Thursday, April 30, 2020

Cooking Every Meal at Home

While we've thus far been fortunate during this challenging pandemic and lockdown, we are very concerned about people throughout the world who are less fortunate in any number of ways. We are very grateful to all the workers who produce and package our food and work in all the essential shops.

Question: where do we get food to cook our kitchen?
Answer: We do curbside pick up at a small local market called The Produce Station. They have been great!
We also rely on friends and relatives, other curbside pickup places, and amazon.com
In my kitchen this month, we have prepared every meal, three per day. We have obtained our food without entering any market or other public space since March 13. It's now the end of April and time for a backward look at what's been going on here, to share with a group of food bloggers from many places throughout the world who document what's happening in their kitchens each month. These posts documenting the past month should be very interesting, as everyone has the same challenges in avoiding infection and dealing with erratic shortages during the pandemic.

You can find links to this collection of posts here:

Nothing much is new in my kitchen this month -- only one water pitcher, ordered online.


Food is our focus! We've received several grocery orders by doing curbside pickup from The Produce Station. as in the photo, as well as from a bulk food store called By The Pound. Wonderful friends and relatives have bought us needed items while shopping for themselves, as they were already committed to stand in the long lines at big supermarkets. A few amazon orders have supplemented our larder contents.

During this time of isolation, I've been especially grateful to fellow bloggers who described their own challenges and documented the foods they made to cope with one or another of the inconveniences of the lockdown. As I collected images of the foods that I've made in my kitchen this month, I have tried to give a shout-out to bloggers that inspired me, entertained me, comforted me, or that featured similar recipes.

Passover: A Family Holiday without Family 

In mid-April, we managed to celebrate Passover, as I wrote a few weeks ago. Passover is a family holiday, celebrated at home with a ritual meal. For most families, it's a communal celebration, often with one's dining table extended to the max, and maybe another table in the living room. This year throughout the world, many families had to celebrate with only a few or even one person present, though there were large numbers of electronic gatherings. Here are a couple of photos of our Passover food.

Our Seder Plate for Passover.
Matzo ball soup -- extreme close up!
For the Seder plate, we had most of the symbolic items on hand: salt water, horseradish, a bone, fresh green herbs, an egg, and apples for charoset. We had no matzo, but we received one in the mail just as we were about to celebrate. Matzo balls are made from matzo meal, which we did have in the pantry. Matzo ball soup is not part of the ancient ritual (as written down around 1000 years ago), but has become an expected part of the celebration, almost as much as the ritual items.

Many bloggers described how they celebrated Easter during lockdown. Blogger Johanna in Melbourne described her Easter cake that she shared with her daughter, unable to join her extended family as usual. Jeanie from Lansing, Michigan, blogging at The Marmelade Gypsy described her imaginative Easter decorations as well as how she celebrated; see the post Easter Week.

Baking

To continue with a description of our kitchen activities this month -- Len has been baking twice a week. Originally this "In My Kitchen" blog post included photos of a number of his bakes, but the result was too long, and has now been published as a separate post. Read it here: Baking Bread in April.

Kaiser rolls, a real treat!

New Recipes for Curry

The taste of curry powder, hot pepper, cardamom, coriander, cilantro, cumin, fennel seeds, and more appeal to me enormously, and I've been trying new recipes with this array of flavors. 

Naan bread, served with the red lentils, and cucumber in yogurt.
A different red lentil curry, with eggplant and coconut milk.
Hard boiled eggs with curry sauce. Yes, I have been
experimenting with curry flavors a lot! I've also made
a couple of curried chicken dishes.
At the blog Almost Italian, blogger Francesca, who lives in Australia, has been posting about her curry recipes throughout April. In the post Muttar Paneer, My Favorite Curry, she discussed the meaning of the word curry, which she begins by defining as: "the anglicised form of the Tamil word kaṟi meaning ‘sauce’ or ‘relish for rice.'" Very interesting reading!

Chutney from By The Pound, to go with the curries.

Many More Flavors!

All through the lockdown, we have been cooking new things for fun, trying different spices and recipes, and in some ways forming new eating habits -- never going out to a restaurant, obviously! I made several of my standard Mexican-flavored dishes, which I've featured before, as well as some new ones.


Carrot soup in a tureen; apple slices for dessert.
Inspired by Shaheen at A2K blog (link).
My carrot soup contained orange juice, chicken broth, and dried tomato.
It was garnished with raw tomato and parsley. 
Soup is great for times like these, especially as our weather in April was often cold and dreary. At the blog Kahakai Kitchen, blogger Deb in Hawaii hosts a blog event called Souper Sunday. See this post on her Hungarian Mushroom Soup with links to other bloggers' soup adventures. Another blogger, Judee at Gluten Free A-Z has many interesting posts on vegetarian cooking; see her tempting recipe for Carrot Cumin Soup. Tandy Sinclair's Lavender and Lime from South Africa and Iris Flavia's oddly named blog Double-Half or One Ten without Ham from Germany are also among my go-to blogs. And each Saturday, I enjoy following a number of bloggers who link up at Weekend Cooking on the blog Beth Fish Reads.

Ready to roast: a chicken. I spatchcock the chicken and use the backbone for stock along
with celery tops, parsley stems, etc. Stock from one such chicken went into the carrot soup.
Sesame noodles with tuna and all the vegetables in the crisper drawer.
This was a makeshift lunch the day before one of our orders was ready.
Red cabbage and carrot salad: a recipe that I make often. These ingredients
keep well, so they're good for this time of limited food shopping.
I used up the red cabbage and bought a huge head of green cabbage!
Mushrooms, sautéed and seasoned with ras el hanout,
a Moroccan spice blend.
Mushroom omelet with the ras-el-hanount mushrooms.
Dessert: tangerine and avocado salad with rose water
and a touch of cinnamon.
Well, even after breaking this into two posts, I did write a lot this month, didn't I? I hope you don't mind! Next month, besides cooking, we hope to order take-out from some of the interesting restaurants in our town, which will give us some new flavors. So I'll have some new foods to write about.
Sherry's New In My Kitchen Logo.
Blog post and all photos © 2020 mae sander. 
This is published at mae food dot blog spot dot com. If you read it elsewhere it's been pirated.

22 comments:

  1. I prefer homemade meals..always worry about the hygiene when I eat in any restaurant..
    I go to the supermarket almost daily (with mask and gloves) to get fresh produce since my husband eats lots of salads..half of his plate is usually filled with salad :-))
    Love that red cabbage slaw and I have to try that egg with curry sauce! Looks really appetizing, Mae.

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  2. I've really enjoyed cooking this month but boy -- you have it hands down in the creative category. It all looks so beautiful and I know beautifully served. Delicious, too.

    I'm not fond of the online grocery shopping and I find I long to pick out my own bananas and lemons! I've tried some new recipes but as I've been combing cookbooks I realize how I might not have one or two of the ingredients! That said, I've also been creative when I've cooked to use up things that might be on their last legs! I worry about meat these days -- both availability and safety, cost too. We'll see...

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  3. So much yummy food! The chicken made me grin, looks so relaxed!
    Passover is not known here, nice to learn so much new stuff!
    Actually I cook every day, too, now taht I lost my job, but I keep it for Tuesdays, has become a "tradition" to show my starter´s stuff. As in beginner.
    Yours look so yum! I just read two great books on food, must publish that, too.
    Hmmm, food :-)

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  4. Hello Mae! I was gonna say the kaiser Rolls were my favorite, haven't tasted one yet but that one looks so good especially when hot, but then I saw that Curry! I love curry so much in bread, in rice, as soup, as sauce! that red lentil dish is something that can be a staple dish here in our country the fact that it has eggplants and coconut milk, my family would love that!

    Thank you so much for taking us to your beautiful and delicious kitchen and I'm looking forward for more deliciousness when I come back :)

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  5. Everything looks so delicious.

    I love both lentil curry and eggplant, but never thought to cook them together. 😊 Thanks for the idea , Mae.

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  6. Thanks for the link love and shout out. A lot of my friends made kneidlach and soup plus a meat dish, instead of the normal feast for Pesach. Like you, we spatchcock our chickens and use the backbone. I am just about ready to make bone broth. Enjoy the ability to get restaurant food. I think a lot of people here are looking forward to that starting today.

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  7. Hi Mae, you have certainly cooked up a storm in your kitchen and your meals look homely and delicious. Our shopping for food has not been as challenging as yours. But these are difficult times for many. I believe I have the same glass water jug as yours. Stay safe and well :)

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  8. @Iris Flavia: In Braunschweig where you live, Passover is not known now, but it would have been known in past centuries. In 1928, the Jewish community numbered 1,750, but they were first driven out and then the remainder were deported to the camps.

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  9. Hi Mae, you've been doing some lovely cooking in your isolation. I adore curry but it doesn't agree with my husband, so sad for me. Grocery shopping is an entirely new experience isn't it? We have shortages of certain things...flour, most paper goods, dried beans. It's strange what folks feel they need to hoard. My mains store has senior hours at 7-8 most mornings. It's much less crowded and they have just cleaned everything. But I am also trying to limit shopping to twice a month. Stay well and safe. I look forward to hearing how things develop with you next month.

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  10. We also have a local produce shop that does curbside as well. John ventures to Costco every few weeks. I have always loved cooking so it's not a big deal. We are fortunate to be well stocked.
    I have ordered some gluten free flour online.
    We also have done a bulk store curbside pickup so lots of spices here.
    Toronto has declared a continuation of the lockdown and it is fine with me.

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  11. We have also been cooking every meal at home. It's been a challenge, but I think we are eating healthier without the outside influence of higher fat, higher salt, higher calorie meals. Passover was interesting as we got together with family on Zoom and made our own Seder Plate using whatever we had and cooking a meal for two which was meager compared to our usual feast. We are grateful to be healthy and making the best of being shut in..

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  12. I found out this morning that one of our farmer's markets is doing front porch drop-off. I'll have to place an order next week.

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  13. I'm very grateful that our Natural Foods market has stayed open, albeit we shop with masks on and only so many are allowed into the store at a time. I try to get there during Senior hour, right at the end, so no line to stand in. And, the shelves are all well stocked too. Your food all looks fantastic Mae, and I want to check out that blog link for others around the world.

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  14. While I normally prefer home made - I have to say I have a craving for take out - which I am resisting at the moment. Stay safe. Cheers

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  15. I enjoyed your wrap up Mae! We have been busy cooking from baking to trying new dinner recipes that we find in all sorts of places, including with some of these bloggers!

    We are having one take out a week in order to try to support local businesses but other than that home cooked all the way!

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  16. The curry with eggplant grabbed my attention right off but as I scrolled I thought about all those dishes I would love to try. You have some great meals here, Mae. Off to look at Len's bread post now.

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  17. My husband and I have both been cooking up a storm. I wish I documented as well as you have done with this monthly retrospective! Everything looks delicious. If it were up to me, my husband and I would be completely out of everything but the spices in the cabinet and the condiments in the refrigerator by now. But he has valiantly ventured out every couple of weeks to replenish our food supplies. (A big change from going 2-3 times a week as he used to do!) I always hated shopping, but I really miss it now!

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  18. hi Mae
    great to have you on IMK. times have been tough lately, and i've done heaps of comfort cooking and baking. chicken and veg soup, beef pie, lasagne, cakes galore! I took over beef pie to our neighbour yesterday, and she texted me later saying: Don't lose this recipe! so sweet of her. we've had a few takeaways from our local village restaurants during the crisis but mostly it's been a cookfest:) Keep well.
    cheers
    sherry and thanks so much for using my new IMK logo...

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  19. Hi Mae, looks like a smorgasbord of lovely food! And you are so organised! Glad you are keeping safe and able to get your groceries without having to venture out

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  20. This was a great post to read about how you are dealing with shut down - and all the wonderful foods you are eating - I really feel like making curry now! And lovely of you to link to other bloggers - thanks for including my blog - I really wish I had time to visit lots of these blogs but just am finding myself low on time with working and school from home. We are lucky in Australia to be doing well and waiting on if the government announces easing restrictions over the weekend - though not for mothers day on sunday which is not a day for big family gatherings! Have also enjoyed browsing your other posts too - you really get through a lot of reading - I wish I could find a bit more reading time lately!

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  21. What a truly marvellous post to read seeking comfort in food and from other bloggers. I am also glad that you noticed Judee's Carrot Soup because i made her one soup with Peanut variation it was delicious; and oh my then i clock that you have linked to my Carrot Orange Soup. Thank you so much. I've never had red lentil curry with aubergines as a combo and wondered why this was. I think i will have to put aubergine on our shopping list for tomorrow. I must admit i am envious at how much you are reading. I had started enjoyed reading books, but with work and staring at the computer screen and more words my eyes are tired, that I look for other distractions.

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  22. It's amazing what great food is coming out of kitchens all over the world. Thanks for sharing all those delicious meals. I'm so glad you've been able to get your food without venturing too far out. I've only been out about three times for supplies. Be well! Hopefully we all will be able to celebrate holidays together soon.

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