Sunday Content #44
A friend messaged me, asked for my Emergency Pie recipe.
I've published my "Yard Fruit Pie" recipe before at the end of this essay on BuzzFeed Books, which also serves as an introduction to my belief in the power of pie. To make Emergency Pie (apple shown above), you can follow that same recipe. When you've got your chilled discs of dough, roll one out, put some fruit on one side, fold it over, pinch shut with a fork, use a knife to cut a few vents. You can freeze for later, or freeze for a bit and then bake at 375 until it looks delicious. I used all-butter instead of some Crisco as lately I have finally given into that side. Here's the Smitten Kitchen recipe for all-butter pie dough.
I also recently tried substituting butter for cheese, which is truly outrageous. But then again these times call for drastic measures.
Pie is what works for me. Not always. Maybe pie isn't your pie. Maybe your pie is something else.
Running also works for me. I haven't run for the last several weeks though. When I was in Los Angeles, my back seized up in so much pain I couldn't move for some days. I had a big meeting. I ate CBD and rubbed Arnica on my shoulders, which a self-described "ancient masseuse" had given me on a take-out spoon. She was a friend of a friend. Her touch helped, some. She felt my traveling on my own was probably what had caused the pain. I figured that was part of it.
But it's hard to ignore what's happening in the world.
The air hangs heavy around my head. What about you? My dreams are endless waiting in lines, airports and hotel lobbies, transit, a sense of being entirely lost. My thighs the other night erupted in hives. I speculated why. I refreshed my feed.
I look away from the news and then I look again. I seek out especially images of people who're furious right now, protesting, their witty signs, their impassioned mugs.
I've been listening to any and every podcast with Rebecca Traister. My whole podcast feed is Rebecca Traister practically. When I'm not listening to her on podcasts, I'm listening to her book as an audiobook, which I highly recommend.
I tried running today. The morning was misty and the leaves orange and yellow and brown and twisted and falling. Yesterday I brought a loaf of sourdough to a neighbor, a horse farmer. She complained about what a terrible summer it's been, worst she's seen in decades. I nodded along. I believe she was talking about the rain. I haven't lived here long enough to know what is a normal summer, what is a terrible one. I haven't known her long enough to know whether I could say, of course it's different, that's the deal with climate change. All bets are off.
To me the summer was beautiful and the fall is also very beautiful. As I ran this morning, I listened to the new Nancy, which featured an interview with Matthew Shepard's mother. She said to not give up. So many people are saying that right now, don't give up, the fight goes on. They will lose.
I do agree with that — or have to.
Don't give up. The fight goes on. They will lose.
Love,
Sandy
p.s. Bert loves you too:
p.s. The Organist's latest episode features a big piece on AKOMP. Highly recommend the episode in general.
p.p.s. Another thing that's helped lately is making smudge sticks from mugwort I harvested from the yard. I'm gonna give them to friends who need to clear bad vibes from their homes.
