This Is Quarantine: Day 24

Egg drops, focaccia and Jenga, oh my!

E's teachers assigned her class the classic Egg Drop experiment for the weekend. Clearly, clearly, none of them are bakers and have no compassion for those of who are in these dark times. It took every ounce of my sense of altruism to part with one of my last dozen, despite a birthday coming up this week requiring a cake, despite not having my next grocery pick-up for another 7 days with no assurances that eggs will be available at that time. So you can imagine my thinly veiled fury when my husband, who shall remain nameless, DROPPED the egg while preparing it. And it broke. BEFORE THE ACTUAL DROP. For the love of all that is holy, that man tests me. So, while every mitochondrion inside every cell of my body screamed at me to cut them off, I gave them another egg. I'll spare you the suspense and tell you that they managed not to screw it up the second time and the experiment was a success, but I'm not sure how you figure that will bring my egg back.

Speaking of food, because that's pretty much all I think about these days, I am super excited about tonight's dinner situation. A little while back I found an article by David Lebovitz filled with recipes designed to use up what's in your pantry. It turns out that he and I have very similar-looking pantries as well as palates. I scanned the recipes, noting that I had most of the ingredients to make most of them already, and picked out three that I would make for a dinner of appetizers. Tonight is the night! We're having artichoke tapenade, sardine rilletes and fromage fort, courtesy of Mr. Lebovitz. Because you have to have something on which to slather these treats, I am also making focaccia for the very first time. All of these delights will be paired with a Pinot Grigio, because one of the recipes required a couple of tablespoons of white wine and what else can I do with all that extra wine? It's important to use everything up these days, you know.

The Lebovitz Trifecta

The Focaccia Flop

Not-so Photogenic Phyllo

In the end, it seems like maybe David and I should be holing up in Paris together enjoying our shared palate, rather than inflicting it upon our long-suffering families. Does he have a family? Do they realize that they hit the quarantine jackpot? Questions I do not have answers to...

The favourite was probably my own creation - salmon and cream cheese stuffed phyllo. Or maybe the happy accident that came out of it. When I started spreading the filling onto the phyllo sheets I realized that there was only enough filling to cover half of it. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I spread the other half of the sheets with Nutella, sprinkled them with cinnamon and drizzled caramel sauce over the whole thing. Shazam! There ain't many problems that Nutella won't fix.

Yesterday I found myself rooting around our shelves, looking for a couple of books and/or puzzles to share with a friend. She is a brilliant and resourceful friend who routinely shares from her supply, and it was high time that I reciprocate. The unexpected benefit of this activity was finding games and books I hadn't thought of for a while for us to enjoy as well.

Enter: Jenga!

We bought Jenga shortly before e was born, and in the past 3 years it seems like there has rarely been a good time to play it. If the baby was awake, she would just want to contribute...which is not ideal...and if she was asleep, well...also not ideal. So I pulled it out and we played a bit last night before bed, and again this morning. Just as fun as I remember, and though it can be a bit stressful, it's nice to stress out about something trivial for a change. Also, it's very versatile. Used as building blocks, it's great for practicing fine motor control! Behold:

And lastly, another little Expert Tip for you!

Insight Timer. I downloaded this app on my phone several months ago, and have used it sporadically. But in the last four or five days I've used it every night. I don't know about you, but I'm having a tougher time than usual a) going to bed at a reasonable time, b) getting to sleep and c) staying asleep. Insight Timer helps with b) and c), and it has made a big difference. There are all kinds of features to it, but I do the guided sleep meditations, and I fall asleep before getting to the end every single time. The best part is it's FREE! If you're having trouble with sleepy time, it's worth a shot.

Is it just me or did that sound like I was paid to say that? I wasn't. I just like it.

Goodnight!