Verbatim

If you've noticed that I'm blogging much more than usual these days, you're right. Although I am still working full-time—apparently the cookbook industry is not affected by the current economic nightmare!—I am not doing a whole lot else. The classes I take at my temple are being held on Zoom, but it is so far not doing the trick for me, so I've been skipping them. I find my attention span lagging, and I don't like that "on" feeling (which is weird, because I don't mind feeling "on" when I'm in a live class). I'm not doing any of my volunteer gigs at local food pantries either. They are still doing important work, loading up bags of food to be distributed, but I am too concerned that I might have been exposed and then expose someone else, or vice versa. They requested that those over 60 stay away, and while I'm not quite there, it feels close enough. And I'm obviously not doing anything fun like having lunch with friends, or going to Julie's volleyball tournaments, or visiting Pete in Copenhagen (this would've been the week!), or preparing my session for the annual copyeditors' conference at the end of the month (this year in Salt Lake City). So I guess that extra free time brings me here…

Oh, one thing I'm finding that occupies a great deal more of my time than usual is household stuff. First: acquiring and managing food. We are eating a wicked lot. I don't want to go to the market any more than absolutely necessary (even every other week feels like too much), so I'm doing my best to take advantage of curbside pickup, delivery, take-out, and online ordering. When friends are getting delivery, we sometimes let each other know if we need an item or two. But I'm in a constant state of "What is about to go bad in the fridge that someone should eat today? What should I take out of the freezer now for us to eat in the next couple of days? What needs to go on the list for the next time I either shop or get delivery?" We haven't been eating together as a family much at all. We are all on different schedules and just kind of eating whatever, whenever. Second: cleaning. Hoo boy, do I miss my weekly house cleaner! I miss her personally, and we've been texting, but I also miss how clean she gets my house! I've never been a clean freak by any stretch of the imagination—in fact I am firmly of the camp that a pristine house is neither attractive ("clutter" shows that actual people live there and have a life!) nor healthy (you need to eat a peck of dirt etc.)—but I don't want to be living in squalor either. So I'm doing stuff I haven't done in many years—vacuuming, cleaning toilets, changing sheets, wiping down the stovetop, etc. I'm not very good at it. And I'm fully aware of how lucky I am that I can hire a house cleaner during normal times. I'm desperate to mail her a check, but she stubbornly refuses to give me her home address.*

Even through all this, I still haven't spent even one minute in front of the TV; it just doesn't interest me. I wouldn't mind watching a movie one of these days, though. It's just that after a long day spent on the computer, all I want to do come evening is curl up in my favorite chair with a drink and a crossword puzzle or book. 

One thing that boosts my spirits is giving to local charities doing their part to help during this crisis. One of my favorites is Off Their Plate (started in Boston but now also available in San Francisco, LA, NYC, and Pittsburgh, and soon to launch in Seattle, Philly, Chicago, and DC). It's a group of restaurants that supply meals to healthcare workers on the front lines. No-brainer, huh? It's running in partnership with World Central Kitchen, José Andrés's amazing organization. If you are able, I highly recommend making charitable donations as a form of rejuvenation/healing.

For Passover this year my extended family met via Zoom to check in and say a quick shehecheyanu (prayer recited at the beginning of a holiday or other special occasion), but we did not do a proper seder. And I know that many of you will be sorely missing your Easter celebrations this weekend. It's hard. A colleague of mine wrote a great article for the Times called "Good-Enough Holidays"—I found it to be a quick and very useful, upbeat read and hope you will too.

Stay safe, everyone. Please feel free to leave comments (below, on FB, on Twitter, via email, via text, via postcard, whatevs), as I'm eager to hear how you are all faring. 

*I recently joined the millennium and got Venmo, so I might try that, although I suspect she just won't accept it. Also to be filed under "old dog, new tricks," I recently started depositing checks by taking a photo on my phone and using the bank app. I had resisted all this time partly because I really enjoy walking the half mile down to my tiny village center (we have a bank, a post office, a Starbucks, a Russian market, a teensy hardware store, a deli…). Andy and I take a long walk every afternoon, often in that direction, but I don't want to go into the bank or use the ATM.