It arrived like a wraith in the night. I’d heard the warnings on the television and perhaps read an article and maybe told an off-handed joke about the ‘virus’ but the realities of COVID didn’t really hit me until they shut down everything in March. And then it became all too real. No job, no friend, no love meant more than my 88-year old dad, Rolando’s life. The need to bunker became a world of claustrophobia but also of writing, reading and watching. I son’d like I’d never done before. Laughter became a language and food became a sentence of love and survival.

I’m proud of 2020. Not just for me, but for my dad. I returned from Arizona on an amazing spring training trip with a great group of friends and immediately, there was a quarantine. I’ll admit, I wasn’t prepared and hadn’t taken the situation with enough seriousness. But, when it became a stay-at-home order, I took action. I scheduled every meal for the week and shopped on Monday to be prepared for that week. At first, I wanted to cook meals that were fun and keep us going but then… I really got into it.

I cooked my first stuffed Chile Relleno in late March, and from that, I’ve adjusted and evolved the dish. The Rampage Relleno I make now is of my own creation.

I do have an affinity for seafood, mostly because of dietary restrictions, but I have always loved the fruits of the sea. Yes, I cook a lot of fish but I like to change and adapt. I love to make Cioppino (I make a light and dark), Seafood or Clam Bakes and I’m proud of my Clams con Vongole (often I add shrimp). I’ve got my Roast Salmon down, no tickling or nuthin’ and I’ll put my Blackened Trout against anyone’s. I’ve also stuffed Game Hens, packed Bell Peppers until they can be packed no more and used my favorite cast iron to cook a solid Wagyu Ribeye.

As I said earlier, my dad was amazing in 2020 and I can’t imagine what the year would have been without him. It had to have been an especially scary time for him, a man of his age with a history of a catastrophic lung surgery earlier in his life. But he endured. And I take pride that I helped.

I’m entered in the FavChef cooking contest and it’s a lark. I know I’m not a great chef, I worked with and around enough great chefs to know my limitations but I do know how to cook and I know I’m at least one person’s favorite chef. Cooking kept me motivated and on schedule this past year as I wrote my first novel (the upcoming Ten to the 405) and focused on a future I want.

I’m going to post tomorrow that I’d like you all to vote for me in the FavChef contest but more than that, I want to share the story of my dad and I in the year 2020 and show how a father and son not only survived a pandemic but thrived.

That’s Rolando Eats.