Week 14

We made it through a third week and I found myself thinking of life like this as an eternity. I don't even know what to imagine for what life will look like in June, October, a year from now. What do I look forward to in the midst of unknowns?

Coworkers/cowarmers

And then, last night, I wondered what it would be like to think positively about everything. This will end. Things will get better. A new normal will emerge and it could be wonderful. Sure, I may lose my job at some point, but things will work out. Life has no meaning without struggle. We can't experience joy without sorrow; we can't grow without challenge. We are all facing an incredible challenge right now. What will become of us? Great things might happen.

And so, as ignorantly blissful as that may sound, that is how I ended the week, and it is the spirit with which I start the next. We'll see how long it can last.

Moments from this week included seeing a friend get married in her parents' living room, live-streamed on Instagram; watching the fire department rescue a neighbor who got stuck in a tree while trying to rescue a cat; playing the accordion; feeling my first earthquake; FaceTime happy hour; finding all-purpose flour (!!); and digging a border around our backyard lawn and sprinkling a bit of turf-builder on said lawn.

Nice to see this again

I also realized that my blog has pretty much always reflected a life that could be lived in quarantine, i.e., things I'm doing at home, largely. So clearly, I should be well-trained for this.

Provisions from Wanderlust Delicato

Reading

I am absolutely delighting in Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson. It's fascinating how we are culturally so entwined with our cooking and eating utensils. Who knew there were so many ways to offend with chopsticks?! And how did the useless butter knife become so ubiquitous at the table? And what must it have been like to live during a time when there were dozens of patents for rotary egg beaters? What would America be without giant refrigerators? These things we take for granted were so revolutionary.

Watching

We didn't seem to watch as much this week in the midst of our creative after-dinner hours. But we did watch an Italian movie called "Let Yourself Go" from 2017, which was cute, on Prime. And After the Fox from 1966, starring Peter Sellers, also on Prime.

Making

As promised, I'm reporting on the completion of Bojagi! (I still have to weave in the ends and block it into shape.) That last yellow strip should have been a tad bit longer, but I ran out of yarn. It still works.

And I knit up a little washcloth for fun while watching the movies I mentioned. Easy pattern (and fun ideas) from Purl Soho.

Recipes

I am losing track of all the stuff I've been making, but it was heavy on chicken this week: chicken burgers (made with chipotle peppers and apple), chicken tortilla soup, chicken sausage with lentils. But also a delicious new recipe for chile-garlic tofu with rice noodles from Melissa Clark's Dinner. Otherwise, it's been kind of fun working with random ingredients and stuff from the freezer to figure out something for dinner.

Chili-garlic tofu (I swapped the called-for kale with hearty broccoli)

Homemade chips from old tortillas

Beggars

Chicken tortilla soup

Sausage/lentil hodgepodge that was pretty good

Listening

I was asked to create a playlist for Whitworth alumni as part of a series of resources for fun/enrichment/connection during this time, so I revived Tippi Hedren's Lounge, my college radio show (and later on community radio in Spokane), to assemble my collection. For those who like classic cinema, 1960s A&M Records, and cocktails, I said. In other words, class, brass, and over-the-top vocal harmonies.