Lockdown Day 38: The gift of chicken, and coming out of lockdown only to be locked down again
This morning was family Zoom time, so I quickly fixed a Yuan Yang (black tea-coffee-evaporated milk) to wake me up.
After Zoom time, I made brunch. I wanted to use up the remaining whey from yesterday’s cottage cheese production, so I turned to King Arthur’s whey pancake recipe. But I didn’t want so many pancakes, and quartering the recipe results in a half egg (which I didn’t want to use for this), so I used flax seed to stand in for the egg.
I also fried up a Chinese sausage, and prepared a side of slaw using raw cabbage I had already shredded, and the carrot-ginger-miso dressing I still had.
I haven’t eaten Chinese sausage on its own this way (usually it’s mixed in with a lot of other ingredients). It’s surprisingly salty! I can now see why it’s usually mixed in with a lot of other ingredients!
The flax egg substitute worked okay, but the pancakes were a bit fragile and slightly mushier than normal.
Then I turned my attention to cutting up the chicken that my friend had gifted me. She was afraid to even look at the package in case there was a head. Well I’m happy to say there was neither a head attached, nor feet! This was a pretty meaty, sizable chicken. I dare say, without the head and feet, and with a lot more meat on the bones, this felt… American.
The yield was dramatically more than the last two chickens.
I first roasted the carcass bones for stock.
Then I made a big accomplishment. I changed my sheets! And used a flat sheet for the bottom sheet for the first time! I had been hoping that my ayi would be able to come back to do this complicated operation by now, but alas, I didn’t want to hold out any longer.
After this, I had my last Yuan Yang… Well of course I could make more, but it was the last few drops of evaporated milk that I had. The taste of evaporated milk really makes it taste like they way they make these in restaurants! (Because that’s what they use, and specifically the Black and White brand evaporated milk that I used, the one with a red can and black and white cow on it).
After the stock was ready, I munched on the meat clinging to the bones. With some soy sauce.
Then the entryway lady came by with more antigen tests, because I told her I would run out today. When she first gave us the box of 25 tests at the beginning of April, I thought this was an obscene amount. but then I used up this box and she gave me 15 more. And now I’m on my next box of 25 tests.
I defrosted some potatoes I cooked before, and used my immersion blender to turn them into mashed potatoes. i’d never done that before, because I’d always read that that makes gluey mashed potatoes. But the potatoes that I had were very watery, so indeed I wanted to make them kind of more gluey and stick together, rather than be a soupy mess.
I also fried up some bok choy. I packed these up, and some of my chicken stock, and a raw chicken breast, and gave these to my friend who had given me the chicken.
After coming back, I sat down to my own dinner. I only had the drumstick, because I was going to save the thigh for another occasion. Unfortunately, I confirmed my suspicion that I had over-roasted the chicken. It was rather tough. I think 225 Celsius was far too hot, even though that’s what a recipe I was following recommended. I usually use 200 Celsius, and I think I should stick with that.
The potatoes were good though! I mixed in some garlic parmesan powder, and also the pan drippings of the chicken.
Then I finished up with an orange, from my one and only purchase of food through the juweihui 居委会 neighborhood committee.
Later on in the evening, after a bit of work, I had a craving for something sweet. i was going to open up a bag of chocolate chips, but found out to my surprise that I had finished the two bags of semisweet chocolate chips that I brought back from the US in February. Already!
Then I remembered I had some roasted sweet potatoes in the fridge. They’re small, and perfectly snack sized. In fact, just like snacking, after I finished one sweet potato, I had another.
And of course I did my post-midnight antigen test.
Overall today, i just felt kind of down. Just completely powerless about the whole situation. And with the family Zoom this morning, just felt so far away and powerless to be with others too.
Now that it’s just past midnight, our compound actually should be in the fangfan qu 防范区 “prevention” area, since it’s been 14 days since the last case.
But with the ever-shifting goal posts, our neighborhood committee has told us that in order to achieve the so-called “societal zero” 社会面清零 we were back under the strictest lockdown rules for another week. We shouldn’t even leave our apartments, with the exception of going to do COVID tests. So arbitrary, and based on paranoia, rather than reason. Adding to the sense of helplessness and disorientation.
