Page 18 - FDCC Pandemic Book

Living in a Pandemic: A Collection of Stories on Coping, Resilience & Hope
I’m not going to tell you that I was the pinnacle of fitness when I hit that Scottsdale pool. There are too many adverse witnesses; no one would sign my NDA. But I figured I had a few more months until Bermuda, when I really had to be in shape.
The good news is that I didn’t have to worry about going to Bermuda. The bad news is...well,youknow.
Cooking during a pandemic is like going to trial. Way before your trial date and/or dinner, you have to decide on your goal (summary judgment/defense verdict/pork). You have to figure out what you need to get there (testimony/documents/groceries), and you have to figure out how to get there (written discovery/depositions/Instacart). Especially nowadays, the key is to start early and use technology to help you.
For technology, I am a big fan of (1) the Instant Pot, and (2) sous vide cookers. An Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker/rice cooker in which you can also sauté vegetables or brown meats. A sous vide cooker is basically a big stick that heats and circulates a container full of water to a precise temperature and keeps it there for as long as you like. Together, these are the written discovery/depositions of weeknight meal preparation.
Have I taken this analogy too far? Let’s find out, as I describe how I made Pandemic Pork Loin Jambalaya on a random Tuesday last year.
After lunch, I stirred some butter, salt, and garlic powder into some white wine over heat until everything dissolved. I put this mixture into my flavor injector and used it to pump up a 2.5 pound pork loin (loin - not tenderloin). I put the loin into a Ziploc bag with whatever wine/butter mixture I couldn’t get into the meat and sealed the bag. I put the bag in the fridge and went back to working on a letter to opposing counsel.
I took a break from the letter around 3:00, when I noticed that I’d used “however” in three consecutive sentences. I filled up a container with water, stuck my sous vide cooker into the water, and set it for 145 degrees. I went back to my letter.
The sous vide beeped right after I deployed a strategic “heretofore,” from which I derived undue satisfaction. I put the Ziploc into the sous vide water and went back to spell check my letter. (I took out the “heretofore.”)
During a late afternoon phone conference, I turned my Instant Pot to “sauté.” I unmuted myself to make a point about Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction and poured a little oil in my Instant Pot. Then I re-muted myself, because I’m not an animal. I chopped up some onions, carrots, and bell peppers and threw them into the pot once the oil was hot. While they sautéed, I minced much more garlic than most people would have, and I cut up a few tomatoes – all of which went into the pot, along with some Cajun seasoning and a bay leaf. I rinsed off some rice from my pandemic stockpile and put that into the pot with some chicken stock, and I set my Instant Pot to “Rice.”
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