[2022-10-22] Saturday Synopsis #14
This week's theme is serendipity. I don't always have a theme (in case you're wondering), but it's fun when one emerges and I run with it.
Story of the week: Serendipity
Six months ago, I reached out to an amazing woman who used to run a cafe my daughter and I loved. We were met with a warm reception, but ultimately were not able to connect in person. Today, I ran into Anna at a farmer's market. She gave me a welcoming and warmhearted hug. We updated each other on our lives and exchanged phone numbers and committed to getting together. What are the chances that we would find ourselves at the same farmer's market, at the same stall, at the same moment? That's serendipity.
Quote of the week: Serendipity
This week's quote could be this cheeky one from David Coleman: "There is a fine line between serendipity and stalking." Coincidentally, I worried that I might appear like a stalker to Anna, so I didn't persist in contacting her after our first few exchanges.
A better choice for quote of the week is this one by Jose Manuel Barroso: "What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open." When I saw Anna, or someone I thought could be Anna, I said to Mel, "I think that's Anna!" Mel wasn't sure. I almost walked on, but—thankfully—didn't. As the woman turned to walk away, I said, "Anna?" It was, indeed, my old friend.
Song of the week: Serendipity
It turns out that there are many songs called Serendipity. I've selected five instrumental pieces for your listening pleasure: Serendipity by Patrick Hamilton, Serendipity by Angel Ruediger, Serendipity by Funguypiano, Serendipity by Emil Negri and (if your tastes tend toward jazz) Serendipity by Chillaxing Jazz Kollektion. As an aside, I've often wondered how musicians come up with the titles for instrumentals. Do they create the music and then consider what word comes to mind as they listen to it? Or do they decide on a word, such as serendipity, and then create music that fits that concept?
Recipe of the week: Light wheat rolls (and the history of bread and yeast)
This week's recipe is Light Wheat Rolls. In keeping with this week's theme, I wondered about the origin of bread and yeast. I read quite a bit on the subject, but liked this article the best: a 1986 piece in the Chicago Tribune called The Rise and Fall of Ancient Bread. It provides a simple explanation of the earliest forms of bread:
The ancient Egyptians are credited with making the first leavened bread. Perhaps a batch of dough was allowed to stand before it was baked. Wild yeast cells settled in and grew, producing tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide and making the dough rise. The bread was softer and more palatable, so it became the custom to let the dough stand for some time before baking. This technique was hit or miss, however, because on some days, the air bore no suitable yeast.
Later, a baker discovered that a little dough raised in this manner could be used as a starter for the next batch of bread. The portion of bread kept to start the next batch was called leaven; it was the forerunner of today's sourdough bread.
The production of yeast went through various stages, but the precursor to the yeast we use today dates back to the mid-19th century. The article states:
In 1863, an immigrant named Charles Fleischmann went back to Austria to search for a good-quality baker's yeast and returned to America with the yeast cells in a test tube in his vest pocket. In 1868, he began selling compressed yeast wrapped in tin foil.
With the onset of World War II, the U.S. government sought a dehydrated yeast that could be used to make bread on the battlefield. In 1943, Fleischmann`s company produced the first active dry yeast. After the war, dry yeast was introduced to the retail market and is now the form of yeast most commonly used for home baking.
I'd like to think that there's a little serendipity at work when I go searching for a recipe, but mostly I attribute my good fortune in finding a terrific new recipe to the algorithms of the search engine. Regardless, this week's recipe is a keeper. In the past, I had struggled to find a recipe for bread or rolls containing any amount of whole wheat flour that produced a light product. But the recipe for Light Wheat Rolls delivered. Slightly sweet, the rolls are soft in the middle and crusty on the outside, especially when reheated in an air fryer for five minutes. In fact, the rolls were better reheated the next day than right out of the oven (although we did enjoy them both ways). They are similar to an old recipe my mom made many years ago called Air Buns.
Video of the week: The Discovery of Antibiotics
One of the best known stories of serendipity in science was the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming and its eventual purification and extraction by Ernst Chain and Howard Florey. For their work, the three men were awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McMaster University in Hamilton has an educational three-minute video—The Discovery of Antibiotics—about this scientific breakthrough that happened, in part, by chance.
Photo of the week: Light wheat rolls
The recipe for Light Wheat Rolls calls for strips of dough to be rolled up, packed into muffin tins and baked. Some of my rolls have a beautiful swirl while others are misshapen. Perhaps I rolled some more tightly than others or allowed them to rise a tad too long. In either case, they all tasted delicious and looked lovely fresh out of the oven with a little melted butter brushed on top.
