(Responsibly) Conquer Your Fears

Many folks have compared COVID-19 to probably the scariest bacterium I can think of: Yersinia pestis. Its other name is “the plague.” The Black Death of 1347-1352 is the hands-down winner of my Worst Time to Be Alive Award. Anywhere between ⅓ and ⅔ of Europe, and just shy of 25% of the world’s population - you heard that right, the world - died as a result of the Black Death. It’s no wonder a lot of folks then thought they’d reached the End Times.

Speaks for itself, I think.

But here’s the thing. The mid-1300s weren’t the End Times, we recovered, and humanity learned some valuable lessons from the Black Death. The ones that strike me most live on in danse macabre art. These art pieces (including music!) show us that death is everyone’s lifelong companion, and can come calling no matter your age or social standing. That might be a scary thought at face value. The fact that people started representing that fear post-Black Death suggests, to me, that they’re confronting the fear. But there’s more: the people are dancing with death. Death is always present for us, sure, but that doesn’t make life not worth living and enjoying. My great takeaway of danse macabre, and the Black Death, is that fear need not paralyze us.

An example of danse macabre art.

Another good lesson is that isolation and quarantining slowed the plague’s progress. Of course, a lot of that was too little, too late for the Black Death sufferers. But later plague breakouts experienced fewer deaths with stricter public health measures. (More in-depth info here.) So, the history of the Black Death as I see it gives us three ultimatums for our own time. Those are: Confront your fear; enjoy yourself while you’re alive to do it; but be responsible about it too.

In the spirit of that realization, I decided to responsibly confront a food fear: baking. As any of my more baking-savvy friends will agree with, I am not the greatest baker in the world. I have been known to mess up box cakes and “easy” three-ingredient recipes. Mainly this stems from my inability to realize/care that whether or not your pan is 9 or 9.5 inches actually does matter in baking! But I figure now is a good moment to try again. And as I was craving Red Lobster biscuits for reasons unknown, I landed on this simple recipe for knockoff biscuits. It may not turn out well, but I am comforted by the fact that I’ll at least have a good time. (P.S. The biscuits turned out very well indeed.)

First baking success in a long time!

Three-Ingredient Garlic Cheddar Biscuits: Makes 8 biscuits, original recipe here.

1 can Pillsbury biscuits or similar

4 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375. Shake some garlic powder and cheese onto your prep surface. Take out the biscuits one by one, and shake a small amount of garlic powder onto each biscuit. Then, press a small amount of cheese into each biscuit. Turn them over, press them into your prep surface, and then roll the biscuits into small balls.

Cook on a baking sheet in the oven 10-12 minutes. You can serve them as they are, or brush them with melted butter and top with dried or fresh parsley for a more Red Lobster-y look.