Hope you’re all safe; hope you’re all washing your hands; hope you’re all hunkering down. Our federal government (here in the US at least) has failed in pretty much every way it’s possible to fail and to a large extent we have to rely on our state and local governments — and each other.
In some ways the most horrific thing I’ve learned in the last few days was this: Trump, who hits new lows as a president and as a human being on a daily basis, has been trying to basically buy a German firm working on a vaccine that he wants to be available exclusively in the US.
Here are some other articles I’ve found useful in making sense of all this. Some of them are disturbing, but we can’t successfully confront what we don’t understand.
The Quiet Terror of Coronavirus, by Talia Lavin, GQ
Cancel Everything, The Atlantic
Social Distancing: This is Not a Snow Day, Medium
These simulations show how to flatten the coronavirus growth curve, Washington Post
The Worst-Case Estimate for U.S. Coronavirus Deaths, NYT
Infected people without symptoms might be driving the spread of coronavirus more than we realized, CNN
Please post any other articles and resources you’ve found to be helpful.
–DF
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@Diego
Take care and get well soon
@Everyone else,
Bread is the simplest thing to make, we’ve been making it for 10,000 years. I learnt at school in the 1990s. Do they not have cooking lessons at school anymore?
Since we’re talking cooking, you can make bread in a slow cooker. Doesn’t have the crunchy crust, but you can make the dough and leave it to rise on slow for a few hours and then turn it up to high to cook. For a scruff bag like me who gets flour everywhere it’s so much easier. Line the dish with grease proof paper though or it sticks a bit.
Also, my health anxiety has abated. My groups at the Adult Autism Service centre have officially been cancelled for the foreseeable and so has pretty much everything else. Managed to go swimming today, barely anyone at the pool, it was marvellous, I feel less stressed and I danced to a couple of songs, I love dancing in the deep end of the pool. I’m trying to look on the brightside – if everyone is staying away from the pool I can safely go swimming and not feel crowded (asthmatic and autistic is a wonderful combination). Anyone know if the chlorine in the pool water is any use against infection?
Made the mistake of going to get food after and the shop was packed. My sisters and I are on the hunt for our gran’s shopping list (84 and already has a cold – we’ve quarantined her for her on good) so she has everything she needs but we’re struggling a bit. One of the local Tescos, a 24 hour place is now 6 am to 10pm only to resupply at night, and the local Lidl has said they’re getting new deliveries daily of about 65% of their stock. Anything coming in from abroad is stuck in customs. All that wasted food!
I have decided that since I can’t really go anywhere I’m going to get my garden ready for the summer. It’s a constant work in progress but I’m determined to try beans and peas again this year.
Stay well and safe, everyone.
@Nanny Oggs Bosom
They didn’t at my school, but I don’t know about elsewhere. I learned the basics of cooking from my father and taught myself the rest. I still don’t know too much about baking, so I mostly stick to cooking.
The CDC says that coronavirus is not known to be transmitted through swimming pools.
@Naglfar
Ta, I’ll feel safer going swimming then.
It’s a shame if cooking isn’t taught at schools, it’s a life skill. Like gardening.
Now all my tutoring is online, so I’m working from home. I don’t have much faith in my ability to get all my other things done without some kind of structure (yay ADHD) so I guess I’m back to planning a to-do calendar. But props to those doing projects!
Another thing…not everyone has experience cooking. And I, for one, get nervous about doing new things, even when I don’t need to.
I just mean to say there’s no reason to make fun of Surplus for that. I mean, taking advice as an affront = worth calling out. Not knowing how to cook something = morally neutral.
I hope I’m expressing myself OK. I don’t mean to bother anyone and if I’m being unfair in what I say, let me know.
I can’t see my last comment to edit it, so I’m putting this here:
@Lumipuma, Diego, hang in there!
@Paireon – Agreed. Bill 21 is terrible and whatever Legault is doing to schoolboards makes no sense, but his COVID-19 measures seem reasonable. Buses, metros, and grocery stores aren’t shutting down but public buildings like movie theatres and universities are.
@Surplus –
1) I had OCD symptoms as a child that have mostly gone away, so that can happen on its own, I guess. (ADHD I’m stuck with.)
2) For going to the store, I’ve kept my gloves on when picking stuff up and paying. I’m not sure it’s necessary, but it reassures me.
Ocado, the UK’s leading online-only supermarket, has implemented a queuing system for its website, since it’s so busy. It currently looks a little like this:
@Nanny Oggs Bosom:
Yep, I was planning to drive out to our nearest 24-hour Tesco at 0200 tonight; glad I checked their website first and found they’re now 0600-2200.
@Epitome
That’s what I’ve been doing as well. That and cleaning all containers with Clorox wipes once home.
As a recently diagnosed diabetic (yay!) with high blood-pressure (double yay!) I’m most definitely in the “at risk” category. Thank FGM I’ve been exercising like billy-o since getting home from hospital so I’ve lost a lot of weight. I’m also taking my medication like a good boy, so things are definitely in check. I’m actually not worried at all, though. My general health is robust and has always been. Also, I don’t tend to be in close contact with people except when healthcare is concerned, so my potential exposure to diseases is quite limited. Still, if shops are going to be running out of essentials (this hasn’t happened yet where I live), it’ll make things difficult. Fortunately I live in the most populated city in the country, and have literally a dozen options for grocery shopping within walking distance from my home (walking distance for me, which is about two miles). Not that it’s easy to keep calm when getting updates via a news app that our democratically elected government is edging closer to declaring actual, honest-to-goodness martial law in the country…
Well the main problem is I need to go therapy. But if everything shutdown I won’t be able too.
O/T: the world of TERFs has collided with that of incels again (link TW: transphobia and racism).
I’m not totally sure what happened, but it seems that another TERF created that meme as a hoax, then other TERFs thought it was by an actual trans* woman and spewed anger at it. Sort of like how those 4chan hoaxers only end up fooling each other.
ETA:
For some reason it won’t display for me as the thread of 7 tweets from a trans* woman breaking it down. Here are separate links in order:
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817631139532801
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817640501301249
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817652438269952
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817663679016960
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817667650834443
https://twitter.com/joss_prior/status/1239817957880070144
Update: Looks like it’s just a case of the flu. The more I read about Coronavirus, the more I come to the realization that flu medicine does not put a dent on it, which is not my case.
I suspect my period of incubation ended yesterday and the disease hit me full on during the night and throughout this morning. But, the medicine I’ve been taking has been pretty effective to the point I have no symptoms now (safe for a mildly irritated throat).
So looks like I can count myself lucky for the time being. Then again, in a country of 31 million people, it wasn’t likely that I was going to be among the first 117 infected.
I should note though, that the police and the military are starting to arrest people who do not comply with the quarantine, and the old timers are not being very cooperative. People as old as 83 hanging around plazas and parks like it’s some damn holiday.
My fast-food job has decided on takeout / delivery only for the duration, which means my hours there have been cut from 5 days a week to only a couple a week. I’m hoping to make some of that up via Doordash, but even that’s been hit pretty hard.
Last night I head to call Customer Service twice to adjust something on a couple of my orders (had a data download problem that messed with the app). First adjustment, I waited like two hours to talk to someone (over 300 people were in line, waiting). Second time, a four hour wait on a line ~750 people long. The sudden closing of a lot of restaurants at once threw a LOT of people off, many of whom needed that work to help survive before all this hit. Then take into account that business might be slow now (fewer restaurants + more dashers out desperately needing money = less money for all. D: ), and all I can do is hope that the bill collectors show mercy and don’t all demand their money like nothing’s wrong now.
And now for something completely different. Does anyone have any good recipes to recommend using oatmeal? I was going through one of my food cabinets and found like four boxes of the stuff that have been sitting there for a few years. As near as I can tell they seem to be still good, I just need some ideas what to make with it all. Besides just following nothing but the recipe on the side to make dishes of the stuff. Need a bit more variety than that, ya know?
My thanks in advance.
@Redsilk
What kind of oatmeal? Steel cut, old fashioned, or quick?
Couple of my standby recipes for recipes that include oatmeal:
https://www.everydaydiabeticrecipes.com/Cookie-Recipes/No-Bake-Cookies – best with quick oats
https://thesugarfreediva.com/whole-wheat-sugar-free-oatmeal-muffins/ – works with either old fashioned or quick
https://www.accidentalhappybaker.com/oatmeal-dinner-rolls/ – works with either old fashioned or quick
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/secret-ingredient-chocolate-chip-cookies.html – I’ve made with old fashioned or quick
Haven’t tried these, but this website is reliable:
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/amish-style-baked-oatmeal-with-apples-raisins-walnuts.html
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/glazed-oatmeal-maple-scones-with-pecans-currants.html
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/no-bake-oat-nut-energy-bites.html
-Surplus
Sometimes you need to take some steel wool (try the kind made from plastic first-I get mine at Dollar Tree), or last resort take some light abrasive (baking soda, bon ami) and give things a light scrub down. No-one buys pans every couple of weeks, that’s so wasteful, but if you are going to do so, stores such as Dollar Tree (or anywhere) will sell disposable aluminum pans for like 30 US cents each. You can bake in them, and then you just toss them when done.
Or as has been mentioned, you can just buy bread, freeze it, and toss it on the counter to thaw.
Has anyone mentioned making homemade tortillas from Masa (also shelf stable, and sold at Dollar Tree for $1) yet? They are so good homemade, and pretty easy. I make mine on the stovetop using my trusty old cast iron pan.
@Moogue
I’ve never made corn tortillas before, but I do flour tortillas sometimes. And rotli, which is kinda like a flour tortilla.
@kupo
I’m not much of a cook so thank heaven for youtube, all you need is the masa flour, water, and salt. Just don’t forget the salt, been there done that. ?
I made the rye bread. it was fucking delicious. and it’s already gone.
For the bread challenged… there’s always damper! Flour, water, salt. Can be cooked in the oven. Can use milk instead of water, can add butter, can add other tasty things. But essentially you end up with a filling food that you can use to put other things on (Cheese! or Jam! or cheese AND jam, yum) or dip in stuff (tomato soup!) as you see fit. Wikihow has How to make damper, with pix.
@epitome of incomprehensibility – Yeah, those two things are among the problems I have with the dude’s governance. Since he seems to otherwise be doing a “good” job, though (again, low bar to clear, the PQ and Libs have been pretty uniformly terrible in the last 17 years – Bernard Landry was our last good premier, methinks), he’s highly likely to be reelected three-four years from now, for better or worse.
RE: bread – well if it comes down to it, neither my mother or me are knowledgeable, but we got a bag of oatmeal – should be good for something (I actually had cooking classes one year and got the basics okay). Dunno if we have ant yeast to make it rise though.
The run on food stores should* calm down eventually. I hope. Three people I know have been running around in a panic trying to lay in supplies and being stuck in long queues for checkout. Now, I guess stores only allow a limited number of people in at a time, leading to long queues outside the stores. How is that better?? Wouldn’t it be smarter to, I don’t know, get some of the restaurant pagers so people could pick one up and self-isolate in their cars while waiting?
Husbeast took my shopping list and made an online order at a local supermarket. He will pick it up on his way home from work. I forgot a few things (because of course I did, I always do) so I’ll do without for a bit.
I will be trying a rice and dal recipe since I have all those ingredients, so thanks to whomever suggested it! I’ll also try some Irish soda bread while I locate and clean up my bread machine.
Since we’ve been going through Husbeast’s mom’s stuff, we have plenty** to keep us occupied and I’m pretty much a hermit anyway.
*Local news sources report no foreseeable problems in the food supply chain in North America. People just need to calm the fuck down.
**Including Husbeast’s grandmother’s craft supply stash. Fabric, beads, yarn, sewing notions, and more, much of it vintage. I’m very lucky!!
@Hambeast
That could work but there is one issue: they’d need to be sanitized to avoid spreading the virus.
I think part of the reason for the shopping frenzy is that people don’t want to spend time in public places so they are stocking up to avoid future trips. Or it could just be people getting very scared and being unsure of what to do.
@Surplus to Requirements:
Health Care Connect worked for me. Granted, it took most of a year, but it did match me up with a doctor that’s even within walking distance of home. (Granted, my definition of ‘walking distance’ is probably greater than most people’s.)
@Nanny Oggs Bosom
My middle school (grades 6-8) did; everybody got woodwork, metalwork, sewing, and cooking classes. (Previously those had been sex-segregated, but they stopped doing that in the 1970s.)
I can’t say whether or not that’s still happening or where; quite frankly, given how lawsuit-happy parts of the U.S. are, new schools may have been built without hot stoves. And it’s also a matter of how much money the school has access to; my middle school was in a semi-rural/semi-industrial area just outside the second largest city in the province, so it was fairly well-equipped.
(When I say semi-industrial I wasn’t kidding; our school was right next to a big gravel pit which we had to go past to get to the secondary fields.)
@Naglfar, Hambeast:
Unfortunately, shopping frenzies become self-sustaining: the early people who panicked bought lots of things, which caused store shelves to be empty because they don’t have continuous shipping, and empty store shelves caused more people to panic. We have enough food for everybody; but generally stores only have about two weeks’ worth of backlog, and can’t handle large numbers of people buying multiple months’ worth at a time.
@Lesley:
Isn’t that another name for “peas”? Peas make me upchuck. Even a bit of the “flavor”, and I use that term loosely, of peas in my mouth sets off my gag reflex. So anything that involves those is right out, in my case.
@Paireon:
<does double take>
Oh dear FSM do I ever not want to know more. The name alone is enough for me to come to an immediate verdict: I refuse to touch anything that’s been baked with “ant yeast” except in an emergency so dire the alternative is “Donner Expedition”, full-stop, and it will take nothing less than a Phineas Gage type rod-through-the-brain incident to change my mind.
@Jenora Feuer
They had some woodworking and a bit of fiddling with stained glass(!) in grade school when and where I was there, but that’s about it. Mostly it was three-Rs type stuff. And of course the dreaded PE, which is very much suited only to a taller, extroverted, and less-myopic subset of students but is nonetheless inflicted upon them all.
@Surplus
I think the ant yeast was a typo of “any yeast.” If it’s not a typo, then I confess I’d avoid ant yeast as well.
My grandfather visited Mexico once and ate ants, but the ants didn’t have any yeast. He said they don’t taste like much, just whatever they are cooked in.
I avoided PE class in high school by being in the marching band, it wasn’t much fun either and my band teacher was awful but it was better than PE.
English peas and lentils are not the same thing. I dislike english peas’ texture. Lentils are awesome. Completely different flavor and texture.