Hypothetical Guilt-inducing Quarantine

My Man is notorious for asking me hypothetical questions which make me crazy. They range from “If you had to move to another state forever, where would you move to?” to “If you had to live on a deserted island with a celebrity, who would you choose?” I don’t like being forced to choose one thing. I’m too indecisive. I like variety. I hate the “if you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life” question more than anything.

Despite that, I was intrigued when Serious Eats posted yesterday about the H1N1 quarantine in Hong Kong and asked what readers would put on their “Quarantine Food Wish List”.  I’m pretty sure my list can include more than one thing, so I don’t feel so penned in by it.  If my consulate was bringing food for me while I was in quarantine, I’d request black tea with sugar and milk, peaches, chicken picatta with spaghetti and a good bottle of pino grigio. Maybe not a meal that makes complete sense but…it sounds good to me.

And, immediately, I feel strange about choosing something with meat. Which brings me to my next point: No Meat Athlete (my favorite blog du jour) posted a great piece called “I Shouldn’t Be Eating This But…” It’s very much along the lines of what I was saying about summer restaurants opening the other day. It’s so refreshing to be reminded that my life’s not going to end because I choose to not be completely strict all the time.   That’s why I’m flexitarian, and not full fledged vegetarian.  (My guiltiest food is red meat, by the way)

If I’m in quarantine, I’m not going to worry about eating vegetarian. It’s not the rest of my life. Good food would make me feel better about being stuck while people recover from H1N1.  I’m not going to make myself miserable sticking to a strict diet 100 percent of the time.