Day 29: Be careful what you search for
Defeated by artichokes
Tonight, we were defeated by artichokes for the second time in five days. Despite changing our methods, they really are proving impossible to cook, which lead us to the ultimate source of truth and information to discover what the right way is to clean them and, subsequently, cook them in a manner that eventually makes them edible.
While typing “how to clean art…” in Google, the second suggestion that appeared was “how to clean arteries fast”, which makes me worry about the type of segment Google has filed me under. The first was, indeed, “how to clean artichokes”, which proves that our devices really are the best listeners (or maybe I had searched for this already).
It is incredible how much everyone has suddenly started spending time to think about what they eat and cook, which really makes me appreciate all the times my grandmother asked me what I wanted to have for lunch every morning at 7am when she used to drive me to school. It does take up a lot of one’s time and energy, although to be honest, we haven’t touched most of the pantry supplies we bought, we have six unopened packs of noodles, and our diet so far has mostly consisted of wine and grissini (specifically the Sgranocchi brand by Mulino Bianco, which I’ve come to discover is the heroin of snacks). Though home cooking is a great bonding and creative activity, I can’t wait to overorder at a restaurant again.
Earlier in the day, work happened, the indoor terrace (AKA the squared metre before my balcony begins) was once again well-utilised, and I am proud to report that Italians, at least the ones on my street, stayed home. There has been a glimmer of hope in the recently reported figures here, which makes everyone silently hopeful for better days to come. No one is exactly sure what these will look like, but I think all of us who said: “2020 will be the best year ever” back in January have now had hardcore training in learning to set our expectations low and hope for the best.
There is something very reassuring about Mondays still feeling like Mondays, even in quarantine. Mondays feeling like Mondays give the weekend some meaning. They give everyone something more tangible to look forward to, beyond a vaccine being widely available in 2021, which at the moment provides as much comfort as the prospect of us cooking artichokes well in 2020. Whoever said that the effort matters more than the result has never tried to cook raw artichokes or develop a vaccine for a stealthy, killer virus in record time.
In general, I must confess today was pretty average, but after twenty-nine days in self-isolation, I think it is safe to say everyone is allowed to have a bad day. Even the Pope gave a petty slap to a lady’s hand when she tried to touch him in the pre-social distancing era.
All jokes aside, I wish you, and Bojo, well.
Lunch: Green beans and potatoes in tomato sauce, with feta and meatballs from the depths of the freezer
Song of the day: The Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow’s Parties