*This is a collaborative post.


In your "lockdown diary," you may begin to repeat yourself over and over until you turn into Jack Torrence from The Shining. Something along the lines of ‘stuck inside, all day, no fun’ will become your mantra (fun fact: that famous line wasn't in the book). But before you allow cabin fever to consume your mind, there may be a way to make lockdown more bearable. And for you, maybe that's cooking! You may be stuck inside your home, but it shouldn’t become your prison. Being creative and making something that you would enjoy eating, could be the cure to your endless boredom. I tend to order a Dinnerly box each week, which helps by only needing to grab necessities from the grocery store, but all the other ingredients are shipped straight to my door.







The classic carbonara

The carbonara may seem like an easy pasta dish that anyone can make. But it's much more complex than you might think. It's not the number of ingredients, but how you put the dish together. And no, stop using cream! The original dish is from ancient Rome and was very popular among the poor and the army’s soldiers. Here is the trick to a great carbonara.

Don’t use bacon, use pancetta. You may sigh at reading this, but pancetta is not the same as bacon so you shouldn’t use it if you can help it. (But if it's easier for you to find bacon, I've made it that way, and it's been quite yummy. Who doesn't love bacon?)
Use whole eggs. Don’t sift out the whites of the eggs. The whole egg will add to the creamy texture, so don’t just use the yolks.
The pancetta goes in first! Don’t pour the eggs over the pasta as this creates a slippery shield that prevents the pancetta from flavoring the dish thoroughly.
Only parmesan or pecorino cheese. Don’t use cheddar!
Finally, be very generous with the black pepper if you want to eat it as the Romans do.








Making a roast

The classic English roast has many different parts to its process. You need to have all your stovetop free and ready to be used at maximum effect. If one part of your oven isn't working, then buy some spare parts which you can use to fix it by yourself. More likely in my case, I'd just call in a handyman to come out with parts and fix it for me.

You need a Boston cut for the true cut of roast-worthy beef. Tenderloin is a special cut that you can use, but it doesn’t have as much fat.
Get your potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli and parsnips (or whatever veggies you want) boiling.
Make a lot of gravy and let it sit on the stovetop until it thickens.
Make sure you’re buttering your Yorkshire puddings, even so often. They should have at least 3 glazes.
The roast should be coated in gravy before you carve it. This is something not many people do, but it's honestly the best part of the dish.


Take your time to get all the ingredients, so you can then have the best possible opportunity to make the best quarantine meal in your entire neighborhood (but probably not share it, because you know, social distancing).