Distancing Diary #2 — Kitchen Bliss

Hello again! Happy May! I wasn’t planning to make a habit of this, but the pandemic continues and I keep collecting stories to share.

Update – still no routine, no significant change on fitness, still no Spring cleaning – though I have now narrowed my goal to tidying just my office. A few banker boxes and I’m almost there. Of course, that will require a trip to Walmart. BTW – why is that open as an essential service – the grocery, yes – but the other side? Well I should be happy it’s open.

I did get into the garden on a day that was not too chilly. Can it be true that we’ve just gone 200 days with no temperature higher than 20? (Source) They just announced Garden Centres will open on Monday!!

Did a Care Package delivery to family in TO. Lots of goodies that made everyone happy. The Care Package included (frozen) gnocchi. If you need a pandemic project you should try these!

Despite being busy writing for the Spec, I managed to add a few things to Kitchen Bliss. Fabulous Hungarian Goulash and Corn and Bacon Pasta – I had you at bacon, right? I’m on my fourth batch of bone broth – which I’ll add to the blog soon. Made a fab Pork Marsala which I’ll tell you about next time.

Some specific COVID things?

Dalgona

It’s the only pandemic craze I’ve tried (so far) – having avoided sour dough starter. This is a whipped coffee “cream” made from instant coffee, sugar and water. It’s said to be popular in South Korea, but versions of it have appeared in various countries – India, Pakistan, Greece, Libya… You might be surprised that I have instant coffee in the house. I always have a precious wee jar of Medgalia D’Oro instant espresso that I use in a few recipes.

Some people say it takes up to 3 minutes to whip up Dalgona. My immersion blender has a whisk attachment - glorious peaks appeared in less than a minute. A blogging friend has treated this project like a science experiment, testing all kinds of variables. Visit her site for the story – although if it’s too much to read, simply whip together I TB of instant coffee, 1 TB of sugar and 1 TB of very hot water. (I used superfine sugar so that it would melt faster.)

I suppose you could eat this like a pudding, but it’s meant as a garnish. I served it with cold milk but Mr. KB had it with a regular coffee. A fun way to make coffee fancy!

No Flour

Yup – there is never any flour in the stores. Everyone is baking – bread and sweets. Just as well that we may not be able to enter parks this summer. We’ll all be popping out of our wardrobes. Let’s just say our clothes shrank in the laundry. Google “no flour in stores” and stories are popping up even in the UK! What the heck!? In Canada the deal is that they have flour but no packaging. In Hamilton, many restos are becoming grocery stores. Simply Italian Bakery on Ottawa Street is bundling up smaller quantities from her wholesaler. See also Nique.

Remember - there’s a lot you can bake without flour. Here are only a few from Kitchen Bliss. Mrs. London’s Cake; Chocolate Quinoa Cake; Walnut Cookies.

No yeast

Yeast manufacturers are also having a problem with packaging, but added to that is production. You cannot press a button and make yeast come out. It has to go through stages of fermentation and that takes time. Be patient or make your own sour dough starter. (Remember I know nothing about that.) OTOH – google bread with no yeast and you’ll find lots of recipes. You could make Irish Soda Bread.

Too Much Food | Too Many Potatoes

So much new vocabulary. How many times have you heard or used the phrase “supply chain”? Sometimes supply chain problems translate into shortages, but in the case of potatoes the system is over-flowing.

Folks! – stop with the bread and make everything / anything out of potatoes. (There is such a thing as potato bread and I get ours from Bench Kitchen.

There are tons of recipes on Kitchen Bliss that use potatoes - many Hungarian. We seem to love our potatoes!

There’s the gnocchi mentioned above. Mini Potato Gratin we make often and everyone fights over them. Potato Leek Soup (Julia Child’s version). Salt and Vinegar Potatoes - using malt vinegar - I cry just thinking about how good they are.

Gosh, I could suggest so much more. Then of course - there’s Potato Chips

Not Enough Food

I have so many thoughts on this. I hate food waste and seeing crops plowed under because they can’t get it to market!? It’s gut wrenching, but I’ll save that for next time. Meanwhile keep in mind that Food Banks need support.

Long Term Care

I just received a robo-call from my mother’s LTC provider announcing they are still COVID-free. I’m annoyed with “experts” saying “if it was my mother, I’d bring her out”. Totally insensitive, irresponsible and unprofessional. We cannot care for my mother here. We thought she’d be safe and now cannot bear to ponder the risks. She was a bit congested last week, resulting in my only meltdown so far. She was tested for coronavirus and came back negative. Phew!

Lineups

Went to Costco for the first time during the pandemic. Heard they had an early bird shopping hour for people of a certain age. Turns out there are hundreds of people of a certain age, and they all wake up early because they can’t sleep anyhow. Note to self – this is the worst time to go. Took almost a half hour to get in. The woman ahead of us was barred entry because she didn’t look old enough. I was not barred from entering.

“Culture” | Screen Time

Here are highlights of my screen time – and I do mean highlights only. I recently sent a friend a list of shows I’d recommend and I am not telling you how many pages that took. I have spared you.

Usual PBS viewing – Call the Midwife, World on Fire
HBO – My Brilliant Friend; The Plot Against America (based on Phillip Roth’s 2004 fiction – what if the president in the 40s had been Lindbergh, known to be anti-Semitic and the spokesperson for the America First Committee – and that is true. )
BBC Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly. Master dog trainer Graeme Hall makes every episode end “happily ever after” and along the way you either giggle or drop your jaw at dog behaviours that some people cope with. Moral? It’s almost always the owner’s fault. Not sure when it airs, but you can watch this and so many other things on CBC Gem. (e.g. Escape to the Chateau)
What are you watching?

Social Media

I admit I am now peeking at TikTok. How did this happen?!?! I had known about it but didn’t care.

Pause here. What is it? - “TikTok is an online video sharing social networking service. It lets people create short music and lip-sync videos of 3 to 15 seconds and short looping videos of 3 to 60 seconds. They can post anything from life hacks to dances or even recipes” (Source: Wikipedia)

Then my niece did a cool piece I shared in the last Diary. That set the stage for approach vs avoidance. Then the media goes bonkers over Dame Judi Dench appearing on her grandson’s TikTok.

So I’m thinking… good enough for the 85-year-old Dame is good enough for me – and I peek. She is charming (and without makeup a beautiful woman ageing with class). Her grandson seriously looks like Ed Sheeran!! Click here to watch one of the viral segments of the two of them - and her alone. (They’re doing “juice, sauce, little bit of dressing “ - common on TikTok.)

Many things are done over and over, and can take a lot of practice. Seems parents and kids in isolation have been doing TikTok A LOT!

The true experience comes when you download the (free) app. Nothing offensive has ever appeared in my feed - cats, lip-sync and dancing - oh and home repair. (Swipe up when you don;t like something.) Anyhow, it never fails to make me laugh. I know someone who has done the #lippick lipsync, but forgot to ask permission to share. Here’s an example.

Next Time – more on masks, the environment, pandemic playlists, flowers, supply chains, and haircuts.