Sam's Weekly Quarantine Digest #4: April 1, 2020

Hi all,

Here’s another batch of ideas for you for this week – hope these continue to be helpful! I will be adding my favorite recipe/experiment from the previous week to these emails moving forward.  This week’s featured dish is a very simple duck confit pasta - everyone's made a beeline to the ground beef, but some of the fancier meats are still readily available (and delicious)!

-Sam


For you

• A group of chefs in Dallas have been posting cooking classes.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art has released a number of online resources, including a virtual tour, an archive of over 500 recorded talks about art, and their series of “82nd & Fifth” talks by curators. They’ll even be posting works from the museum one by one on Instagram. If you’re interested in seeing the initial email that went out about all of them, I’d be happy to forward it.
• The Public Theater (think Shakespeare in the Park) has the full performance of Much Ado About Nothing available to stream online.
• Having trouble with your wifi? The FCC released some tips and tricks to maximize the performance of your home wifi.
• Hoping to get moving at home? I was looking for online Zumba videos and stumbled on Refit Revolution, which has a 19-day quarantine challenge going, with a different YouTube dance workout posted each day. Day 3 (a 19-minute cardio boxing workout) was particularly good – I’ve found myself going back to that one a few times, and I’m always winded by the end.

For your kids

• Looking for more activities for your kids? The Seahawks have a page at seahawks.com/wegotthis/seahawks-challenge where DK Metcalf is posting “challenges” for junior fans, including a recipe book for kids, new activities like workouts and games in the NFL Play 60 App, a whole page of other activities for kids (click here), and even a meditation exercise led by one of the Seahawks Dancers.
• 92Y’s newsletter has tips for kids every morning, including fun activity ideas and some video/remote learning things as well, like this one:
• Take a classical safari with 92Y School of Music! Introduce children of all ages to some “wild” classical music, with this wonderful Classical4Kids playlist assembled by School of Music faculty member Eleonor Bindman. Her “All About Animals” program is like a musical trip through the zoo. Listen to it here. And read School of Music Director Yana Stotland’s tips for listening along with your children.

For your pets

• As Colman mentioned at TMM yesterday morning, some of our clients have launched new products for your four-legged friends: Harry’s has launched Cat Person, a line of stuff for your cat, and Sundays has a new line of dog food that’s advertised as being so good that their humans will be jealous. And don’t forget BarkBox, my tried-and-true gift idea for all the dog-owners in my life (read: my way of vicariously feeling like a dog-owner myself).

For your community

• If you’re looking for ways to give back, see here for an article by CNN and here for one by ABC on ways to support various sections of the population and the economy right now.
• Want to send someone a gift to cheer them up? Wine.com ships across the country; Baked by Melissa’s cupcakes arrive with each tray individually shrink-wrapped for easy wipe-down; Milk Bar’s cake truffle 3-packs are also wrapped in plastic and can be easily wiped down. LovePop greeting cards are my favorite – they’re expensive, but they’re absolutely beautiful and can really make someone’s day all on their own; you can even add a photo and message online and have them send the card directly to the recipient.

Recipe of the Week: Pasta with Duck Confit and Homemade Tomato Sauce

• Lucky enough to have a FreshDirect delivery slot? D’Artagnan duck confit has yet to go out of stock, unlike ground beef, and it lasts for months (and freezes for longer). Prepare any pasta according to its instructions (I used fresh pappardelle, but you can use anything). Heat the duck in a pan (on medium-high to get a sear) – it’s precooked, so you just want to warm it up and brown it. Set aside. Heat a drizzle of oil in the pan and add a couple cloves of garlic and a pinch of salt (I like to slow-roll garlic to avoid burning by adding it right away along with the cold oil), then add either fresh or diced tomatoes and any seasonings you’d like (I’m a big fan of rosemary). Simmer until the tomatoes get tender, then add ¼ cup of the pasta water and simmer a few more minutes until it thickens slightly to a more saucy consistency. While the sauce is simmering, use a fork and knife to remove the duck from the bone. Once the sauce is ready, toss in the pasta and the duck, mix until everything is coated with the sauce, and serve topped with parmesan cheese. Grand total, this took me around 20 minutes and made enough to last four meals.
• Coming next week: Something using the blueberries that got substituted into my order this week!