The Plague Diaries: Uncle Dave

My uncle Dave died of COVID-19 at 7:30 PM yesterday.  He and his wife Joan went to visit a family member and they stayed several hours.  The next day, the family member called Joan to say she was in the hospital with COVID-19, and that she'd had symptoms the day of the visit, but hadn't said anything.  The next day, she was dead.

Dave and Joan very quickly developed symptoms of their own, but while Joan's were mild, Dave got sicker and sicker over four days, though he refused to go to the hospital.  Finally he couldn't stand without help and Joan called an ambulance.  They admitted him to ICU.  That was three days ago.  Yesterday he died.

Now I've lost an uncle on both sides of my family to COVID. Dave was my mother's brother.  Indul, who died in June, was my father's brother.  It's a harsh blow to our family.

Don't let your guard down, everyone.

Let the Frying Continue!

I've been playing more with the air fryer.  The home-made french fries are a major hit around here. I already have a fry cutter (I think it belonged to my grandmother), which forces a potato through a grill and cuts it into fries in a snap, so it's easy to make them and eat them hot from the air fryer.

This morning, I decided to try hash browns.  I grated a potato, wrung it out in a damp cloth to get rid of the excess moisture, tossed it with a little olive oil, and spread the results over the bottom of the air fryer.  Let the machine do its magic for about five minutes.  The results were wonderful! Hot, crispy hash browns that weren't at all oily.

Yesterday, I was at the store trying to figure out what to have for supper, and I decided to splurge on steaks.  Back home, I pan-fried them with a wine and butter sauce.  I also made buttered corn and a pile of air fryer fries.  Everything was wonderful.

And I can totally tell myself it's all healthy because of the air fryer. :)