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Jarno van Outvorst about his ‘quarantine time’...

Aloha fellow Flow’ers,

I, Jarno van Outvorst, have the honour to write a piece as guest author of the Flowzine this year, bought at Flow’s auction! I was informed about this by our own Lau van Houdt. Now, one day before the start of spring, I’m inside the entire day, looking at the grey sky outside. ‘Lekker met de meiden quarantaine’…I don’t know how everyone does it, but in any case, I can’t. How do people sit still for so long?

Now, you can laugh at me, but I have simply consulted our big friend Google: ‘coronavirus quarantine: 100 things to do while trapped inside.’ For a moment I thought to have hit the jackpot, until it listed ‘puzzles’ as number one…I’ve given it a chance, but after an hour my motivation to complete that unit and my ability to sit still had run out.

Normally I would go on a run or something, to be outside for a moment and to have anything to do at all. Unfortunately, the most beautiful town in the Netherlands (for those who are not aware: Boekel) has the most infected people per 100.000 right now, so I don’t quite have the courage. Since my mom has to work at home, I decided to go help around the house a bit, because well…there is nothing better to do…and just like that, I had found my new entertainment: cooking! I had never expected to spend entire afternoons in the kitchen, but I’m seriously about to finish the Allerhande right now. No joke. I can recommend this to everyone who is bored: just put on a series and try to expand your culinary arts: lasagne with salmon and spinach, quiche with cashew nuts, cous-cous-sa-lad with grilled-chi-cken.

There is quite a lot of upsides to it.

- First off, in any case it’s chill that you don’t eat Italian, Oriental, or Mexican every day. The chef decides what’s on the table, right? Do not underestimate how chill it is to be able to decide what you eat every day. - You will get inspired by making dishes you would never make otherwise. I’ve notice that I’m able to vary in ingredients even in normal dishes. The next time I’m cooking for friends or family, I will be showing off, dude! - Do you have a freezer at home? Cook for 2 or 3 at once now that you are putting the effort in anyways! This way, you will have an entire freezer full of good food that you will only have to warm up. Quite handy when the whole corona situation dies down and you are super busy with everything you will suddenly have to catch up on. - And maybe the biggest upside of them all: when you are the chef, you never have to do the dishes :)