Spring Ahead March weekend, and the Monday After

Friday we went to the Madison symphony and it was pretty empty. There was one older woman wearing blue surgical gloves. Corona virus fears, or I guess the new correct name is Covid-19. Long as they don’t start calling it Captain Trips. That was one of Stephen King’s worst ideas, calling a disease Captain Trips in The Stand. Insult to Jerry. Although I guess it’s a comic book series, now too. And I see there’re a few news articles & tweets where King is having to differentiate his virus from Covid-19. In the book it kills something like 99% of the population – the worst they’re predicting for Covid-19 is 3%.

Saturday morning the Farmers Market was pretty full, but yoga class was empty. We went to see the new Emma, or, speaking of correct names, I guess that’s Emma. and there was a substantial crowd there for an early Saturday movie – started at 3:30. I liked Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightly. He also sang the closing credits song. I guess he gets to be Bowie next.

I made Jacque Pepin’s beef stew with red wine for dinner Saturday – all to use up the bottle of wine I thought I wanted to drink the Friday before when Mark and Rach and I cocooned up and ate mushroom soup, and watched silly movies on TV (after we leased the new Crosstrek). Anyways, I thought I wanted wine but it just didn’t go down very well, so the bottle was sitting mostly full on the counter, and this recipe seemed like a great way to use it up, and besides was convenient and left to cook in the oven while we were at the movie. I liked the add the vegetables later technique. I used carrots and parsnips and bacon ends that I bought at the co-op, instead of pancetta and mushrooms and pearl onion. It reminded me of a beef stew my dad made for us, on a family ski trip, must’ve been in the late 70s or early 80s. It was after his first heart valve replacement, which was 1979, and he couldn’t ski any more because the antibiotics they put him on before the surgery to clear up an infection messed up his balance – or maybe the surgery did it – he used to say it killed his 5th nerve, but I don’t quite get that. Anyways, he stayed home and made stew while we skied. And I remember that I was pretty ungracious about it – I wanted to go out to eat, 20-something that I was – but the stew was so good – beef, and red wine, and mushrooms, and little onions cooked all day, that I softened up on first taste.

Sunday – spring ahead day – I taught the puff pastry class, and I think it went well. And, I think we can have the last of the stew as beef pot pie, with puff pastry lids.

But today was Monday, last of the faculty candidates, and rain all day. Dreary, and everyone complaining about how dark it was in the morning and how hard it was to get up, and Coronavirus fear rampant again. The Madison paper’s headline is the overleaf. “Dow drops, deaths rise, travel stops …”

I made Marion Cunningham’s turkey noodle casserole and a big salad for dinner, greens from the Saturday market. Comfort food. And didn’t grade any websites, 5 down, 22 to go …

Good advice from CDC

And oh yea, didn’t grade any websites, but I did review this website for the Scout Report, and here’s a pretty fragment.

But enough of all this – guess I better go wash the dishes.