So 2021 is turning out to be a bigger mess than 2020. Â The events of Wednesday are still shocking me and I worry that our country is so traumatized from Trump’s Presidency that people are willing to shrug off his attempt to subvert democracy.
I took break from the doom scrolling and rage tweeting last night to watch The Man Who Shot New York.  It’s a documentary on the life and work of Harold Feinstein.  (He’s a photographer, not a serial killer.  I can understand if you might be confused given my love of true crime.)  I had never heard of him and was shocked to learn that he was slated to have several photographs in The Family of Man exhibition, but pulled out of it because he didn’t want to give up his creative control.  Can you imagine?!  I mean, if someone like Edward Steichen wanted to put some of my photographs (or even one!) in an exhibition, I think I’d hand them over without a second thought.
You can see some of his work here. Â I especially love The Hurricane from 1946. Â What a beautiful long exposure.
Week 10 of quarantine took me high with excitement that Illinois is finally going to slowly reopen and a cooking class taught by one my Italian colleagues and then brought me low again with news that Chicago is going to open even slower than the rest of Illinois and a narrowly averted disaster with my AC.
In a fit of optimism, I booked a facial for early June and had my AC serviced. My facial appointment has been cancelled for the third time as Mayor Lightfoot is holding Chicago back from reopening with the rest of Illinois. And my AC unit? Well, the coils froze when somehow the compressor was left running but the blower was not. There was ICE on the OUTSIDE of the unit in the mechanical closet. I spent 36 hours mopping up the melting ice so that it wouldn’t leak through the floor into the unit below me. It sounded like an avalanche was happening when the ice would break apart and fall.
The bright spot of my week was the cooking class with my colleague, Mario. My firm has put together several of these Zoom cooking classes to keep us occupied and entertained during the quarantine. To my surprise, many of the attorneys are worse in the kitchen than I am. One didn’t know the difference between an egg yolk and an egg white. Another needed instructions on how to chop cheese because they didn’t own a grater. It was all very entertaining to me!
As promised, below are the recipes we made. I had a hard time following instructions so mine didn’t turn out quite right, but it was still delicious!
Bucatini Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper) – 14 oz. of Bucatini or spaghetti (Mario recommended the following brands (he’s Italian so he would know!): Molisana, Barilla or Garofalo – 9 oz. of Pecorino Romano cheese (buy the pre-grated kind unless you like grating cheese) – about 1 tsp (give or take) ground black pepper
Boil water for the pasta. Cook pasta for half the cooking time (it will be finished in pan). Just before draining the pasta, toast the ground pepper over medium heat in a skillet. Drain the pasta in such a way that you keep the pasta water.
Put about 1 cup of the pasta water (I used one ladle scoop) into a bowl and dump the grated cheese into it and stir until melted. Add pasta water as needed, but you don’t want it runny. Once the cheese is melted, put the pasta in the skillet with the toasted pepper and add the cheese sauce. Stir until pasta is finished cooking. You can add pasta water as needed.
Crostata – 2 egg yolks – 17.6 oz of all-purpose flour – 7 oz. of powdered sugar – 9 oz. of unsalted butter – grated peel of half a lemon – jar of favorite marmalade or jar of Nutella – 2 oz. cacao butter (only if you’re going to use Nutella)
If you’re going to make crostata, make the dough before starting the pasta. It will need to chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Combine the butter and flour in a food processor. (No one on our call had a food processor so we all used blenders. Hilarious and not ideal, but it does eventually work). Transfer the combined butter and flour to a bowl and mix in the powdered sugar. Once mixed, make a canyon (as Mario calls it) and add two egg yolks (that’s the yellow part) and lemon zest. Mix with your hands until the dough is fairly firm and can be rolled into a ball (I had to add a bit more flour, but I also accidentally used an egg white). Cover in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30ish minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350. Once the dough is chilled, take it out of the fridge and roll it out to the size of your cake pan. (If you want to be fancy, save some of the dough to make stripes on top of the crostata). I don’t have a rolling pin so just put the dough in my cake pan and kneaded it until it was spread evenly. I think maybe the sides are supposed to be a bit higher to hold the toping, but that wasn’t super clear and I’d had half a bottle of wine by this point. If you’re using marmalade, you can dump the marmalade on top of the dough, keeping it away from the edges.
If you’re using Nutella, combine the cacao butter and Nutella together. I used 2 oz of melted butter because I couldn’t find cacao butter in the grocery store. If you’re using cacao butter, you may need to melt it as well. I don’t know what the consistency is but it needs to be able to blend with the Nutella. I used 4 big spoonfuls of Nutella. Once the butter and Nutella are combined, put it onto of the dough in the pan.
If you saved some dough to make stripes on top of the crostata, roll it out and cut into strips and place on top of the crostata. Bake for 20ish minutes.
Mario recommended pairing a light sparkling wine or a young and fruity red wine with the pasta dish. Because I can’t follow instructions, I drank a heavy, spicy red with mine – it was fine. 🙂
I love watching squirrels – they have such curious and playful personalities. I saw this little guy on one of my brief walks around the block. He saw me coming and scurried up the tree and then peeked around to see what I was up to. When I look at the picture I imagine that he’s beckoning me over to have a secret conversation.
Week 7 was uneventful and the whole shelter-in-place situation feels normal now. Saturday night I got together with some neighbors in our building’s parking lot for a happy hour. We all sat 6+ feet apart and chatted for a couple of hours. It was good for my soul.
Week 5 at home wasn’t much better than the week before. I took a tumble down the stairs thanks to the face mask we’re supposed to be wearing when we’re out in public. The mask obstructs my vision when I look down so I missed a step. So now I have a new rule – no face masks on the stairs!
I spent about 36 hours hemming and hawing about whether or not I should try and see a doctor. I consulted WebMD, a couple of friends and the woman who delivered my groceries before I decided I needed the peace of mind that only seeing a doctor could bring.
I had to call a couple of urgent care facilities before I found one that would see me. I felt a bit apprehensive about calling a Lyft to take me to the urgent care facility. What if they thought I was sick and refused to take me? What if they were sick and got me sick? I’m not proud of it, but I admit to exaggerating my limp so they knew I was going to urgent care due to an injury and not because I have covid-19.
Upon arriving, I was surprised to see the waiting room empty. A woman greeted me from 6 feet away by asking me a battery of questions – do I have a cough? Have I been sneezing? Do I have a fever? Have I traveled in the last 14 days? Satisfied that I appeared to be safe enough, she proceeded to register me and informed me that I had to wear my face mask at all times.
I was then escorted to an exam room and told to keep my phone handy. They were going to call me and walk through my history, complaints and the “do you have covid-19” questions again before a human would come in to take my temperature and examine my ankle.
I had some x-rays taken and I’m happy to report that I didn’t break anything. The doc diagnosed a nasty sprain and sent me home in a brace. I’m currently rocking a pretty impressive cankle!
Stay safe and don’t wear your face mask on the stairs.
Last week was week 4 of staying home and it sucked.
A friend texted me one evening last week. She was upset because she’d learned that day that her firm was reducing her pay by 20% AND reducing her hours to 4 days a week. The very next morning, my firm announced that we were all taking a 15% pay cut. Since then, I’ve had friends texting daily lamenting pay cuts, lost hours and reduced benefits.
Both of my cats got sick which necessitated two separate visits to the vet. Under normal circumstances vet visits are unnerving for me. In this environment, it’s nearly panic inducing. I still haven’t been able to find disinfectant (wipes or otherwise), rubbing alcohol, or hand sanitizer so I can’t wipe down the rented car or sanitize my hands. No one is allowed inside the clinic so someone meets you at the door to pick up your pet. It hurt my heart to watch them walk away with them. I sat in the car and listened to the exam and talked to the the doc on the phone. They took payment over the phone and then met me at the door to return my cat. A weird experience compounded by the fact that all of the other people sitting the in full parking lot were doing the same thing.
A friend lost a family member to COVID last week, but he can’t mourn with those left behind. He mourns in isolation and my heart aches for him.
On the petty side, the face masks are causing acne around my mouth. I’m gaining weight and my hair is ragged. And now EVERYBODY wants to have video calls. I’m having a hard enough time facing myself in the mirror, I don’t really want to be seen by others.
I’m telling myself every day “Everything thing will be okay.”
Foster Beach. FYI – this was taken several weeks ago before all this coronavirus chaos hit.
The weather in Chicago has been exceedingly dreary. Chilly, rainy, sometimes snowy, and cloudy. So when we had a beautiful, sunny, warm day on Wednesday everyone went out. During a quarantine. Where did they go, you ask? The lakefront. (For the record, I did not go outside. I have been stuck for 12 hours a day in front of my computer working).
Mama Lightfoot was not having it. She shut down the lakefront and the parks the day after since we can’t be trusted to practice social distancing on our own. She grounded us.
For those of us in Chicago, we’re finishing our second week of quarantine though the statewide shelter-in-place order didn’t go into effect until last week. Nerves are starting fray. Yesterday one the kids below me was having a meltdown and I could hear his dad yelling and cursing at him.
I suspect I’m faring better than most because (a) I live alone so there’s no getting on my nerves and (b) I’m keeping myself entertained. Here’s a brief list of what I’ve been watching for the past couple of weeks.
Schitts Creek on Netflix. It’s hilarious and I love all of the characters. (But, if I HAD to pick a favorite, it would be David.)
Eugene and Berenice – Pioneers of Urban Photography. A documentary about Eugene Atget and Berenice Abbott. I will have probably seen all of the photography documentaries by the end of this.
The video of the guy who had his own cocktail party in the bathroom. It’s cute and clever and I can’t stop watching it.
Chin chin!
This hilarious video that my friend Anthony sends me every couple of days. Because you never want to forget this….
Let’s goooooooo!
You’re welcome.
What are you doing to stay sane through all of this?
Gov. Pritzker issued a shelter in place order that went into effect Saturday at 5:00 pm and goes through April 7th. This means that all non-essential business must shut down and residents should stay home. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. The list of businesses that can still operate is broad and people are allowed to leave their homes to get supplies, take care of family, friends or pets, engage in outdoor activities like walking, running, hiking, etc. (no playgrounds though!), and going to the doctor.
Bike shops are considered essential businesses.My local independent books store.Front doors to the Neo-Futurist Theatre. Playgrounds are closed.
I hope you’re staying safe and healthy and 6 feet away from people. This won’t last forever.
I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a few things for lunch. I was running low on bread and cashew butter and I’d been eating PB&J (well, CB&J) sandwiches all week. I’d also been having CB&J toast in the mornings. It’s one of my comfort foods and frankly, I think we all need some comfort food right now.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that there was no bread. I headed to the pasta aisle thinking if I couldn’t have my CB&J, I’d settle for my other favorite – mac & cheese. I wasn’t too excited because I was at Whole Foods and Whole Foods would NEVER carry my beloved Kraft Mac & Cheese. I’d have to get their organic, non-GMO, quinoa super special mac and cheese (blah, but beggars can’t be choosers). But there wasn’t any of that either. In fact, there was no pasta at all. The shelves were completely bare.
I started going up and down each aisle, curious to see what else the store was out of. It would have been easier to make a list of what was left.
I left the store a little annoyed, but not worried or panicked. I figured that I’d just make my own bread. Thank God I learned how to make it years ago when I went through that phase of not eating food with preservatives (I know, I kinda want to punch old me t00).
Tonight I went to the Jewel after work to pick up whole wheat flour and brown sugar so I could make bread this weekend. This time I was dismayed to find that there was no flour or sugar of any kind. NONE. Again, I went up and down the aisles out of morbid curiosity. The store didn’t have ANY basics – no eggs, milk, flour, yeast (YEAST! When was the last time a grocery store sold out of yeast?!), sugar, bread, dried beans, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, canned goods like veggies and beans, (although they did have a few cans of stewed tomatoes, which validates my opinion that stewed tomatoes are disgusting), butter, etc. There were no frozen pizzas, frozen vegetables, or TV dinners.
Since I couldn’t buy basic food, I bought ALLLLL the wine and the weird snacks that no one else wants. So really, I think I’m the winner here.
These aren’t half bad. They were the only thing left in the snack aisle.
Tell me how you’re handling the pandemic. Are there food shortages? Are you drinking wine for breakfast? Do you have toilet paper or have you resorted to using paper towels?
Cheers, Bec
P.S. Randy bought a bidet because there’s no toilet paper in Chicago. I don’t know why, but this makes me laugh. I have a feeling he’s going to have the last laugh on this one though…..
Gus turned 12 a few weeks ago and his dad threw him a birthday party. There was cake and booze for the humans and a dog cake and lots of dog treats for the dogs.
Cake for the hoomins.
Cake for the doggos.
We lit the candles and everyone sang Happy Birthday while Gus howled along. I wish I had a video of it – it was hilarious!
Gus and his dad.
This is Gus and his best friend Zach. Zach comes over everyday to hang out with Gus while Zach’s dad goes to work. Aren’t they adorable in their pawty hats?
Zach and his dad.
Gus is such a sweet boy. He let Zach play with some (okay, all) of his new toys.
“Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years.” -Ausonius
About a month ago, a group of us got together for a Sunday Funday to celebrate Randy’s birthday. It took me ages to get this post together. For a time I thought that Randy would have another birthday before I finished editing the photos from this year’s birthday celebration. I took way more photos than I thought I did and since I don’t have a great work flow process yet, I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
It was fun looking through the pictures to pick a few to share. It was a boozy day, but a great reminder that despite all of us being in our 40’s we can still have a proper Sunday Funday.
The crew with out bottomless cocktails at The Kit Kat Lounge.
I love this picture of Randy. It’s just so him! He wore that crown allllll day.
This queen wanted all of Boystown to know that he travels with an entourage.
Randy made Rachel (on the end) change jackets with him. He’s wearing her sequins and she’s wearing his leather. The change works for both of them!
