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For five of the past seven days, we’ve ordered out. We’ve moved well beyond Taco Tuesday into a total Chipotle Lifestyle. We’re regulars at five, maybe six mom-and-pop places still open for takeout. Plus, we have a rotating list of favorite chain restaurants.
My husband called from work. “What are we ordering for dinner tonight?”
“You automatically assume we’re ordering dinner?” I said, feigning surprise. “I’m shocked.”
Our daughter, listening to my end of the conversation, looked up from her online schoolwork in alarm. “Takeout, please!” she mouthed.
The kid could save her worry for pre-calculus or whatever exotic math she’s learning this year.
For five of the past seven days, we’ve ordered out. We’ve moved well beyond Taco Tuesday into a total Chipotle Lifestyle.
We’re regulars at five, maybe six mom-and-pop places still open for takeout. Plus, we have a rotating list of favorite chain restaurants.
Should I be embarrassed that they know our orders before we speak? That we are regulars at more than one establishment? We’re living the Cheers theme song, but there are half a dozen places where everybody knows our name. And our order.
We pick up prepared foods from our local market. Pizza to go. The occasional fast food drive-through.
Chinese? Check. Italian? Check. The sandwich shop around the corner? Check check check.
Thank goodness for Chipotle’s online ordering, which means that at least one night we can pick up our food in a cloak of anonymity.
I’m not going to lie: Food has been a spectacular bright spot in an otherwise troubling time.
And before anyone starts tut-tutting and longing for the good old days of home-cooked meals, or launching into a lecture about hunkering down and staying at home, let me just say, in the most loving spirit of generosity: Hunker your own self down.
(Note: COVID-related phrases I seriously never want to hear again: “hunkering down,” “nonessential business” and “in an abundance of caution.”)
Full disclosure: My husband owns a small business, one that’s thankfully been deemed “essential.” The Phantom’s Revenge has nothing on the roller coaster we — and thousands of other small business owners — have been riding these past few weeks.
So we really take the whole “support local restaurants” thing to heart. We’re doing our part to help keep the local economy afloat. We’re spending our hard-earned dollars where we can see the result. (Also, on wine. Which for the most part isn’t local. But still.)
When we pick up food, we wear masks. We scrub like we’re preparing for surgery. We are ultra-aware of the presence of other human beings in line, and gracefully move out of the way, dancing the now-familiar steps of the Social Distancing Minuet.
We are awash in an abundance of caution.
Once upon a time, I felt guilty about ordering takeout. About not cooking healthy meals at home. Spending extra money.
Not now.
Now, I feel like this is brightest of silver linings. I’m actually being encouraged to do the one thing I most love to do: Sit down in front of a delicious meal I did not prepare.
Hunker down, kids. Mom’s on the phone ordering takeout. And praying her VISA can stand the strain.
Charlotte Latvala is a columnist for The Times. She can be reached at [email protected].
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