Day 106, June 30, 2020

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Gougères

(Day 2 of stay at home vacation)

When I first heard about people losing the sense of taste and smell with the virus, that is the thing I began to fear most. I receive great joy from eating, whether it is bibimbap served in a hot stone bowl, a fresh local salad with heirloom tomatoes and big lump of burrata, or the sinful pleasures of a big bag of Doritos.

So far, I have managed to stay healthy and not lost my sense of taste and smell... but something else seems to have happened. I think my memories of taste and smell have become more vivid and prominent than my reality... which leads to a sensation of perpetual disappointment. I finally found a jar of radish kimchee and... it is over ripe and too salty. I've been trying to eat it, but each bite reminds me that this is nothing like the kimchee I ate growing up. We've tried take out at multiple restaurants, mostly establishments that didn't specialized in takeout before the pandemic, and those meals have been disappointing and end up tasting, by the time you get home, like yesterday's leftovers reheated in the microwave.

It is a challenging time for restaurants, and they are trying their best to accommodate the changes, and I imagine I will continue to try to patronize them because... I still have the memory of how they used to taste. 

The other day, we were invited to a friend's house for a socially distant meal. Instead of writing a blog or recording a song each day, she has cooked a different recipe every day of the pandemic. She is making her way through the New York Times recipes, researching each meal the way I read about guitars, effects pedals, and amplifiers. I was lucky to experience her largess in the form of homemade hummus; a bean, eggplant, olive, and tomato salad hugging a lump of burrata; gougères (of multiple varieties); and for dessert strawberries and crème-fraîche, in filo dough. 

Oh, it was wonderful to taste again! I enjoy cooking, but to embark on such an ambitious journey of discovery and intention, and to have it manifest in such a glorious way was inspiring. I tend to lean on my tried and true meals, which on day 106 of the pandemic are starting to grow weary. I look forward to the joy of ordering a wonderful restaurant meal, but until then, I think I am going to have to draw inspiration from my friend's endeavor and start planning meals. 

Down with the utilitarian meal! Starting tomorrow... or maybe the next time we go grocery shopping, a new leaf will be turned... at least that is the aspiration.

Oh, I can't wait for sweet corn... local tomatoes....

Take care,
Leo


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