Sunday, March 15, 2020

Sipping Soup for Viral Times

This big blue planet seems like a small place now, as everyone around the globe is huddling from and struggling against the novel virus COVID-19. Around here last week was relatively normal (we were on Spring break and even took the kids to the High Museum in Atlanta), but now schools are closed for the next week and quite possibly longer. All around us is a ghost town as people seek to isolate and contain the virus, even as a few cases have been confirmed around us.

Amid all this uncertainly, one thing is for sure- we are among the lucky ones. V and I are able to work from home. We have each other's support to take turns caring for the kids and pulling out our laptops to catch up on work. We'll get our salaries no matter what the next few weeks look like. We are fortunate to have cash on hand to be able to stock our kitchen and pantry to a reasonable extent with essential goods- and no, I have done absolutely no panic buying and hoarding. The dry rice, beans and lentils in my pantry will see us through many months if it comes to that.

I'm crushed to think of so many who are not as lucky. All the parents who lack childcare and aren't allowed/able to work from home. The lost jobs. The shuttered small businesses. The rich will sail through this while the poor will get poorer. The health implications of a pandemic are bad enough and then the economic devastation will be unbelievable. I hope we can all come together and get through it in one piece.

While the local kids are home and parents are collectively gearing up to entertain youngsters who are too used to a busy week of school, extra-curricular classes, play-dates and outings, here's one more factor that's not working in our favor: the weather forecast for the next 10 days. There's rain followed by more rain.

I'm trying to be creative and come up with fresh ideas for the kids. Not being a particularly fun and playful person by nature (!), this is going to need some work and an attitude shift from my end. We can't treat this as an extended weekend. There needs to be some structure and routine and purpose to our days.

No matter what else we do, one priority is to find ways for myself and the kids to be physically active, rain or no rain. This morning I suggested that we learn how to do yoga surya namaskars or sun salutations. I have wanted to learn this for a while. We found a video online and followed along in our living room. My toddler would have none of it but my daughter loved it. It felt good! We'll try to do these every morning as a wake-up exercise.

In the afternoon, I looked out at the grimy-from-winter screened porch and asked the kids if they would like to clean the porch so they can eat lunch out there even on rainy days. They shocked me by enthusiastically working together to sweep the floor and wipe down everything and then calling us out for a "grand reopening". Amid the sibling squabbles and bored whining, I LIVE for moments like these! Clearly, I have to find more projects for them to do together.

* * * 

Here's a recipe that's often featured in my home when the forecast looks like this- a basic vegetable soup. I call it a sipping soup because I love making a thinner version and sipping it straight from a mug- it is very therapeutic for scratchy throats. I find usual broccoli cheese soup recipes to be too heavy with all that cheddar and heavy cream. This is my fairly minimalist recipe; it uses a little bit of cream cheese to add thickness and no other milk, cream or cheese.

Broccoli Sipping Soup

1. In an electric cooker insert (instant pot or such; although it could also be done in a regular pot on the stove), combine roughly chopped florets and stems from 2 heads of broccoli, and 1 roughly chopped medium carrot.

2. Add 4 cups water, 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast and seasoning. The seasoning can be salt, pepper and herbs of choice. Or your favorite seasoning blend. Or what I most often use is 1 tbsp. of better than bouillon seasoning- the roasted garlic flavor this time.

3. Pressure cook on HIGH for 3 minutes. Quick release pressure.

4. Add 2-3 tbsp. cream cheese (I buy the bar kind) to the cooked mixture. Then blend everything until smooth.

5. Add juice of 1/2 lemon; taste and adjust the seasoning.

Here's a note specially for these stocking-up times. While I buy fresh vegetables regularly and they are what I use most, I also keep a reliable stock of frozen vegetables on hand.

This (on the right) is a frozen veg blend that comes in very handy to make this sipping soup, a standard supermarket "California medley" of broc, cauli and carrots. A bag of these veggies cooked in the same way makes a hearty pot of soup.

Hope everyone stays safe and healthy out there. Tell me what's happening in your corner of the world. (I really do miss this blog when weeks go by and I don't/can't post. I keep trying to get into the groove of posting more regularly...) 

19 comments:

  1. 'Not being a particularly fun and playful person by nature (!), this is going to need some work and an attitude shift from my end.'

    I could so relate to this, Nupur! :) My husband and I are both working from home and with my son's school and daycare shut, we were lucky enough to be able to drop him in a city where both our parents leave. He normally spends two weeks around this time with his grandparents as his school closes for 'spring' break, but guess this year it will be a little longer.

    Good luck to you guys- stay healthy! I find it quite hard to work from home in general, must be doubly hard with two kids. BTW, we absolutely love your oats kheer recipe.

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    1. You have a win-win situation! Son gets quality time with grands (and with two sets, it is shared effort) and you guys get to actually work and take a break from parenting. Good for you. Yes, it has been very hard to work from home. My older one is not the challenge but the toddler needs a lot of attention. And there's the usual housework, providing all meals and snacks etc. Distractions galore.

      I'm so glad you enjoy the oats kheer! I've been eating steel cut oats nearly daily.

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  2. I am glad you guys are all safe. But you are right - I have been feeling utterly down the dumps reading about all the lost jobs, folks hoarding to an extent the supermarts are out of stock, people fleeing quarantines (yes, it has happened in India!!). Sometimes I lose faith in humanity and then there are other times when I hear positive stories that the faith gets restored to an extent.
    We are also fortunate that we get to work from home (in fact it has been mandatory in my workplace). I was supposed to travel to Delaware to visit my sister the coming month but that is now obviously canceled. Though I do not find myself getting sad at the changed plans since that is masked by all the worry about folks making through this period (my sister's univ in delaware has quite a few positive cases). stay safe!

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    1. Hey Neha- How does one even flee the quarantine?? By going somewhere where there is no quarantine? Over here, social isolation is strongly suggested but not mandated and apparently, gyms and bowling alleys are crowded. What an exhausting situation and no end in sight.

      I'm sorry your trip to Delaware is cancelled- so much disappointment. Hang in there and hope we all stay safe.

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  3. Stay safe! We are also in self-quarantine mode. I haven't done any panic buying either, not that there was anything left to buy (I mean toilet paper and sanitizers or canned food). Our school closed for dismissal on Friday and we as teachers and instructors are working on 'online school' content. IT should all be up by Wednesday and students will be, hopefully, on track with curriculum.

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    1. Manasi- In our town, I did not see those empty shelves anywhere, I mean some items (like particular brands of milk) were sold out but in general it seems other places have seen much worse panic buying. Here too teachers have been working very hard trying to help us homeschool. People are doing their best to cope with an unexpected (and likely protracted) situation. Good luck to your family!

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  4. Hi Nupur,

    here in Netherlands, the schools/daycare are closed from today for atleast 3 weeks. we can work from home and i echo your sentiments about being lucky to get paid irrespective of what happens in next few days and having flexible working hours. i do feel stressed about how to occupy a 4.5 year and 1.5 year old though while also balancing work and household chores. will see how the days go by. your soup recipe sounds delicious! hope we all stay safe and healthy..take care
    Kejal

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    1. Kejal- Oh, so they're closed for 3 weeks already? I guess it is inevitable that our school closing will be extended. Right now it is only 2 weeks. Yes, we are indeed luckier than most. But caring for little ones in this situation is still a challenge. I feel your pain! Both your kids are really young- what a challenge that must be. Hope they have mellow personalities. (Mine don't!) My older one is more self-sufficient, it is the 3 year old that is sucking our energy :D

      Stay safe!!

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    2. hi Nupur, my eldest is a girl and she is indeed self sufficient. my son on the other hand saps all the energy out of us :-( it is very well possible that schools might be closed even longer than 3 weeks. i just get a relief from the fact that we are still healthy!
      take care and stay safe

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  5. In the Bay Area, where I live, we have a shelter in place order, which means we can step out to buy just essentials. We can still go for a walk, thankfully. Managing two littles, 4 and 2, jobs and household chores is definitely a challenge. But like you said, we do not have the stress of worrying about finances etc. Which is a scary reality for so many people right now. Our governer just announced today to be prepared to keep the kids home for the rest of teh school year. I am not even able to wrap my head around that possibility!

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    1. Shriya- What a challenge indeed to have two really little kids and juggle the rest! Sending lots of positive thoughts to you. I too am mentally preparing for the fact that we may be living like this not for 2-3 weeks but for months. It is a calamity in so many ways.

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  6. In other news, my kids (4 and 2.5) made your pav bhaji recipe today for dinner almost by themselves. I was guiding them and added the spices. It was in the Instant pot so I did not have to hover too closely with the heat. And my older one is pretty comfortable with the peeler and knife. I just had to monitor the younger one. It was a hit!

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    1. What a coincidence- I too made pav bhaji in the instant pot yesterday! I am very impressed by your kids doing all that at their age- sweet little chefs. So glad you enjoyed it.

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  7. Thank you for the soup recipe. I am going to try it for lunch today. Now that I am working from home, I can actually do things like this! We have shut down school for two weeks (this is a soft closing). My University has has closed indefinitely and we are transitioning to online teaching. As a Professor I am scrambling to get my courses online.
    I am also not a play with your kids on the floor person. I get bored easily. Our family time involves cooking or watching a fun show together. I could play board games but my little is still not at that point yet. I set up art stations for them and we do a bunch of educational shows as well. Hoping this too passes quickly. Hang in there and keep posting!

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    1. Sangeetha- Yes, working from home has its perks. Good luck with the online teachers. What a mad scramble it must be. I recently got a newsletter with some great tips for online teaching. E-mail me if you'd like me to forward those tips. (Although you might already have all the guidance you need.)

      Yes, indeed, it is quite a job to keep kids engaged!

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  8. I have been working from home all week but not keeping my daughter home because the schools aren't shut - I am a bit torn but she said today about 10 kids were out of her class - there is a feeling school closures are inevitable and I wish they would announce it. Though it will be a challenge to keep her home too. Your weather looks perfect for soup - it was warm here but will probably start to cool in Melbourne which is worrying for spread of covid19. Wishing you the best of health

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    1. Johanna- I see the number of cases going up in Australia. I guess they're keeping schools open in the hope it won't get so bad there? A misplaced hope, I fear :( Stay safe!!

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  9. Hi Nupur: here in NJ the panic buying has been ...well..frenzied lol. We didnt do much but just stocked up on some reasonable essentials a few weeks before when we saw the first headwinds of this hitting the news like some frozen veggies because we normally go with fresh ones etc...

    There was a thread on twitter that teminded me of you a lot Shay Spence (@chezspence) Tweeted:
    we are entering an era of unprecedented recipe substitutions https://twitter.com/chezspence/status/1240493890861400066?s=20

    Pretty hilarious!

    Lots of TP memes ...some tiresome and some genuinely funny and even well meaning forwards have been keeping us distracted even as its such a kick in the teeth for ao many people.

    We've luckily been able to take walks albeit with social distancing in our neighborhood while avoiding other outings which has been an illuminating social experiment.

    And finally just wanted to mention aninteresting organization I came across called give Directly..it aims to donate cold hard cash to families in need. Normally focused on African countries they now have a plan to target amerixan families impacted by covid-19.

    Hope your family and readers stay safe !

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    1. Janani- NY/NJ have been hit pretty hard from the numbers I see posted. We too go for walks in the neighborhood often, and streets are not crowded here or anything so you can maintain social distancing. All other outings are nixed. No play dates for the kids or anything.

      On a lighter note, I too have been doing recipe subs left and right!

      I hope you and your family and neighbors all stay safe.

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