POV Fast Food Therapy After Killing My Sourdough Starter
POV Fast Food Therapy: you just spent three weeks nurturing two sourdough starters from scratch, adjusting ratios, buying counter warmers, moving them to the oven with the light on, cheering them on every single day — and then you lose them both anyway. Willy and Nilly are gone, I have accepted it, and today — just today — I am licking my wounds with a soft taco and a Diet Mountain Dew. We’re not broken. Just bent. And we can learn to love again. 🌮
What do you do when you lose your sourdough starters? You go to Taco Bell. Obviously.
Look. I am not above a little fast food therapy. Nobody should be.
Three weeks. Three weeks I fed those starters, worried about those starters, moved those starters around my kitchen looking for the perfect temperature, bought them their own counter warmers, and cheered them on like they were my own children. And I say that as someone who has five actual children, so you know I mean it.
When Willy and Nilly didn’t make it, I did what any reasonable person would do. I got in my car, I drove to Taco Bell, and I sat in that parking lot and I felt my feelings — with a soft taco in one hand and a Diet Mountain Dew in the other. And you know what? It helped. I am not ashamed.
The song playing in the background of my video was not an accident. We’re not broken. Just bent. Willy and Nilly bent me a little, but they did not break me. Tomorrow I start over. Tomorrow I begin again with everything I learned from this journey and a whole lot more intention than I had on Day 1.
But today? Today was for Taco Bell.
If you have been following the Sourdough Journey from the beginning, thank you for every comment, every tip, and every word of encouragement along the way. This community is the best and I could not do any of this without you. Stay tuned — Free Willy 2 is coming and I promise I am going to do this right.
Just give me a reason. Just a little bit’s enough. 🌮
More from the Longstreth Family
The sourdough saga is just one chapter of this story — here are a few more from the Longstreth table!
- Sourdough Day 1: Starting a Sourdough Starter From Scratch — where it all began. If you want to understand why the Taco Bell trip happened, start here.
- Get to Know Me — Wife, Mom of 5, and Lover of All Things Food — the full Stephanie introduction. Five kids, 33 years of marriage, and a deep love of cooking for a crowd.
- Jon’s Adoption Story — Down Syndrome, Big Surgery, and the Baby Who Changed Everything — one of the most important stories we have ever shared. Have tissues ready.
POV Fast Food Therapy — About the Longstreth Family
Welcome to the Longstreth family! Stephanie and Jason have been married for 33 years and together they are raising five incredible kids — four of whom came to them through adoption, a cause that is deeply close to their hearts. One of their children has Down syndrome and some special medical needs, and advocating for that community is a passion they share proudly. Jason is a preacher, an elder, and a college professor. Stephanie is a stay at home mom and the heartbeat of this household. Life in the Longstreth home is big, busy, beautiful, and never boring — and they love sharing it with you!
Want more real family life, crowd-friendly recipes, and stories from our table in your inbox every Saturday? Join Stephanie’s weekly newsletter — it’s free, it’s fun, and there’s always room at the table!