I don’t generally do “food selfies”, but self-quarantining does tend to limit one’s subject matter to home.  It’s raining again, and not much is new outside since yesterday.  One thing about shopping only when absolutely necessary–you find yourself doing even more from scratch, using basic staples.  It’s like a hippie flashback to simpler days of whole grains and beans and homemade everything, minus all the health-snob frills of bygone times. Or more realistically, like the ghost of WWII-era austerity and resourcefulness.

Fortunately we’re not reduced to extreme homesteading–yet.  We still have public water and utilities, thankfully, or we’d all be screwed.  One more dramatic reminder never to take the status quo for granted.  I suspect after this is over, many of us will never quite return to “normal”.  Maybe in a sense that’s a good thing.  It’s a harsh wakeup call, but nature has a habit of doing that when we get too complacent and don’t think ahead.  I’m reminded that we in this country are privileged to even be able to social-distance with clean running water, hygiene, and enough supplies to last at home for a while.  Not everyone has that luxury.

So here is my humble homemade-from scratch navy bean soup and wholegrain cornbread.  Some deep-digging in the dark recesses of the pantry was involved.  I’m also ramping up my reduce-reuse-recycle skills rather than wasting disposable products that are hard to obtain.  (No, not TP yet!  Not quite that desperate.)