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Yes, I live within 30 miles of the infamous nursing home outside Seattle and yes, my age puts me in the high risk category, so guess who has already had lots of time in "social distanting" aka semi-isolation. Which means, of course, that I can't go prowling ethnic grocery stores - even though I'd just discovered a new Filipino one. At least, some local markets - butcher, sea food, and green grocer of local products - is now delivering and providing curbside options. So what better time to re-explore some of the great cookbooks actually intended to be of interest here at home. For me, that includes:

• not yet out but I will get to use: Lummi Island Cooking


• Sea and Smoke


• Lark


• cheating only a wee bit geographically: The Wickaninnish Cookbook and Cedar and Salt

My question to you is what micro-regional cookbooks represent what you can cook while covid-19 limits your shopping options? Or even if not under restrictions, what is the cooking of your immediate locale?

I am also in the Pacific Northwest, just about 25 miles west of Portland so we are cooking with many of the same ingredients available to you. I have salmon, razor clams and lots of ocean fish my husband caught in the freezer and rely heavily on the recipes of many Northwest chefs and cookbook authors. Right now I find I am using lots of hazelnuts that are available to me locally. Oregon produces about 98% of the US hazelnuts here in the Willamette Valley so they are easy to find. I think as the quarantine goes on we will all be cooking with more and more of our hyper-local ingredients.

While I love the more unique ingredients, i think a more local food chain will serve us better long term. If one of those large veggie growers has an issue with this there will be a huge gap in produce.  I live west of Portland, near Hillsboroks judging by your name, and I have come to rely on the local farms even more now. My veggies are a nearby CSA, but now I've found flour and grains from another to fill in some of the gaps in the grocery supply

I need to check out more books.  When we moved here most I was recommended were fish, I don't enjoy fish.  I've had no issue making many of the traditional Dutch and Polish meals I grew up eating since most were simple and could easily swap whatever was fresh and available