Items

• 
  2020-10

  Cooking in the Fire Pit

  Avoiding restaurants in an attempt to quarantine and social distance has led me to try new things. One of those new things is cooking over coals in my fire pit. I cut up a pineapple and seasoned it with Tajin, wrapped it up in foil and placed it in the hot coals for about 15 minutes. Took the pineapple out, let it cool for about 5. Delicious! Absolutely delicious!
• 2020-10-27

  The smells, sounds, and flavors of my house.

  On march 19 california issued the stay at home order. That was 222 days ago exactly and over that time me and my family have spent the majority of it in our homes. We have spent this time doing many things, I have spent quite a good amount on my guitar, which I have just recently been able to pluck out the right notes that don't sound too bad, my brother and I have filled our house with the constant aroma of tea through making it so much, and my dad has made some of the best food I've ever tasted in those last 200+ days, just recently he made a cauliflower soup that took 6 hours of work, However everyone including him agreed it was well worth the effort! Both my mom and dad have been fortunate enough to spent the quarantine working and during the days you can be sure to hear either of them on an important call.
• 
  2020-04-04

  Homemade Potstickers

  I woke up Saturday morning feeling drained after 12 hours of sleep. As a teenager in the middle of a pandemic, I had nothing to do except to fix a messed up sleep schedule. I got out of bed at 1 PM and decided I would not do anything that day. I was ready to be back in bed and binge Netflix. Suddenly my sister along with my mom and dad and cat burst in my room and told my tired self that we were going to make potstickers. UGH. I told them to go away and that I was busy. An hour later I could smell something coming from the kitchen, something delicious. I could hear my stomach rumbling and I was ready for some food in my belly. I went to the kitchen and saw that the first batch of potstickers were done cooking, they looked perfect! The dough after being pan-fried became crispy and golden brown, and the inside was warm and flavorful. I wanted to help make more (so I could eat more) and turns out, folding potstickers is not as easy as it looks. In comparison with the rest of my family’s, my folded potstickers looked like a total disaster. At least it still tasted good! I didn’t watch Netflix for the rest of the day and I’m glad I didn’t. The time I spent with my family that day will forever be part of me and I hope my family in the future will make even more memories together.
• 
  2020-07-15

  Food Creations During Quarantine

  Pre-Quarantine, there was the opportunity maybe once a week to cook something extravagant for dinner; it was always a treat coming home from work and having the house already filled with some aroma that made instantly remember just how hungry I was. As quarantine limited both other responsibilities and the opportunity to go out to eat, the chances to experiment became more frequent. My grandmother had previously run a restaurant years ago, so this became my opportunity to sous chef and learn some of the tricks of the trade. The infrequent aromas of 2019 were replaced by the almost daily culinary adventures that we went on, be it cooking, baking, or anything in between. For myself, and so many others, baking definitely become a type of release to combat the mood swings and general boredom that quarantine offered up on a daily basis. For my cooking escapades, I would usually stray towards the foods that offered comfort, either through their taste or through their smell. Not being restricted by a mask indoors made the simple act of inhaling that much more enjoyable. There was something that was comforting about having those smells wafting through the house, almost a sense of nostalgia not so much for pre-quarantine but for childhood maybe?
• 
  2020-10-12

  Loud noises and Quiet Cooking

  There are two things that have marked this pandemic for me: sound and smell. He sounds of slammed doors from a very bored, angry, unsure ten-year-old boy and the smell of my late-night cooking. As a 10-year-old, he felt set adrift, when schools closed, and he couldn’t go play with his friends and they couldn’t come here. How do you explain the concept of pandemic to a kid without scaring the crap out of them? Because he was slamming the door to his room almost anytime he was spoken to, the dogs, of course, had something to say about it, because, well, they’re dogs. So, most of the day, there was slamming doors, constant barking, yelling (him), more yelling (me), crying (mostly me) and just really wanting some peace. So, I began to cook. Stock, one of the first things I learned in culinary school. Tomato sauce. Pasta. Cookies. Bread, and no, I didn’t get on the sour dough band wagon. And I would do this late at night. When it was quite and cool. Filling the house with the rich smells of food. Meals that have been frozen, stock that has been frozen or canned, cookie dough stashed away to make cookies later. I could think while I cooked. It was and is, my de-stressor. The picture is of one of my creations – “Ravioli Lasagna” – basically, using fresh ravioli (this is ricotta and spinach) as your lasagna “noodle”, layered with marinara, mozzarella and sweet Italian sausage.
• 
  2020-09-18

  Pandemic Baking Skills

  Just like scores of others, I attempted baking as a hobby to fill all the extra hours I found myself having during the pandemic lockdown. At first, my attempts yielded tasty but not terribly appealing to look at dishes. But after a few practice rounds, I found a knack for making cobblers! Peach and blackberry, it turns out, are my favorites! Having a hobby is even more important now that everyone is spending more time indoors.
• 2020-08-27

  My 2020 COVID-19 Story

  Everything with COVID is different, there is alot that we need to do to prevent the spread of the virus. The spread is vapid, friends are getting it, family members are getting it. We were under quarantine for quite some time, and we were doing virtual learning. The virtual learning was rough, everyone was unprepared for the situation. Not only was the virtual learning hard, but so was maintaining your mental health. Staying home and not having much interaction with people other than your family is a bit rough. You will want to keep yourself occupied, and that can by with anything, drawing, going for a walk/run, watching TV, cooking/baking. Anything to keep you entertained and active in some type of way. This quarantine has been far from easy but it is what needed to be done for the sake of everybody's health. The world is going to be different for quite sometime now, the masks and social distancing seem to be the new normal for a while. But until that's over with everyone has to just do their part so this can all end faster. Washing your hands, not touching your mask unless you've sanitized, putting your mask somewhere clean when you take it off such as a zip lock bag, and getting a new mask everyday. You have to do your part the right way or it won't work, you'll just be cross contaminating germs and you will end up getting sick.
• 
  2020-08-09

  How food keep me from Alcoholism

  struggling with alcoholism I found a outlet in cooking, this post shares some of the things that I have made over the last few mouths. I wanted to showcase some positive notes of this pandemic and how it has brought mental wellness to the forefront.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Free Time

  Since I had a lot of free time with the lockdown, I cooked more and made lots of food and desserts. I made pies, cakes, and cookies. This is important to me because during the pandemic it is something that I did will my time and enjoyed.
• 
  2020-07-17

  A Warm Meal Shared

  It's my story in how something mundane like cooking a meal and the community of sharing a meal is affected severely by COVID 19. Since I live alone at present, it is difficult, let alone near impossible to share a meal with anyone else and the disconnect I feel affects me and possibly some people who have to live alone and no one to communicate with. It's also a story of longing forward to see my fiancée again and trying to live life with a semblance of normalcy in an uncertain world.
• 
  2020-07-17

  Food for the Family & for the Soul

  The Covid contagion found us without access to our usual weekend grocery trips. Luckily a Viber food community group we were invited to started posting restaurant suppliers in our area who were selling restaurant sizes cuts of meat, bakery wholesale suppliers started selling flour, sugar etc. Our pantry wasn’t going to go bare after all. With restaurant quality ingredients and more time to prepare food our family found special time to be in the kitchen. Not only was it therapeutic to prepare the meals, mealtime became even more meaningful. Dressing up the dinner table and exploring different dishes to cook felt like we were experiencing private dining everyday. We realized that this experience was even better than going out to dine in restaurants. This was the blessing of Covid-19. It brought us back to the sacredness of the home and the family table!
• 
  2020-04-19

  Plague Journal, Day 37: No-fault recipe

  I'm keeping a Covid-19 journal. The latest entry, with notes on my father's cooking style; my own culinary education; and my desire to impart wisdom to The Kid.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Home cooking, eating and surviving a health crisis

  Now more than ever, we cherish the value of a well-planted garden and a well-stock pantry or kitchen. This global health crisis prompted us to plant, cook and eat together.
• 
  2010-07-13

  A Journal Entry of the Plague Year

  I wrote a reflection of my experience in quarantine and what I learnt during this difficult time.
• 
  2020-04-23

  Humans of Covid-19 AU: Tracy Barnes

  “I lost my job as a cook straight away. Since then I've been able to do heaps more work in the garden. We make our own bread, and wine, and now we are experimenting with making stuff that we didn’t have time for before. If we could perhaps not rush back into resuming where we left off that would be fantastic. We have reset back to things that are a little more basic, like human interaction. We don't need a lot of external, materialistic things. This pandemic has shown that we can shut the world down if we need to, which in regards to climate change, was apparently a thing that was too hard. This situation has totally reaffirmed the importance of gardening and self-sufficiency. We have been able to provide for others around us. We have a chance to take a breath in history. Hopefully it can be a turning point that where we were going isn’t the way we had to go and we can look back and say ‘Wow, we actually changed the direction we were heading’”. Instagram post on Tracy Barnes, cook & gardener, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.
• 
  2020-04-17

  Cooking at Home

  During the pandemic, I learned to cook at home since most of the restaurants are closed and stop the service of dine-in. Also, I think it is unsafe for now to go out frequently so I decided to cook at home. It is fun for me during the epidemic but I miss those delicious restaurants outside.
• 2020-05-28

  Be good at cooking

  Before coronaVirus, I never cooked by myself. The virus teaches me to cook by myself.
• 
  2020-06-04

  Two types of People in Quarantine

  This meme compares two types of people in quarantine: the over achiever and the barely staying above water! I alternate from one to the other regularly.
• 
  2020-05-30

  Culinary growth

  Although the virus is raging, and we can only isolate ourselves at home, but we still need to eat well, and having a rich diet is a safeguard for our bodies.
• 
  2020-05-30

  Cooking during quarantine

  I’ve always avoided cooking in the kitchen with my mom and brother. I abhorred cooking and making a mess in the kitchen. Yet ever since quarantine, my opinion has changed. During the beginning of my quarantine, I made a list of goals for myself. One of them was to learn new recipes in the kitchen. I was a bit hesitant at first due to fearing mistakes and ruining the food I was preparing. I started off by making simple recipes: omelettes, pancakes and such. I made plenty of mistakes and got frustrated with myself, but mom was always there to encourage me and bring guidance. Then I began to make more complex recipes like seafood pasta and Mexican style costillas de puerco. Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience and I grew to enjoy cooking so much more than before! Here are some pictures of food I made recently (the pizza was kind of a fail, but my dad enjoyed it).
• 
  2020-04-09

  Behind Closed Doors

  During this scary time, I was able to create a youtube channel to channel my cooking skills and share it to the world. I was able to stay calm while cooking during this time, and I came up with loads of new recipes to cook, and my channel is called "Kooking With Khang"
• 
  2020-04-14

  Trying Out New Recipes

  I got this book in middle school when our librarian was clearing out the library for renovations. I never had time until now to try new recipes.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Patty Cooks

  A website dedicated to cooking, many posts starting 3/16/2020 are pandemic related
• 
  2020-05-18

  The first homemade burger

  I always wanted to eat hamburgers, but I couldn't go out because of the epidemic, so I tried to make a luxury hamburger by myself. Because of the stay-at-home order, I always cook at home, felling can open a restaurant.
• 
  05/23/2020

  Elia Lara Coria, Dougherty Family College, HIST 115

  Journal of Elia Lara Coria
• 2020-05-19

  Untitled

  The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of many people. In my case, this has affected me in my education in different ways. First, universities and colleges had to close. I used to go to college four days a week, so my routine changed completely. Now with the spread of COVID-19, I have to stay home because it is safer and also help to stop the spread. I have to admit, I was enjoying being home, but after a few days I was easily bored. Second, students who planned to graduate this spring semester may have a very different graduation. I heard that the university is planning some surprises for them, but I am sure they would rather have a "normal" graduation. I was pretty sure the summer classes would be online, but I didn't think about having the fall semester online too. I agree and disagree with the college’s decision to plan the fall classes online. I think it is a good idea to avoid future spread. However, I also think that maybe it may be an exaggeration, but my sister always says: "I don't believe in this virus, but just in case I protect myself." This epidemic has some good things. In my case, I am using my extra time to cook healthier foods and I have even experimented with new recipes. I have more time to talk to my loved ones. My grandmother can now make video calls. My sister can spend more time with her son. I am planning to learn something new when the semester ends. I hope to be able to travel with my mother to Mexico and see my family. I would like to be with them in this difficult time. Our planet Earth has also benefited from this virus because it now has less pollution. My advice to get over this virus is to stay home and follow the rules.
• 
  04/22/2020

  Moments at Home

  This short video, created using the app One Second Everday (1SE), is a collection of photographs each day taken during the initial weeks of the stay at home order in Boston. The images demonstrate the ways that life shifted during this time. For example, many people spent more time than ever inside, took up baking bread or cooking more elaborate meals, and began to wear homemade masks anytime they would leave the house. *A short video, created using the app One Second Everday (1SE), is a collection of photographs
• 
  13/05/2020

  Masterchef Australia's Perfect Storm

  HUM402 In April 2020, Masterchef Australia premiered its 12th season, and received the best ratings in years. As well as featuring old 'Fan Favourite' contestants, for a stressed out nation in lockdown the nostalgia, comfort, and domesticity of Masterchef, and the lack of other places to be of an evening, definitely contributed to the shows success. I know my family is hooked for the first time in eight years, and Masterchef has become something we look forward to doing together every evening.
• 
  2020-05-03

  Pandemic Daily Routine

  Routines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-30

  How the pandemic changed my everyday actions.

  Every day, I cook (kitchen not pictured but in the same room), work out, study, relax, and work from home all in the same room. This goes to show that even though the world is changing in huge ways during this time, every day actions such as going to the gym have had to transition into the home. Small changes like this show how we have had to adapt routines that we wouldn't normally give a second thought to. #REL101
• 
  2020-04-20

  Savoy cabbage face mask.

  I was making soup and it occurred to me that the outside leaves of my Savoy cabbage were the perfect shape and size for a makeshift face mask. I’m joking of course but it amused me anyway.
• 
  2020-04-26

  My quarantine

  *Wanted to share my experience with the whole world
• 
  2020-04-18

  Diary in the Time of Corona

  I woke up this morning and decided to write. Why today? What’s different about today than yesterday, or the day before? I have no answers to these questions. It’s Day 25 of the quarantine. The sky is dull gray and it’s raining, my windows streaked with wet wavy lines that make them look like etched glass. Today is not so different from yesterday, except yesterday it wasn’t raining. And yesterday we went to the supermarket. That place fills me with terror. The aisles are not wide enough to keep the required six feet social distance. In the produce section it’s inevitable that two or more people will end up inspecting the bananas or the lettuce at the same time. When that happens we move apart as far as we can but we don’t walk away, as if the lettuce or the bananas or whatever are a territory we refuse to surrender. We do avert our eyes, ashamed to look our adversaries in the face. Upstairs in my bedroom I hear the rain against the roof, a soft, steady patter. The marsh is enveloped in a fine mist with ochre and green grasses and a few trees yielding small mauve flowers. I’m waiting for phone calls from the dead: my father, who passed away nineteen years ago and my mother, who passed away three years ago. Why do we want what we cannot have? Or is this the nature of grief, that after the sharp stabbing pains of loss a knot of slow sadness begins to form and 2 wind itself around our hearts, once in a while tugging so hard we’re reminded sharply once again of those who are gone? Maybe that’s what writing is for: not the documentation of what we have but the recovery of what we’ve lost. I’m reading a book by Lydia Davis called The End of the Story. It’s a novel about a woman writing a novel about a brief but intense love affair that ended thirteen years earlier. She can’t finish the novel because she can’t find the right way to end it, or so she says. But we know she can’t finish the novel because finishing it will end her connection to her lost lover, and she doesn’t want to experience such pain and grief all over again. The rain has stopped and the sky has shifted to a softer gray. The yellow and dark greens of the leaves are startling and bright in the thin light. Lydia Davis is a descriptive writer. She paints vivid pictures of the natural world: sound of ocean waves, piquant scent of eucalyptus, aggressive jade plants. But in her obsessions and delusions and isolation from friends she is not the best companion for me right now. ** Day 26. I am a witness to the pandemic. Everyone is a witness. But I’m not risking my life like the nurses and doctors and other workers on the front lines. I feel like a coward. 3 Today is sunny, with a cloudless sky of soft, washed blue. When you are quarantined weather becomes very important, like a prophecy or a sign of progress, or stagnation. On fine days I could go outside for a walk but usually I don’t want to. On the days I’ve gone for walks there’s an unspoken tug-of-war on the sidewalk when others approach: who will be first to step out of the way. My husband and I are always first to move. We agree we tend to give a wide berth earlier than necessary. Still, each time we veer into the street so walkers can pass I feel we’ve offered a consideration that was not reciprocated. This gives me a feeling of victimization that makes me even more irritable than I already am. On a recent walk I couldn’t help noticing that everything in my neighborhood reminded me of the virus. Small shrubs with crimson buds. A mask in the middle of the asphalt, awaiting asphyxiation. Street signs that say Dead End. I never realized there were so many dead ends where I live. When I’m overcome with anxiousness I prepare a meal. Before the time of corona I was a reluctant cook, and we often ate dinners at the local trattoria. But of course that’s no longer possible. I don’t have the patience or creativity to be a decent home cook. But now I find comfort in assembling a dish or two. I experience a sense of accomplishment in completing what feels like a meaningful activity. Food is no longer readily or easily available. If I’m missing an ingredient I won’t run to the supermarket wearing with my mask and disposable gloves. With every trip to the market comes the risk of 4 additional exposure. Grocery shopping demands enormous amounts of energy. So I try to plan ahead, which isn’t easy when you’re anxious all the time. Today’s side dish is quinoa tabbouleh with scallions, tomatoes, feta, and fresh lemon. Even writing the word “fresh” refreshes my depleted spirits. Before preparing the tabbouleh I looked out the window, my gateway, my connection to the world outside my home. My attention was drawn to a single orange-breasted robin stepping across the grass. I watched for a while, since now I have time for such contemplative activity. The robin began to peck at the ground, circling and wandering, circling and pecking. I had the idea he was searching for food and not finding any. I turned away. Things I never noticed before. The whiskered tips on the scallions, like a man’s white-gray beard. The amount of plastic and paper towels I waste even though I claim to be pro-environment. I think of my mother growing up during the Great Depression with barely enough food and not enough money. I have coats in the closet, sweaters in the drawers, a stocked refrigerator. Was I really so clueless and ungrateful? ** Day 27. Be mindful, stay in the present. I am trying to be present but the news on the morning radio announced 40,000 Americans are dead from the virus. How is this possible? The future has become our dystopian present. 5 Last night we visited with our kids on Zoom. Such interactions are one of the challenges of this particular moment, the physical separation from loved ones. These meetings in cyberspace reinforce the sense of enforced isolation: my adult children isolated in their homes within an hour or so of mine. I miss them. They might as well be living on the moon. I’ve heard stories of doctors and nurses sleeping in their garages so as not expose their families. This is worse than my experience, much worse, because their lives are in imminent danger. Nonetheless, their experience does not erase the pain I feel as a mother and new grandmother who can’t touch or hug my children. In my home state of New Jersey, 40 percent of more than 4,200 coronavirus deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities. My mother was a dementia patient in one such facility for six years. I thank heaven I do not have to worry about the virus killing my mother in a nursing home. The past seeps into the present. The present is the future, for the time-being. I’m reminded of the words of T.S. Eliot: “Time present and time past/ are both perhaps present in time future/ And time future contained in time past.” Perhaps our sense of separation between past, present, and future was always illusory. My brother contracted the virus a few weeks ago and was ill with a fever that spiked as high as 102.8. Mercifully he is recovering well. Past, present, and future, they are merged into the nightmare of the virus. I just read about a 25-year-old woman, a Latino grad student studying marriage and family therapy, who died of complications from the virus which she 6 likely contracted while working at a clinic for Latinos in one of the corona hotspots in Queens. I am overcome. I can’t write anymore.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Learning to cook during the pandemic

  This video was taken by Mrs Uma Pujar and shows her daughter learning to make sorghum bread the traditional way. While COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in the outside world, this video shows that people inside the house get to spend some quality family time together.
• 
  03/28/2020

  Food in quarantine

  I was never a good cook, because I am afraid of cooking. I dislike the smell of oil and am afraid of the hot burn. But this quarantine changed me, and allowed me step into the kitchen and actually enjoying the care brought by food.
• 
  2020-03-26

  Cooking chaufa at home meme

  Because of the quarantine, more people are staying inside. This means more Peruvians are cooking instead of eating out. The meme jokes that by the end of the quarantine period, people will be able to cook chaufa (a fried rice dish) like a professional chef.
• 
  2020-03-20

  Quarentine and cooking

  My father, a medical doctor, using a mask during self-quarentine. He has been coughing and sneezing for two days now, but no tests are available yet.