Day 3. Yesterday I went to a friend's house. We sat on opposite sides of the room and talked. It was nice that she humored me even though she doesn't isolate herself. Today is my husband's birthday and I am debating whether or not to go buy him a cake and some ice cream. The gifts Danny bought for him are supposed to arrive today but who knows. Amazon is focusing on toilet paper and medical supplies so a t shirt that says "My wife is psycHOTic" may not make the cut.
We all have cabin fever and while I want the kids to learn while they're out of school, they are turning feral and I fear they may bite if I try to hand them anything educational. Since the stores have no medical supplies, I could succumb to infection and die. I'm still weighing my options.
Day 6. I'm an atheist (though not anti theist), but a lot of my friends and loved ones are Christian, and many are devout. I hadn't thought about it, but at the same time they are praying more than ever, they cannot attend church. I understand how this can cause them extra fear and stress, and fear and stress help no one during an emergency. So, in an attempt to feel useful during this period in which I feel so helpless, and to bring a little comfort to my friends, today I spent the money I normally would have spent at the bar for the next week or so, on prepackaged communion to hand out to my churchgoing friends. Hopefully it arrives relatively soon. I have a few people in mind to gift a couple week's worth to, but I'm sure I can think of some more. I hope so. I've got a hundred plastic shot glasses of wine and crackers to unload.
Day 13. I make stock. I collect chicken bones and carcasses, Thanksgiving turkey carcasses and necks, whatever I can find, and I freeze them until I have enough for a batch of stock. This averages out to about 3 rotisserie chicken carcasses, or 2 medium Thanksgiving turkeys, or just a hodge podge of whatever I have. Then I put the birds in my biggest stockpot (mine came in a set of 3) with half a bag of carrots cut in half, half a bunch of celery cut in half, an onion cut in quarters, and half a package of fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Plus a head of garlic, crushed, 9 or 10 whole peppercorns, and enough water to cover it all. If I have raw meat/bones, I'll roast the veg and meat/bones first. I bring it to a boil, skim off the foam, then bring to a low simmer and leave it alone for 24-48 hours. After that I strain it into my next largest stockpot and stick that into a cooler full of ice or, if possible, a snowbank, overnight. After that I just remove the layer of fat on top and ladle it into Ziplock quart freezer bags. My last batch made 9 quarts. I boil noodles in this when my family gets sick, I use this in my potato and cheese soups, and one batch usually lasts us a year.
I like to make stock. It's easy, delicious, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see all of those bags of brown goodness in my freezer. And it is brown. This isnt pale piss yellow broth from a can
This has the flavor from the roasted meat still left on the bone, the herbs and veggies already in it. It's more soup than both. Its thicker than broth, too. But I do it because it makes me happy and, especially in this helpless, worrisome, scary time of quarantine, it soothes me. So that's what i did last week. I started the stock on Sunday, Tom didn't make it home Monday at all and I cant lift it so it cooked until Tuesday evening, then it sat in the cooler outside with one of the big bags of gas station ice until Thursday evening (he was out again overnight Wednesday), and then it was in the fridge until today when we bagged it up. (If you take it off the stove and put it straight into the fridge, it will cook everything in the fridge. You need to cool it first, hence the cooler of ice.) Tonight is pizza night but tomorrow I'll boil noodles in a couple quarts, just to taste test. Lol
