Cheers to you all

Hi everyone.

It's two years and one day since we first posted at the Confined Kitchen. 

A lot has happened since. Nothing much has happened since. 

I have got a lot better acquainted with local parks. That definitely happened.

 

Some terrible things have occurred. We have lost people, and time, and opportunities, and hopes. Many, many people have had it worse than us, and we're very lucky.

Our acquaintance with more than one horseman of the Apocalypse is now closer than it was. I like to think if we meet Famine too, we'll have this space to share tips - maybe that stuff about turnips that we nervously joked about in March 2020. But I also like to think things will turn for the better and that's not where we're headed.

We've scrobbled in the back of neglected cupboards for long-expired packages, and substituted some things best not substituted. We've stocked and upgraded our cocktail cabinets (and in some cases, a whole spectacular glassware investment has happened). I personally have developed an obsession with delivery meal kits because I'm so sick of cooking for myself sometimes, and yet I have still barely been to a restaurant in two years because... well, is it worth it? Not for me, not right now. 

 

(I was let down this weekend by a fancy funky youthful chef one I'd ordered in honour of Two Years Of This. Was offered a choice of alternatives. I went for Michel Roux. Michel Roux doesn't let you down. This is the absolutely best French onion soup I've ever tasted. I'm having stew for dinner and am confident that will also make me incredibly happy.)

And we've said hello. Here, or on twitter. At 7 onna Saturday with something in a glass, or just in general, with a few hashtags. I have developed Feelings about things from risotto (good, but inevitable) to garlic (there is no such thing as too much) to ancient cornflour (triumphantly using it up yesss) to pancakes (so many kinds, no bad kinds). Imagine two years of all this without that online connection. I'd be talking to my mop by now.

I didn't commission anything special for our second anniversary. It doesn't feel like a celebration, more a marathon. Half the people I know have covid right now, including my uncle and aunt (late 70s, well vaxxed and feeling grim but not lethal, please wish them luck), and I don't know how we get clear of this endless loop. But I do re-offer you last year's wonderful storytelling by Vanessa Woolf (get on her mailing list) - the Snow Queen, a multi-sensory story for a confined kitchen. Use it when you need to be elsewhere. 

Tonight, I am on my sofa. Of course. But I have a random bottle of fizzy wine left from something (Valentine special offers perhaps??). I am planning to toast us all, thoroughly, in gratitude for company and community. And yes, I've got the truffle crisps out.

Cheers to you all.