There is a 2 year old, a 7 year old, a 30 something and two 60 somethings living here at the farm right now. In between all of us working to keep the orders flowing out the door, there is another preoccupation…. quarantine cuisine.
I thought you might like to hear about our version of this culinary style because, well, it might give you a laugh. It certainly won’t give you any cooking ideas!
Week #1 As were survey our chest freezer for the weeks ahead, we pass on the freezer burned frozen vegetables. Week #5 Freezer burn vegetables form the centerpiece of many a meal.
Our coop allows us to buy 20 items at a time. They put our requests/their substitutions out front of the store for pick up. What’s in the box is ours! There are many surprises!
Week #1 Our shopping list: kale, oranges, bananas, tomatoes, celery, spinach, cucumbers. Week #5 Our shopping list: Newman’s Own Sandwich Cremes, mint chocolate, Newman’s Own Sandwich Cremes chocolate, Newman’s Own Sandwich Cremes peanut butter. If we are very lucky, we win the snack lottery and get one sleeve of cookies.
Week #1 Potatoes are a side dish. Week #5 Potato salad with some very strange ingredients is the meal, served by the chef with a hiss, “and you’re going to love it.”
Week #1 Granddaughter Grace and I make whole grain bread like a scene out of “Little House on the Prairie.” Week #5 Throwing caution and nutrition to the wind, Grace and I make garlic knots three times in three days. Her knot skills are now outstanding.
Week #1 We ask the coop for wraps then shake our heads when we get a 3# bag of bulk flour. Week #5 We ask for wraps and gratefully receive the 3# of flour. MORE GARLIC KNOTS!
Week #1 We laugh at all the memes about toilet paper. Week #5 We wish we had saved those ancient Sears catalogs.
Week #1 In lonely splendor, I eat the sprouts I grow each week. Week #5 A crowd gathers of toddlers and grownups when the sprouts are ready, and they disappear in a flash. Who would have thought a 2 year old would like broccoli sprouts?
Week #1 We find a stash of tough, dried out raisins and toss them back on the shelf. Week #5 We retrieve the raisins and google recipes calling for a massive amount of raisins.
Week #1 Our motto, “Capers improve everything.” Week #5 Our motto, whispered wistfully, “Capers improved everything.”
Week #1 Jim’s nightly rifling through the pantry for snacks yields a cookie or two. Week #5 Jim spends so much time fruitlessly searching for a snack in the pantry we think maybe he has passed out in there from the extreme effort to find something vaguely interesting or palatable.
Week #1 A long row of dried beans displayed in canning jars sit on the shelves, unloved as beans so often are. Week #5 Bean cookery takes center stage. Oddly our efforts yield massive quantities of bean dishes with no noticeable decline in bean inventory.
Week #1 Thank goodness for pasta. Week #5 Thank goodness for pasta.
Sending you all much love! Take precious care of yourselves!