Week 10

This was such a weird week, easily summed up with the word "coronavirus." Workplace measures were put into place as we prepare for it to affect our campus, and it was hard to think about regular work in the midst of it. I wrote this post about our trying to plan a vacation. It's been like living in a weird dream where you realize all you take for granted is not necessarily available to you. 

Cocktails: necessary

Just as I drove home on Friday, we got a text from our friends who had extra tickets to a fundraising gala that evening in support of a new restaurant that serves as a business incubator for former refugees. We quickly rallied and put on nice clothes and joined them. We ate food from Ethiopia and Iran and listened to African kids sing, "I am not forgotten." The evening was a reminder to live in faith and not fear, and to open our (well-washed) hands and help each other, even as I sat in concern over the hundreds of people I was sharing air with in that room. 

It was a good week for seeing friends in general, as I got to have lunch with a former coworker, dinner with a dear friend, and of course the Friday night dinner. We hugged despite everything.

Dorm room decoration, seen during a photoshoot

Watching

We watched four episodes of "I Am Not Okay with This" on Netflix on Saturday night, and I'm quite enjoying it. It's easy to power through them when each episode is 20 minutes. 

We also started "High Maintenance" on HBO a couple weeks ago, which consists of all sorts of different story lines connected by one weed dealer in New York City. It's a little melancholy but also usually funny. 

Making

I started on my Bojagi shawl this week and it's very fun. 

Listening

I am still loving Tom Hanks' voice in my ears as he reads The Dutch House.

Also highly recommended is the most recent podcast episode of Reply All: The Case of the Missing Hit. Perhaps you've been in a similar situation where you're trying to track down a song you remember from decades ago, and the internet is of no help. This takes that conundrum to new heights. It's so good. 

Reading

Still working through last week's books. Turns out when you read multiple books at once, it takes longer.

Recipes

This was the first time that Melissa Clark disappointed us a little. We made three of her recipes this week: a cheesy fusilli with peas and spinach, a winter vegetable hash, and thai coconut chicken. They were all good, but we made notes of how to change the recipes to make them work better. With the fusilli, the cheese and spinach got so bunched up that it was hard to distribute with the pasta. Joel stirred in some reserved pasta water, which helped. With the veggie hash, she should have instructed us to chop the veggies more finely so that they cooked down more. They were supposed to be able to be smashed in the pan so as to form a sort of cake. We found that impossible. It also needed hot sauce. And finally, with the thai coconut chicken, that was all great except for braising whole chicken breasts. For the sake of time and ensuring doneness of the chicken, as well as not having to knife-and-fork it at the table, I would cube the chicken and let it braise in the coconut sauce. 

The fusilli

The Thai coconut chicken

I also returned to an old favorite: cinnamon swirl bread from the Best Recipe Cookbook, made on Saturday for Sunday brunch.