As April began a week ago Wednesday, the evening's dinner consisted of lamb and mushroom meatloaf, smashed sweet potatoes, and seasoned green beans. It was quite a load of food but some of my grocery shopping took place without knowing that the Roediger House would not be hosting any guests at all once the societal shut-down became our new strange reality. In fact, when I was stocking up, I had in mind that others might be partaking as well. These are unprecedented times, no doubt.
It is not lost on me how very serious this current coronavirus pandemic is, nor is it lost on me the tremendously fortunate position I'm in. I live in a home that is paid for. I have no car payments or student loans or credit card debt. I've been able to afford my own health insurance. My professional work might be suspended but there is nothing perilous about my financial situation. Food is plentiful and entertainments are easily indulged in. When I step out into my yard, I can enjoy watching my pup frolic or sit and watch the birds at the regularly-refilled feeders and I feel that I am relatively safe and that one day normalcy will return.
At the start of the city-wide (and then state-wide) stay-at-home order, I decided to create for myself a task jar with random slips of both fun and necessary tasks and chores. On the one hand, I think it's really helpful for self-discipline in the face of days upon days of unstructured time...and my tendency to procrastinate or indulge in simple distractions. On the other hand, I know it seems a bit frivolous and it definitely reminds me that this is a privileged life, heavily dosed with no small measure of unearned advantages. But there it is.
So, I'll report that the fourth day of task jar lottery was much kinder to me than I deserved: "Watch a Movie." So I did, after finding that Hulu was streaming a highly-regarded film that was on my movie-theatre docket for the week that the shut-down began: Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
"Lamb and Multi-Mushroom Meatloaf" (p. 150) and "Smashed Sweet Potatoes" (p. 128), in Tupelo Honey Cafe: Spirited Recipes from Asheville's New South Kitchen, by Elizabeth Sims with Chef Brian Sonoskus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing (2011).
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