Just Stay Home

I think it's going on 6...maybe 7 weeks now we've been ordered to stay home/quarantine to minimize coronavirus transmission.

Anyone claiming their life hasn't been disrupted in some way is lying. Speaking for myself, I'm retired, I'm the quintessential introvert and I tend to be a homebody anyway. I hoard food by nature...I swear I won't miss any meals until the 4th of July.

I understand it's very challenging for many people. People have to work from where their jobs are such that they can do that. Not everyone likes that. I always hated working from home. Some people are seriously getting on each other's nerves. Others have lost their job and are threatened economically. But it's fair to say the impact on my life has been minimal. Mostly I've found my shopping habits have changed considerably. I don't stop at the supermarket "for a few things" anymore.

Certainly the biggest impact has been...the public library closing. It's looking like the public library network will be closed until July. Causing much anxiety. I think public libraries are jewels. I read 2 or 3, sometimes even 4 books a week. It's a comparatively trivial issue but it had me wringing my hands anyway.

The public library does loan ebooks! So. I sucked it up and got a Kindle!

Frankly I think it's a little expensive. But the technology is fairly mature and reliable. And it is a quality product. I'm halfway through my first book and I'm confident it was a good decision.

By the way...

He's still staring!

Bagels?

All the anxiety over the virus is stressing even me out!

So of course my thoughts turn to comfort food and not necessarily new things but things I may not have done before. Distractions.

For example, I just happen to have a half pound of chicken livers and eggs. So I'll make some chopped liver this week. I've never had chopped liver!

I've had deviled ham but I'd never made deviled ham before. Couple of days I made deviled ham! Spun some cooked ham cubes in a food processor, added some mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, chopped garlic, onions and celery, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sweet paprika. No recipe really, just a little this and a little that. I should have taken a picture! It was crazy good. I was going to fork it on to some crackers with a bowl of soup...but...it was so good I had to make a loaf of sandwich bread to make a real sandwich. I'll never have deviled ham from a can ever again.

And...bagels? I made bagels!

Poppy seed. Sesame seed.
I used this recipe. I used 100% white whole wheat flour. The recipe scaled easily I just divided everything by 4. They were very good bagels and I'll do that again. I don't know where I got the idea bagels were hard to make. These were so easy.

Well Holy Crap

This was the line of cars at the food bank when I went for my morning walk today.

4 April 2020
I counted 28 cars.

The normal route to the food bank was detoured due to the high volume of traffic.

Main St. 11:00 am on what would normally be a busy Saturday morning.

He went to Jared!

So. Jared Kushner is now in charge of the coronavirus task force.

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Sleep well America.

Olive Garden

I hate Olive Garden. I have issues with the way Darden Restaurants treats their hired help. But more than that I hate the whole big chain restaurant format. Chili's Grill & Bar. TGI Fridays Restaurant & Bar. Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar. And of course Outback Steakhouse.

For the most part I think of their food as uncreative and unimaginative. Largely distributed by central corporate kitchens and often simply heated up for service. Too much fat (one TGI Fridays hamburger has more fat than I can eat in an entire day!). Matter of fact I have some dietary restrictions, not even severely limiting what I can eat and TGI Fridays has only one thing on their lunch menu that I can eat! Too much fat. Too much salt. Too much added sugars.

And don't even get me started on The Cheesecake Factory! And yes I do realize those foods aren't meant to be a daily part of one's diet. The recipes are extensively researched and designed to please one's palate rather than deliver nutritious meals.

Mind you...make no mistake.. healthy nutritious food can be very good.

With all that said. I am embarrassed to admit. I just love Olive Garden's salad mix!

Olive Garden Salad
Yes. That's the real deal. With closures and reduced service to reduce the spread of coronavirus many perishable food stocks are sitting around loading docks with no place to go. And I know somebody. In food service. That supplies Olive Garden. And that is Olive Garden's salad mix. With some things added sure.

And frankly? You know those Fresh Express bags of greens and salad kits? Olive Garden should do that with their salad mix!

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And let's hope the hysteria stops soon.

The supermarkets have been complete mad mob scenes for going on two weeks now. Shelves are stripped bare of pretty much everything. And it makes no sense at all.

We can be at our worst or we can be at our best. It's not going to go end anytime soon. But our food supply is not threatened people.

WTF?!

OK. With a public health crisis going on with the novel corona virus expanding...our president holds a press conference. He wants to reduce tax withholding from pay checks.

Yup! That will stop the spread of the virus!

Seriously. This is actually brilliant. I have a theory. For decades Republicans have wanted to shift the burden of governance to the states. They call it "state's rights"

And. What better way to do that than to demonstrate ineptitude and incompetence in the federal government? Seriously. Let's put politicians in charge of the corona virus task force! Ya. That inspires confidence yes?