Livin Large

We've been eating well during these stay-at-home days; cooking fresh, satisfying meals every day has been one of my main creative joys. But yesterday when a neighbor offered to repay a kindness by bringing us dinner from a restaurant of our choice, we enjoyed a delicious Friday night meal of steak and salmon from the Carlyle. And today when I got an email from Clydes offering lobster dinners to go? I barely thought twice about treating ourselves on Saturday night, too. 

A Girl Can Dream

Our neighborhood pool is set to open four weeks from tomorrow, the Saturday before Memorial Day. So far, we haven't yet heard of any change of schedule. According to the CDC, the water and chlorine in a properly maintained pool should kill the virus, but I'm kind of skeptical about keeping social distance and disinfecting other surfaces. What would that look like?

Even so, spending sunny summer afternoons at the pool is definitely something to look forward to on a dreary, homebound day like today. So with that in mind?

I sent in the application for our pool passes this morning.

Stretching Our Legs

I put off my walk a little too long today, and by the time I was finished with school stuff, the rain that is predicted to be with us for the next several days was here. My choice was to sit around or brave the weather, and as tempted as I was to hunker down, I put on my rain boots, zipped up my slicker, leashed up the dog (she didn't get a choice), and headed out.

It was a light rain at first, with an almost pleasant fresh breeze, and the sidewalks were relatively empty, so I took a deep breath and quickened my stride. A little while later, my hood felt a little too warm, and I swept it back and let the rain fall as it might. And that is how we continued. The rain fell steadily as Lucy and I continued on our way without wavering.

And when we got home? We were soaked, but satisfied.

The Missing Piece

Much like last week, my office hours today were attended by lonely sixth graders looking for a little conversation. That's fine by me, though; it's hard to replace the social piece of school, and if being present for an hour is helpful, then I'm in.

This time I split my required hour into two half hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon. One of the students who stayed on for the whole hour last week, attended both of the conferences today. He didn't have any questions about the material, and once my 2 minute presentation was over, neither did his classmates, so we just chatted about what their days are like. They gave each other video game, TV, and movie recommendations; a few mentioned books and new hobbies; everyone said they missed school.

At the end of the last session, it was just me and a couple of boys, one of them the frequent flyer. The three of us had just wrapped up a conversation about whether or not we like scary movies in a scary time (nope!) and who's allowed to watch R-rated movies (just me!), and I was getting ready to end the conference. "Ms. S?" my regular attendee interrupted. "Do you have an x-box?"

I had to confess I didn't. "Maybe that should be my pandemic purchase," I laughed.

Watch and Learn

Heidi and I have had our Apple watches for about 5 years now; so long that, not only have they become one of the devices we rely on daily, but we take for granted their ability to track our activity, alert us immediately to the news and weather, answer calls and texts, and oh yes, tell the time. Apple is always pushing down new tweaks and features, many of the look-what-our-watches-can-do-now novelty version, and to be honest, we rarely even notice them.

Recently, more time and fewer choices about spending it, have made our activity and workouts kind of a bigger focus in our daily lives. I always checked my rings, but now I'm looking at my trends, too. I want those arrows by exercise, distance, cardio fitness, walking pace, running pace, and stand minutes per hour to be pointing up, even though part of me knows quite well that no arrow left behind is just a statistical impossibility.

Another feature our watches have offered is the ability to share exercise activity with a friend. The idea seems mostly to encourage friendly competition, but Heidi and I know better than that. We started sharing activity a couple weeks ago with a promise to never compete. So now, any time either of us finishes a workout or completes an achievement, the other gets a notification, even if we're standing right next to each other. But, what could be very annoying, also comes with the perk of being able to shoot off a little prewritten message of encouragement.

And, those writers at Apple are pretty clever: it's rare that we don't get a giggle out of our options, whether we want salty or sweet. For example, after a long walk, we can send Did you miss the bus? or You're wearing out those shoes! 

Some of the other gems:

Oof! Can't match that!
#gifted
Pop and fizz!
Don't hurt yourself.
Numbers don't lie.
Now that's some walking
#micdrop
Feeling more flexible?
You're my favorite runner.

Not only that, but the algorithm is smart enough to give us new choices every time.

Oh, it's a small pleasure, but aren't those the ones that count most right now?

Apples to Apples

One of my go-to dessert recipes is a sour cherry cake published in the Washington Post for Thanksgiving in 2002. I have a well worn photocopy of the original article that I keep on a magnet on the side of the fridge.

Over the years, I have riffed several variations on that cake, including a peach version with chili and lime, which is a delicious finale to grilled fajitas in the summer. One thing I have never done, however, as much as I love that recipe, is bake the second cake from the same piece. But all that changed yesterday when a neighbor put out an SOS because she had five pounds of apples she couldn't use.

We immediately came to the rescue. My first thought was apple sauce, but I decided that I wanted to make something a little more satisfying, since we are, y'know, stuck at home indefinitely. I considered apple pie or galette, and then briefly considered an apple version of the cherry cake, until it occurred to me that there was actually an apple cake on the same page, just waiting for a try. And when I read the recipe? I was sold!

A "cake" in name only, it has a pastry bottom, enriched with egg yolks and a crumbly streusel topping. In between, you boil the apples with vinegar and sugar that bakes into a sweet and sour filling. It's delicious! And, it was fun to make and more than big enough to share with the neighbors.

Satisfying, indeed.

Grab a Bucket and Mop

Another thing that's great about our place, is that the two of us can clean it thoroughly in a couple hours. Six weeks ago, cleaning anything definitely would not have been our preferred way to spend a Sunday morning, but I have to admit, it's up there now. There is just something very gratifying about such a concrete accomplishment.