While I am barely surviving this long and very painful COVID-19 quarantine, I hope other students are doing better. Facetiming my friends has become a part of my daily routine, along with getting my online classes done. When I am not talking with friends or working on assignments, I am either eating out of boredom or flipping through tv channels trying to find something that will keep me entertained for an hour. After the first few days, I quickly found out that the routine was not working.
To solve my problem, I started to bake a few times a week. The first day I did this, I followed my dad’s recipe for chicken noodle soup, and then I made homemade banana bread. I altered both recipes so that they were gluten and dairy-free so that I did not make my allergies flare up. The chicken noodle soup was easy to do that with, all I had to do was substitute the noodles. The banana bread was a few more ingredients\; the flour, almond milk, and chocolate chips all were kinds that I could have. They both turned out great and lasted me about three days since my family ate the food too.

The second day I popped cookie dough into the oven and about fifteen minutes later, the cookies were ready to eat. I have also made simple recipes like homemade pizza and spaghetti. All in all, baking and cooking has kept me thoroughly entertained.
While making food, I have also been watching Netflix. My current top picks for TV shows include\; “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, “On My Block”, “Greenhouse Academy” and “Lucifer”. For movies, I have been watching “Tangled” and “Princess and the Frog” at least once a week. “Tangled” and “Princess and the Frog” have been some of my favorite movies since they came out and I watch them on a monthly basis. While I am not binging Disney movies I have been watching “Mama Mia” and rom-coms including “The Choice”, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”, “Crazy Rich Asians” and “10 Things I Hate About You”. Both movies “10 Things I Hate About You” and “The Choice” always have me shedding a few tears and envying the girls for being so in love. Lots of different movies and shows that keep me smiling, or crying for a few hours. I have been staying away from pandemic related movies so that I do not raise my paranoia.
My main focus is to keep myself distracted and entertained at the same time. During this weird time, it is important to stay calm and focus on our health and safety. Making homemade food and watching classic movies is one of the easiest and safest ways to do that.