Tiny Commotions

he plan is that I make every single one of the NYT 100 Easy Dinner Recipes For Right Now. The plan is that somehow helps me riddle out the right now.

I made Kay Chun’s Meatballs. This is cheating for a couple of reasons. First off, because technically I made this two nights ago, on Halloween. Secondly because I made Kenji’s Marinara which is more of a six hour process kind of thing, which almost defeats the purpose of the whole “easy dinner idea.” But I was/am suffering through the tail end of the famed Paxlovid rebound and could not participate in Halloween. I needed something to make me feel marginally less destroyed by life. For the purposes of the recipe, I used a ground beef/ground pork combo and (thanks covid) did not have any panko, but DID have prepared baguette crumbs. I added a couple extra cloves of garlic and some fresh basil and oregano because hey, a frost happened and all of my deck herbs moved on to their next life. I recommend a pinch of nutmeg and (stay with me here) a pinch of cayenne. I served the meatballs over linguine (because, again, Covid, and I was out of spaghetti) with a fat plop of the marinara and the end of an oven heated buttered heel of a baguette.

Accompanying drinks: Half a bottle of way-too-nice for just me Montalcino (Torraiolo Brunello) , which is likely not good for the Paxlovid rebound, but seriously just fuck the fuck off, scolds. I am obviously cursed by witches and everything sucks. I could have gone for heroin or an anvil to the head. The Montalcino, at least, had a nice dry cherry finish and I am both alive and without any additional traumatic brain injury.

Soundtrack: It was Halloween so I plowed through the Gobin “Suspriria” soundtrack, in honor of the Dario Argento, another red sauce champion. Then I got nostalgic and sad so I just turned all the lights off and listened to Blossom Dearie by candlelight and got sort of weepy.

The Night: Still sick. Still positive, in the most negative way possible. Still depressed. Still everything is broken. Still the world is falling apart. Still my life is . . . whatever. The cats broke a few new things.The dryer broke. The drying rack broke. Pulling the drying rack out of the closet caused the broken closet to break even more. My computer is death rattling. Also it froze. I brought all the plants in. I left all the lights off and still kids came to the door and I was forced to stand behind the glass and explain that I had Covid and I was so so sorry. I left this note taped to the door.

I took a bubble bath. The bubbles didn’t bubble. I realized that my bathtub drain is even more broken than before. I watched “The Hunger” with the sound off, and a disco compilation on. I went to sleep.

Next up: Possibly a comet hits just me. Definitely my personal raincloud needs to find a new friend.. I am low, low, low, gang, and I don’t even have the cool Bowie hair to go with it. But probably a something spicy, recipe-wise.