Over the past 2 years we were in various lockdown situations around the world and so many of us stocked up on staples and vital supplies with so much fear and uncertainty surrounding the Pandemic, vaccines, and personal protective equipment. It\u2019s hard to imagine that just 1 year ago, we were still in quarantine and lockdown measures.\u00a0<\/p>
The outlook for the next few months is once again\u00a0is\u00a0uncertain as global wheat and grain supplies are now being affected as we approach\u00a0spring and enjoy\u00a0summer. As things become more expensive around the world human beings have always\u00a0had to\u00a0be very resourceful and\u00a0one of the ways we became better during these months of uncertainty was\u00a0to hold fun and remote team challenges.\u00a0<\/p>
As we do our own internal post-mortem Pandemic\u00a0reflections,we shared some of the great moments that included opportunities\u00a0to level up our culinary skills over the past couple of years. While the Pandemic is still raging in parts of the world, here in North America\u00a0health officials have given the green light to head back towards pre-pandemic ways with several restrictions being lifted in public places.\u00a0<\/p>
Making anything from scratch is time-consuming and when we were in lockdown, we were encouraged\u00a0to focus on activities and great hobbies away from our related production environments of creative and technical projects.\u00a0The opportunity to be away from our screens was also rejuvenating\u00a0as we all needed to eat anyways.\u00a0<\/p>
Do you remember what items were hard to find when we all heard of Covid-19?\u00a0<\/p>
Fortunately, we stayed\u00a0as\u00a0calm\u00a0as we could,\u00a0focused on our health and made better food and eating choices with often limited supplies, and many of us reconnected spiritually as we all asked for ease to difficult situations. During the first days of Covid-19 we found baking goods, face masks (PPE), Lysol wipes, and toilet paper to be on the hard-to-find item list\u00a0and\u00a0on the\u00a0incredibly expensive side due to supply shortages that have fortunately now been addressed in so many countries.\u00a0But we felt your pain as well!\u00a0<\/p>
With a looming threat of global war now on the horizon we have tried to remember the best of days during the most difficult of times as we were asked to reflect on what we learned as a team\u00a0during the early days of the Pandemic. Fortunately,\u00a0we can\u00a0now\u00a0laugh about some of those things, but the hardships of the world have\u00a0touched every human being in some way\u00a0and we are grateful. These hardships have\u00a0helped us to use\u00a0our time more wisely\u00a0during those times of\u00a0stress\u00a0and\u00a0uncertainty. \u00a0<\/p>
This year we are told that inflation and wheat\u00a0supply chains are facing\u00a0global shortages and\u00a0so many of us\u00a0learned\u00a0how\u00a0to bake some kind of bread or new treat\u00a0in 2020 and 2021.\u00a0The need to become resourceful will certainly arise again but we\u00a0sincerely\u00a0hope\u00a0that\u00a0you and your family\u00a0have\u00a0also skilled up during those months of lockdown in any ways that you could\u00a0benefit.\u00a0<\/p>
We were encouraged\u00a0when uncertainty\u00a0came to us all\u00a0by our resident coach\u00a0and mentor\u00a0Kelvin Ali to be grateful, to learn something new, to make memories with our families, and to be cautious and careful with our health and dietary practices. Mediation and breathing skills were taught to our team and then\u00a0we were asked to\u00a0do\u00a0something unexpected. We were asked to\u00a0go out and learn something new\u00a0and to record our experiences\u00a0to share with the team\u00a0in 3 weeks virtually.<\/p>
Many of us made arts and personal crafts and\u00a0others choose to go the pre-scripted route\u00a0in which\u00a0we were given recipes that created\u00a0a\u00a0home\u00a0bread-making challenge to see who could create something wonderful. It was a lot of fun and the wonderful sourdough loaf recipe\u00a0we tried to perfect during those\u00a0early\u00a0days\u00a0of hardship has truly made us\u00a0patient and much\u00a0better people.<\/p>
We became\u00a0more aware of\u00a0specific\u00a0ingredients, and precise measurements and\u00a0some of us\u00a0developed\u00a0skills that\u00a0had\u00a0been lying dormant\u00a0within ourselves\u00a0or\u00a0reimagined skills\u00a0we may have\u00a0given up on\u00a0or\u00a0even\u00a0unlearned\u00a0after childhood. 3 weeks to enjoy the moments we had been assigned and\u00a0we\u00a0all came\u00a0up with some wonderful and\u00a0of course there were some\u00a0not so awesome\u00a0looking\u00a0creations, that still as were told \u2018tasted pretty good\u2019,\u00a0as we learned\u00a0something outside of our traditional comfort zones. The goal was\u00a0just\u00a0to become better at something\u00a0new\u00a0or unfamiliar\u00a0to us\u00a0and that is what matters most\u00a0as we all had some great\u00a0fun reflecting on our trials\u00a0as well. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Being better in the kitchen is something we\u00a0can\u00a0all benefit from so if cooking\u00a0a new dish or item\u00a0has become your thing\u00a0over the Pandemic, congratulations, it\u2019s a wonderful skill to have. If baking isn\u2019t your thing and like many of us, eating is\u00a0generally\u00a0where it\u2019s at,\u00a0then we hope\u00a0that\u00a0you cheer on your family\u00a0chef or\u00a0baker and give them great and positive feedback. Most of the time our own family\u00a0chefs\u00a0of all ages\u00a0just want to see and hopefully hear a wonderful\u00a0word or\u00a0compliment\u00a0from the tasty delights\u00a0that\u00a0they painstaking created with a lot of love and effort.\u00a0<\/p>
We were encouraged during our\u00a0culinary and\u00a0baking challenge to\u00a0\u2018have a\u00a0good\u00a0relationship\u2019\u00a0with our food items and we were asked to\u00a0really\u00a0understand our own tools and equipment\u00a0in our kitchen\u00a0and our environment. We were asked to analyze the quality, texture, taste, and overall experience of whatever we choose to level up on.\u00a0<\/p>
We learned that things are\u00a0not\u00a0as difficult as they\u00a0sometimes\u00a0seem and if you keep on honing your culinary\u00a0skills,\u00a0we expect\u00a0that it will be one of the most valuable\u00a0skills\u00a0you can\u00a0ever\u00a0learn to do for yourself\u00a0and more importantly, for another.<\/p>
Our team was\u00a0given\u00a0a variety of\u00a0various recipes to re-create\u00a0as a team challenge over the Pandemic\u00a0and we had a lot of fun\u00a0sharing our creations\u00a0with each other\u00a0virtually.\u00a0Now as the world opens up\u00a0again,\u00a0we hope to share some of\u00a0Pandemic-inspired creations in person with our teammates\u00a0in days to come.\u00a0<\/p>
Would you like to\u00a0try a simple recipe that will be great with coffee or tea?<\/p>
This great\u00a0recipe of Rye Sable was given to us as an option to re-create\u00a0and we hope you\u00a0have some fun as well.\u00a0<\/p>
Ingredients:\u00a0<\/p>
2 eggs<\/p>
175 g (1 c) sugar<\/p>
250 g (1 c) butter, room temperature (not warm)<\/p>
500 g (5 c) rye flour, plus more for dusting Pinch of salt (optional)<\/p>
\u00a0<\/p>
METHOD\u00a0<\/p>
1. In a large bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a handheld mixer on the lowest speed, beat eggs and sugar until frothy, about 1 to 2 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>
2. Add the butter and beat with the handheld mixer on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute.\u00a0<\/p>
3. In a medium bowl, combine rye flour and salt, and whisk to evenly distribute salt.\u00a0<\/p>
4. Add half of the flour and salt mixture to the egg mixture, and bring together with a rubber spatula. Then add the rest of the flour and salt mixture, and bring together with the rubber spatula.\u00a0<\/p>
5. Using the handheld mixer on low speed, mix until the flour is fully incorporated and the dough has the consistency of wet sand, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula about halfway through mixing. Do not overmix.\u00a0<\/p>
6. Use a spatula or a bench scraper to scrape half of the dough onto a clean work surface. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a disk about 1\u00bd inches thick, then use your palms to shape the edges of the disk into a square. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, using a bench scraper to transfer the dough if it\u2019s sticky.\u00a0<\/p>
7. Repeat with the other dough half and refrigerate both dough blocks for 30 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Make ahead: Store plastic-wrapped sabl\u00e9 dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.\u00a0<\/p>
8. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough to about \u00bc inch thickness. If your kitchen is very warm, refrigerate the rolled-out dough before cutting the cookies, 10 to 15 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>
9. Lightly flour a cookie cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.\u00a0<\/p>
10. Cut out cookies as close to one another as possible, to avoid re-rolling the dough multiple times, which overworks the butter. Use a bench scraper to transfer the cutout cookies to the parchment-lined baking sheet.\u00a0<\/p>
11. Cover with a second layer of parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Make ahead: Freeze cut-out cookie dough for up to 3 weeks.\u00a0<\/p>
12. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350\u00b0F.\u00a0<\/p>
13. Uncover the sabl\u00e9s and bake until deep golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. If baking 2 sheets of cookies at once, rotate halfway through baking.\u00a0<\/p>
14. Let cool on the baking sheet until cool enough to touch. Store in an airtight container in a dry, cool place for up to 3 months.<\/p>
\u00a0<\/p>
With the uncertainty of food and grain prices that are expected to be coming, we hope you invest in a bag of flour\u00a0or two\u00a0for your pantry and just have some fun this Spring and Summer\u00a0as well. It\u2019s healthy, it\u2019s fun, it can be a very delicious time well spent, and who doesn\u2019t love the smell of a freshly baked piece of bread with a dab of butter\u00a0freshly melting into it?\u00a0\u00a0\u2018MMM-MMMM\u2019 was what most of us came up with eventually and we wish you all \u2018Bon Appetite\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>
Have you learned a new skill or have an awesome recipe you\u2019d like to share with the clan?\u00a0We are making an awesome community space for clan members and we hope you\u00a0join us for the journey as we continue to grow together. \u00a0<\/p>
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