There are a lot of people discovering cooking during The Strange Days. I say discovering because many were not brought up cooking. That feels foreign to me. I have been cooking since forever. And I’ve never been afraid of the kitchen. After all, it’s food. The worst thing that can happen is an expectation isn’t met. It’s still likely edible. It’s quite sad that people think food either comes out perfect or burnt and inedible. Too many cooking shows and not enough time in front of a stove.

We have made pizza on Friday evenings for years. This week, it was Saturday. We had bits and pieces around the kitchen from our latest delivery from a service that specializes in reducing food waste. I like pantry cooking. “What do I have?” It’s a great way to start a good meal.

The pizza was fantastic.

So was the meal I made up Sunday when my mom came for a visit. Grilled potatoes, corn, and sausage. Mushrooms sautéed with onions in butter. Tomato and cucumber salad. It was all perfect. Mostly due to the high quality of the ingredients and not so much to the expert application of heat.

Cook more.

In The Before Times, we would take a vacation in the summer. This was always important to me because when I was a kid, we didn’t really do a lot of vacations for a lot of very complicated, grown-up reasons. Being able to take a week and go fishing and hiking and relaxing with my family at a cabin somewhere in the hills of Pennsylvania always felt really good.

At the cabin we rented the first time we took a vacation in PA, there was a shaker of Himalayan Pink Salt. I thought this was the neatest thing. I made comments about using “The Fanci Salt” on vacation. My son thought it would be hilarious to get me some of that very salt when he saw it at CostCo. Now I have enough to last for a good long while.

We didn’t take a vacation this year. We stayed home. But most days, we’re trying to eat outside. We have wine with dinner a little more often. We grill things and take our time with the food we eat on many nights. Not as many as we might, but it feels like we’re more mindful around meal times about some kind of experience.

These Strange Days have me trying to make the mindful choice to slow down. Read more. Less screen time. More time in the hammock. Enjoying the summer before what will certainly be a long winter.

I’m writing more. I don’t know what that means. But I’m home. And writing again.