I think you can say lockdown has been a success, then.
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It is. The only way to stop the spread of COVID-19 is if everyone stays indoors, so those who are sick can be traced, isolated and treated.
The problem is - we simply cannot afford to be locked in forever - the economic costs will be horrendous.
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It’s a hell of a dilemma.
We’ve had some relaxations for a few days including people being encouraged to go back to work if they cannot work from home. Already the “R” seems to have gone up to 1. This has been too soon and too much.
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Not to mention the costs of staying in 24/7. My utility bill has trebled (and so has my weight)! Our household of 2’s usage of electricity, gas, water etc is only 1/3 or 1/4 compared to the average household. Now what’s more irksome, the taxman says he wants more money.
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It is - a toss-up between saving lives, or saving the economy, without which - how are people going to live anyway?!
It’s the same for me here - triple the electricity bill. But I actually lost weight! 17 pounds, to be exact! Mainly because of loss of appetite thru stress and anxiety, I think. I’ve cut down watching the news on TV.
I was okay thru much of the lockdown, but towards the end of Month 2, I felt that that was just about as much as I could take. Cabin fever! If only I could jump into the pool from my balcony - but that would’ve been the end of me as I live 13 storeys up. The lone person you see in there was the pool cleaner, doing his weekly maintenance work.
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Half the newly gained weight comes from beer and wine!
Btw, that feeling you had has a name in psychology. Look up “call of the void”.
Takes time but it’s getting better. I think extroverts have a harder time coping with isolation and having no human contact. Reduce the amounts of negative information is a good idea. Take care and carry on home-cooking!
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Interesting stuff the “call of the void”. Hadnt realised it was a condition. I am not keen on heights - flying for example and even stepladders. Not desperately frightened, just varying degrees of nervousness. So, it’s always surprised me that I’ve felt drawn to the edge of a cliff or wondered about jumping from a ship. I quickly move back and think about something else and the feeling subsides
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Despite the loosening of the Lockdown procedures in Penang - all eateries are now free to offer dining-in services, subject to compliance with the required social distancing rules - many of us here are still opting to eat at home, where possible.
Yesterday, I made some Boston baked beans, using an old recipe that I really liked: from the 1975 edition of The Joy of Cooking by Irma S Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. It called for 1.5 cups of navy beans (I just used red kidney beans which I had in the larder), soaked overnight then simmered till tender. Then, I combined the beans in a casserole/baking dish with beer, chopped onions, molasses, ketchup, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar, topped with 4 ounces of smoked bacon. It’s then slow-baked covered in the oven for 3 hours, then uncovered for a further hour.
I’d first used the recipe back in 1986, absolutely loved the result, and never looked back since.
For breakfast this morning, I paired the baked beans with some Cumberland sausages, fried tomatoes and eggs.
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Bracing breakfast!
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Without doubt, the UK’s finest variety of sausage.
Traditionally, it’s sold by length rather than weight. Used to be a guy at a local farmers market sold them at a metre length (although probably actually one yard, rather than metre) traditionally coiled as on the photo
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Over here in Penang, the tastiest Cumberland sausages I’d found were made by Edwards of Conwy.
Local brand, Jarrod & Rawlins, from Kuala Lumpur is also very popular.
http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/photos/123303/cumberland-sausages-and-dynamite-sausage.
I know Edwards very well. They make a fine sausage. We often visit Conwy and the surrounding area for a day trip or long weekend. It’s about a 90 minute drive from home.
I’m amazed that the products from a butchers in a very small Welsh town find their way to Penang. There’s a farmshop a couple of miles from there that did even better sausages (including a “Welsh Dragon” - pork, leek & chilli) but it changed hands a year or so back and is no longer worth a visit.
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I felt the same! I didn’t know anything about Conwy until I started buying Edwards’ products, and Googled about their background.
But then, as one looked around the local mall where I bought this, and one sees anchor stores like Marks & Spencer and Debenhams, maybe one suspects that one can actually expect to find some lesser-known British product brands on the supermarket shelves. 
If rumours are to be believed, you may not have Debenhams around for too much longer. And Marks has just reported a very significant drop in its non-food business that may well have long term implications for what’s quite a troubled business.
Did you come across the Conwy Feast in your Googling? A food and arts festival that takes place in October. Good fun if its not raining - and it absolutely threw it down one year that we went. I remember eating a plate of local mussels and chips and getting soaked in the process. Obviously doubtful if it’ll run this year.
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No, I didn’t see that, but it certainly sounded like a fest which I’d want to visit!
It’s a nice one. Nowhere near as big as the food fests at Ludlow or Abergavenny. Been to the former a couple of times but not yet to the latter.
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Once, I was in Kosice, Slovakia, on a 3-week business assignment - and there was the biennial Kosice Food Festival on one of the weekends. I was so excited - it was held, oddly, I was thinking at the time, at the Kosice Botanical Gardens, instead of the main town square or central market.
It turned out to be quite a “formal” affair, with local hotels dominating the different kiosks, and everyone behaving very prim & proper. I’d have preferred a more boisterous, village-like atmosphere.
Some pics from the event. The food were all very Central European!
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From 2011 to 2016, I had to be in Hungary each summer for work, staying a few weeks each time. On one such a visit to Debrecen (Hungary’s No. 2 city after Budapest), there was this fabulous food festival in the main town square - now this is what I’m talking about!
The Hungarians are, in general, not as proficient in English as the Slovakians are - but they more than made up for it with their friendliness. And their food was absolutely fabulous.
Debrecen is famous for its eponymously-named Debrecziner sausages - luscious pork sausages which positively burst with flavours.
The Hungarian kürtőskalács, a rather addictive sugary bread twisted around a spit and baked over open flames. Neighbouring Slovakia has a similar pastry called trdelník. I lost count of how many of these I ate - in either country.
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I have also been to Debrecen, but it was between new year’s eve and new year day. Everything was closed and so cold. We spent many hours in the thermal baths in Debrecen.
Also a big fan of Hungary and its gastronomy. The “onsen” is fantastic! The baths are not separated for men and women like in Japan.
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