FINAL WORD “
weren’t lost on me, or anyone else I was crammed into that line with. These are challenging times. I’ve spent more than 30 years living in New York City. Almost never has the city been so eerily quiet, confused, and on edge. After 9/11, we were hit badly, but there was immediate action to take. We had to look for survivors, then search for the culprits. This country mobilized and went on offense. Against a pandemic, we are always on defense... mostly locked away in our homes. Nobody has been through this before, and nobody knows what will come next. Terror attacks can be devastating, but a human enemy can always be defeated. Financial panics can be catastrophic, but history shows that a robust society will rebound. With a pandemic disease in the modern era, nobody knows what’s next. It could be weeks before we finally exhale. It could be months. The mayor of New York City is considering a mandatory “shelter in place” declaration. The San Francisco Bay area already has one. The next steps will be more severe, and nobody knows how long they will last. Yes, New York will get through this. America will make it to the other side of the crisis. But that’s cold comfort to the businesses in collapse and the people who face financial ruination. And looming over all of this is the worry about mass casualties from a pandemic that is still poorly understood and for which there will not be a cure anytime soon. Still, everything seems to ride on the next 30 days. Strap in, buckle up, and pray.
I decided to tackle a homemade roast chicken with tarragon sauce recipe for the first time ever. I certainly had the time. Restaurants here are shut down, as are Broadway shows, gyms, movie theaters, and bars. Cooking is a diversion from the chaos, but it is also my little attempt to maintain some normalcy in this stressful and bizarre era. On my way out of the Whole Foods, I stood in a long line of New Yorkers who had made it through the produce maze. You can tell that their sentiment changes minute to minute, and ranges from “we’re all in this together” to “keep your distance, buddy.” Even a stifled sneeze raises alarms. It’s a good thing your average New Yorker can’t send their sniffly neighbors to a far-off quarantined island somewhere, because I’d bet a lot of them would gladly do so. I swiped my credit card and was told to push the green “OK” button on the electronic keypad... Then push it again... then again. And of course, to scrawl an illegible signature with a plastic pen that hundreds of New Yorkers also used, probably after coughing in their hands or sneezing into them minutes earlier. The futility of some of these epidemiological precautions that we are all told are the difference between life and death right now Nobody has been through this before, and nobody knows what will come next. Terror attacks can be devastating, but a human enemy can always be defeated.
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March 2020
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