We’re following the French governments’s advice and in self isolation because Mike fits the risk group criteria. We already live in quasi-self-isolation, so the main difference is instead of food shopping daily, we’re using the drive (pick-up) service at Leclerc in Mazamet. We’d never used it before and it works very well. You shop online then pick up your purchase at your chosen time. You just have to open the car door/boot and their attendant will put it inside for you.
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I got us a Louis XV stool which is keeping me entertained meanwhile. The damask upholstery was in terrible condition, so I found a replacement in the form of a period remnant in a lovely yellow. Only one side is carved as the other is supposed to fit against an armchair. Not done covering it yet (waiting for tacks) but here it is. The before and then with the fabric just pinned into place.
In other news I’ve retired my Teflon pots and pans. Between Mike’s health and having watched Dark Waters recently – well, the takeaway from the film isn’t if a particular chemical is safe or dangerous, but that you really can’t trust anything that particular company says about its products. The more I read about what happened (after watching the film), the more convinced I was I should be using super old-fashioned enamelled cast iron Le Creuset.
Also in food related news, I’ve rediscovered Taralli Pugliesi which have become an obsession. They’re so easy and cheap to make, I don’t understand why restaurants and bars don’t offer them more widely, personalised versions with the spice choices of their particular chef. Here’s a Pugliesi recipe in Italian, there are many online in English. Basically it’s flour, olive oil, white wine and fennel seeds and salt. Make dough, make tiny doughnuts, boil until they float, bake ’til golden. That’s it.
Maya is doing swimmingly. She had a little surgery on Monday and is recovering well. Her reaction when we went to pick her up was really touching. She froze as if terribly surprised to see us again, then came to us. A bit as if realising for the first time she wasn’t alone in the world. She’s been much more relaxed since
Update 17/03: finished stool
She has the sweetest face. I’m so glad she’s adjusting to finally having love in her life.
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For the first period we were considering the possibility she might always keep herself in a corner, afraid of everything, but now each day she makes a bit more progress. As of this week, now when I’m cooking she joins the other two on the kitchen floor hoping for scraps 🙂
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Tarallini, seems simple to make. Do you sugar them or treat them like pretzels?
I wonder how our global behavior will change due to this Panic-demic. Will be be generally more cautious of social exchange of disease? Will shop & deliver grocery services finally enjoy a boom? Will more schools use online classes? Will we become even more isolated and dependent on technology to connect us? (Just in time for the Coronal Mass Ejection to destroy the planet’s electric grid…)
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The traditional way is salting them to serve with drinks, but you could certainly create a sweet version without the fennel.
I think we’re at a crossroads in history and I have a feeling the new world that is coming is going to be very different from what we’ve known thus far.
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I suppose burka wearing women will all be shouting: ”Told you so. See, we’re safe.” or something similar, and grinning from ear to ear – not that one will be able to tell of course!
Love the dog’s expression.
”You want me to wear one of those? Hell, no!”
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LOL! They can’t even win that one. Iran seems to be one of the hotspots with one of the highest number of cases after China.
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ah, so that’s what those are called. A small italian bakery here does them for christmas. I generally don’t like fennel seeds but they are great in these.
people are just losing their minds here in the US over the virus. Sigh.
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Instead of fennel thickly cracked black pepper is a fabulous substitute. But really, most spices work.
The virus thing is getting serious here. Spain just declared a national emergency
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I love black pepper. excellent idea.
US is about to also.
oh such fun.
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I know exactly what you mean about Maya’s reaction. Been through precisely that a number of our rescues. The surprise on their faces when they see us, and the car. It’s priceless. makes it all worthwhile.
And in other great news, BOLSONARO HAS COVID-19!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so freaking happy.
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Silver linings!!! Any underlying conditions to help him along? 😀 😀 😀
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Sadly, Globo is now reporting he doesn’t have it. He was, apparently, confused by the results use of the words “positive” and “negative.” His son said “positive” thinking it meant ‘good.’ Fvcking idiots.
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So there’s a chance he has it and none of them know how to read the test. I’ll cling on to hope for now!
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Me too.
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I’m just hoping that orange son of a bitch we have here gets it. He has more than enough underlying health issues to help him along.
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Him dying from it would be beautiful, beautiful poetry.
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John you are a bad man. Only Pink is allowed to be happy about such
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I want to be self-isolated in Mazamet, too!
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Lol. Indeed, it’s not too bad. We’ve been watching Jeopardy a lo t 😊
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…and reupholstering furniture! The best I might use isolation time for is cleaning the cupboards <>.
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The house is actually a mess these days. I really should take this time to sort it all out 😳
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Ha! Your version of “a mess” is quite different than mine.
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Mine includes three dogs so it’s not pretty!
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I’ve been in self-isolation for some time now as a precaution.
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You’re in an outbreak state aren’t you?
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Yes, Washington state has been hit hardest; but, the COVID-19 outbreak has spread all across the U.S.
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If Maya were a cat, she might want to “help” with the reupholstering.
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Then it’s a good thing she isn’t!!!
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My dad watched that show about teflon and threw all their teflon away as well!
I like your new stool and the recovering looks great but funny enough the way that paragraph falls, it sounds like you picked it up at the grocery store. 😀
Hope you do well with the Covid-19 plague. We are starting to take measures in Canada now. The university where I work closed all courses & moved them online but staff & faculty are still expected to come to work….
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The lengths Dupont went to to hide the Teflon evidence was on par with the tobacco industry hiding the cancer link studies. Shocking.
Wouldn’t it be great if grocery stores had an arts and antiques section!!! 😁
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Where my parents live in Bavaria, the groundwater and earth has been contaminated by PFOA, which was manufactured nearby for Dupont. There’s no way of getting rid of it!! Charcoal filters work for the drinking water, but it stays in the earth…
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Terrifying, isn’t it? For ages I used scratched Teflon without thinking twice about it 😐
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I’ve know about the bad side of teflon for a long time, same as for aluminium, but yet I always have one teflon pan in my kitchen! Scratched teflon always ends up in the bin and I hardly have any metal utensils for cooking – can’t be too careful 😉
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We chucked out the Teflon years ago and just use the enameled stuff and earthenware for the oven. Leo grew worried when the coating started coming off the pans. No aluminium either.
Given Leo’s health problems we will be going into purdah after the weekend as Costa Rica is just starting the descent into virus panic. Stocked up with essentials and we have the garden.
Lovely that Maya managed the vet visit without too much trauma…and her reaction on seeing you was prrof – if needed – of the progress you have made with her.
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Can Costa Rica deal with an outbreak? I’ve been wondering what happens when it hits a country like Venezuela where the health system is already at its limit?
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As far as I know Venezuela has no reported cases….
Costa Rica is only testing those who turn up claiming symptoms and has, I think, 23 cases confirmed so far of whom only one is elderly.
The health service is pretty efficient, but the government is trying containment measures – no big gatherings, public transport to take only 50% capacity, restaurants likewise and hand washing a priority – which, to be fair, it already is in the prevailing culture – to try to reduce anticipated pressure on hospitals.
Unfortunately, there is a water shortage in our area, thanks to long term mismanagement by local water board officials, so the hand washing is proving a bit of a problem and a couple of schools have had to close for this reason.
We have a state concession to use water from a spring on the mountain, so at least we have an abundant supply and can give water to a couple of families who are affected.
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A book I read last year about how we cook and eat said almost the same thing about non stick pans. You are better off using stainless steel pans or clay pots for that matter
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They say the new chemical coating they use is safe, unlike the last one; but they used to say the last one was safe too…
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I think it is best to use clay pots. They have been safe since the beginning of time
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Absolutely! And of course clay doesn’t alter the taste. Some metals have a very unpleasant effect on flavours.
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The best thing of my childhood was water stored in clay pots. It was chilled & had this nice aroma
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I’ve been AWOL for far too long but blinking in the sunlight, am delighted to find you in one piece. You are right to self-isolate – those in high risk categories must not take chances. I love the stool, love those little pastries and most of all love your doggy’s expression. Stay well, stay safe and stay fun
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Thanks!
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I can definitely think of worse places… with worse company to be isolated in.
Hope you guys make it. Good luck
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Me too! Cruises and Prisons come to mind 🙂
I’m confident we’ll be okay. I started preparing for this three weeks ago. We’ve got all sorts of supplies.
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You look strangely good with a mask…-runs-
Ahem. I’m trying out the order/pickup thing as well, but at the moment it’s really tricky as so many things in the online catalogue aren’t actually available in store due to the panic buying. That’s why I had to spend so much time inside the local supermarket. Flesh crawled the whole time.
Much prefer the yellow/gold of the new cover, Pinky. No offence, but I’ve never much liked pink as a colour, not even that salmony pink.
Glad Maya’s starting to believe that she’s really ‘home’. Poor thing probably thought she’d was back in jail again. I think this will actually speed up her emotional recovery a lot: her fears came true, only they didn’t because you came back for her. 🙂
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“You look good with a mask” is probably the most wonderfully evil comment I’ve heard in years 😀
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You’re welcome. 😀
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I miss reupholstering. I might get back to it again one day when I’m back on the mainland and materials are reasonable and easier to source.
Sweet doggy. 🤗🌍🐥❤️
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It’s wonderfully satisfying to breathe new life into something people had given up on. In this case I even left the wonky horse hair filling exactly as it was so it doesn’t look too new 😁
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Excellent. We slept on a horse hair mattress for years back in Maine. Quite comfortable.
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Keep safe all of you. It’s a bit scary in the UK as idiots are panic buying, so lots of basic stuff isn’t around.
I had no idea about Teflon dangers, so will read up on it later. We do have one teflon pan which is scratched, so that will be binned today.
Good news about Maya, she is making a lot of progress.
And the stool looks much better in the new colour.
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We’re doing our best. We started more serious self-isolation on the last week of February. Going out to lunch that week was our last public gathering. Since then it’s been picking up groceries through the drive through and Mike’s been completely buffered from the outside world. Apparently the shops here are a mess too, also the result of hoarding – fortunately we don’t need anything 😊
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Actually a great idea re Leclerc. Brico mentioned same today. We dumped the Teflon a few weeks ago and anything aluminium. My nan got bad dementia and weekly had rhubarb boiled in an aluminium pan that was literally peeling. Always made me wonder. We collected from my husbands town in Transylvania, a lot of enamel pans and picked up cast iron in the brocantes. Lovely to cook with. Just catching up on posts as been busy with renovations too. Love the stool. I need to complete a tonne of upholstery tasks.
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