Corona Confinement – The Big Q: #47 – Nothing Ever Happens on My Street

The Big Quarantine – Saturday, May 2, 2020

The Day in Ramen: My Saturday got off to a strong start when I made a breakfast of ramen noodles fortified by a poached egg. If you’re not poaching an egg with your boiling noodles and/or adding other ingredients you have on hand, you are missing an incredible culinary opportunity.

I buy my ramen at the Saigon Market in Findlay Market where they have quite a selection of imported ramen. There biggest difference between domestic and imported is that the imported noodles tend to have stronger flavors and they often contain more than one seasoning pack. My record for seasoning packs was a brand that had five packs inside. Since I can’t read Chinese it was like Christmas in my soup pot!

Today’s ramen had three packs: the traditional salty seasoning pack, chili flakes, and a pack of fat. Seriously, fat. I didn’t know that’s what it was until I cut the “fat pack” open and all it was literally all white fat, about the consistency of room temperature butter. It tasted like pork fat. Since this was my breakfast, I just considered it my bacon substitute. Breakfast really made me happy this morning.

Mama Ramen with three packs (the chili flakes and the soup base are together)

That’s a pack of fat, flavorful fat, but just fat.

The Day in Social Distancing/Life Goes On: I walked past the Christ Hospital School of Nursing in Mt. Auburn where they were having their graduation in the parking lot. All the spaces were full and families were clustered at their own cars. Graduates walked past a podium to collect their degrees as an emcee called their names and their families cheered. It was sweet and maybe not 100% CDC approved, but on a warm sunny day everyone looked to be doing the best the could.

The Day in Signs of Life: Downtown a few restaurants and bars that were completely closed when the Ohio stay at home order went into place are starting to show signs of life. Over the fall and winter I’d been leaning on Brew Dog in Pendleton as my home bar and was very much looking forward to hanging there on the rooftop this summer. They have been shut down since March but opened this week to sell beer and cocktails. I got me a six-pack of 7.2 ABV Hazy Jane IPA and hugged the package all the way home.

brew dog — Empty restaurant…6 full beers.

The Day in Bookshelf Credibility: I’ve mentioned recently that I’ve really lucked out in the Covid Zoom Era to have a great, stocked bookshelf to use as my background. The topic has been trending over the past couple days especially as people try to figure out what books celebrities have on their shelves. The NY Times is all over this important Covid story and there is event a Twitter account dedicated to Bookshelf Credibility – their tagline is “What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you.”

The NY Times article points out it is an affectation to choose to use my bookshelf as the background. I haven’t gotten to show off my affectations in weeks. Let me trend NY Times!

The Day in The Run For the Roses: This is supposed to be Kentucky Derby Day. The only thing normal about Derby Day this year is Kroger is out of mint (for the juleps). Anyway, I’ll be doing the next best thing, playing Across the Board across the internet with some pals. And with some Kentucky Bourbon. Cheers!