Oh, Coronavirus! You Are Wrecking My Diet….
Nonni does a pandemic
OK.
Enough already.
I understand that Coronavirus is a huge threat. I am seriously concerned. I am 64 years old and not the healthiest of specimens. Same for my dear husband. I have a 90 year old Mom.
I am also the mother of two adult sons who had such bad asthma as little kids that I learned how to sleep while walking around a crib with a nebulizer.
So I’m scared of the Coronavirus. I am.
In fact, if you came into my house around 5 pm tonight, you would have smelled bleach, bleach, some bleach and a little bit of bleach.
I watched the news report from my home state of Massachusetts. The one where the Governor declared a state of emergency. I thought about my mom. I thought about my daughter, 36 weeks pregnant and teaching in a public school.
My sons were on my mind, too. The ones I had kept alive with constant attention to their lungs, their respiratory health, their asthma meds…..
So.
I felt a surge of panic. (Come on. You did, too)
And I did what any self-respecting Italian American grandmother would do.
I baked.
Bread-check.
Peanut butter-oatmeal bars- check (Hey, I have grandchildren. They need good snacks)
Soup- check and check again. Chicken stock that I made last month and mixed with the veggies I froze last summer. A nice pork hock left over from last week, simmered with onions, carrots, lentils.
Soup.
You canNOT fight a global pandemic without soup. Just sayin’
I am Nonni. I am a scared, worried, anxious, shaky Italian American old lady.
There is a terrible pandemic happening around the world. Colleges are closing. Parades are being cancelled.
Even Republican politicians are staying at home so they won’t contaminate the rest of us.
So I am coping in the only way I know how to cope.
There’s marinara on the stove. Rustic bread is rising in the kitchen. I made some roasted green beans. There is a big pan of chocolate oatmeal squares in the fridge.
Damn it, Coronavirus.
I honestly had plans to eat nothing but salad from now until June. I was so determined to get wicked thin.
Alas.
Now I won’t.
If you or your family are in need of a nice big pot of soup, pasta sauce or bread, just come on over here.
Chubby old Nonni has plenty.
