Catching Up With Stephen Bard

Greetings from South Philadelphia! Or, as the locals would say, Sowphiluffya. It sure has been quite an experience being stuck at home these past eight months! I’ve grown accustomed to the significant amount of traveling that life as a freelance baroque oboist entails. Every so often I return home to regroup, see my partner, Clara, make some new reeds, wax poetically about how much I enjoy living in Philadelphia, and then re-pack my suitcase to go off to my next engagement. Quarantine life has been a significant change of pace. I’m pretty sure this is the longest time that I’ve been in one place since I was a student at the conservatory!

Over the summer, people seemed optimistic that live performances would return in the new year. By September, it became clear that most performing arts organizations would be canceling live performances for the entire 2020-2021 season. The musician part of me has been lamenting the loss of work and loss of contact with my friends and colleagues. It’s been difficult to stay focused on playing the oboe knowing that it’s going to be a while before we will be able to return to the stage and make live music again. But the introverted part of me has become accustomed to being at home and has found a happy place spending time pursuing my hobbies which mostly involve cooking, carb loading, and eating cheese.

During the past few years I’ve become very interested in fermented foods. I’ve been making sourdough bread for a long time, way before it was popularized by COVID baking YouTube videos. In fact—I’m probably not supposed to say this—one of the reasons why I love coming to Portland (besides of course my absolute number one reason to come to Portland: to play with the fabulous Portland Baroque Orchestra!!!) is that it has an amazing bread culture. Ken Forkish’s Flour Water Salt Yeast has been influential to home bakers around the country, and it’s certainly in my sourdough bread cookbook library. Quarantine has enabled me to ramp up my production to about 4 or 5 different breads a week, well beyond what my traveling schedule would normally allow. I was fortunate to have about 30lbs. of flour in my pantry when the pandemic hit, but at that pace my stash didn’t last long!

This time at home has also allowed me to expand my lacto-fermented pickle horizons. Vinegar pickles are quick and easy to make, but they lack the twang, depth, and nuance of flavor created when a vegetable has been transformed by the magical bacteria lactobacillus. The challenge with making pickles is having peak (i.e. inexpensive and abundant) produce and time to manage production. July is prime time here in Philly for produce but I’m usually away performing at the Carmel Bach Festival for the entire month, so I rarely have the chance to take advantage of the season. Of course, the festival was cancelled this year which was extremely unfortunate for numerous reasons, but on the bright side I did get to make lots of pickles! I’ve fermented nearly every vegetable that has come into the house, from asparagus to zucchini. And BTW, if you’re looking for something to do with all those summer squash next year that people unload on your doorstep, try fermenting them. Time and salt can turn a tasteless, watery vegetable into something quite remarkable. It’s also kind of fun to watch the jars bubble away with bacterial activity.

But wait, there’s more! I’ve also started making fresh cheese. I make sourdough pizza about 3 times a week (I probably couldn’t have made it this far in quarantine without it) and so it seemed like a logical step to be able to control my own mozzarella production. Some people think fresh mozzarella is too wet for pizza, but if you make it yourself you can control the amount of moisture remaining in the cheese. At least in theory. Perhaps as we edge towards the cooler weather I might be able to convert a space in the house into a cheese cave and start making aged cheeses, too.

During the evenings Clara and I like to take walks around our neighborhood. South Philadelphia has quite a lot of old school character. The Italian Market, which is the country’s oldest open air market, is only a few blocks away. There are lots of tiny little streets that no modern car can drive down that are fun to explore. The city’s prolific mural arts program always has new ones popping up on the sides of buildings. No matter how many times we walk around the same streets, I always find something new that I hadn’t seen before.

I’m so looking forward to the day when I can safely get on a plane and come to Portland and make some music with the PBO gang!