My First Weekend In Quarantine

Lauren C. James
Lauren C. James

After a week of online classes, my first weekend of social distancing commenced. Friday night came and went: I took an afternoon run, followed by a lasagna making night. However, Saturday was when the boredom began. I woke up around 10:30 to the joyous sound of my dog, Julio, barking at an innocent bird flying past our door. Gradually I got up, brushed my teeth and put on a modified version of my last night’s sleepwear. I made my way downstairs and commenced a long day of watching movies and TV shows. I decided to run for class officer for my upcoming sophomore year of high school, so I wrote a campaign speech and my dad recorded me giving it so I can send it to the school to post before the class votes. Then, after about 3 hours, my head began to ache and my on-screen entertainment was less than distracting. I turned it off and began to think about how to best cure my boredom. After a few pensive minutes, I decided on baking and exercising. I went upstairs to change and then made my way down the street to go for a run with my dad, who decided to tag along. While we were slowly jogging we discussed the various baked goods that I could make. My dad just wanted me to bake a simple loaf of bread, but I wanted to do something more challenging! Eventually, I decided that now would be a great time to make croissants from scratch. Luckily, we have a small supermarket within walking distance of our house, so we headed over to buy ingredients. However, I must have forgotten that we are in a faux apocalypse because I thought that there would be every kind of flour at the store. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. We could only find two bags, and both were bread flour, but, as I later learned, you cannot use bread flour to make the decadent french pastry known as a croissant. Determined, I made my way to the dairy section to look for European style butter, which thankfully, they had. After some success at the store, I headed home in high hopes of making one of my favorite foods, completely from scratch. However, I had no idea what I was in store for over the next two days… yes…it took me TWO DAYS to make 12 croissants. This weekend activity consisted of mixing, rolling, and chilling the dough over and over again until I could barely feel my arms. And I realized halfway through the process that my dough was not laminating properly (The process of folding the dough with layers of butter underneath it is called laminating dough). I could see butter through the layers of dough, but, you are not supposed to see the butter through the dough during this process. I saw all of my butter through the dough while I was attempting to layer it. Even after recognizing the problems during the prep process, I decided to keep going and cut and roll the dough out into the best crescent shapes I could form. Even though I was discouraged, my dad told me that I should just keep going and put my “croissants”, if you could even call them that, in the oven. Reluctantly, I did and after 30 minutes of baking time, it was clear that I did not make croissants. I made biscuits in the shape of croissants.

Simultaneously, while my failed baking adventure was coming out of the oven, my extended family started a group video chat and they all had lots to say about my “croissants”. While they agreed that they didn’t look like the classic French pastry, they encouraged me, telling me that I shouldn’t expect perfection on my first try with such a difficult recipe. Although my family was trying to lift me up, I was very upset that my project failed. So, naturally, I began to cry, as my dad attempted to calm me down, I realized that this wasn’t really about croissants. I was just really tired of being inside my house, I missed my friends and my family, and to be honest, I missed school. Nevertheless, I know that social distancing is the best way to slow down Covid-19, and I need to do my part to secure the safety of those around me, including my friends and family.

1 thought on “My First Weekend In Quarantine”

  1. Ms. James, hang in there. Your baking adventure was a great learning experience despite the outcome. Thanks for sharing. We will overcome this temporary ‘bump in the road’(COVID-19). Meanwhile, continue to share your writing and ideas. Celebrate the opportunities that abound.

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