At five in the afternoon I decided to make spaghetti carbonara for dinner. I had all the ingredients for the sauce (local onions, raw heavy cream, double-smoked bacon, Parmesan), but I needed a box of spaghetti–or any kind of pasta such as a pound of fettuccine, papardelle, etc. I had a box of Market Pantry linguine that I bought in March at Target in the days when we quarantined and items of packaged, canned products were so de rigueur to stock our pantries. No, that would not be good enough to use in this especially rich and luxurious sauce made otherwise with my pantry items in stock.
Since I live on the Hill the closest store was the local Rosemont. Masked, hands sterilized, a wallet of credit cards (no cash accepted) I was admitted entry. I asked where the pasta was and the clerk pointed to the shelves in the back. “Except,” she said, “we only have non gluten.”
“No other pasta?” I nearly barked.
“It’s the pandemic,” she replied. I walked out in a huff.
