Wednesday Walk: Wasted Food and Old RVs
Wednesday Walk: Wasted Food and Old RVs
Making something out of nothing, dream jobs, and COVID safety
Welcome to the Quarantine Creatives newsletter, a companion to my podcast of the same name, which explores creativity, art, and big ideas as we continue to live through this pandemic.
Every Wednesday, I share random thoughts and tidbits with links to let you do some exploring. I call these Wednesday Walks, as it’s the type of conversation we might have walking down a path in the woods- the topics are free flowing, sometimes related, sometimes not.
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Wasted Food
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this post about a dinner I made this week: (If you don’t yet, please give me a follow!).
I am a big fan of local, organic farms, and I am lucky that in Massachusetts we have an abundance of them. I was recently at Hutchins Farm in Concord and purchased several pounds of broccoli to freeze and use throughout the winter.
I tend to only freeze the florets, but I don’t like to discard the stalks if I can help it. In the past, I’ve used a spiralizer attachment on our stand mixer to make broccoli noodles, but this time, I decided to use the grater attachment for our food processor to make broccoli rice.
In this case, I cooked some onion, garlic, and mushrooms (from my favorite mushroom farmer) before adding the broccoli rice and letting it cook down.
After it was all cooked well and slightly browned, I added some coconut aminos (basically a sweet soy sauce made from coconuts and containing no soy) and topped it with sesame seeds, diced cucumber, and some local Kimchi.
This was a quick and easy meal made from broccoli stalks that may have otherwise gone to waste. Have you been cooking with scraps or leftovers more lately? Let me know what you’ve made- I’m really curious to hear about it!
RVs of a Certain Age
I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos about RVing lately, and came across an interesting theme in a few of them:
From the few folks that chimed in, it sounds like the issue of allowing RVs of a certain age into RV parks may be a bigger factor out west. It’s not anything I have ever encountered here in the Northeast. In fact, one of my favorite campgrounds we stayed at this summer was a state campground in the Hudson Valley that had everything from modern fifth wheels to 1960s Airstream trailers to 1990s Class A’s that looked like something out of Saved by the Bell (if Screech had been into camping).
I’m wondering how much “10 year old RV” is a proxy for something else- a racist policy without being explicitly discriminatory perhaps, or maybe an attempt to prevent homeless people from camping out? (I wrote about homelessness and #vanlife a few weeks ago which included the story of a family that slept at a campground in a van).
At any rate, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate older RVs. When they are well maintained (or even better, have been retrofit inside with a new interior), they can’t be beat! Check out this 1988 Winnebago built on a Toyota platform that I shared recently after seeing it on our local Craigslist:
Bettina Makalintal, a food writer for Eater, recently shared a few photos from her camping trip on Twitter, staying in a rented 1970s Serro Scotty Sportsman. Bettina’s focus in the post was more on the food of course, but how much fun does this trip sound? (And how hungry does that dinner make you?!)
It would be a dream of mine to one day own a campground that’s nothing but restored vintage travel trailers and RVs. I would like to continually find old ones and bring them back to life for guests.
Autocamp is a chain of campgrounds made up entirely of renovated Airstream trailers. There is one near me on Cape Cod, but they’re also all over the U.S., from Joshua Tree to the Catskills. If you’ve never experienced staying in an RV, Autocamp and similar places are a great way to get your feet wet without having to drive one down the road.
COVID Fatigue
Finally, I wanted to share a Twitter thread that I really liked this week from actor Karen Robinson (you may know her for playing Ronnie on Schitt’s Creek).
Here’s the full Twitter thread broken out so it’s easier to read:
“Twitter fam - I don’t often do this, but I want to speak to something that’s been blowing up my radar lately. Over the span of mere hours, I’ve either been involved in or witnessed three instances of friends discouraging friends re exercising caution. #CovidIsNotOver
A friend invited me to participate in a social activity, and when I expressed my regrets they flippantly responded that covid was no longer a reason to not get together and that I “didn’t get the memo”. #TakeCare
While waiting for the subway, I overheard this convo -
Persons 1&2 (unmasked): Why are you wearing a mask?
Person 3 (masked): *short explanation*
Persons 1&2: (somewhat derisively) Oh my god, we never wear masks on transit anymore!
Person 3: *removes mask* #WearAMask
Seeing a friend. They’re fully vaxxed, tested regularly, and was unmasked. But we were in a small, enclosed area that someone else had just vacated, so I kept my mask on. Friend was trying to allay my caution without saying it in so many words...
. . . and when I asked about the person who had just left, the answer was “Oh they’re fine.” #takecareofyourself
Suffice to say these experiences, in such quick succession, have been weighing on my heart. People, we don’t know each other’s lives. We don’t know what each other is dealing with physically or mentally, who has loved ones they’re protecting...
...who’s lost loved ones over the past 2+ years. Who’s seen the faces of loved ones (front line workers) crease and change and sadden and lose hope, battling this scourge and the accompanying apathy and callousness that only prolongs it. We don’t know. #covidfatigue
Please stop telling those of us who are still careful that we shouldn’t be. It may make YOU uncomfortable, but we’re ALL tired. We’re ALL trying to navigate this new world. And you may not give a sh*t, but by wearing our masks and keeping our distance we’re protecting you too.❤️ “
I understand that people have different reasons for opting for the level of protection that they do. As I’ve mentioned in this newsletter before, I still mask up in any indoor setting. It’s a minor inconvenience that gives me some protection and peace of mind, and I think Karen’s thread is a good reminder that it’s okay to be the person in the mask.
This dovetails nicely with Eric Topol’s recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, which looks at the new research around long COVID.
It’s worth a read, but this paragraph sums up the gist of the piece:
“The ‘long' in long COVID has not been emphasized enough. A new report from more than 1.25 million people with COVID showed an increased risk of developing brain fog, dementia, seizures and psychosis over two years. Similarly, follow-up at one year or longer has shown an increased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases, diabetes, clotting disorders, and lung and kidney damage, even among people who had only mild to moderate COVID and were not hospitalized.”
According to Topol, the majority of people suffering through long COVID are age 30-50 and were in good health prior to contracting COVID. As he sums up his piece:
“Right now, our best chance to prevent long COVID is to not get COVID or to avoid getting it again. That’s why it’s vital to stay COVID-cautious now, and not capitulate to the notion that we should 'live with COVID.’”
I hope you’re all staying informed about the virus, remaining vigilant, and doing what you feel is in your best interest, even if there’s peer pressure to be less than cautious at this time.
Other Wednesday Walks
If you’d like to catch up on past episodes of the Quarantine Creatives podcast, they can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.
Stay Safe!
Heath