A Good After Effect

This week slipped by so fast that it wasn’t until I was making coffee this morning that I realized I hadn’t written my blog.

There was a lot going on.  My son’s family moved and a lot of the extra stuff came here and is sitting in my yard.  Where there used to be just an umbrella table with some chairs along with a few chaises, there is now a Jacuzzi, though technically I should call it a whirlpool spa, along with another table, a sandbox and a slide.  That doesn’t include the boxes of stuff that are supposed to go somewhere.  It used to be an easy walk across the patio, now you have to watch your step.

As more and more things reopen, we’ve been going out more.  Actually eating in restaurants. Last evening before we went to Costco, we got some food at the outdoor shopping area called The Village that is around the Costco. 

Some of the stores and restaurants were still closed and the 24 Hour Fitness gym hadn’t reopened, but there were people walking through the middle, some with dogs, like the old days.  Everyone had masks on which no longer looks strange.  We got food at a place called CAVA. You can create your own bowl, but there are people behind a glass doing the actual placing in the bowl.   We sat outside and watched the walkers go by.  The heat has lowered to normal here and we’ve been experiencing what the weather people call June Gloom.  It means cloudy cool mornings with hazy sun later in the day.  We were enjoying the hazy sun and a nice breeze as we ate our bowls.

No more lines outside Costco, though I think there was probably a list of things they were out of.  But the list has gotten far smaller.  There is no longer a run on toilet paper as soon as they put a pallet of it out.  There’s plenty of pasta and flour, too.

We went a little crazy with everybody else.  There is what I call the peninsula of food in my kitchen.  A stack of boxes that I have to squeeze around to use the stove.  The good news is that it is getting smaller as we use some of the food.  I look forward to the day when I can actually get into the cabinet all those boxes are blocking.  Certain other family members picked a lot of the stuff like the case of Cactus Cooler and the box full of bags of pink and white frosted animal cookies. 

There was a positive about the stay at home thing.  I did a lot more cooking and remembered how much I liked my own cooking.  But I also started reading food articles on my phone instead of the endless bad news.  They inspired me to make things I hadn’t thought of.  I started roasting vegetables which turned out to be the a way to get my family to eat them.  They loved the charred broccoli and cauliflower steaks.  My oven and stove must have been freaking out after being dormant for so long.  I used the microwave, but not nearly as much. 

I remembered a salad made of green beans, walnuts, onions and blue cheese that I used to buy at Gelson’s market over 30 years ago and I realized I could recreate it.  Another family hit.  The baking only lasted a short time as we all agreed we were eating too much cake. But there was no shortage of requests for eggs scrambled  with some sour cream added, or bowls of pasta covered in creamy pink sauce, salads with my homemade honey mustard dressing.

There will be a lasting effect of the pandemic.  And it will be a positive one.  Even as we venture out more, I won’t forsake my stove again.  Home cooking is still the best.