Meatless March

A few weeks ago, I read about how pop-up drive-in movies are the new thin g in the pandemic era (see also this piece ), and I thought it would be the perfect first step back into the Real World. I did a search and found one about 30-40 minutes from our house , and while almost all dates were sold out, I got a spot for June 27, seeing The Karate Kid (original version, wax on, wax off). My initial excitement faded a little, some days later, when I had a terrifying thought: how would we use the toilet safely?! I also saw a photo of one of the showings, and the cars aren't THAT far apart. The wind left my sails. We considered selling our ticket. But then we reconsidered. This might be a relatively safe time to go out, since (some) people are still being cautious, and in our area, caseloads aren't sky-high anymore. And we cannot stay home forever, I guess. It might be good for our mental health to get out. So we did it. Without warning or explanation, they showed the 2010 ver

Today was my backup dancer's last day of second grade. Back in March, I remember looking bleakly ahead to this day. We had a rough start to homeschooling, but then we found our groove. She worked hard, I worked hard, and I believe the kid is ready for third grade, whatever that's going to look like. My backup dancer can explain the molecular properties of water. Yeah that's right, I'm bragging. I was emotional this morning, impressed by how far we've come, but also despondent that this is where we are. We're all functioning just fine, but it's a lonely, vaguely fearful life. I remember in the beginning, I couldn't imagine school being closed for more than a couple weeks. Time went by, and it dawned on me that summer camps and vacations weren't going to happen. And now I wonder about Halloween, and Christmas. And that's as far ahead as I can bring myself to ponder right now. Sorry, you came here to read about food, didn't you? So let

I'm not one of those people who loses interest in food in times of stress, like  Marissa Tomei . I never, EVER skip a meal. I start looking forward to lunch after I finish breakfast. And I have a problem with sugar, which has gotten worse in the current Dark Times. There. I said it. I read that data shows  people are consuming less sugar  since the pandemic started, and I am not proud to say that in this house we are bucking the trend. For example, my backup dancer was super eager to make a cherry upside down cake, so we tried it last week. Unfortunately a lot of the topping was left in the pan when I flipped it, plus the cake didn't really have a lot of chocolate or cherry flavor - it was just super sweet. These disappointments did not stop me from eating the cake, not in the slightest. I ate a lot of that cake, which is now gone. Perhaps to compensate, I am also committed to eating a lot of the healthy kale and lentil salad (Bon Appetit) that I made last night, but

Tonight I made " Baked Tofu With Peanut Sauce and Coconut-Lime Rice " (NYT Cooking). I enjoyed the contrasts in flavors, textures, and even temperatures - room-temperature greens under hot rice and tofu. Everyone liked it. I left out the pepper flakes, of course, for the sake of my small backup dancer. And I served it on spinach. I have not had a proper haircut since....wow...DECEMBER?!!! I just looked it up on my calendar. December fifth. Twenty-NINETEEN. I am a little gobsmacked, but I remember telling my hairdresser when she trimmed my bangs in February that I'd see her in March for a full cut. And needless to say, that did not happen. I am starting to look like Rapunzel.

"Today was just a day fading into another, and that can't be what a life is for," as voiced by Counting Crows. While accurate and sad, there are far worse problems a person could have, in these dark times. Is my family the only one still isolating, though? Tonight I made " Soba Noodles with Crispy Kale " (Bon Appetit), which no one liked but me. The sauce was the source of offense. So maybe use less of the sauce, if you make it. Or change the sauce in some way. Sometimes tahini is unwelcome. I would also say you could cut back a tad on the yeast. I left off the pepper flakes entirely. This dish is vegan! That's a win for Planet Earth. The only other thing to report is that my flower garden is fairly spectacular right now. In part, it has reached a state of fruition after I've been working on it for, what, four years? But also, the cool spring with its balanced sunshine and rain has benefited a lot of the plants.

I don't have profound thoughts about where we are after George Floyd's death and what's followed (grief, desperation, violence, destruction, more racism). I do have profound sadness. This hit just as I have started to feel distant from the initial horror of COVID-19. Our life of isolation has begun to feel normal, which is also depressing, even as it comes as a relief. I am sad that being human means having the capacity to adjust to the awfulness of things, from racism to disease to poverty to climate change. And don't forget that all those dots are connected, so being complacent about environmental degradation means you're comfortable with things like: The development of new patterns of disease Obstacles to upward mobility for people of color (for example,  lead-contaminated water  affecting children's brain development in places like Flint or Newark) The anticipated disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities Let's not