Sonya Gwak
This is a blog about how I cooked and ate through the Pandemic of 2020. Each post will have some musings about food, a little bit about my life (present and past), and a few recipes here and there. 손맛 (Son mat) literally translates to “Hand taste”. Often used in the context of your mom’s home cooking, it is the intangible sense when cooking that makes food taste good.
On March 16, 2020, the City of Philadelphia closed. “Safer at home” was what we were told and that began the year of WFH. Less than two weeks before that was my last vacation and the last meal out was just that weekend.
I was one of the lucky ones. My work-life balance actually improved because I was working from home. Also, I quickly realized that I was a closet prepper. A quick look around the pantry and freezer and I calculated that as long as I was not too picky about my food, I could eat for two months, easy. It was all going to be over by then anyway, right?
TBH, I love cooking and being able to cook every meal I eat is a luxury. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy dining out (plenty of take out during the pandemic) and there are things I would never make at home (more on that later). Nevertheless, the simple pleasure of making my own meal wasn’t possible with my job that frequently seeped into evenings and weekends. So I made the most of the time I had because I knew it will not–CANNOT–be forever.
This this the first time I thought of writing a blog, where I actually think I may have regular content to share. I am hoping that this pandemic will be the only pandemic in my lifetime and this is a small way of marking and leaving behind a note for myself how I ate through the year+.
What will Dr. Gwak say? 