My First Blog Post
INTRODUCTION
We are all holed up in our respective homes.
We are not supposed to go out, unless absolutely necessary.
We can’t work from home -- our jobs involve serving people.
Now, there are no people to serve.
After catching up on some well-deserved rest, and pigging out on Netflix for a couple of days, I get restless.
Closets get cleaned, drawers get emptied, and jewelry boxes get organized.
There is a line-up of boxes at the front door, filled with old laptops, cell phones and other electronic equipment.
There are boxes filled with sad and useless articles of clothing that no longer fit, boots, shoes, and books.
I need a project.
My son has suggested that I write a ‘quarantine cookbook’. It’s a great idea, but I know that his ulterior motive is to keep me inside and off the streets. He knows what a social animal I am. Since I work as a chef, I spend lots of time shopping and walking and knowing people. My son is a germaphobe, and so he is working from home and staying safe. I’m not worried about him. He will work as many hours as he did before. He will be busy. At home.
“Write the book, Mum”, he says.
“Get Kato to edit.”
“Ask your friends for ideas.”
“You can socialize by phone.”
I realize that, in order to write the book, I will have to clean and reorganize the fridge, the freezers and the pantry.
We are cooking in quarantine, so trying to avoid going to the shops.
We are cooking for between ONE and FIVE people, rather than a crowd.
We are not cooking for an event or a party.
I’m used to cooking in large quantities, but guess what? There are no guests here.
No guests allowed -- we are just making do with what we have.
**Please note that any entries in green have been contributed by Kate aka Kato, who obviously feels that this is a legitimate editorial privilege.
THE FRIDGE
I clean the fridge thoroughly and put everything in order. My Virgo spirit is purring. There are no surprises in my fridge. I cook all the time, so everything in the fridge is current. Nothing is expired, and even though my fridge is huge, this project only takes TWO hours with my husband’s help.
Next...
THE FREEZERS
Ditto.
Everything is current.
Everything is labelled.
Nothing is expired. Next...
THE PANTRY
Day EIGHT of isolation -- I get up and take a shower, make coffee and take some to my husband in bed. I walk the dog and dither, fold laundry and answer e-mails. My time is up. Procrastination is no longer an option. With great reluctance, I take on the task of cleaning my pantry.
This chapter is devoted to a list of the weird, silly and completely strange items I found in my pantry. I created recipes that I hope will help everyone to stay out of the grocery stores, and to empty their pantries of neglected items. NO SHOPPING. This is the challenge.
An even bigger challenge is to make recipes for only TWO people. I will not be selling the food as usual, neither is there a crowd to please. No guests. I will be performing for myself.
I can’t go shopping for noodle skins, or go running to the local fancy store for a pre-made sauce. Everything from scratch.
The pandemic has changed all that. My customers now tell me what they want, and they pick up their food from the front porch. Money is generally exchanged electronically. No more visiting, no more chats, no more friendly cups of tea.
Go take a look. Seriously. Most people (women in particular) will go to their pantry and will dig deep to find a can of something that they know is there. You know it’s there, you’re sure you remember putting it there, and it’s something that you don’t use every day. A can of coconut milk, or a bottle of sesame oil. Your hand is on a tin and you smell success but instead you pull out a can of Urbani black truffles and mushrooms. Do you wonder what to do with this item? Likely not. You shove it back in and keep on with your original search. You don’t wonder about what to do with that can of truffles and mushrooms – it remains out of sight and out of mind.
Now, I am quite proud of my pantry, but that doesn’t mean that cleaning it was not a shit--show. You should do the same -- you’ll feel great when you’re done. Sort of like exercising.
Although the pantry had been somewhat organized into categories, it remains a challenge. I am blessed to have a pantry that is actually a small room fitted with cubbies and drawers on one wall, and shelves on the other. There is a stand up freezer where I store soups, stews, sauces and casseroles for my customers.
My pantry is a thing of beauty -- cubbies with everything in its place. Just pasta, just sauces, just baking, just canned stuff, just oils -- you get the idea. Still, I managed to find some weird stuff. I think I found eleventy different brands/flavours of breadcrumbs. It makes no sense, because, as a general rule I don’t make breaded meats, chicken or fish. If I do, I normally make the breading mixture myself, with baguette or multi-grain bread. So why all the commercial breadcrumbs? Better use them.