A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GOWANUS: Gowanus, once known as South Brooklyn, is the neighborhood where I live. It saw the first settlement of Dutch farmers, who staked their claim along the 1.8-mile-long Gowanus Creek. British ships navigated the creek during the American Revolutionary War, the manufacturing industry turned it into the Gowanus Canal in the mid-1800s, and allegedly, the Mafia used it as a dumping ground. Pollution has made it a superfund, and thus, the Gowanus Monster was born.

(“Aqua Incognito” by street artist, Raul Ayala, in 2014)

Tales of its toxic waters has made it into novels and movies, but it wasn’t until 2014 when author Dave Kelly published an issue of his comic series called, “It Came from the Gowanus Canal,” that the legend of a grotesque Loch Ness emerged from the murky, contaminated sludge. The comic series publisher teamed up with the Gowanus Souvenir Shop (a fantastic shop, by the way) to create a fake movie poster, which also lead to a number of items such as postcards, hats, t-shirts, prints, etc. My time here wouldn’t be complete without some souvenirs of my own.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW: Yes, I’m slow to the party. Everyone has already binge-watched this charming, highly addictive baking show on Netflix, that pins kind and lovely amateur bakers against each other. It’s refreshing to see a reality show where the contestants are actually nice to one another, whereas, in the U.S., abhorrent behavior is a staple of American reality television (a.k.a. “I’m not here to make friends” entertainment).

I don’t bake often, and aside from bread, we rarely consume home-baked goods such as cakes, cookies, pies, etc. Unless I’m baking for a crowd–which isn’t happening these days–a half-eaten lemon bundt cake will start to resemble the Gowanus Canal lurking under the foil.

But dang it, I now have a hankering to bake and eat it all. Suddenly, I’m perusing old cookbooks and spending way too much time on Pinterest building my baking boards. When I cook dinner, I find myself with an inkling of anxiety as an imaginary clock ticks down, signaling I have little time left to assemble our veggie bowls. I’m taking the show in doses, and because I’m only on the second season (or collections, as they call them), I should be able to sparse the show out in a nice, even layer.