At the beginning of quarantine, I set a goal for myself to try something new each day. Like many of my quarantine goals, this one was short-lived. Nonetheless, I will share with you some of the things I was able to fit into those two weeks and if I recommend them to you. Be prepared to take notes!
Took up baking
After a while of being stuck at home with the same old food choices, I became creative with my meals and started baking. My obsession with Kind chocolate bark inspired me to make my own dark chocolate bark with almonds. Even Though I cannot find my way around the kitchen, this recipe was super quick and easy. It turned out even better than the Kind bark that inspired me and I ended up eating it all in two days.
Since I no longer had bark to fill my daily quota of dark chocolate, I decided to make dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Even though I tend to not like peanut butter cups, these hit the spot. I mastered the perfect chocolate to peanut butter ratio by my second batch. To anyone with a sweet to or to my fellow dark chocolate enthusiasts, I would gladly share these recipes with you.
In addition to my sugary treats, I made everything bagels from scratch after I saw a recipe on my “for you” page on TikTok. The 60-second video showed me how to make bagels with just 4 ingredients. Since I was getting pretty confident in my baking skills, I knew I had to make them. They turned out to be the perfect online school breakfast food and that is all thanks to Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning. Overall, it was a 10/10 experience.
HIIT Workout
To balance out my new baking hobby, I had to incorporate some sort of movement into my routine so I decided to try a HIIT workout video on YouTube. The video was thirty-three minutes long and I lasted maybe eight minutes. If you were to ask why, I would blame the poor music selection (which was?), but in reality, I just could not keep up. Surprisingly enough, I still managed to wake up and get out of bed despite the agonizing pain I felt in my legs. With that in mind, I do not recommend trying this unless you enjoy feeling bad about yourself. However, if you are looking for good equipment or free workouts, try Chloe Ting and/or MadFit. Although their music taste is no better, they both do a great job of breaking up the workout into 30-second exercises, which I found more manageable.
Tried a vegan cafe called Counterpart
This little gem is located in Echo Park and I came across it while driving. Even though I am not vegan, I decided to try it on a whim. I ordered their french toast which was amazing; you couldn’t even tell it was vegan. I would definitely recommend it, but only if you’re in the area. It may have been delicious, but it’s not worth the commute.
Pierced my doubles
Okay, I lied: I didn’t pierce them but my friends did. It was a total “Parent Trap” moment with the apple, the ice and the needle. At that moment, there was a lot of yelling and screaming coming from my friends. I surprisingly felt no pain which I guess is a result of my brilliant idea to take Advil before. I am not sure if I should be recommending this and I feel like I should be including a ‘do not try at home’ warning, but instead, I am just going to say that I have absolutely no regrets about my experience. Make of that what you will.
Woke up early and watched the sunrise on the beach
I absolutely love doing spontaneous things and this had been on my bucket list for so long but I could never actually get out of bed. However, I committed and was able to pull through with the assistance of two large iced coffee, thank you Peet’s for being open so early, and the 4 alarms I set within the span of twenty minutes. In the end, it was so worth it. The sunrise was beautiful and the city was surprisingly quiet. I would 100% do it again and I recommend it to anyone who loves a good VSCO picture moment.
Even though my goal of trying something new was short-lived, it was an amazing experience. I was able to do things I’ve always wanted to try and even though some things were not as enjoyable, it did help me to shake up my rock-solid quarantine routine. As quarantine seems to be never-ending at this point, I definitely recommend doing something new to aid the pandemic of mundane weeks and add some excitement to the days as they blend together. Whether you try a new recipe, go somewhere new, or just watch a new show, I promise you will not regret it.
