Hunkering Down | How to Help Restaurants | Recipe: Savory Bread Pudding
Hunkering Down | How to Help Restaurants | Recipe: Savory Bread Pudding
Issue No. 33
In this week’s edition, live from quarantine it’s the new Sunshine and Microbes recipe website! Also, we list some ways you can help food producers as eateries, cafes and bars around the country are forced to close. And by the way, why does everyone hate Dasani?
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During the first half of my senior year of high school I had butterflies in my stomach every single day. I was an exceptionally anxious, self-involved teen, and the college application process was not a good look on me. Then I moved away from home and did a lot of therapy. Suddenly I wasn’t a particularly anxious person anymore. Until last week.
The visceral panic I felt during most of high school has come back in a big way. Global pandemics are a lot to process! And that’s coming from someone who couldn’t be in a more privileged position to ride this out. I am a youngish, healthy person living on an isolated island with a guaranteed income, a giant garden, and hundreds of pounds of dried beans and grains in my pantry. I am basically a prepper, minus all the guns.
And yet, I am a wreck. The butterflies are back, baby! All day, everyday. I am purposefully watching TV that I know will make me cry so that I have an outlet for all these emotions. My dog Brinna, the world’s no. 1 cuddlebug, is like “enough with all the hugs, lady!”
On Sunday night I just couldn't turn my brain off. I needed my downer of choice — ice cream. I agonized over whether or not to ride my bike to the corner store to procure a pint of Half Baked. I’m trying to be a do-gooder and hunker down. But I also really wanted some ice cream. #whitegirlpandemicproblems, I know. I did go. And the store was packed with happy families in flip flops having a normal vacation, which freaked me out even more. Who was the crazy one in this scenario? Me for freaking out about whether or not it was okay to leave the house, or them for being aggressively business as usual? All of the above.
But in the midst of all this topsy-turviness, I also feel more connected to my friends than ever (shout out to Micah, Mike, Laura, Matt, Caitlynne, Jessie, and Mimi for the text chains and poems and memes and love). I am consciously engaging in heart-soothing activities like baking cookies and binge-watching television and reading in the hammock and talking to my mother on the phone daily and smiling at birds and looking up at the sky at night. During these moments of joyful presence and social distance socializing, I feel implausibly hopeful about the future.
We have a singular opportunity to reprioritize and to take collective responsibility for each other and the planet as a whole. This could be our moment.
Cooking has always been the mechanism in which I demonstrate love and comfort myself. Before the world turned upside down, Micah designed a beautiful website for us. sunshineandmicrobes.com It’s a simple way to access all of the recipes I’ve created for the newsletter thus far. There’s even a search bar! I hope some of you will find comfort in cooking some of these recipes. I encourage supplementing your home cooked meals with Ben & Jerry’s when possible.
Here are six recipes to get started your self-quarantine:
For the nurturer:
create a sourdough starter
For the person that needs to keep their hands busy (when not washing them):
Make homemade butter or mix up some pizza dough.
For the tomato-lover looking to support local farms right now
For the person that just needs to eat some cake this very minute
This flexible orange and olive oil cake is the gift that keeps on giving.
love,
Jackie
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Ways to Help Restaurants and Other Food Producers During the Pandemic
In a recent Eater article, Meghan McCarron writes “if health care workers are the first to sound the alarm on the grave threat the novel coronavirus presents to our health, restaurant workers are the first to warn us about the threat it presents to our economy.” These are days of hunkering down, but for those with the means and well-being to help — it’s worth asking how can we help food producers who run small farms or work at restaurants and cafes and bars?
Unlike during the 2008 recession where restaurants disappeared gradually, the COVID 19 pandemic has forced dining establishments to close mostly altogether. The closures might cost 7.4 million jobs, and many food workers live paycheck to paycheck without health insurance. Undocumented immigrants make up a large part of the restaurant industry, and they are ineligible for many government benefits.
Without bold government action, former employees will suffer and the industry as a whole will become more homogenized. McCarron notes that’s already happening in upscale parts of the U.S. “with high-rent blight stuffing neighborhoods with chains, fancy and otherwise.” There is of course little individuals can do to help in situations where massive government action is needed. But people with the financial means can still support their favorite local eats. Here are some ideas for doing so:
1. Buy gift cards or merchandise. If the restaurant/cafe/bar is shut down, check their website or call for a gift card to purchase now as a quasi-micro loan and enjoy the meal later.
2. Get takeout or delivery. While many restaurants are shuttered to diners, a large number still offer to go or delivery options. Amanda Mull wrote in The Atlantic about the ethics of ordering takeout during the pandemic. Experts told her that it’s unlikely cooked food would transmit COVID-19 when handled properly. Ordering delivery can help support a driver who likely lacks health insurance or steady pay at the moment. Call the restaurant directly, as delivery apps like Grubhub and UberEats are ripping off drivers during these precarious times. Ask for no contact delivery. Plus keep washing those hands for the sake of everyone involved in the transaction.
3. Give a big ass tip. Help out the places and delivery drivers still providing food despite curfews and lockdowns. Have you ever tipped greater than 20 percent on a bill? What about 50? OR 100?! Oooooh it’s an adrenaline rush.
5. Pick up foodstuffs for an elderly neighbor. Check on older friends and family who are self-quarantining and see if there’s anything you can pick up for them from a farmer’s market or local eatery.
6. Visit an Asian grocer. Due to insane xenophobia, Asian grocery stores and other Asian-owned businesses are much emptier than usual. See if there’s one near you.
7. Donate to a food bank. A donation here won’t save the restaurant industry, but it will help anyone currently surviving without income or an easy way to get a meal. Check feedamerica.org to find your local food bank.
Reduce, Reuse, Replace
Who needs 18 rolls of toilet paper? There’s never been a better time to get a bidet.
We’ve mentioned bidets before in this space. But it feels worthwhile to bring them up again after seeing so many images this week of grocery store patrons trudging out of stores with a lifetime supply of TP. Here is one favorite option and a few more choices.
They save on toilet paper. They’re environmentally friendly. And they’re easy to set up. Plus um they’re a whole lot cleaner for your bum:
Fresh links
🛒‘There is Plenty of Food in the Country’ | NY Times
The Times follows the supply chain — and here’s some decent news — it’s still going strong. That’s despite coronavirus prep and pandemic-related panic buying that’s resulted in viral images of empty grocery store shelves. Industry officials say there’s still a good deal of food in warehouses all over the country and grocery stores are getting stocked daily:
Still, industries are starting to make contingency plans in case large numbers of workers producing and delivering food are incapacitated by the virus or roads are shut down as part of the effort to control the pandemic. Representatives for companies that deliver food in refrigerated trucks, for example, are working with local and state officials to make sure they can still make deliveries during quarantines. Some refrigerated warehouse workers could rotate in 14 day shifts to make sure there is backup.
Some food is being diverted from closed “restaurants, school cafeterias and college campuses” to grocery stores. Or in the case of the cruise ship industry, their unused avocados are reaching supermarkets. Buying food is one of the few ways people can feel in control in these uncertain times. Remain calm, and get ambitious with your recipes.
🚱Why Everyone Hates Dasani Water | Mel Magazine
I cannot explain why people are hoarding bottled water right now. The virus will not affect the water supply. Don’t buy more plastic please.
I also cannot explain why the one H20 people have been leaving behind is Dasani.
Quinn Meyers interviews Dasani employees, a “water sommelier” and others to try to get to the bottom of why Dasani sucks. Answers range from that there’s nothing too exciting about Coca-Cola filtered tap water to the fact that it lists salt as an ingredient — which might be a bit of a turnoff (even though the amount is negligible and water usually contains sodium).
🚶♂️……..🚶♀️Go For a Walk | Slate
There’s a big difference between being in quarantine and social distance. If you are social distancing, you are not confined to your apartment. Go for a walk, Shannon Palus writes in Slate:
Yes, you should be following the strict rules of staying home from work (unless you do something essential that cannot be done remotely, like medical care) and skipping visits with friends and loved ones (unless you are a caretaker). But, if you are healthy, if you pick a place and time of day where you can keep your distance from others, you can still go outside. And you should.
The weather doesn’t know anything about the collapsing economy, the closing borders, the counts of beds and masks at hospitals; it is standing by to offer a full break from every impending scenario.
A large swath of the country seems to be on the receiving end of fantastic weather in spite of this crisis. Enjoy the views at a safe distance. In Italy, the deer are doing it. So are the dolphins. Inhale the rising air quality. There’s no better time to meditate in nature, and consider how to coexist with it once everyone can head back outdoors again.
Savory Bread Pudding
I need comfort food right now, which for me means carbs and cheese. Also, I want to make every little bit count, as who knows what I might have access to in the coming weeks. Earlier this week I had a mountain of stale bread and too much leftover French onion soup in the kitchen. Craving something to soothe my soul and stick to my ribs, I made a savory bread pudding. It was an excellent reminder that I should eat more bread pudding.
Ingredients
2 baguettes or 1 loaf of nice crusty white bread (stale is great; whole wheat breads will likely be too dense)
1 bunch of greens of choice, roughly chopped (kale, collards, chard, arugula, spinach, etc)
3 cups grated cheese or choice
a handful of assorted chopped herbs
a few cloves or garlic, chopped, and/or a half an onion, chopped
4 eggs
2 cups milk or half and half
2 cups stock (I used French onion soup, which is basically stock with onions)
salt and pepper
olive oil
optional: other cooked veggies like sauteed mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, or roasted squash)
Step-by-step
Sauté onions and garlic in a glug of oil over medium heat until soft and beginning to brown. Add greens to a pan along with a splash of stock or water and cook over medium-high heat until soft (if using spinach, leave uncooked).
Rip bread into irregular pieces, no larger than 2 inches.
Lightly oil a 9x13 pan. Add bread, onions and greens, cheese, herbs, and any additional veggies and mix together.
In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, stock, a 5-fingered pinch of salt, and a generous amount of pepper. Pour over bread mixture. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes in order for the bread to soak up some liquid. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until custard is set.
Have fun in quarantine everyone!
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Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is the current Chef-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a freelance reporter based in Colombia. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes other scraps to each issue.