sweet and salty chex mix (aka quarantine crunch)
With just under 8 years of cohabitation and only 2.5 years of marriage under my belt, I’m no relationship expert. But the fact that Cos and I have somehow argued less than usual during this last month of total lockdown has me thinking that we must be doing something right, and I’m almost positive that thing is: snacks. Sure the fact that we can’t really go anywhere or do anything other than work from home, eat, clean, and exercise has drastically reduced the potential for miscommunication, but also snacks. So many snacks. All the snacks.
Because both hanger and stress (and dear lord, hangry stress) have the distinct ability to turn Cos and me into literal messengers of the fallen angel, Lucifer himself, and because we’d like to avoid paying for a divorce while the job market sinks to the deepest depths of the sewer that is our current national economy, we’ve made it a priority to at least manage what we can. Ya feel me? So we keep the snacks stocked up, try not to act like only children about our personal space, and do our best everyday to create some sort of joy where we can.
That’s not to say it’s all been unicorns frolicking under skittle-flavored rainbow skies, though. Not by a long shot. We’ve both recently had a go with the ‘Rona - yes really - and it is what it is, but my ability to get anything done these last three weeks has been completely tanked by the virus (going to assume you’ve googled the symptoms because fuck it’s gross and honestly boring). Last weekend, though, I did manage to prep and snap some pics of our favorite snack during a semi-lucid morning and it felt like a real accomplishment (read: was the only I got done that day). This addictive little snack, that we now call quarantine crunch, takes all of 10 minutes of hands on time and stores like a champ in the fridge or freezer, which is ideal when your productivity status is somewhere between “cash me on da couch how bout dah” and straight up incapacitated.
Luckily, I’m on the mend now, and the more I come back to life the more often I think to myself (and even say out loud) “shit I am so lucky!” I really am. I’m so grateful to be coming out of the other side of this without having been admitted to the hospital. The news coverage of the horrific conditions facing hospital employees and the ever-rising (and almost certainly underreported) death toll has made that brutally clear. And I can’t look away. The enormity of this pandemic consumes my thoughts everyday. How can it not?
That said, getting through the thick of this thing will be a marathon, not a sprint. Los Angeles has at least another month of lockdown, likely longer, and we’ve all got to stay sane. So I’ve made it a daily effort to spend a moment giving thanks for something that brings me joy and helps me keep on keeping the faith. Sometimes it’s a book, sometimes it’s a meme, sometimes it’s a FaceTime sesh in which a loved one kindly lies to me and says that I don’t look like a decomposing zombie corpse. Gotta get that gladness where you can. Below are some things that have kept me going during my weeks spent on the couch + a couple yummy things I was able to put together when standing was an option. A little gratitude list, Coronavirus edition, if you will. Hope everyone is hanging in there. We’re going to get through this together, I know it, and possibly even be changed for the better. Sending love and snacks. x
Gratitude in a time of Corona, from top right to bottom left:
My New Englander husband (who pronounces “sorry” like a Canadian) making me cheesy grits, my favorite southern delicacy, while I was laid out // But have you attended a 20 person birthday party on zoom? This tracks // Pandora the kitten, who occasionally tolerates me long enough to snuggle
Sam Irby’s new book (GD hilarious and my fave by her so far!) // ranch salad // everything about Maxine Waters, not least of all her tweets
Three bean chili + all the toppings // remember the 10 plagues of Egypt? // Glennon Doyle’s new book (Glennon is a freakin G and always inspires me to dig deeper and re-examine my closely held truths)
The peloton bike we randomly decided to buy the week before “social distancing” became the phrase of the moment + my bald co-conspirator for being an A+ bike model // Brandon Taylor’s debut novel (holy shit, you won’t be ready for this one, but you need it in your life; equal parts brutal and tender) // homemade barbecue I made once I could finally stand up long enough to cook again (okay fine, I put it in the crockpot and laid TF back down)
Quarantine Crunch, adapted from What’s Gaby Cooking
10 cups of chex cereal*
3 big handfuls (about a cup per handful) pretzel sticks**
1-2 cups regular m&ms
24 oz white chocolate (the big bag)
Flaky salt
*I used a mixture of rice chex and corn chex, but wheat is great too. Cheerios are also excellent, use what you have!
**Regular pretzels are fine too.
Using two slightly overlapping pieces of aluminum foil, cover a large section of your counter, about 3 feet wide, 2 feet long. Dump all the cereal, pretzels, and m&ms into the middle of the square and mix with your hands until well combined.
Over at the stove, melt white chocolate in a double boiler. I always make my own double boiler by placing a glass bowl atop a pot with about an inch or two of boiling water in it. Using the microwave is not a good idea here because white chocolate has the tendency to seize up, and it will take just as long as the double boiler method (and dirty the same amount of dishes too). Double boiler all the way, trust! Stir the white chocolate around while it melts, holding the glass bowl on one side with a potholder or oven mit. You’ll feel like you’re shoveling the chips at first, but as it melts it will stir more smoothly.
Once fully melted and smooth, remove the glass bowl from the double boiler and immediately drizzle the white chocolate over the cereal mix, scraping the bowl clean. With your very clean, presumably freshly washed hands, mix everything together so that the white chocolate is evenly distributed throughout all of the cereal mix, then spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the top with as much flaky salt as you like, a few big pinches if you dig a salty-sweet combo. Leave undisturbed for an hour so that the white chocolate can harden and cool. Break into chunks for snacking. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer.
