Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[IamRainey]

Good thoughts for Cynthia's family and very happy thoughts for MROO's family. Special props for your kindness to another family when your own is still recovering health and finances.

It's always the folks who are burdened who try hardest to lighten someone else's!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Everyone I know who leaves CA has to deal with resentment anywhere they go. And that's been going on for 2 decades.

When my parents moved from SF Bay Area to Seattle 20 years ago, they were told to get Washington plates ASAP or someone would key their car.
That was the time their was a huge influx of folks from California trying to escape the sky rocketing prices due to the dot com boom.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

So a pal, my partner D, and I are having trouble motivating ourselves to get things done lately.
We're all kind of having a bad time because nobody is around. (Not feeling motivated during a socially isolating pandemic? Shockers.)
Nobody is around to criticize (or even see) a dirty house or person, nobody sees paintings on the walls so no point in hanging them up, no point in pursuing art or projects or various forms of fulfilment.... So many things that are just kinda fine to do on your own but feel pretty crummy when you're done and nobody can appreciate them.

So we're doing a support group thing on our friends-only discord where we just kinda brag to each other about accomplishing basic tasks and do mentally fulfilling things together that we just haven't gotten around to. We're telling eachother our goals for each day even if they're deeply mundane and checking in to see how we're all doing on those goals and generally making ourselves feel accountable to one another.

I have high hopes for things working out. Because lemme tell you, I've been a mess trying to get things done when it feels kinda pointless because nobody else is around and there's no end in the near future. I guess Hegel was right - we're not really ourselves unless we can see who we are reflected in other people.

 

[IamRainey]

Boy! Do I hear ya, CM!

The first month of this thing I don't think I wore anything but pajamas. I snapped out of that but my always-lurking hoarder tendencies are starting to be apparent in the kitchen where I spend all my days.

Can I bitch and moan about something else? It's Thanksgiving and apple pie season and I can't find a decent baking apple anywhere. It's always tough on the West Coast where we don't have the great apples I grew up with in the Hudson Valley of NYS or the varieties most East Coast cookbook authors recommend but there is not a Golden Delicious to be found. The only familiar apples I can find are a Granny Smith and a Fuji and I always used an assortment of apples so that only ticks a couple boxes.

Red Delicious are gone and that's NO problem at all but did the people who made that decision think the Golden Delicoius was the same bland, squishy thing? NO WAY, guys! The rest seem to be varieties that are newly invented. Anyone ever heard of an Opal apple? It's ridiculous even to say out loud. So are they sweet? Tart? Do they disintegrate in baking or remain really firm? Are they eating apples or baking apples? I have NO clue but my pie will depend on them nonetheless.

 

[Molpet]

Boy! Do I hear ya, CM!

The first month of this thing I don't think I wore anything but pajamas. I snapped out of that but my always-lurking hoarder tendencies are starting to be apparent in the kitchen where I spend all my days.

Can I bitch and moan about something else? It's Thanksgiving and apple pie season and I can't find a decent baking apple anywhere. It's always tough on the West Coast where we don't have the great apples I grew up with in the Hudson Valley of NYS or the varieties most East Coast cookbook authors recommend but there is not a Golden Delicious to be found. The only familiar apples I can find are a Granny Smith and a Fuji and I always used an assortment of apples so that only ticks a couple boxes.

Red Delicious are gone and that's NO problem at all but did the people who made that decision think the Golden Delicoius was the same bland, squishy thing? NO WAY, guys! The rest seem to be varieties that are newly invented. Anyone ever heard of an Opal apple? It's ridiculous even to say out loud. So are they sweet? Tart? Do they disintegrate in baking or remain really firm? Are they eating apples or baking apples? I have NO clue but my pie will depend on them nonetheless.

I had not heard of them either
http://www.opalapples.com/

 

[calboy147]

This Whoohoo mess has made two drastic changes in my life. #1 every where i go i wear the mask to appease other peoples fear.
#2 i now have to always wear my hearing aids so i can converse with others and appease their fear.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Boy! Do I hear ya, CM!

The first month of this thing I don't think I wore anything but pajamas. I snapped out of that but my always-lurking hoarder tendencies are starting to be apparent in the kitchen where I spend all my days.

Can I bitch and moan about something else? It's Thanksgiving and apple pie season and I can't find a decent baking apple anywhere. It's always tough on the West Coast where we don't have the great apples I grew up with in the Hudson Valley of NYS or the varieties most East Coast cookbook authors recommend but there is not a Golden Delicious to be found. The only familiar apples I can find are a Granny Smith and a Fuji and I always used an assortment of apples so that only ticks a couple boxes.

Red Delicious are gone and that's NO problem at all but did the people who made that decision think the Golden Delicoius was the same bland, squishy thing? NO WAY, guys! The rest seem to be varieties that are newly invented. Anyone ever heard of an Opal apple? It's ridiculous even to say out loud. So are they sweet? Tart? Do they disintegrate in baking or remain really firm? Are they eating apples or baking apples? I have NO clue but my pie will depend on them nonetheless.

Opals are my partners favorite apple, but he doesn't eat many apples. He says they're a sweet apple but doesn't know how firm they are.

Interesting fact about produce is these days people are trying to break into specialty produce the same way livestock producers get into specialty livestock. Exotic fruits and veggies sell for more money and have higher profit margins than normal produce, allowing small farmers to make more money per acre and compete with mega farms. So for every "forest raised acorn fed heritage pig" there's creeping in specialty varieties of every produce imaginable to compete with a market shifting towards quality and novelty over price. Apples are especially influenced by this because they have always been very brand/variety focused (like red delicious, Johnagold, whatever existed long before people started advertising purple carrots and gem corn) and growing specialty apple varieties is a really big thing especially right now. Cosmic Crisps were the hot new thing last year but they didn't have much staying power. Opals have been around for a while but are gaining popularity.

People are innovating to compete with a saturated market and bloated ag companies and this is one of the ways it's happening. Don't be too surprised to see it outside apples too in the coming years if you haven't already.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I’m confused about the complaint about the lack of apples on the West coast. They grow some really good apples in Washington state. When I lived there I never noticed a shortage of tasty apples. I do understand about the lack of motivation regarding housework. I live alone and seldom get visitors until lately. I clean regularly now and am working on giving the inside of the house a face lift. To break up the boredom try rearranging furniture to give your homes a new look. Change out curtains or paint a piece of furniture to give it a bold new look. Just a thought. It’s something to pass the time and take pride in the finished product. Even if no one else sees it you have the pleasure of enjoying your own work.

 

[IamRainey]

Yes. There are plenty of apples. And all of them have their applications but they aren't all equally desirable for pies. Meanwhile, newly invented/hybridized varieties are replacing reliable ones so fast I can't find any of the old standards I always used. That's problem #1.

Problem #2 is that most cookbook authorities and bloggers seem to be based on the East Coast and their variety recommendations generally aren't available on the West Coast. Things like Rome and Jonathans and Northern Spies simply aren't available out here so we have to work -- at least this year, it seems, -- with the unknown for the biggest culinary event of the year.

Meanwhile, I appreciate the motivation tips. Instead of the home environment I decided to work on myself. I figured I've got 2 co-morbidities I can't do anything about but I could get my weight in check. So that's how I'm "refurbishing". So far I've lost 26 pounds and I'm stronger and more stabile than I've been in a decade or maybe even 2.

 

[sourland]

One of my friends has been battling a 'cold' for the past couple of weeks. Last night he crashed in cardiac/respiratory distress - long story short he is Covid positive and has suffered a heart attack. Pray for Dale. Thanks.