the can. But that’s an emotional change that makes me remember all that baking over all those years.
#Crisco #baking #memories
During the blackout of 2003, I walked from my office on Wall Street, over the Brooklyn Bridge (don’t think you can see me in this picture), through Brooklyn, along Flatbush Avenue past the zoo (where a couple of volunteers had a hose out through the gates to the sidewalk, refilling water bottles for those of us walking by), and along Ocean Avenue. It took just over five hours. I got to the apartment building about an hour after sunset, just after full dark.
Ian Randal Strock 