Quarantine Creativity
by Orielle Heilicher, Tastemaker in Residence
In these times of uncertainty, it can be difficult to find things to be happy about. The news is filled with depressing anecdotes about hospitals running out of masks and people getting sick.
My one shining glory throughout my quarantine journey has been the one and only, food. I have found joy in making all those dishes and pastries that seem so hard when you’re first looking at the recipe. On any given weekend when you were busy or stressed, it is now free with lots of time to stare at a recipe page, trying to determine if you even have any of those weird ingredients.
I say that now is your time to shine. Your baking and cooking skills needed this time to settle in and really show you what you are made of.
I argue that this is a time America needed in order to get back in the kitchen. Americans have been known to be late to the game in terms of cooking with a whole lot of us, really lacking in cooking skills. Now we are all forced (I think for the better) to stay at home and cook our butts off in whatever way we see fit.
Right as the quarantine started, my mom and I began a Corona challenge. The double meaning here is for 1) corona or COVID-19 and 2) Corona beer. For seven days straight we incorporated Corona beer in at least one cooking or baking item (not including the amount of beer we drank). At the end of the seven days, it was safe to say I didn’t want to taste another Corona beer for a very long time. If you want to see what we made check out my Instagram @oheilicher or for the recipes that came out of it, check my mom’s blog mideasttomidwest.com.
Since then, we have tried to make croissants from scratch and French macarons. It has been eventful in our house and it has been one of the only things keeping me sane.
Even if you are not the biggest fan of cooking or baking (like my sister), but you watch The Great British Baking Show religiously and want to be as cool as they are, I recommend giving it a try. Choose your favorite episode and make their technical challenge bake and see how you do! If you fail, no harm was done, but it was fun right?
If you end up trying to bake and cook and it’s miserable and you hate it, I encourage you to take this time to go out for walks every day regardless of the weather or create your own home workout. Now that everyone is home, all gym’s, trainers, and workout influencers are offering free classes, or free workout routines on their social media profiles, or on their websites. I highly recommend checking out Dance Church Go (https://go.dancechurch.com/) a dance class that keeps you moving at all times. I also recommend for strength workouts, Cassey Ho (https://www.blogilates.com/) has killer videos that don’t take long, but really work on strengthening different parts of your body.
Whatever your passion is, or whatever activity you have been putting off; whether that’s art, cleaning out your basements, or DIY-ing a room in your house, now is the time to get to it. Get creative in these stressful times, and you will end up much happier in quarantine and the good habits may even last outside quarantine.
