Weekly Roundup - 27 March 2020: "First of all, you’ll eat"

It's the end of our first full week of blogging, and our first full week (in most cases) of living suddenly differently to normal. Shopping is in some ways getting more familiar, at least near me - there may be some gaps on shelves, but not empty aisle after aisle. On the other hand, queuing under social distancing, *outside* the supermarket, is very odd. And staff were telling us they'd had very bad treatment from other customers, which is depressing. Knowing I need to schlep everything on my back rather than on the bus is also making some decisions for me (about what I'm eating and what I can feasibly get to feed my parents), and everything takes more tiiiime.

We've had a great week here, though: our pioneer posters have carried on sharing, and we've had content from new bloggers Sarah A, Kate, Neil, Katy, Paula, Sharon. Again, we've some new signups yet to post, and there has been fun on twitter with our hashtags (though not with our account, which is giving me gyp). We've gone intercontinental, to Canada, as well as our regular Italian correspondence from Francesca. We had a magnificent turnout for #ConfinedKitchenCocktailHour last Saturday, and will *definitely* be repeating that this week. 7pm GMT, charge your glasses (mugs, whatevers). If anyone can beat Stef's actual pint of Aperol Spritz, I would be glad to see it. We can drink to British Summer Time, which starts on Sunday, something I only remember because colleagues told me so.

We've heard about celebrations, about generational catering pressures, about preserving, about days of sloe-gathering and days when you don't really want to eat at all. About bread, cake, PIE (it was a magnificent pie), veggies and noodles, stretching the staples and making something fancy to cheer yourself up. The joy of deliveries, the joy of shopping, the joy of chips. Ancient grains to fantasy recipes for when we're all free to cook as we please again. We've also seen some highly suspicious #ArchivedIngredients, mainly on twitter, and I personally have survived drinking some 9 year old elderflower presse without too much remorse.

So, are we doing okay? Outwardly, maybe. Inwardly, maybe - I hope so, for some of you, but I doubt everyone is. I've had a couple of good days, and today is not a good one. But then, that's how my brain usually is tbh.

I loved this piece from an Italian author in Rome, foretelling our futures as lockdown progresses. "First of all, you'll eat. Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can still do."

"You’ll block out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again...."

I suspect that's why so many of us have gathered on this blog, on this hashtag, at those cocktail times - we can still eat and drink, and that can still be fun. Maybe a bit weirdly, maybe a bit unexpectedly, with either less planning or more forethought than usual. But it's something we can still do, and it's been wonderful to hear from you all how that's going for you. Have a good weekend.