Retta Cooked It!

I spent a lot of time thinking through how to share my experience. I thank God for his grace and mercy in bringing me through this illness and want to share in a way that brings a little perspective from my experience. I also hope to convince those people who still haven’t been able to make the connection of the seriousness of this virus to their everyday lives and how their actions affect those around them that this is real.

At the start of the pandemic, I did everything we were told to do: I stayed home, washed my hands and kept them out of my face, sanitized everything. I wiped down shopping carts, door handles and kept and used the alcohol wipes in my purse. I didn’t wear gloves or a mask (that hadn’t really become a thing yet).

Nonetheless, my second week working from home, I was feeling sick. I had chills, nausea, headaches, body aches, a fever and general exhaustion. I’d lay down to rest as soon as the workday was over. Like many people that had these symptoms, I thought I just had the flu because I was careful. But, I wasn’t getting better.

Then I learned that my brother was sick. We hadn’t been together since the holidays so we didn’t infect each other. But after we talked, he decided to do a telemedicine appointment with his doctor. Based on his symptoms including shortness of breath, he was diagnosed as being positive for COVID-19. He was prescribed medication to help manage his illness and thank God, after about a week or so he began to recover. 

Also by this time, the virus had fully cemented it’s infamous reputation of killing people with brutal and indiscriminate efficiency. 

Me, I  was still trying to “self-correct” and a couple of days after my brother’s telemedicine call, I finally decided to do a telemedicine appointment myself. (I highly recommend it, by the way). We talked through my symptoms and the Nurse Practitioner was incredibly thorough and noticed that I also had shortness of breath, as well. She gave me the choice to either have an ambulance take me to the ER or take myself.  My husband and I were worried enough to get it together and get to the hospital. 

At the hospital, they did the nasal swab (it is as horrible as you think it is), admitted and took me to a room with no windows and no bathroom. Nurses in PPE and took my vitals and apparently, I REALLY needed oxygen. I did not have the presence of mind to record anything in real time.  Most of the time to be honest, I was perpetually lightheaded and asleep. When I was lucid, I was plotting my escape. Every time they woke me, they were injecting me, feeding my IV drip or standing over me until I took the pills they brought in. Or, they were waking me to eat whatever weird thing they brought in on a food tray.

I saw how the nurses did everything they could to protect themselves. I had to wear a mask while in the hospital as well. The staff was wonderful but they are stressed beyond belief and who can blame them? I could have infected any one of them.

I was lucky. While I was ill for a while, I only had a 3-day hospital stay and about 8 days to continue to recover at home. Even today I still feel a bit of weakness occasionally, get a little lightheaded and my voice is still not quite back. Overall, I’m doing fine but it seems to affect people differently.

Doing the Right Thing

Intellectually, I knew the things to do to stay safe and mitigate the risks. Emotionally, I had never really connected myself with the importance of doing these things because like most people, it wasn’t going to happen to me. Or, it would affect a friend or loved one and I would be more a helper than a first-hand victim.

That’s not how things worked out. COVID-19 mocks you and any expectations you might have.  

COVID-19 has brought so much tragedy to so many of us. Dying from the virus never occurred to me until I was back home and learned that a friend and her husband had been admitted to the hospital. She’s out now, he’s been on a ventilator for more than a month in intensive care.The relative of an acquaintance was found dead in her home. I believe we all know someone or lost someone or is praying that a loved one comes home soon. There are so many people that had it so much worse than me and some that didn’t make it. 

As I write this, the death count in the US is over 60,000. I’m reminded that the number could have been plus one. I am blessed. 

COVID-19 is brutal and insidious. It shows no remorse and doesn’t bother to take names and it doesn’t care who you are. Give it the opportunity to get in and it will. This virus has taken the lives of more of my friends and acquaintances than I can count on both hands and it’s always, always a shock. Some of the people I know that have died from the virus or complications from it were not all “sick”. Oftentimes it seemed to happen out of the blue. But it is always a shock. And, they were not always older people. I just learned that another friend has COVID-19 and the hits keep coming.

Social distancing is important to help manage this virus as a community.  So is sanitizing, wearing a mask and gloves for your safety and the safety of others.  And staying at home; is not the worst thing. Who knows, you might even get to know the people you live with.

I’m lucky enough to be able to work from home which makes it easy for me to “shelter in place”.  It’s not that easy for everyone. But it is important that we all do everything we can to make it safer and better. Protect yourself and the ones you love. Have consideration for those that can’t work from home; mail carriers, restaurant workers, healthcare workers, sanitation workers, cops…It still frightens me that I’m not sure if I have antibodies built up or if I’m a walking contagion putting others at possible risk or if I’m more susceptible in the future. Nobody seems to know.

I am not interested in going through COVID-19 again and I don’t want to see anyone else suffer through it. I am reminded that if my oxygen level had continued to drop, I could have just as easily ended up on a ventilator and/or dying alone in that hospital room with no windows as it was for me to come back to recover in the comfort of my own home. I get emotional when I see healthcare workers on TV talking through their experiences, fears and stress. Too many of us have laid too many of our loved ones to rest as a result of this virus to get lax or take a “break” from this fight.

Normal Has Been Cancelled Until Further Notice…

I wanted to be careful not to turn this post into a sermon but a teachable moment and not be hyperbolic and overly dramatic in sharing my experience.  I got through the virus with the love and care of my husband, my family, friends and co-workers. I hope to never forget and I hope to take less things for granted. That is one of the many lessons I learned, at my age.

We have been talking a lot about getting back to normal or getting to a new normal.  Normal doesn’t help anyone that was in a precarious position before this pandemic. Normal takes people back to where they were before and if normal sucked for them then, I suppose it’s not gonna improve much in an economic climate that’s even more harsh. A “new normal” is way too subjective to do enough good for people that deserve better. I am looking forward to a better normal where we find opportunities to help each other and not just until “this thing blows over” but from now on. 

And there’s a lot to do in this fight if we want to get to a better normal. Most fundamentally, when you protect yourself you’re also protecting the people around you. Use the mask and gloves, keep your butt at home if you don’t have to go anywhere. If you do have to go out into the wild, keep your distance from those around you. If you can, get tested. If you feel sick, stay home. These strategies do work. For everyone. It bears repeating.

If you know of someone that is struggling financially through this pandemic and you have the means, help them out if you can. Help out at a pantry or make a donation, give blood, call and check up on an older relative or neighbor or someone you know that may be living alone. While we are separated right now, no one should feel alone in this.

Many times we feel like things like this are too big for one person. They are. But, if we all do a little bit, just a tiny little bit, that big thing that we can’t see over or get around by ourselves gets smaller and easier to defeat when we do it together. If we do it together in the spirit of cooperation, we can get through anything. And, it is really a matter of life and death.

Oh deliciousness!

I visited Detroit Vineyards to rent space for the Retta Cooked It Juneteenth Celebration and tried the Rye Barrel Cyser while I waited for the hospitality manager. Rye Barrel Cyser is a mead that is aged for 6 months in rye barrels. It’s made from apples and honey and it’s the best cyser I ever had! Ok. It’s the only cyser I ever had! I highly recommend it.

If you haven’t visited the Detroit Vineyards yet, you definitely should. It is one of the coolest places I’ve been to in a very long time. It is in the historic Stroh Ice Cream Factory at 1000 Gratiot at the Eastern Market in Detroit and has been open for about a year. Do they have a Happy Hour, you ask? Of course they do, Tuesday – Friday from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm.

On my mission to make you feel good about fine dining!

Among all the comfort foods one can imagine, tomato soup is definitely in the top 10.  It’s a delicious soup for a chilly winter afternoon. It’s spicy good. If you can’t take the heat, you don’t have to have it spicy, you can eliminate the cayenne and red pepper flakes. I like mine a little chunky, so I don’t puree it that much but, again it’s all about choices. Either way, this tomato soup is delicious and full of flavor.

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs of roma tomatoes, halved

½ Cup Olive oil

2 Medium  onions, rough chopped

1 Large carrot, chopped

1 Large rib of celery, chopped

1/2 Cup finely chopped fresh basil

1 Large red bell pepper, seeded and rough chopped

2 Bulbs of garlic

6 Cups Vegetable or chicken stock

4 oz. Tomato paste

1 tsp Sweet paprika

Thyme, fresh, about 6-8 sprigs or 1 tsp dried

1 tsp Oregano, dried

1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes

½  tsp Cayenne pepper

1 TBSP fresh lime juice

Grated Reggiano or parmesan cheese

Basil leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut off the tops of the garlic bulbs. In a large bowl, toss tomato halves, chopped red bell pepper, and garlic in about ¼ cup of olive oil. Place tomatoes, peppers and garlic onto an oiled baking sheet with tomatoes cut side up and garlic bulbs cut side down and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper . Roast in hot oven for about 35-40 minutes.

While tomatoes are roasting, saute onions, celery and carrots (mirepoix) in a pan with 2 TBSP of olive oil on medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. Add finely chopped basil, red pepper flakes, sweet paprika, and thyme.  

Once tomatoes are soft and browned/charred around the edges and garlic bulbs are soft, remove from oven and let cool.Once garlic is cool to the touch, hold bulbs by the root ends and squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skins and smash to a paste with a fork. Add roasted tomatoes and red bell  pepper to mirepoix along with tomato paste.

Stir in vegetable or chicken stock to pot and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 10 minutes.

 Add lime juice.

Transfer tomato mixture to a food processor and pulse until it is of desired texture. A stick or immersion blender can also be used to puree the tomato mix right in the pot. Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with cheese and basil leaves.

A burger and fries is still hands down the quintessential every guy meal. But a burger always seems to be better when you cook it. There’s nothing like a juicy, flavorful burger that you can make as delicious as you want. So, grab your magic spatula and let’s go make a better burger!

Selecting your ground beef

Good quality ground beef is red in color.  If your ground beef is brown or has a brown tinge, odds are it’s been hanging around the meat section of the grocery store longer than you’d want it to. 

Packaged ground beef, like those tubes, has usually been treated with gases (modified atmospheric packaging “MAP”) to preserve the red color and “freshness”. Some believe that these gases actually mask meat spoilage (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5848116/). If you’re in to that, ok…

The most common ground beef is lean-to-fat ratio 85/15 chuck. Chuck is perfect for burgers because of its high fat content.  High fat content of course equals great flavor and ummmm, juiciness! Ground sirloin is however, the most flavorful even though it has a lower fat content. It is also the most expensive but its the best choice for a great  burger. One way to ensure you have the best of both worlds; great flavor plus drip-down-your-hand juicy, is to mix the chuck and sirloin so you can have the flavor sirloin brings to the party and the juiciness of chuck. 

For the best burger, handmade patties just seem to taste better than the prefab frozen patties. You can’t deny the convenience of  the prepackaged patty but as for me, I’m not going to sacrifice the flavor. You can prep your burgers with fillers, binders and seasonings; egg, breadcrumbs bbq rubs, whatever. However, some chefs (I’m not one of those) recommend not using anything other than salt and let the flavor of the beef speak for itself. It is said (not by me) that if you add anything more to your burger than salt and a little pepper, you’re just making meatloaf. Salting your beef too soon though, will cause the moisture in your burger to evaporate and you’ll end up with a drier burger. Personally, I like to get a little jazzy, with the seasonings.

Don’t toss your burger in a cold pan. Cook it on a hot grill, skillet, or pan and give it a quick sear to help seal in the juices. Want a smashed burger? Just smash with a heavy spatula for a moment or two as soon as you put it in a hot pan to get full contact, preferably cast iron, as it sears. Once it gets its crust, flip to finish cooking it.”But, won’t I smash all the juiciness out of the burger? Do you really know what you’re talking about?” No. And. Yes .It’s science. Don’t question settled science.  

How about a perfectly flat burger (I expect that we’d all want that)? Create a void or divet -but not a hole, on one side of the burger, or create a bit of a lip around the edge and cook it on the flat side first.  When you flip it over the steam from the moisture in the meat will puff up the burger a bit and ultimately create a respectably flat burger by the end of cooking. Seal in the flavor by searing it on a higher heat to lock in the juices. Then turn the heat down to cook it through to the doneness you like.When it is to your liking, take it off the heat and let it rest so the juices can redistribute. 

Stuff a burger with havarti or pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, carmelized onions,  and peppers. Be sure to create a good seal around the stuffings so they don’t seep out.

Make it memorable.  Don’t serve a dull burger, not even to your kids! Step up your game or at the very least, grill your bun. Use a little butter or mayo on the face of the bun and grill until toasted.

Toppings

Just as there is no shortage of ingredients you can  put in your burger, there is absolutely NO shortage of toppings that can transform a “school lunch” burger into a burger of epic proportions. Of course, the standard items apply and you’ll usually find them in your refrigerator:

Other fun stuff that loves burgers as much as we do:

Pesto Mayo

Bacon

Sauteed mushrooms

Coleslaw

Pineapple (I know)

Avocado

Sriracha sauce

Bacon jam

Thousand Island dressing

BBQ sauce

Bleu cheese (or whatever cheese you get down with)

Fried egg

Portobello mushroom cap

Corned beef (again yeah, I know)

Cha cha (or Chow Chow)

Arugula…

The list is endless. I hope this gave you some inspiration to make a better burger.   Mix it up, and let me know what your jam is.

Ever smell food before you see it and think to yourself, “Oh yeah! It’s time to get busy,” only to finally find that the dish is dull, boring and tired looking.  Kind of a let down isn’t it? The food smells palatable, good even, but it’s kind of like sitting down to a bowl of farina or cream of wheat (no insult to either).  

If the Dog Digs It…

Lots of people think that just getting something on a plate is the end game.  Well yeah, it is… but it isn’t. I’m not drawing a parallel but, I watch how my dog bears down on his bowl and while I’m not entirely sure, I don’t think he has ever been resentful that his bowl wasn’t garnished with sprig of parsley. Nor was it placed on a lovely place mat that matches the tile on the floor. But, we’re not dogs and we eat with our eyes as much or before we ever pick up a spoon or fork. 

Plating and presentation is everything. It elevates your perception of what you’re about to put into your body. Appetizing looking plated meals are far more likely to bring some excitement to your meal, rather than finding yourself hunched over hot pot on a stove or eating at the coffee table. Which if we’re honest about it, is really sad.

Celebrate Eating!

I have some family members and friends that have an aversion to pretension. For them to consider sitting down to enjoy a well presented plate of food that is akin to being a “fancy ass”. I see it as rewarding yourself for creating a stellar meal.  And for crying out loud, you should celebrate all your hard work in the kitchen! A little garnish here, a pretty plate there (one that you can’t cut up with scissors for your kid’s school project). A pretty napkin, maybe? It’s not so much pretentious as it is more a celebration of food and you! Your dish is dull, boring and tired looking? Not any more!

You don’t have to get all Downton Abby on people. And, it doesn’t have to be a daily thing, that’s way too extra. It’s about treating yourself and your family a little special every now and then.  Because if you don’t who will?