When an open house is scheduled, realtors often say “bake some cookies to make the house smell like home.” During the last century, this meant making cookie dough from scratch, or a box; then baking it. Today, dough can be made from scratch, from a box-mix, from a bag-mix, from refrigerator case pre-made dough, and from dough already made at various restaurants that you can take home to bake. A recent virtually-held book club meeting included the invitation that we each make our own chocolate chip cookies and bring them “to the meeting.” Which we did, each of us with a different recipe in hand, and one of us with the unbaked dough to eat.
Dough of course can also be for bread. Remember the craze of all of us having bread machines on our kitchen counters? And the more recent photos of sourdough starters that are alive and making bread! Yeast-based breads, pizza crusts, and rolls bring a sense of home to mind as well.
Plenty of dough cookbooks can be found online. Dozens of dough mixers for home and commercial use can be found too. Our mixer can triple-duty as a mixer, a dough-hook mixer, as well as an ice cream maker! This summer, we are loving homemade ice creams!
Sometime during the 1800s, dough became slang for money. Some think this was because bread is a necessity of daily life and that “to earn one’s living was to earn one’s bread” making bread or dough synonymous with money.
“Raking in the dough” is another often used money-related phrase. It means that someone is making a great deal of money right now, or day over day. In today’s COVID 2020 world, plenty of companies appear to be raking in the dough at the same time that others are going permanently out of business.
Dough-making in both cases is affected by our environments and our approaches to making the dough.
What dough will you make this week?
Image note: This Betty Crocker page from the Minneapolis Star Tribune brings back many happy dough-making and baking times from childhood. For awhile, we thought our mom was Betty Crocker – she looked like the lower right depiction of Betty!
Nesting is about the objects and experiences that create a sense of home. Without home, it is difficult to maintain health, find joy, or to be productive. Enjoy the Nesting series of blogs on your search for and creation of a deep sense of home. Also, enjoy browsing NestingCards.com for fun, for gifts, and for joy-spreading possibilities. ~ Jana
Jana Kemp
