The story behind how the quarantine cookbook came to life!
After five weeks of quarantine my husband and I decided that it was safer for us to see one person, rent a car, and drive to Florida then to risk going out in peak Covid-19 virus in New York City to go grocery shopping. We were lucky enough to have college friends in a beautiful home in North Florida who welcomed us in with open arms in fear of us staying in New York City during the height.
We knew that this was not going to be a short trip. We packed one big suitcase, 2 small carry-ons and filled the car with our workout equipment (Yes our yoga mats, free weights, and stepper came along. I contemplated bringing the treadmill but we all have our limits), and headed south to safety. If anything, a more comfortable and safe place that we knew we would enjoy, have our own room, bathroom, and ability to help our friends take care of their twins while day care was closed for the virus.
Now let me tell you about Lisa. Lisa and I have been friends for over a decade. We met through my husband who is friends with her husband in college and we’ve been traveling for visits ever since. Just last March they left their home in Atlanta and moved to Jacksonville. One thing that Lisa and I always loved to do together was cook and try new recipes. This all began with the creation of Pinterest in 2010. We still remember in 2011 when we made our first trifle together and using Pinterest to create our menus for a New Years party. We had 2 wins and 1 fail On our first cooking creations in 2011.
our first cooking creations
1.) Feta herb bread
(And no we cannot find the recipe anymore but we did try and re-create it during this quarantine through taste memory)
2.) Triple chocolate trifle
(I’m pretty sure at this point in my life I did not even know what a trifle was let alone a trifle dish.) I’m telling you we lived off this for days! It was dessert, breakfast, even a snack! We were eating for days!
3.) Salted Caramel stuffed cupcakes
Unfortunately we thought this one was going to be a win! Using our serious baking skills ie; using a thermometer to measure the seat of our caramel to make sure we got to the right temperature we did we made the caramel but we did not factor in with the caramel would be like once a cold so we piped in the hot caramel into the cupcake and when it cools turn into a hard rock so or cupcakes or ruined
ANYWAYS🤩Lisa has always been a fabulous cook but an even more fabulous baker! I swear she won awards for how amazing her apple pie Tastes! We like similar foods but we don’t cook the same way; she is clean, she is orderly, and she is meticulous vs. my style of always running trying to get a recipe pulled together, making a mess, and using whatever ingredients I have to get the job done. (a.k.a. not planning) Therefore let here are some guidelines to working with Lisa.
THE RULES OF LISA
- She cooks A new dinner every night
- She will not eat leftovers
- She does not eat pre made or artificial ingredients. It’s the real thing or nothing!
- She hates hamburgers
- She hates Italian night because she hates red sauce because it gives her heartburn
- She would eat fish every night of the week if she could
- If she made it to 5 o’clock she’s officially successful and deserves a drink while she cooks
- Dinner is not dinner without a glass of wine
As you can see we have some serious rules that are different from Joe and I. We are usually Eating at 9 PM, surviving off of leftovers from my mothers house, ordering takeout from down the street, and heating our frozen meals from Trader Joe’s 🤣 Truth be told I always aspired to be more of a cook like Lisa so I was up for the challenge to get my homemaking and motherly skills in check.
Cut to the chase After making 3 successful Meals together we knew that we were onto something and that we could use this quarantine to test and learn new recipes that we never had the time to create. Then we decided We couldn’t do this just for us! We needed to SHARE the love and learnings with everyone. and that’s how the quarantine cookbook was born!
