Inventory

We have a lot of food in the house, but we didn’t feel clear on what we had, so we did an inventory. Aaron assisted and also played the bass. We learned that we had a dozen jars of pasta sauce but very little pasta, that kind of thing. We also found some treasures, such as a bag of homemade frozen cherry-almond hamentaschen waiting to be baked for a slightly late Purim feast. Now the freezer and the shelves are well-organized. Not all the gaps are easy to fill; for example, there are no dried beans in the grocery store these days, not so much as a lentil. But we’re fine.

It does affect my cooking. Normally I can let my food imagination roam very freely: Which world cuisine shall we sample today? Which health ideals shall we embody? Now I need to cook with what we’ve got – which is plenty, but no lentils.

Restaurants and cafes are all closed by state order, but are open for takeout, and we are strongly encouraged to patronize them to help them stay afloat. Our county executive said, “If this pandemic is symbolized by the medical mask, then perhaps our resilience is going to be represented by the take-out box.” We’ll try to do our part.