Pandemic Pantry

I know a lot of people have relaxed their isolation as this pandemic continues on. I read my pretesting results online following my surgery in March and the chest x-ray was a little worse than expected. We care for our young grandchildren and I don't want to infect them or be down again myself. Our tiny county had been averaging 0-3 cases per day, maybe 10 per week. This week we have had 17 cases on Monday and 16 cases on Tuesday. 

I am also a little concerned about remarks concerning the election, even from people in my own small town.  I decided a 3-6 month supply of food would allow us to remain home for an extended period. I am taking into account that we are still able to shop curbside in the meantime, which we very much appreciate. 

When our five children all left home within a two year period, I was left with two huge pantry cupboards which eventually contained expired can goods as well as a wall of home canned fruits and vegetables. We made it through my canning supply, and had to ditch a lot of grocery items. When I redesigned my kitchen, I moved out the two pantry cupboards and replaced them with a much, much smaller upper pantry cabinet. We were free to shop as many times a week for items we needed for a recipe. And to be honest, we also ate out a little too often, too. 

A million years ago when my children were young, I watched a program on Christian television called "A Family Raised on Sunshine" with Beverly Nye. She was an LDS lady who shared child raising and  homemaking tips. I remember that she said that most LDS families had 12 months of food in reserve. I started googling and came up with a list. 

I have an "empty" room. It is actually the drywalled for my future utility room. There is a series of events that need to happen to move the washer and dryer into it, including a vent or something for the dryer. We started the project 10 years ago when we renovated the kitchen. My mother, than father passed away right after the drywall and I was using it as a storage locker for boxes for several years. And as the boxes moved out, other items had trickled in. With all the preschoolers back during the school year, we are on hold again until May. 

I had a lot of fancy storage ideas, but Menards had these nifty shelves that hold 800 lbs per shelf and they also require masks for pickup. They were on sale for a little over fifty dollars each. 

I have been purchasing extra canned goods during my "field trips" which is what we call our curbside pickup days. I ended up with a pile of boxes and bags and did not want to end up pitching outdated items again, just like the old days. 

My first step was to empty EVERY cabinet, bag and box. Because I am old, I am writing the expiration dates on every item in large print with a thick sharpie marker.  

I printed inventory sheets I found on line at this link. I updated them with a menu plan and then updated amounts with what our family will specifically use. I have lots of canned meats on the shelves, but I also ordered a quarter of beef and some chickens and they are due to come up at the end of October. (we ordered a freezer in March, it arrived in late July so I had to wait until then to order the meat). 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EjTfXhwMcwU2dPRkRuSUxjbU0/edit

After the shelves were assembled, I took each individual category into the pantry and stacked them with the oldest date to the back of the row, trying to group like items together. 

I was very glad I ordered two sets of shelves. 

Items dated 2020 are in the pantry cupboard in the kitchen. Hopefully I will use them before the date on the item. I am also storing baking items in the cupboard. We have a pullout pantry by the refrigerator and that is storing spices, more condiments, and baby food. 

I had a collection of large 2 quart canning jars and I am transferring pastas and grains into the jars. I also have some nice plastic cannisters with screw on lids that come from Aldi that I am using to store pasta, grains and cereal. 

I pray that life will return to normal soon. Hopefully I will be using my pantry for everyday meals and empty it by May so that we can turn it into a utility room (the old utility room is slated to be my new half bath, which will allow for renovation to make the full bath handicap accessible).  There will be pantry shelves or cupboards, but not this substantial. I hope. 

I hope that we can return to restaurants safely LOL. We have a new winery on the outskirts of town where we used to buy Christmas trees when our children were young. They have a chef (locally born and raised) who has posted the most amazing meals through out the summer. My dream is to sit on the patio next summer as soon as they open (the weather will be perfect and no bugs). I will be ordering appetizers for lunch and work my way through the menu until dinner and then order the specials for a week's worth of leftovers by the time I leave.  We had eaten at Red Lobster two days before I fell, three weeks before my state shut down.  I think back on that meal and wish I had ordered dessert! I would like to thank Dominos for our first at-home "meal". We ordered pizza, chicken wings, salads and subs delivered to a table on our porch in May and enjoyed a weekend of treats. Now that we are doing curbside grocery pick up in a neighboring, larger city; we have been using up our Christmas gift cards for curbside restaurant pick up once a month when we get groceries.  I recommend the meatloaf lunch at Cracker Barrel which can be delivered to your trunk and can be reheated in the carryout container. 

Susan Branch Zoom Tea Party with Titcomb's Bookshop

 

Was it a Christmas Tea in honor of Susan Branch's new Christmas Book? Or a tea party celebration in honor of my birthday? Hmmmm

I was hoping to make it a Christmas Tea. But I got very involved in a pantry escapade that I will blog later and Sunday snuck up on me.  I was going to make Christmas cookies and snacks, but again time slipped away. 

Somewhat impressive? Ah, but the true story.

Maybe not as impressive as it looks?

Chicken Salad from the grocery deli on white bread, crab salad from the grocery deli on toast and leftover coleslaw from my daughter. 

My assistant chef decided she wanted to make a baloney sandwich with mayonnaise and some Ritz crackers instead. 

Lemon cake courtesy of Pepperidge Farms refrigerator cake, Chocolate cake courtesy of my daughter in law, an exquisite cake baker and berry mini muffins from a 99 cent mix. 

The lovely Susan Branch, sharing some family pictures at the beginning of her book talk. 

The lovely owners of Titcomb's Bookshop who encouraged Mr. Joe B. Hall to make an appearance, too! 

Behind the scenes: The piles of home school materials and a large boxes that my grandchildren were using to create a playhouse. 

Dressed to party! My granddaughter wore her coat and dress from the Nutcracker Ballet last December to join me on my special birthday. Can you guess which one? 

Susan Branch Booked for Lunch Zoom

 I thought I better blog my experience at the Susan Branch Booked for Lunch zoom meeting in August before the Susan Branch zoom meeting in September! 

The zoom meeting was facilitated by the Duxbury Senior Center who partners monthly with the Duxbury Free Library, both in Massachusetts, to invite an author to speak in person at their facility. Those who participate can pick up a lunch at a nearby caterer to bring along. 

Due to the pandemic, the Booked for Lunch event with Susan Branch shifted to a zoom meeting! This meant I could participate from Ohio! I quickly became one of the first 1200 to register. The event was so popular, it was repeated a second day. My only disappointment was that I could not pick up a boxed lunch at the caterer. 

I served a quick lunch to my four grandchildren, youngest daughter and husband and shooed them out the door to the play yard for sixty minutes.  Earlier I had prepared my own special lunch treats, grabbed some jewelry (since this is my first dinner with anyone outside my house since February), my grandmother's hat, my mother's tea plate set and got ready to log on! 

Cucumber Sandwiches on buttered bread, Rosemary Chicken Salad in pastry cups, Ham and Swiss on party rye. Fudge Brownies, Lemon Loaf and Mixed Berry Mini Muffins.

My gramma's hat, My new Harney & Sons Iced Tea Pitcher with Wild Orchid Teas (Toledo), "Ginger, Orange, Peach White Tea, and my mother's tea cup snack set.

It's her! Susan Branch, my favorite author! I have met her in person twice. This was almost as good. Savories and sweets on the left, tea on the right.

This is how Susan writes her books, all hand lettered with drawings and photos - just like the journal you would keep if you were that talented, too!

Susan walked us through her trip to the English Countryside, starting on the cruise over the Atlantic to get there. It was like listening to a friend, hearing some of the same stories (because I have read and reread her books) and learning some new tidbits. And all the other girl friends participated, too, using the small chat window at the bottom. It was like an intimate, gigantic party with twelve hundred of your best friends!

And because you can't do all that baking and sandwich making just for yourself, I made carryout boxes for my nearest next door neighbors and dropped them off on their porches! 

I am super excited for this month's tea party for a few reasons. First, it really is a tea party! Susan is encouraging us to have our tea and tea cups ready for the zoom tea party. Second, it is a Christmas party - Susan has just published a new book about her Christmases as a child in the late 1950's in California with her large family!  I might even have to bake some Christmas cookies to go with my tea. Third, it is the weekend of my birthday and I am planning my own birthday party to go with it. I even have decorations for my own self!  I will share those details in the tea party post. 

The details for this months tea, sponsored by Titcomb's Bookstore in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-tea-with-susan-branch-tickets-115414109709

Storybook Walks, Also Known As "How We Spend Our Summer Vacation"

 It has been a long summer inside the picket fence. We have had our grandchildren since the parents went back to work in late April/May. We had big plans for the summer since we had purchased season passes for the crew to a nearby amusement park. The passes also included a water park.  We live close enough to travel every day if we wanted.

We bought the passes at the end of the season last year and already got our money's worth! Preschool did not begin until after school had started so we would take the younger kids over about 9:30 a.m. and have a late breakfast in the picnic area in the fall. We would spend the rest of the morning, until about 1 pm,  bouncing around all the rides in kiddie land.  My youngest daughter was still on maternity leave and they even had a little house for babies with rocking chairs for nursing moms as well as changing tables.

Then our world turned upside down with the virus. I really struggle to find activities, besides playing in the yard in the 90 degree heat, that are close enough we don't have to use public restrooms and secluded enough we aren't running into other families. 

About two years ago (or maybe last summer, all time seems to run together now) our local library paired with a local service organization and then our local recreation department to create a storybook walk for children. It really is state of the art with very sturdy, protected stands for pages of the book and a boardwalk through the shaded trees. Along with the story, the bottom of each page has an activity (skipping, clapping, etc) to do on your way to the next page. This is a huge hit with the aged 1 to 7 year old group.

We took a "coffee break" at a position socially distant from the picnic area. 

We recently discovered that the county library system is also offering some storybook walks. This one is in outside a small community, behind a volunteer fire station. The only drawback is lack of shade, so we try to go early in the morning. 

The stands are more rustic and the pages are just inside page protectors, but we enjoy figuring out the words to the story! 

And there were benches under a tree over by the soybean field. 

Next we went to another small community south of our town. 

This one turned out to be along the driveway for the church, just a brief little walk.  They still enjoyed the trip and the story. 

We made up some activities to do between the stations

And we were able to sit under the entrance to the church to enjoy a picnic in the shade. 

We still have one more county library storybook walk to find. It is located in another farm community at a reservoir. Tomorrow we are going on a breakfast picnic to a park in our town with four of the cousins. 

All seven will be here on Wednesday where we will move to yet another village just west of us for a storytime in the park - socially distant on our own blankets. We will then hurry home because I am registered for the Booked for Lunch with Susan Branch! The actual luncheon with the author was booked for Boston, but the facility is closed to visitors. Susan herself will be in  her living room on Martha's Vineyard. I will be at my dining room table. The only sad thing is that I am unable to drive to Boston and pick up a boxed lunch at the caterer and drive home in time for the zoom meeting. And I am turning off my microphone since the background noise of the seven children aged seven and under will certainly make it fun for others. 

Wednesday is actually my day off from childcare. I guess we see how that worked out. Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite pictures. My youngest grandchild has picked a favorite. Since he couldn't see grampa if grampa pushed his stroller, we had to compromise with hand holding.