Dr Simony’s favorite things to do on a cold day in quarantine

1. Bake bread: This is the specialty of my daughter Julia, but my favorite is raisin bread the recipe can be found at: https://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-cinnamon-raisin-bread-not-bread-machine-98867

2. Make homemade ravioli: This is a great thing to do as a family! Everyone gets their own space and rolling pin and a baseball sized roll of dough. The recipe says it takes an hour. Plan for 2 or 3 hours. It is important to make the dough very thin and stiff. The excess you trip off can be used in soups and stews, another thing to do on a cold day inside. Here’s the recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9355-pasta-dough-for-ravioli

3. Make spanakopita: This is a Greek pastry, another good thing to do as a family. Make sure you have enough space! https://savorthebest.com/greek-cheese-triangle-pies-tiropita/

4. Bake cookies: whether it is chocolate chip, sugar cookies or snickerdoodles, I’ve never seen a cookie I didn’t like. This is the recipe my son Eric uses he has it down: https://joyfoodsunshine.com/the-most-amazing-chocolate-chip-cookies/

5. Make crepes for breakfast: This is the specialty of my son Brandon. It is important to make them very thin and on low heat. You can stuff them with sweet or savory, they are all equally good. Here is a recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16383/basic-crepes/

6. Watch movie episodes in their entirety: My personal faves are: “The Lord of the Rings” (preceded by “The Hobbit”), “Harry Potter” 1-7, “Star Wars” 1-9, “Batman” 1989-1997 (4 episodes)/2005-2012(3 episodes), The Marvel Cinematic Universe in its entirety this consists of 23 movies starting with “Captain America, The First Avenger” and ends with “Spiderman, Far From Home”. See this webpage for the full list: https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-watch-the-marvel-movies-in-order This clearly violates every screen-time rule the AAP has but if you watch them together as a family it is OK in my book.’ the “Vacation” series is a little racy and not for kids less than 13 years old but I can never stop laughing.

7. Read a book; I don’t know why but I like to read scary stories when it is cold. The genre, length, or type doesn’t matter, just read

8. Play a board game/role playing game: whether it is Monopoly, Clue, Risk, Chutes and Ladders, Dungeons and Dragons or Trivial Pursuit, spend some time together.

9. Watch home movies: Kids are amazed by and love to watching themselves being younger. I certainly miss my thick black hair!

10. Plan a summer vacation: Eventually we will get past this and be able to go outside and see the countryside again. I am planning to knock out 6-8 fourteener’s this summer. Planning something keeps me sane. Even if it doesn’t work out the act of planning gives us all hope.

Stay Sane and Stay Safe until next time.