Potpourri

Well, after returning from Boston and then taking care of last-minute details for the Mater Dei Mass, catching up on things I had procrastinated, well, no, just not been able to fit in while taking the Dante course... Anyway, what I am saying is, after having reformatted my computer (an all-day process; three days if you count making backups of a thousand years of valuable files and family photos and then reinstalling programs and files) I am now in the basement, connected to our DSL line getting all the updates and downloading free programs on which I have become dependent. And while that is going on, I am taking my 20 years of recipes box and arranging all those clippings in a photo album so I can actually see and use them. I have noticed a disproportionate number of recipes in the "cakes" division, along with the "cookies" section, "puddings and cheesecakes" section and "muffin" section--this although I can make some really decent muffins without any recipe at all.
Doing my back-saving exercises this morning, I was remembering an article I featured in My Friend (kids magazine) years ago. It was about sourdough bread. I thought it was a fun piece, connecting the "discovery" of leavening with the epoch of the Exodus. But I got a call one Saturday morning from an irate mom who couldn't see what "bread" had to do with being Catholic, and insisted that the article (and its accompanying recipe) did not belong in a "Catholic magazine for kids." This is on my mind because I met a consultant yesterday who reviewed my kids' adoration manuscript. Bread, Eucharist, life... you know. Remember the "Friendship Bread" craze? I think it was in the late 80'. You couldn't get away from those zipper bags with the bubbling beige brew. Finally, I think everyone must have said (as I know we did!), "Enough of this! I'm baking the whole batch!" Haven't seen a starter in years.