In which our heroine ventures out to forage for food...

 On pondering schedules, I think I’m going to return to setting the early alarm (5:30 am) and scheduling writing time before I “go to the office”, just like the old days. My brain gets tired by the evening, especially after a hard day at the office, and while I can do physical things then, I need to do creative things in the morning.

This realization is brought to you by having gone to bed by 9pm last night with half a sleeping pill and waking up (rested) at 6am. No later than that. But a little online surfing brought the information that even with reduced hours, my local Safeway was already open, and I figured it was my best opportunity for some shopping. (And, as CJ pointed out on fb, even if they’re reserving early shopping for “at risk” individuals, being 61 counts for that category. I don’t *feel* “at risk” but I don’t feel particularly invulnerable either.)

I’d been thinking of doing my stop-gap shopping at Trader Joe’s, but that would have been a mistake (see below). Safeway had everything on my list (mostly fresh dairy, plus baking supplies, which I don’t tend to keep stocked). I added in a few treats, like a large box of “lunchbox sized” chips, cheetos, etc. and some frozen cookie dough. I also figured I’d pick up some freezable meat in varieties I don’t have in the chest freezer, so I have a bit of pork and a dismembered chicken, now frozen in single serving units. The only thing I wasn’t able to get was half-and-half for my coffee, so I gritted my teeth and picked up a jug of non-dairy creamer. (I found some canned evaporated milk, but the shelf noted it was WIC approved, so I figured I should leave it for someone else.)

Since I was going out, I figured I might as well drop by my credit union to deposit a couple of checks since I didn’t want them hanging out uncashed until the quarantine is over. That meant driving over to Berkeley on nearly-empty roads. And since I was on that side of the tunnel, I thought I’d drive by the Arizmendi bakery and pick up some baked goods to support them, but they were closed I didn’t stop to read the sign on the door, but it looked like they’ve simply shut down for the interim. They’d just barely opened for business again after the repair/remodel so I hope they’ll do ok.

On getting back to Concord, I swung by TJ’s thinking I could see if they had half-and-half and maybe I could pick up some potted basil, but there was a line running all the way down the block (though some of the length was because of spacing) so I figure they were metering how many people could enter at a time. (Safeway was lightly inhabited, but then, it was 7am.) But with basil on my mind, I went a couple blocks over to Home Depot and picked up some plants (blackberries to fill in one of the planters that crapped out a couple years ago, plus some more strawberries to plant under them, an assortment of herbs, some radish and lettuce seeds). I’m not ready to do the tomato planting yet and they didn’t have much variety in started tomatoes anyway. But that will give me something to do in the backyard today.

Breakfast waited until I got home from errands: sage* omelette filled with scallions* and tomatoes, bacon, home baked toast with bacon-quince jam*, coffee with the last of the real half-and-half (sob). *= Produce of My Estates 

I decided to thaw out the leg of lamb from the lamb-share in my freezer and will roast it later. For the first meal from it, I’ll probably serve it with apple chutney* and maybe some minty* potatoes. I also have the spine & wings of the dismembered chicken being turned into soup in the crock pot. It’s fascinating how hunkering down and having the time and access to cook has made me so fixated on food. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to starve while isolating. It’s not like I’m even going to be reduced to eating ramen three meals a day. But there’s something atavistic about planning meals and striving for balance and variety, to say nothing of the whole Estates aspect which--while I don’t have any illusions about living off the land--contributes to the fixation. 

Today’s to-dos will be doing some gardening, taking notes from a couple more chapters of Female Masculinity, tackling either the spice reorganization or the desk reorganization, and maybe starting to think about working on my taxes. I know from past experience that I can compete my accounts and taxes from a zero to finished in a single weekend, so I haven’t been fussing yet, but even though the news says they’re going to push back the filing deadline, I’d rather get it done. And it’s an excuse to put on some DVDs and chill.