Every Little Step I Take, You Will Be There

I served half of a tree for dinner with a Chicken Piccata .  The broccoli was like giant round heads that easily sliced in two and roasted so beautifully.  I added a little mayonnaise with a squeeze of lemon to mine and used boneless thighs instead of breasts for added flavor.

We had two consecutive days of all day rain so I was forced to board the subway or the COVID train, I'm calling it.  Actually, pleasantly, most people were trying to distance and most were double masked, some adding face guards.  These were the folks that most likely have been doing a commute since the virus began and have made their ride safer in doing so.  In fact, many of the faces showed signs of grief, and I realized these were the folks that most likely lost family members back in March.  They were taking this safety thing seriously.  I took notes and will also use this method.  But commute times are usually jammed packed, so I'm wondering if that many people left the city or are working from home, maybe a bit of both but the difference was sizeable.  Everyone was blue collar workers, I saw no New York Times yielding suits or high-heeled ladies in business attire.  Also missing were all the 30-something hipsters.  It wouldn't be possible to be safe on a normal morning with everyone back on board, so for now it was a relief to see them missing but what does it mean for the city?  Time will tell what lurks deep in February when there will be no other way to get around for most.  

Every inch we step back into a packed society is a little scarier.  Trains, busses, the grocery stores, are all more crowded, the bodegas have always been packed with the produce workers, maneuvering like ninjas around a conveyor belt of shoppers.  My job is allowing in more people at a time and we are beginning in-person, 1-on-1 appointments lasting up to 2 hours, with only a plastic face guard in-between us in 2 weeks.  I wish I could switch with some of the folks that are fighting for their freedom to be unmasked in crowded spaces.  I understand all the slippery slopes of rights but on the other end of that argument, there are folks that choose to be safe, but our jobs and ways of getting to those jobs don't allow us that same right necessarily.  Choices are made by economic necessity and if we fight them, we lose out and there will always be someone to fill our shoes that is more desperate, or poor.  

Tip: One of the best things about Chicken Piccata for me is being able to eat entire lemon slices and the flavors are other-worldly.  Take your lemons and throw them in boiling water for a minute before cleaning them thoroughly with a towel and then slice.  Because if you're going to eat that rind, you want to make sure it's free of chemicals and this melts off that wax.  Also, lay the slices under the chicken for full flavor boost.