Day 1058: Chicken Tenders & Cheese

I’m finding making meals a little overwhelming. It was easier early in the pandemic when we really weren’t going anywhere or doing anything but now we are sort of in limbo. We are still avoiding crowds, and not going out to eat but I am going to doctor’s appointments, shopping more frequently, going to weaving guild meetings, and taking some craft classes and my husband is going back to work twice a week.

Basically we are spending more time outside of the house but also making most of our meals and dealing with high grocery prices and food unavailability. When I stopped posting here, things were looking up—vaccines were out, numbers were the lowest yet and I even went to a coffee shop for an event. Things really haven’t been that good again. I haven’t eaten in a restaurant since.

I miss our vegetable delivery from 2020. Even the regular non-Aldi grocery stores don’t have the variety they used to years ago and I’m tired of the same choices over and over again. We got a Lidl nearby now but we haven’t liked the meat. They do have nice produce and specialty items but it really can’t replace a real, complete grocery shop.

Today I picked up some basket weaving material from a woman from Facebook Marketplace. She posted from in Bethesda but was visiting the area and offered to meet me in the Whole Foods parking lot. I got a lot of supplies for a good price! I took a basket weaving class a couple weeks ago and got a kit for Christmas but wanted to try to practice on other materials and not the kit and mess it up.

I picked up some bread, fancy yogurt, smoked salmon, and mustard while I was there.

We just got a third dog last week from a colleague of my husband’s who was caring for her elderly, ill brother’s dog. We wanted to practice leaving them all home alone (crated) so I came back as Matt went to pick us up some club sandwiches for lunch. The girls did well. We had planned to go get fancy fries but my basket weaving pickup got moved up and it’s bitterly cold so we worried they’d get cold before we got home even with our heat bag.

For dinner we had some cheese I had bought for a snackies night, some chicken we had marinated in leftover buttermilk overnight as tenders, the olive bread I bought today. Matt tried one of the fancy yogurts— it came in a clay pot! He said it was super smooth but not super flavorful. I bought a different flavor to try (he had orange honey blossom) but haven’t tried it yet.

We have been watching The Devil’s Hour on Amazon Prime and it’s legit keeping us guessing! I also finished the new Jane Harper book today. I was right and knew early on but still enjoyed it. I listened to You’re Wrong About Karen Carpenter today in the car and I don’t feel like I’m learning a lot about Karen Carpenter, oddly. I wasn’t really familiar with Carpenters but we listened to some last night.