Hey, friends. I realize the blog has been pretty quiet lately. To be honest, that’s because it’s taken me a little while to adjust to this new reality, this era of quarantine and working from home and Zoom cocktail hours. Unlike the Great Recession of 2008, from which this blog was born, this has been a somewhat insular time, reacquainting myself with the ins, outs and peculiarities of my home and my family while saying goodbye to many plans I’d made for the next few months (and the rest of the year). I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone worldwide when I say it’s been a very strange time.
But it’s been a beautiful time, too. Through all the horror of this covid-19 outbreak has come such levels of grace that I’ve only seen a few times in my life, generally centering on national or international tragedy – think hurricanes, terrorist attacks and the like. People are smiling at each other through masks in the grocery store. They’re deferring to one another on the sidewalk. We’re all a bit more cognizant of the outright humanity on display, more tolerant of others’ fallibilities. It’s been a beautiful thing to witness, this grace.
And – as it always does – life has continued on. LeeLee and I attend at least one cocktail hour or dinner party each weekend, all through Zoom or FaceTime. I’m keeping the pantry stocked with fresh bread from my new sourdough starter. The cherry blossoms peered out from their hiding places right on time this year, putting on a gorgeous display across our region here in the D.C. area. We’ve had game nights with family and virtual church coffee hours on Sunday. Easter came and went, complete with lunchtime feast. Friends have had birthdays, complete with parties. The world continues to turn.
And now that we’ve settled into the New Normal, this blog will continue to proceed as well, with as much dignity as we can muster! Instead of Travel Guide entries, I’ll pivot to takeout options – both restaurant-specific and more generally. And the new recipes will continue apace, since I have so much more time in the house to concoct them! And given the economic impacts of this virus, I may pull a few Best-Of posts out of the archives. And then, of course, there’s the YouTube channel. It’s a brave new world, y’all!
I hope all of you are hanging in there and adjusting to quarantine life as well. Let me hear from you when you have a minute – tell me how things are going in your corner of the world! As always, you can comment on this post or drop me a note at hope@kitchenrecessionista.com.
Love y’all. We’ll talk again this weekend, when I publish a new recipe!
:)