COVID-19 Virus shutdown, Day 6

It's almost been a week since I've been at work, doing my regular activities.
Seems like so much longer.

Tomorrow is Thai Thursday.
The story goes that some of my coworkers who've been there longer than I, starting getting Thai food  down in Detroit by the Ren Cen. Eventually, co-worker and cube neighbor came along and started a trend, wearing Ties on Thai Thursday.
During the warm months, I wore a dress, while the others wore ties (mostly men).
I wanted to do my share of dressing up too, make it special, but neither Rob nor I had any ties.

Anyway, I got an email from the ring leader saying that he was going to use Grub Hub to still get Thai food every Thursday, even when he is having to work from home.

Side note he was out for surgery at the end of last year and beginning of this year, so he is probably super sick of being home.

So I'm going to join in, and support my local Thai place on Thursdays.
And also , I decided that on Thursdays, I will wear makeup and fix my hair, too, in the spirit of  Thai Thursdays.

We need markers in our lives. Something we do on a regular basis but not every day, to help us pass the time. And since leaving the house is really not an option right now, I decided to make a marker.

Tonight was a little special too, because I figured out how to have macaroni and cheese again (am now mostly lactose intolerant).
This may not work for everyone, but after doing some studying and experimenting, I made Mac and Cheese this way:

• Start with a roux made of butter** and flour, cooked to light brown
• penne pasta, cooked to box directions
• To the roux, add lactose free milk and whisk
• Add shredded cheddar*
• Add parmesan cheese
• Whisk in more flour to get that thick consistency we are all used to
• Salt to taste. 
• Pepper to taste

*Cheddar has some lactose, which I can still tolerate a little, so I used this.

**Butter has very little lactose, so no reaction for me

I was happy and ate a bunch so now I'm really full. :D

We also had:
 flat iron steak - heavily garlic salted (maybe too much)
 mashed sweet potato with brown sugar, cinnamon, and sugar and butter
 and homemade bread*** (which is still cooling because I cant seem to time things right). 

*** I had to proof the frozen dough: 

Set the oven to 200F and preheat. 

Put a sauce pot of water on to boil.

Once boiling, turn off the oven, put the pan of water in the bottom of the oven. 

Put the dough in its' pan in the oven to rise

Shut the door and don't look back for 1-2 hours.

For frozen roll dough, 2 hours

For half frozen bread dough, 1 hour. 

I haven't tried a totally frozen bread dough yet. 

On the studying for my "Pastry 1 final" front, I got through all the chapters we studied in the book yesterday and today I got through half of the handouts. I mean, there are like hundreds of pages of handouts, so that's actually impressive.

Tomorrow's plan is to get through the last half of handouts and then Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon pay the kids to test me. 

We had our quiz on Tuesday this week so I'm guessing we have our final also on Tuesday. 

I'm hoping that my fellow classmates that had been sick and had a low grade really Kick Butt on this final. :)

Also, saying some prayers - there are two people i know personally who are sick. No diagnosis yet but I'm just praying for them to heal, COVID-19 or not. Neither could work from home. 

Stay safe and healthy, my friends. 

Vicky