I was just about ready to take my mask off at the grocery. By that I mean I did take my mask off for a while, but then there are a lot of people still wearing their masks and I decided the thing to do would be to keep a mask with me and put it on as the context required.
And now there’s the “omicron” thing, and we are all getting tired of restrictions on our lives.
The thing of it is, many of us aren’t directly impacted by the restrictions and so we go about our lives. To restaurants, though, this is another in the long and continuing problems that need to be solved.
Here’s where I am: I will dine out because I have been vaccinated and I know that restaurants, of all the businesses I patronize, are doing their utmost to keep us safe. I can’t vouch for every restaurant in town, but those I’ve worked with were serious about food safety issues and I have no reason to doubt that other restaurants aren’t similarly diligent.
And these days restaurants are actually thinking about how they’ll present food to go. That’s a good thing, and it’s something that may keep restaurants alive. Eat out. That’s the message I’m trying to convey. Dine-in if you feel comfortable and order takeout if you’re not.
I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was pleasant. We did not burn the house down this year. I am waiting for the thank you note from our insurance company. We did not cook a whole turkey, either.
This is the first Thanksgiving without Pamela, and we all felt it. That’s on top of the fact that we just can’t gather together as we once did for holiday meals. So we had a small Thanksgiving menu. I roasted thighs and a half breast of a turkey. My wife made dressing, mashed potatoes, a black bean-pumpkin soup and two pies: cherry and pumpkin. I made some sweet potatoes and my wife made a sauce that I would be proud to call my own. I say that as a man who makes great sauces, if I do say so myself.
It was relaxed and there was plenty left over for gumbo on Saturday.
I hope your Thanksgiving was as peaceful, but if you’d like to share a disaster story I am willing to listen.
