Indio, California: Social Distancing Sunday! Not to be confused with Social Distancing Monday... Tuesday... you get the picture. Our friend, Tom, sent a text message with a new term describing people not following the New Norm: Covidiots. Sadly, there are so many times you will have need to use word in your daily conversations. Even the conversations you are probably starting to have with yourself.
The weather today was beautiful! Sunny, though a little breezy. The birds are singing and the Painted Ladies are swarming again. Last year the butterflies swarmed in early March, so they are a bit later this year. Last year the butterflies were on a bee-line straight north, flying insanely fast, about five feet off the ground. This year, they are all pointed west... but I am assuming they will make a right turn at some point to reach the Pacific Northwest.
Dave rode his bicycle inside our resort and I walked. More RVs have left, making for easy social distancing. Lunch was a BLT salad (iceberg, turkey bacon, cherry tomatoes, with blue cheese dressing). Needlepointing and the Sunday New York Times puzzle were tackled.
Menu planning is actually a bit difficult when there are a lot of fresh greens on hand, trying to use the most delicate items first. Sunday is usually our pizza night, but most pizza ingredients come from the pantry, so no pizza for us tonight.
I actually put on a dress and pearls. Make-up. Perfume. Made me feel better and probably made me look better... though DT was the only person to see me this afternoon and evening.
Appetizers tonight: artichoke bruschetta (from a jar) on toasts, pimento cheese (from a tub) in celery, black olives and cornichons, and radishes. I made a plate for each of us.
Two weeks ago, when we made the trip to Costco to buy gin corned beef, we bought a big box of massive tomatoes. Tomatoes are the most-consumed food in our house. We really go through tomatoes! They were really green when purchased, but now are ripening-up beautifully and were perfect to top with burrata and fresh basil, sea salt, cracked black pepper... drizzled with Oregon olive oil. This was a big treat!
DT wanted pasta - which would pair perfectly with the Italian salad - so I boiled a bit of penne and topped it with roasted broccolini. The broccolini was tossed with chopped garlic, salt and olive oil and roasted at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or so, until it began to char. After removing the roasted veggies from the pan, I put about 1/3 cup of panko bread crumbs in the roasting pan, stirred it up to soak-up the garlic and olive oil remaining and let the bread crumbs brown-up for a minute or so. I placed the broccolini on the penne, added a lemon zest at the last minute and topped it with the toasted bread crumbs and grated Parmesan. Delish!
There are so many lemon trees in this resort. On private lots. In common areas. Everywhere. This time of year, they are bursting with fruit - especially due to all the rain. With everyone gone, and so many trees abandoned, DT keeps bringing me lemons. We freeze the juice, but I am running out of freezer space!
We started watching Tiger King on Netflix this evening, recommended by Lisa and Lenny. I’m not sure if I will continue, even though it is the most-streamed show in America at this time. I think it will somehow not end well, and there are too many other good things to binge during our confinement.
My time would be better spent working on my needlepoint canvas... or what happened to our gin rummy tournament?
Stay healthy, everyone! Stay home, everyone! Don’t be a Covidiot, everyone!
Tomorrow? Lamb!
Until my next highly-exciting update, I remain, your lemony correspondent.
I like that term Covidiot.
Those lamb chops looked perfect!