We got out of bed late, and had a slow, enjoyable morning. Leila made coffee while Alex showered and watched some of his entrepreneurship lecture. While writing the blog for the previous day on the kitchen table (it was raining outside) Alex showcased his presentation on dData to Leila, and she gave him feedback. They watched the video Misha made for his mum’s birthday and Leila paused it on the pic of his parents, and noted how stylish they both look, especially in comparison to Leila and Alex who have spent the last 32 days in jeans, pyjamas and gym wear. Alex said he’d put on a shirt for the next date night. Then they both worked for a bit before Leila’s parents arrived to drop off loads of supplies – lots of food, some curry mum had made, 200 gloves and masks, some household cleaning items, more Oatly etc. Leila’s favourite was the supply of cashews from Dar Es Salaam which she roasted straight away, alongside Easy Ginger and Garlic, coriander and more chillis – key ingredients they were missing at home. Parents only stayed for 5 mins at the doorway because Leila and Alex both had calls. Alex was listening to Ashan’s “Unfiltered” talk which he really enjoyed and lots of his home friends called in too. He stayed on afterwards with the close friends – rest of the roommates and 2 of his friends from Washington chatting for a bit. Leila meanwhile joined a Zoom kick-off call to work on some data analysis looking at trends in the Ismaili COVID 19 support line calls and what the institutions can do to better help.
They then decided to go shopping, kitted up with masks and gloves. Alex did a huge Lidl shop and the fridge has never been so full. He bought Leila lots of hayfever medicine and a little herb garden; the dream. Meanwhile, Leila went to the Korean store to re-stock on Kimchi, sweet potatoes and tofu. She also managed to procure 18 eggs from a local butcher (all the supermarkets were out of stock). Whilst she walked, she called Ruchi and Anish. She was trying to get some of her calls done on Saturday as she had realised she had 6 calls scheduled for Sunday and it was stressing her out. Alex came back and joined a 1hr call on helping the Togo government with testing sampling techniques. Leila continued chatting to Anish on arrival back home and they joined the Ismaili weekly president’s talk together. Alex then arrived and Leila introduced him to some Sufi singers who are really trance-like and manic, but talented.
Alex decided he wanted to cook. Leila convinced him to try something new and suggested a pie. Alex sounded keen but only if there was a recipe on BBC Good Food. Luckily, he found one. He made a huge mushroom, leek, potato, cheese pie and half of it was with vegan cheese for Leila (see picture). He added more salt, pepper, real cheese and a higher potato ratio to his side. He then drew an “L” and “A” on the top. At the same time, Leila started washing and drying the coriander ready for laying out overnight and then freezing the next day. She never wants to run out of coriander again. They ate dinner in the usual spot upstairs with a glass of red wine, and watched the Global Citizen concert organised by the WHO. Alex streamed it from the WHO website because it had the fewest viewers vs. other locations despite them organising it, maybe because the volume control was awful. The concert was great and had loads of good artists (albeit skewed towards US and UK artists) including Jack Johnson, Ellie Goulding, Christine and The Queens, and Alex’s favourite: Leslie Odom Jr and his wife and toddler singing Brown Skin Girl. They stayed up until 12.30am watching and then headed to bed very happy and sleepy.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 