Cooking in the Time of COVID-19

Let’s be honest: Our summer activities are a bit limited. Going to the beach or other public places (that are open) is a little bit tricky, as is travel out of town. Nevertheless, I think people are still able to enjoy the summer. Two weeks ago on a walk I spied several groups of people all properly distanced from each other at Coal Oil Point. This is a first, and suggests to me we’re all taking things a little more seriously than before. Small steps! Social distancing on the beach. But even with limited summer activities, there remains one good way to celebrate the season. Fresh produce!!! As I said in my spring rolls post, one of my favorite things about summer here is the arrival of things like berries and tomatoes. It’s a great season to be a jam-maker. My parents and I have also picked up several treats from local farmstands, including peaches and a pound of fresh green beans for me. I love to cook with very fresh, in-season stuff; we’re very lucky here in California to have goo...

So a few months ago, I made knock-off Red Lobster biscuits. It was my first baking project since the Great Nutella Cake Disaster of 2018 (pan size is important). It was also my first baking success in a long, long time, and emboldened me to try something a little more complicated next time. I figured that part of the reason I had success was because I didn’t actually make the biscuit dough myself. So, something that involved making my own dough seemed a good next step. After some thinking, I decided on focaccia bread in May. Italian, delicious, and by all accounts, reasonably hard to mess up. The project did NOT begin auspiciously. The yeast that I ordered from Amazon, because the stores were out, took almost a month to arrive. But it did get here eventually...only after yeast had returned to the store and I’d bought more. (I now have yeast for probably the next twenty years.) I also couldn’t seem to find the right day to make the bread. Something kept coming up and pushing it off. ...