Pre-covid, I was dining out or buying takeout/ready meals at least 3-4 times a week. It's not that I didn't like cooking; I was just so busy and exhausted from work plus constant personal long-haul travel (my family is scattered across three continents).

It's quite eerie. One of the New Year's resolutions I wrote down on January 1 was "cook more". You know what they say...be careful what you wish for! I will never go back to my previous level of dine out/takeout, having further developed my cooking skills in isolation and invested in some quality equipment (KitchenAid, Vitamix, Cuisinart food processor). I am now able to make almost everything myself, from bread to mains to desserts.

I am also about to start making my own ice cream like gaobest . I bought the Salt & Straw ice cream cookbook the other day! (I'm a big fan of Salt & Straw, as someone who spends a lot of time in the USA).

However, I do want to continue supporting local businesses, so I think I will make eating out/takeout a once a week thing. Businesses where I live (Melbourne, Australia) are doing it so tough right now - after just three weeks of semi normality, everyone was forced back into lockdown and restaurants back to takeout-only, due to our second virus wave.