Tag: Tanka

During quarantine

Learning the value of our

Ordinary objects

Cookbooks, ovens, dinner plates

Become familiar

Tanka

I grew up in a time when people rarely ate out, at least those I knew. My family always ate meals at home around our big Formica kitchen table where conversation was shared along with mom’s wonderful home cooking.

I learned to cook and bake from my mom and aunt, most of my friends did also. It was just an ordinary part of life back then.

High School had Home Ec classes and Shop classes as part of our learning experience, to prepare us for living as adults.

There were some restaurants, but our family rarely ate out. A treat for us was to occasionally eat a light supper out on a Friday night shopping trip downtown at Woolworth’s lunch counter. We would order toasted egg salad sandwiches with pickles on the side and potato chips. As we waited for our food we would watch what was called the “dumb waiter” open and close as it carried food up and dish tubs down as the kitchen was downstairs from the counter above.

So cooking my meals at home during this time of quarantine has not been a big change for me at all, as that is what I usually do anyhow. I feel it tastes better and is less costly to do so, although I do occasionally like to order a pizza or sub sandwich at a local restaurant as a treat.

But many people during this time of virus, are having to learn to cook as they stay home in quarantine. It is a new experience for them as they were accustomed to frequently eating out. They are now sharing recipes and pictures of their dinner creations on Facebook. The family dinner table is being restored, and ordinary things like ovens, and mixing bowls, are being used again.

That is the good I see coming out in all of this. That is the part of this I hope has some lasting effect, as immediate families grow closer together and spend more quality time at home, and life slows down to bring appreciation of ordinary things.

NaPiWriMo Day 8–Prompt: Ordinary Things