The Hot Handle

A blog interspersed with occasional gluten free recipes.

Please note: If you have a family member who requires a gluten free diet, be sure to use a cast iron skillet that has never previously touched gluten....and if it has, scrub it all down completely and re-season, to be on the safe side.

Looking for information on Celiac Disease? There are many good sites, but here is one to get started with:
www.celiacdisease.net/celiac-disease-101.



Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Covid Chronicles, Week 19



Last week, on Sunday evening (7/12), we got some takeout in an attempt to return to a "date night" routine.  I ordered a burger (which comes with *amazing* onion rings), and also a kale salad that I planned to mostly consume the following day for lunch.  

Unfortunately, the evening after I ate the salad on Monday, I woke up with the runs.  

After the second excursion into the bathroom, I realized that this can be a symptom of Covid.  (I have a good friend who actually had this symptom with Covid!)

"I'm going to sleep in Katie's room," I told Peter.

"No, you can stay here."

Pause.  Rumblings in my stomach continued.

"No, I'm going to sleep in Katie's room."

I must have hit the bathroom five times that night.  I got up with a mild headache.  I ate breakfast in a separate room.  I wore a mask anytime I was inside.  

I recalled reading articles that suggested if a person is exposed to less of the virus at the onset, the symptoms are more mild.  This stuck with me because it seemed logical to think that meant a vaccine could be effective.  I figured that anything I could do to keep Peter from possibly being in contact with the potential virus was good, even if he was destined to get it anyway.  

I took my temperature.  Twice.  No fever.  Stomach stayed OK, too. 

By 10:30 pm that night, alone in Katie's bed, I decided it was too hard to sleep there, and I was feeling better.  I crawled back into my own bed.  I felt pretty good by Wednesday morning, and I resumed all normal activities.  

Except kale salad. 

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This week I came across this interesting piece:


Dear Diary 2020 Edition,

In ❄️ January, πŸ”₯ Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran.  We might actually still be almost at war with them πŸ€”. I don’t know, because πŸ‘© Jen Aniston and πŸ‘¨πŸ» Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards πŸ† show and everyone flipped out 😲, but then there was this thing happening in πŸ¦‡ China, then πŸ‘‘ Prince Harry and Megan ✌🏼 peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial πŸ‘©‍⚖️, and then CHINA virus 🦠 showed up in the US ✔️“officially,” but then πŸ€ Kobe died 😭and UK peaced out of the European Union.

In February, the president was acquitted and the πŸ‘©πŸΌ‍πŸ’ΌSpeaker of the House took -Ten. Whole. Years.- to rip up a speech, but then theπŸ‘¨‍πŸ”¬ 🌎WHO decided to give this virus a name, COVID-19, which confused πŸ€”some really important people πŸ‘” in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty πŸ‘¨πŸ»‍⚖️, and Americans started asking if Corona beer 🍺 was safe to drink 🀦🏻‍♀️, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor πŸ‘¨‍⚕️ who just knew the πŸ€’flu killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.

In March, stuff hit the fan πŸ‘Ώ. Warren dropped out of the presidential race and Sanders was like Bernie or bust πŸ’₯, but then Italy shut its whole country down 🚷, and then COVID Not-1-through-18 officially became what everyone already realized, a 😱 pandemic, and then a nationwide state of emergency πŸ†˜ was declared in US, but it didn’t really change anything, so everyone was still confused or thought it was still just a flu πŸ’πŸ»‍♀️, but then COVID Not-18 was like, "Ya’ll not taking me seriously? πŸ’‘ I’m gonna infect the one celebrity everyone loves!" - and totally infected Tom HanksπŸ‘¨πŸ», and also said, "Y’all close all of the schools so y’all can πŸ™πŸΌ appreciate teachers πŸ‘©‍🏫 for once (because you can’t teach them anything other than how to use a touch screen🀦🏻‍♀️)," and "Close down all of the salons so you can’t get your πŸ’‡‍♂️ hair or your nails done πŸ’…."  Then everyone had to work from home and attend Zoom meetings in their underwear. The πŸ“‰ DOW took a dive on itself, and most of us still don’t understand why the stock market is so important or even a thing πŸ€”.  We were then all introduced to πŸ… Tiger King and the ONE thing we can all agree on this year πŸ‘πŸΌ, Carol totally killed her husband ⚰️ ..... whacked him!  And then Netflix was like, "You’re welcome," and we all realized there was no way we were washing our hands enough in the first place because all of our hands are now dry and gross and were all searching for lotion now.

In 🌧 April, Bernie finally busted ✌🏼 himself out of the presidential race πŸƒ, but then NYC πŸ—½ became the set of The Walking Dead πŸ’€ and we learned that no one has face masks 😷, ventilators, or toilet paper, or THE FREAKING SWIFFER WET JET LIQUID, and by then our 🦁 outgrowth was showing, so there was a shortage on πŸ“¦ box hair dye and all of our hairdressers were like, 😱 "NO DON'T DO IT!!!"  But, then Kim Jong-Un died, but then he came back to life … or did he? Who knows, because then the Pentagon released πŸŽ₯ videos of UFOs and nobody cared, and we were like man, it’s only April….

In πŸ’ May, the biblical end times kicked off, with historical locust swarms, murder hornets 🐝, and the realization that 2020 was the start of the Hunger Games πŸ™ˆ (however, people forgot to let us know). Some people started to protest lock-down measures with πŸ”« AR-15s.  πŸ€⚾️ Sports events were cancelled everywhere.  Then people all over America finally reached a breaking point with race issues and violence. There were πŸ—£ protests in every city πŸŒƒ, which was confusing to some of us because people were definitely gathering in πŸ‘« crowds of more than πŸ–πŸΌπŸ€šπŸΌ10, and for sure closer than 6 foot away ⬅️➡️ from each other. Those people must have forgotten about the πŸ˜– pandemic called COVID Not-One-Through-18.  Media πŸ“Ί struggled with how to 🀬 focus on two important things at once, and people in general struggled to focus on more than one important thing.  A dead whale πŸ‹ was found in the middle of the Amazon rain forest 🌳 after monkeys πŸ’ stole COVID 1-Through-19 from a lab πŸ”¬ and ran off with them, and either in May or April (no one can keep track of time now) a giant asteroid ☄️ narrowly missed the Earth 🌍.

In ☀️ June, science and common sense just got thrown 🀾🏼 straight out the window and somehow 😷 wearing masks became a πŸ› political thing, but then everyone sort of remembered there was a pandemic, but then decided that not wearing a mask was somehow a ✝️ God-given right (still haven't found that part in the Bible, or even in the Constitution). Then πŸ‘¨‍πŸ”¬ scientists announced they found a mysterious undiscovered mass at the center of the earth, and everyone was like πŸ™…πŸ½‍♂️πŸ™…πŸ»‍♀️🚧 DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH IT, but then everyone took a pause to realize that some people actually believed that Gone With The Wind πŸ’¨ was like non-fiction, but then it was also announced that there is a strange πŸ›° radio signal coming from somewhere in the universe 🌌 that repeats itself every so many days, and everyone was like πŸ‘½ DON’T YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE WITH IT‼️🚫 But then America reopened πŸ™ŒπŸΌ from the shut-down that actually wasn’t even a shut-down, and so far, things have gone spectacularly .... not that great πŸ‘ŽπŸΌ. All of the "Karen"s came out at once, and people started tearing down πŸ”¨ statues. Everyone was on Facebook arguing 🀼‍♀️ that masks kill because no one knows how breathing works πŸ‘ƒπŸΌ, but then Florida πŸ– was like "Hold my beer," 🍺 and "Let me show you how we’re number one πŸ₯‡ in all things, including new Not-Corona-Beer Coronavirus."  Trump πŸ‘±πŸ»‍♂️ decided it was a good time to ask the Supreme Court πŸ› to shut down ❌ Obamacare because what better time to do so than in the middle of a pandemic πŸ’πŸ»‍♀️, but then we learned there was a massive dust cloud ☁️ coming straight at us πŸ“ from the Sahara Desert 🐫, which is totally normal, but this is 2020, so the πŸ‘» ghost mummy thing is most likely in that dust cloud. We then πŸ“š learned of meth-gators 🐊, and I'm like, "That is so not on my flipping 2020 Bingo card 😑 and can we use it as the free space??" 🀷🏻 Then we learned that the Congo's worst ever Ebola 🚨 outbreak is over πŸ˜“, and we were all like, "There was an Ebola outbreak that was the worse ever?" πŸ‘€ ....... and don’t forget we just discovered FLYING SNAKES! 🐍 Seriously! FLYING SNAKES!!!!

So here comes July…. at this point we are over it, just tell us what’s next .... πŸ‘½ Aliens? πŸ”±Zeus? ☄️ Asteroids?  Artificial Intelligence becomes self aware?  Can it just be something cool 😎 or fun for once?  Maybe even a good laugh, like hahaha πŸ˜‚ April Fools! We all actually wouldn’t mind that joke at this point.

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I have no idea who wrote this.

Also, why didn't I know about the whale in the Amazon? 
Or a few other things because I just can’t keep up anymore!