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Food in the time of a pandemic


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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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OK - due to an ordering snafu from our online grocer (we use Fresh Direct in addition to going to our local grocery stores) we wound up with 6 sleeves of garlic, each containing 3 heads... that's in addition to the 2 heads I scrounged at the local stores this weekend.  I usually use a pretty large amount of garlic - but I don't know what to do with 20 heads of garlic before they go bad and start sprouting.  Any ideas???  So far I've come up with fried garlic and the offshoot - garlic oil.

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37 minutes ago, KennethT said:

OK - due to an ordering snafu from our online grocer (we use Fresh Direct in addition to going to our local grocery stores) we wound up with 6 sleeves of garlic, each containing 3 heads... that's in addition to the 2 heads I scrounged at the local stores this weekend.  I usually use a pretty large amount of garlic - but I don't know what to do with 20 heads of garlic before they go bad and start sprouting.  Any ideas???  So far I've come up with fried garlic and the offshoot - garlic oil.

 

Roast, squeeze, and freeze (in single-use portions).

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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I haven’t been to any store since last Friday, I stocked up on mostly protein at Costco the Tuesday before.  I’m afraid I’ll run out of wine but my 10 years younger neighbor called to check in last night and told me she has plenty - she used to work at Silver Oak.  Told her I had extra frozen pesto so I think we have a quite uneven trade. My son has decided I’m on total house arrest so I’m making a grocery list although I could use pickup or delivery.  Feeling very grateful here after hearing some of your issues.

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52 minutes ago, KennethT said:

OK - due to an ordering snafu from our online grocer (we use Fresh Direct in addition to going to our local grocery stores) we wound up with 6 sleeves of garlic, each containing 3 heads... that's in addition to the 2 heads I scrounged at the local stores this weekend.  I usually use a pretty large amount of garlic - but I don't know what to do with 20 heads of garlic before they go bad and start sprouting.  Any ideas???  So far I've come up with fried garlic and the offshoot - garlic oil.

I roast my extra garlic and freeze it.  I slice the top off, add a sprig of thyme, s & p, olive oil all wrapped in individual foil packages.

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes can be put together really quickly.

 

sorry, I see now this is a repeat of a previous suggestion..except I don’t bother to do anything with it before freezing...but if you are short on freezer space Alex’s idea is great.

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@Margaret Pilgrim I know, although I’m almost 65, I certainly don’t feel like it.  I’m almost tempted to take advantage of the  early senior shopping hours many stores are now offering.  I’d probably just buy a lot of booze right now since I have most everything else I need.

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We went today to the Fry's in Yuma. Late last week they were out of paper products; today they were running short on foodstuffs also. Pasta was mostly gone. Pasta sauce mostly gone. Ditto rice. I got the last loaf of Dave's Killer Bread. Large holes in the produce section, and in the cured meats (hot dogs, etc.) sections. The weird thing is, no cases have been reported, detected, suspected in this county or anywhere within 150 miles. People are stocking up anyway. I didn't try taking photos, but we did get some really good deals on beef and pork. I may post about them later. 

 

I did, quite unexpectedly, find rice (and antiseptic wipes) at a smaller store where we buy our propane.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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@KennethT tonight my husband made one of his go to bachelor meals. 
 

  About 2lbs or 12 bone in, skin on chicken thighs. 5-8 peeled bulbs of garlic. Place it all in a large casserole dish and pour in enough soy sauce to cover 3/4th of the chicken. Cook, covered at 325 for 40 minutes. Flip chicken, cover again and cook for 20-25 minutes more. Then remove, flip again (top side up if that makes sense) and remove foil and cook at 350 until the garlic is basically caramelized so about 20 minutes. Served with Nisiki rice from the rice cooker. 
 

  It’s easily to adjust the flavors with say, some chili oil or fish sauce, sugar, etc. but it’s simple, it makes the house smell amazing and it’s good.   

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6 hours ago, Shelby said:

Oh, thank you.  I don't want to come off as whiney.  I'm just so not used to crowds.  And, yes, I need to up my New Yorker big time.  I'm pretty timid.  Maybe I should record you saying that and I could play it on my phone lol.


You could just pretend to be from Jersey and turn around and tell them to “back the fuck up”. Or just fake a sneeze or cough. People will move. 
  (In general I would never suggest fake coughing but if someone was up my ass in public right now and I was shy, I’d do it without thinking twice. This isn’t a game or a joke of a virus). 

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8 hours ago, KennethT said:

OK - due to an ordering snafu from our online grocer (we use Fresh Direct in addition to going to our local grocery stores) we wound up with 6 sleeves of garlic, each containing 3 heads... that's in addition to the 2 heads I scrounged at the local stores this weekend.  I usually use a pretty large amount of garlic - but I don't know what to do with 20 heads of garlic before they go bad and start sprouting.  Any ideas???  So far I've come up with fried garlic and the offshoot - garlic oil.

Well, it's almost enough for a nice pot of garlic soup...

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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13 hours ago, TicTac said:

Curious, do you all feel it is safe/smart to be ordering food from a restaurant (pick-up, or even worse - IMO - delivery)?

 


..and let's not forget "ethical." Apparently Wired took a look at those questions a few days ago:

https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-food-delivery-gig-economy/

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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i still wonder about Take-Out  :   pick up or delivery

 

il add this , but information , thus analysis is incomplete :

 

in Wuhan , China  there were a few articles some time ago about

 

empty streets , etc

 

and how delivery of food on bicycles made a big difference.

 

there seem , and I hope is very true ,  no new cases in Wuhan

 

Im not sure what this shows.

 

but its interesting 

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9 hours ago, KennethT said:

20 heads of garlic before they go bad and start sprouting.  Any ideas?

 

I understand that sous vide garlic doesn't remove the bite, so you could preserve some that way. (I haven't yet made it).

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I Pass this along for interest sake only

 

based on my sense of personal risk

 

I ordred  Soup , Ravioli , etc from Target.com

 

this may make a big difference for me  , but we will see.

 

its a bit difficult to track wha's happening , as their e-mails

 

are thorough , clear and complete.

 

my problem is that the buttons I might push to get more info are in

 

my e-mail account , and Verzon has very thoroughly dropped the Pelota for

 

their interest by terminating POP servers and etc.

 

back orders are now coming in single cans , in large boxes and  roll around etc

 

some of the can are dented  ( not a complaint  )  but seems hermetically intact.

 

so I called them , got a customer care person very quickly 

 

and they were able to look at all my back orders and cancel them

 

I wouldn't not have minded doing this sooner 

 

but flashes of insight etc come when they come 

 

and can't be hurried along.

 

what  a zoo target ordering warehouses must be.

 

and  i appreciated what they have done for me even more.

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2 hours ago, rotuts said:

I Pass this along for interest sake only

 

based on my sense of personal risk

 

I ordred  Soup , Ravioli , etc from Target.com

 

this may make a big difference for me  , but we will see.

 

its a bit difficult to track wha's happening , as their e-mails

 

are thorough , clear and complete.

 

my problem is that the buttons I might push to get more info are in

 

my e-mail account , and Verzon has very thoroughly dropped the Pelota for

 

their interest by terminating POP servers and etc.

 

back orders are now coming in single cans , in large boxes and  roll around etc

 

some of the can are dented  ( not a complaint  )  but seems hermetically intact.

 

so I called them , got a customer care person very quickly 

 

and they were able to look at all my back orders and cancel them

 

I wouldn't not have minded doing this sooner 

 

but flashes of insight etc come when they come 

 

and can't be hurried along.

 

what  a zoo target ordering warehouses must be.

 

and  i appreciated what they have done for me even more.

 

 

Many people do not consider this, but I would - clean the cans/packaging of anything you order that others have (most likely touched) to be extra cautious, especially if you are in the higher risk categories.

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Ed went into our nearby city this morning to get some things for our male pup.  He stopped at the local Costco and bought guess what?  toilet paper...we were actually getting very low...and paper towels...we were down to the last one.  He said the place was almost deserted and that the paper products were completely restocked again.  Still he was amazed to see folks filling their baskets with 3 packages of toilet paper.  And you know how large the Kirkland toilet paper packages are...

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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The next thing I seem to face running out of is milk and cereal, but I'm good until the weekend. I'll either chance an early morning run to Kroger, or place a delivery order from Aldi.

 

So far, I've got to say the biggest impact of the virus on me has been no TV sports, and Lord knows when we'll have TV sports again.

 

I'm stubbornly holding on to plans for a trip in late April. But I'm not too hopeful.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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@kayb - I would not get your hopes up.  :sad: 

 

I read an article out of the UK suggesting that social distancing measures should be in place for 4-6 additional months.

 

I also heard (from a few good sources) that the school year is essentially toast.

 

 

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Ive thought about ' packing ' and the cans and what not I have from target

 

this is my take and only mine ;

 

I try to be careful when I bring the boxes inside , and wash my hands then

 

very carefully.   the boxes now take several days if not more to get here

 

Ive decided that is there is Corona material from a packer inside the box

 

its seen better days.     I also have left two large Jumbled boxes outside over night

 

again , the boxes took some time to get here.   Ive palmed the cans in bags I bring inside and

 

leave to the far side of my living room 

 

and wash my hands very carefully.

 

I haven't opened one of these Target cans yet.

 

Ive have some Progesso soup that's been here well before theC got to  my town.

 

but that's only my 2 cents.

 

if might not be yours , which is fine ,    and being a little more careful

 

will always be better than less careful.

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I will go to my local supermarket this morning for Nature' Bakery Fig Bars (a staple in this house) and fresh fruit and veggies. I should be okay. I have 3 identified risk factors but I'm trying to be smart about how I shop. The store is limiting how my people they let in to keep it relatively "empty" to aid in social distancing. Doesn't work for the queue, though. That queue comes and goes so I'll wait in my truck until there is no queue. I sanitize a cart at my truck before ever directly touching it using 80% isopropyl  alcohol.

 

We're supposed to go to a destination wedding in Vale in late June. Flights booked and paid for a couple of months ago. it will be interesting to see how that plays out against the pandemic.

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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12 hours ago, Jacksoup said:

@Margaret Pilgrim I know, although I’m almost 65, I certainly don’t feel like it.  I’m almost tempted to take advantage of the  early senior shopping hours many stores are now offering.  I’d probably just buy a lot of booze right now since I have most everything else I need.

 

 

Almost 70 here, also don't feel (or look) like it. I still go out, but with the usual precautions. Yesterday = Fresh Thyme market, Sec. of State (required to renew enhanced license in person), Target order pickup, Goodwill donation, Pak Mail donation (they accept certain shipping materials), grocery store (Fever Tree tonic, LaCroix). Today I'll walk back over to the grocery store (lemons, limes, Rx pickup). We have enough wine and booze to last through this pandemic and probably the next one. :wacko:

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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1 hour ago, Alex said:

We have enough wine and booze to last through this pandemic and probably the next one.

This made me smile.

 

Since I've had to cut back on the amount of alcohol I consume, and all of the "spoils of war" from helping cleaning out my FIL's house, I'm good also, except beer.

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Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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