So, food and pictures – what else can we do?
Thursday I roasted a chicken and we ate chicken and mashed potatoes and peas with mushrooms & caramelized onions for dinner. Still using those onions from the pandemic risotto. I guess I left off in my last post right when I was putting the chicken in the oven.
Friday we had chicken sandwiches, with the leftover chicken. I had mine on the home made long rise whole wheat and we both added pepper jack cheese.
Saturday morning I made pandemic scones – that looked pretty much like regular scones – then went to virtual yoga class. We had whole wheat crust deep dish pizza with mushrooms & more of those caramelized onions for dinner, and salad with the last of our lettuce. I drank red wine and we watched Portrait of a Lady On Fire.
Sunday morning we tried a virtual brunch with a bunch of friends. We were using a video call program called Whereby, that I’ve been using since it was appear.in. I like it, it’s easy for setting up small group calls, and I use it for some work stuff, but I’ve been paying for the pro version on my own, so figured it was the best thing to use for a social gathering. Work uses zoom and WebEx and Microsoft Teams and BB Collaborate. I got a free, personal zoom when pandemic hit and my yoga teacher started offering online classes on zoom. Anyways, I kept not being able to hear one of the couples on our call in Whereby, so afterward, I downgraded my Whereby to free, and upgraded my zoom to paid. zoom costs about $30/year more, in case you were wondering. Also afterward, we had St Joseph’s Day bread made into French toast and bacon and leftover mashed potatoes fried up as a potato cake. With ketchup.
Sunday night we watched Outlander and ate little brownie rounds from Pain Quotidian via Smitten Kitchen.
Monday morning I got up early and emailed students who I’m trying to set up practicums for this summer another update, then I grilled these no-knead English muffins – they’re really good. I talked to an old friend who called on the phone, and then went to see how shopping was, during Willy Street Co-op’s first hour reserved for old folks, of which I am one, and immunocompromised, of which I am not one. Everything inside the store was great – well stocked, clean, protective plastics in front of staff, tape lines to help us keep our distance – but I didn’t like having to stand in line for 10 minutes outside, with a bunch of people, well-spaced out, but still, waiting until there were fewer than 30 inside the store so I could go in.
I ate one with half cheese and half peanut butter when I got home from shopping.
Somewhere in there I got out for a walk, guess about noon, and found crocuses. One here and one is the overleaf – although that one might be Mark’s.
I worked the rest of the afternoon, but trying to get ready for online class the next morning I kept running into Word Press and connectivity problems and felt really frustrated and knocked off at 4:30 to start cooking. I made chicken pot pie using the rest of the leftover chicken meat, and the peas, and a spoonful of the onions, and a red pepper that I roasted, and celery that I bought at the co-op, and topped with biscuits. It was delicious and I ate too fast and too much and went to bed feeling way too full.
Tuesday my online class meeting was at 10:00 so instead of walking I set up at the computer and tried to get ready, but only blew more things up. We carried on, and the rest of the day was busier, but it was sunny and I walked right after the class meeting, leaving the last one of the pandemic scones (except for the 5 that are in the freezer) to heat up in the oven on timer for when I got back. And I took pictures of flowers.
Hellebore
Snowdrops
It was even colder than Monday, and I think there was a little snow coming down when I was photographing the hellebore. While I was out walking somebody grabbed a security cop’s gun at University Hospital’s ER, adding another strange news item in addition to the one that a University Hospital doctor and her husband were found dead in the University’s arboretum that morning. I got a WiscAlert and altered my walk a bit to get farther away from the ER – and daughter-in-law Emma who works there texted me to say she was safely working at home. Whew.
And things got better the rest of the day, two successful online meetings and Word Press problems corrected.
We had leftover pizza and frozen french fries for dinner, the fries originally bought for our picky eater German exchange student who was here 2018-2019 school year. A true pandemic menu.
Wednesday was gorgeous and sunny, and I actually went out for two walks, one first thing, and one kinda midday, when I did what all these other people are doing – called a friend and talked while I walked, so I’d have someone to walk with.
After my first walk, I had a banana and coffee made a big pot of fancy oatmeal using up a jar of muesli that somebody gifted me at a cookie party a few years back, and has been in the back of the fridge ever since, and another jar of a coffeecake topping that I had made that was mostly raisons and walnuts and cinnamon sugar – I strained out the excess sugar – and some fresh oatmeal. I left the porridge to set up while I had a student meeting, and then ate a big bowl for breakfast with a spoonful of honey-vanilla yogurt on top.
We tried out pre-ordering from the Dane County Farmers Market. They have a system set up where you call or email the farmer with your order, and prepay and go through a kind of drive through to pick it all up. We got a big bag of lettuce and spinach, and a bunch of pork – chops, bacon, a really impressive looking roast, and ground pork and bulk breakfast sausage. Pick up was 4:00-6:00, and since you pick up by letter of your last name, we weren’t supposed to show up until 5:30. Dinner was pasta with a tomato sauce with sausage and a bit of cream cheese and goat cheese melted in, salad with our just-bought lettuce, and garlic toast.
We watched the newer True Grit with Hallie Steinfeld & Jeff Bridges, and I completely forgot that I had a ticket for another Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift from their living room show. Oh, well, they’ll probably do it next week, again.
Thursday I headed out to walk on the early side, and came back a bit appalled at people’s UN-adaptability, like the couple who wanted to run right down the center line on the path between the bike lanes and pedestrian lanes, right at me, not six feet away, and were perturbed when I asked them to move over into the bike lane, even though there were no bikes, and it was only for a few minutes until we got past each other. Or the two women walking together, with a dog, 6 feet apart, but oblivious to the fact that they were taking up all the space and no room for anyone else. This was on the lakeshore path and Mark I agreed that in town walks are maybe easier because you can always go in the street.
Fungus art that I saw when I dipped down to the dirt path to get 6 feet from the women and the dog
Blue sky and red buds – I think this will be a blog banner at some point.
Columns on the lakeshore path that I realized are shaped a lot like columns in Chicago – different colors, though
Green river through Wacker Dr. columns
When I got back I showered and dressed for at home work. I had the fancy oatmeal for breakfast again, and decided on my walk that I’d turn what’s left into buns. Wheat knots.
But despite dressing for success it wasn’t a terribly successful day. I felt disorganized and like I sounded stupid in online meetings, or else non-participatory. At 4:00 I went out for a little walk after my last meeting, and started feeling really depressed. Doing this writing and looking pics is making me feel better – and I’m going to make spinach salad with our market spinach and bacon, so that should help too. And maybe we’ll watch something good tonight.
And tomorrow I invited the whole fam-damily – my brother, Jen, Megan and John, Emma and Al, and Belinda and Stephen, to a virtual happy hour. So, I’m contemplating fun appetizers for that, and debating whether I should drink gin – like Colbert and Ryan Reynolds last night – or make an old fashioned – or have a glass of wine.
And OK, PS – I feel a bit whiney after re-reading this – so here’s the good stuff: I and all of my kids are working at home, still getting paid, still have jobs. My husband is retired, so still getting paid. I have access to technology to stay in touch with everyone. There’s plenty of food in my house, even toilet paper.
♥ Love to all – and we’ll get through this.