Cover Your Bases 21
1/17/2021 How do you get vaccinated?
This week: A reflection on something personal and reflective. Like how do you get vaccinated for COVID-19? In Los Angeles County, 1 in 3 people is infected with COVID. In Alameda County, the number today is 1 in 10. Monday, I signed up on a county site to be notified when vaccines were available; Wednesday, an elder friend posted on social media that she called the Kaiser Urgent Care Line, waited on hold 3 hours and got a vaccination appointment. Thursday, another elder friend posted she’d called Kaiser, waited 4.5 hours, and gotten a date for late January for her shots.
A chance for a vaccine! On Thursday, I called Kaiser three times within 24 hours: the first time, there was a 3.5 hour wait, and I hung up; the second time, the wait was 4 hours, so I hung up again. The 3rd time, much later at night, a tired male voice had been added, who said: “If you are calling about COVID-19 vaccines, spots are all gone, call tomorrow.” My friend with the shot appointment said that the nurse told her that 5,000 people were on hold when she called. I am hoping if I wait a few days, some of the distribution issues will resolve--but what if it gets worse, and I’ve missed a window?
It’s my birthday next week. I’m thrilled to have gone a whole year without getting COVID. Last year at this time, I was ill for 3 weeks with something flu-y that made my eyeballs hurt, and took my partner’s sense of taste and smell, but we have no idea what it was. Since then, I’ve been well enough, and so loaded up with masks, sanitizer, Vitamin D-3 gummies, probiotics for my gut biome, melatonin for sleep--the epitome of careful, aged privilege trying not to get this thing and die.
Last year, my son and his wife came up for a birthday weekend. On the phone yesterday, my son offered to drive up from LA for our birthdays (we’re a week apart), and I had to say no, which just killed me. Once we are past this, I am going to visit them all the time, but right now, just no. Not right now. Sigh.
Quick Takes Things I enjoyed reading:
First Draft, Platform Actions in Response to January 6 Capitol Events, Newest to Oldest: This read-only Google doc tracks how shopping, community, and social media digital platforms responded to the white supremacist insurrection in Washington, DC with links and information on their actions.
GQ, The Man Who Saw the Coup Attempt Coming Is Only Surprised It Wasn’t Much Worse, by Cam Wolf. Interview with journalist Arieh Kovler, who tracks Trumpism and political extremism--and saw all the chatter.
Image by cm_dasilva from Pixabay
The Atlantic, A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement, by Joshua Coleman. There are so many gotcha moments in this article and so much useful data. Like: A recent survey of mothers from 65 to 75 years old with at least two living adult children reported 62 percent had contact less than once a month with at least one child. One quote that resonated, among many:
“… in the same way that unrealistically high expectations of fulfillment from marriage sometimes increase the risk of divorce, unrealistically high expectations of families as providers of happiness and meaning might increase the risk of estrangement.”
New York Times, How the Right Foods May Lead to a Healthier Gut, and Better Health, by Anahad O’Connor. This piece is in response to a new study in Nature that reports recent medical studies confirming plant-based diets support specific aspects of gut biome health that mitigate obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. (I know this may be behind a firewall; the original study is here, and a related medical piece is here.)
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay, used under Creative Commons license.
Making: Food prep for a week. Instagram is my spot to be inspired by artists, activists, cooks, bakers, and friends. I follow naturalyella, Erin Alderson, who recently posted a list of meals she made, with recipe sources. It was such a good read, I’m sharing dishes I made this week:
Spinach and cottage cheese baked gluten-free pasta (I substituted cottage cheese, which I am really into right now, used corn/quinoa rigatoni)
Brook trout sauteed with brown butter and lemon (Skipped the nuts, used potato starch as the breading)
Arugula and raw turnip salad, with honey/balsamic dressing (Left off the meat)
Cottage cheese and oatmeal pancakes with frozen blueberries (I make these all the time)
Cast-iron skillet roasted potatoes with shallots (I skip the sauces, the potatoes are addictive)
Oven-roasted cauliflower served with wild/brown rice
Roasted butternut squash with roasted red onion (Making this over and over, thank you, Ottolenghi)
Roasted canned chickpeas, tossed in curry and oil, baked in an iron skillet (we eat this with greens and the squash)
Winter citrus salad, two ways. Made a batch with navel oranges, then went back another night and made the best one ever, with three kinds of citrus, thank you, David Tanis)
And an improv, inspired by the baked pasta, earlier in the week: Cabbage mushroom noodle bake (I made my favorite halushki, added sauteed shitakes, then mixed in 1 cup boiled tagliatelle brown rice noodles, ½ cup light sour cream, 1 cup 4% cottage cheese, and baked at 350, for 30 minutes, in a buttered 9 X 13 pan)
We also did date night Mexican ceviche, salad, and soup takeout, because who can cook all the time. I am trying to stay on my plant-centered, no-wheat, no-red meat, no-alcohol, no (okay, very low) sugar food plan until my birthday (and dessert) happens next week, so cooking this way helps.
Parting Bits
New York Times, I Recommend Eating Chips, by Sam Anderson. No better ode to mindless stress-eating exists than this essay.
“...I will put the first chip, now, into my mouth. I will set it delicately on my tongue like a communion wafer. Instantly, the flavor snaps against my taste buds — that earthy, cheesy tang — flashing like a firecracker, lighting up the whole wet cave of my mouth and radiating out, further, to fill my whole head, my whole being. These chemicals are transcendent, Proustian, as powerful as any drug…”
Eater, For a ‘Proper Proper Proper’ Baked Sweet Potato, Freeze It First, by Elazar Sontag. Sontag’s sweet potato obsession has delightfully fuelled my own, and I am making this never-before-heard-of sweet potato thing as soon as I get more sweet potatoes. Like, tomorrow.
Bonus: You made it this far, please enjoy this crocheted weiner dog:
Yep, it’s a thing, and you can find out how to here, or read more in Selvedge magazine.
Hey, I’d enjoy hearing from you--just send me an email. A few people did, last week, and it was terrific. Also, if you enjoyed #21, please share with someone who might like it, or share it online. And if you got this from a friend and would like to subscribe yourself, please do so here.
#22 will happen next Sunday, thanks for reading!
Warmly, Susan