In place of our Wednesday Five posts, we’re pivoting to a “Keeping Busy During Quarantine” theme. I think we can all agree that busy minds are less restless. These posts will be focused on activities for us grown-ups with some sprinkles of kid-friendly ideas.

So, what exactly have Sonia and I been doing to keep ourselves busy during these homebound hours?

Homemade Starbucks Salted Caramel Cold Foam Cold Brew

Sonia discovered a recipe to make herself salted caramel sauce…and thus she could make salted caramel cold foam cold brew coffee, her morning ritual/addiction. No Starbucks, no problem.

Baking

I’ve been baking, and baking some more. Muffins seem to be my recipe of choice. First, I tried corn muffins. They were great, two dozen gone in about 2 days. The “quarantine appetite” is a real thing. Next, I found a recipe for banana oatmeal muffins (and threw in some chocolate chips). I think the best part of most muffin recipes is that you can substitute all sorts of ingredients without significantly altering the overall goodness. When you’re trying to use what you have, this is ideal.

I’ve also been baking some popcorn - aka making caramel corn. You may have seen this photo on our Instagram Story over the weekend.

Chocolate covered caramel popcorn (heavy on the sea salt) is my family’s favorite treat. I use the Zebra Popcorn recipe from Creme de la Crumb and skip the white chocolate. It’s quite the process, but, honestly, well worth it. :

1) pop the corn

2) make the caramel

3) carmelize the popcorn

4) melt the chocolate

5) drizzle the chocolate on the popcorn

6) wait for the chocolate to dry

7) Try not to eat it ALL in one sitting. Good luck.

Taylor Swift v. Kim & Kanye Drama

We (ok…me) have been enjoying the distraction of the Taylor Swift v. Kim & Kanye saga that continues to unfold after 11 years. Here is the timeline (with links and a video) for your pop culture pleasure.

2009 - Taylor Swift wins a VMA and Kanye West jumps onstage, jacks the microphone and declares that Beyonce should have won. A feud is sparked.

2015 - Taylor and Kanye are spotted having dinner together in NYC. Feud finally and apparently over.

2016

Kanye releases Famous, a song in which he calls Taylor a b*tch and takes credit for her fame.

Taylor (through her publicist) publicly objects to the song’s “strong misogynistic message”.

Kim Kardashian releases a portion of a recorded call between Taylor and Kanye, alleging that Taylor knew about and approved the song/the lyric in advance.

Taylor more or less drops off the planet for a couple years.

2020

Miss Americana, a documentary about Taylor, releases on Netflix. Taylor addresses the feud as a pivotal moment in her career.

An unedited version of the recorded call between Taylor and Kanye is leaked that puts context to the prior released portion, negating the alleged approval.

Lots of back and forth between Taylor and Kim ensues.

Just reading all this took up a fair amount of your time, yes?

Television (obviously)

We took a quick poll on our Instagram Stories and here are the result (along with some of our choices):

Blind Love (Netflix) - If you like the Bachelor franchise or any show on Bravo, this will be a homerun. People meet and fall in love without ever being able to see one another…until after they propose.

Parasite (On Demand) - It’s worth the Oscar hype. Awesome movie.

Ozark (Netflix) - The 3rd season just came out. With only 3 seasons so far, it’s an easy one to binge and catch up.

Homeland (Showtime) - The final season is underway and it’s a good one.

The Sopranos and The Wire and Breaking Bad - These shows top the list of most people (and critics) as the best television series of all time. Now is your chance to jump on the well-deserved bandwagons. I’ve seen all three, and I can’t decide which is my favorite…they’re all sooooo good. The Sopranos and The Wire are HBO, Breaking Bad is AMC.

Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) - Many say this is currently the best show on TV. It’s has a dark, end-of-the-world-as-we-know it theme…which might be a little too on the nose at the moment. Or, maybe that’s exactly what you’re looking for. The book is also amazing, and it’s available on Amazon as an audio book…which you can listen to for free with a trial of Audible.

Atypical (Netflix) - I had never heard of this show before someone recommended it on our Instagram poll. But, it gets great reviews. Here is the wikipedia page for the cliff notes on what to expect. From what I gather, a high school boy with autism navigating the highs and lows of young adulthood.

Tiger King (Netflix) - Everyone is talking about this newly released docu-series about a man that owns hundreds of wild animals. There’s drugs, murder and lots of wild cats.

Books

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty - This is my current book. I’m halfway through. I thought I knew how it would end after the first couple chapters…but now I’m not sure. Liane Moriarty also wrote Big Little Lies, which became a great HBO series (though I liked the book better).

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - This is the sequel to Handmaid’s Tale. Sonia is going for it. She’s braver than I.

Meagan’s Book Club - This is an Instagram account we discovered that has some great book recommendations. Rather than googling lists or reading Amazon review after Amazon review, she does all the hard work for you.

Master Class

Sonia and I are both taking some master classes! These are online courses by masters of their field. For example, Kelly Wearstler teaches interior design (Whoop! Whoop!), Wolfgang Puck teaches cooking and James Patterson teaches writing. Right now there is a discount on an annual membership AND you if you buy a membership you can gift someone else a free membership. Split the cost with a friend and go for it!

Watercolor Workshop

Sarah C Nightingale has put together a free watercolor workshop through Instagram TV. We are obsessed with her work and love the idea of trying something new and interesting with this extra homebound time. This is a great opportunity to do school with your kids - they can get in on the Mo Willems fun and you can do your own art hour.

It’s the start of week 3 of quarantine and you can do this! We can all do this. Stay strong, stay safe and stay home!!!

- Leah

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