Dishes from a Borrowed Kitchen: The pandemic challenge

The community quarantine brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic caused our family to move to and stay in the province for 10 months. Moving away from Manila a couple of days before the ‘lockdown’ took effect felt like an unplanned exodus. My husband and I, together with our son and my mother-in-law, left late night of March 13. As our small car was cramped with necessary items (e.g., clothes, school and work items like laptops, printer, and even an extra desktop monitor) for what we thought was only a 2-week to a month-long ‘vacation’, we drove relatively slower than usual and reached our destination past midnight of March 14.

Juggling between work and online classes made preparing meals a bit of a challenge in terms of time and self-imposed restrictions to go out and shop due also to fear of contracting the virus. Nonetheless, those 10 months with no helper pushed me to do most of the cooking from breakfast to dinner and ensure that my son still got to eat healthy meals.

I’m sharing here some of the photos of the meals I prepared from a kitchen not my own. Thanks to my mother-in-law for lending me hers.

Truth be told, unfamiliar situations cause discomfort. But in times like this, I’m reminded of what God asked Moses, “What is in your hand?” And through that lowly staff, God showed His might and led His people to the Promise Land.