AND OTHER STRATEGIES FOR PERSISTING THROUGH A LONG ILLNESS:
No, I’m not the sick one. But with a fifteen year old at home for six weeks (going back to school tomorrow–sound the trumpets here!), I have gathered a couple of tools for sustaining myself and my son through the duration. The most concrete and remarkable for me has been undertaking to make fresh organic bagels because organic wheat is now central to my son’s sustained good health. I increased my odds for success by adhering strictly to the America’s Test Kitchens recipe with the addition of using organic all-purpose flour. (Costco is currently carrying an organic brand which you will find under the newly minted green label in the baking aisle. I do love those green labels--everything organic is so easy to find!)
If the poetry of handling food in the kitchen eludes you at the moment, see David Ignatow’s The Bagel to better understand how I can be “strangely happy with myself.” I found his bagel poem on Billy Collins’ Poetry 180.