Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Spring 2020: The Black Period (Covid19 aka Coronavirus)
by:
THEJNSREPORT
So it’s April 23rd, 2020. Everything except essential businesses have shut down. Last day of work was more than a month ago. A deep sadness grips our family at the passing of our father on Easter Sunday. Dad’s now counted among the many deaths attributed to Covid19 aka Coronavirus. He was in a nursing home as well as at high risk for elderly persons who preexisting conditions.
All I can say is when I received the phone call that my dad was rushed to the hospital with shallow breathing I thought he’s been through a lot but God will see him through. I wanted to go check on in at the hospital but due to restrictions because of the Corona virus neither myself or any of my family members was allowed to be there by his side. I hadn’t been able to see him once the nursing home said they had shut down all access to residents because of the pandemic a few days after my last day at work.
Surreal disbelief came over me when less than an hour after hearing my dad was admitted to the hospital my sister calls to give me the horrible news that our father had passed on. Even now it’s so sharp and fresh in my mind I feel like this is all a dream like in the Matrix. How incredible it is that with all of the health issues my dad battled with it was Covid19 that was his undoing according to doctors who tried to resuscitate my dad. The timing of everything as it unfolds is just remarkable.
I won’t belabor the fact of where this pandemic originated. However, I’ll say this is definitely a cyclical judgment falling on the whole world. This “world time out” has caused everyone to stop and reflect and take a very deep breath because of what’s to follow. Daily and systematically we are being tested as citizens, as civilians, as workers, as human beings with what we do when crisis occurs. News outlets we depend on for information are on 24/7 Corona virus reporting. As I start to tune out the white noise and ludicrous statements of the “Joke in chief” sitting in the White House something else comes to mind to focus on while the world has slowed down enough to take a breath albeit with much trepidation. What have we been seeing?
Erosion of the protections of the Constitution continue at break neck speed while the economy is suppressed, big businesses receive the lion share of taxpayer funded bailouts and tens of millions of us file for unemployment. Who would have thunk this just 6 months ago? I think this is a pivotal time period. I say that because in our life time we as a planet have never seen something like this pandemic. We’ve only heard of them in history. Pandemics like the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Influenza, and numerous others. These are scary and precarious times. Death appears all around us and we’re reminded daily through news briefings and social media about social distancing, masks, face shields, PPE shortages, lack of testing, and total unpreparedness with the douche bag in chief at the White House in charge. Just to think he and his administration willfully dismantled the team of experts whose job it was to plan and prepare for events such as this current pandemic.
Who to believe and what to believe tugs at us daily. I’m hearkened back to a line from the Devil’s Advocate where Al Pacino aka Satan tells his son Kevin played by Keanu Reeves to “consider the source”. The problem is can we believe everything or anything we see on mainstream media these days? Picking out the truth from the lies isn’t as easy as it sounds. You have people spreading misinformation. You have “TV doctors giving advice” as if they’ve ever dealt with a pandemic of this magnitude before. Then you have people who want to just go out and do whatever they want to do in spite of the Covid19 outbreak.
Things I never thought we’d see have happened. Losing one’s livelihood literally overnight is beyond jarring. It’s like being suddenly awakened from a deep sleep where you are dreaming a pretty good dream and then it’s over while you have someone angrily waking you up. It’s a weird feeling not having to get up daily and go to work, or go to a bar, or restaurant or movies, or bowling or anything that we do socially as human beings. NYC still doesn’t sleep but there isn’t much to do these days other than eat, drink, exercise at home or outside briefly these days.
Ordering take out for me is not going to happen. Why? How can anyone trust food from any restaurant that has people working in it where they could potentially have Covid19 and be around food prepping it for others? Even if we assume the highest cleanliness standards, just the thought that I don’t feel it’s worth potentially getting sick from take out is enough to deter that idea especially when I can cook for myself and my family. Having to stay at home and cook daily reminds me of childhood home economics class and household chores I hated doing as a kid with my siblings. Now present day this isn’t anything I can’t adapt to. I’m finding it fun to actually shop for healthy (or in some cases not so healthy) ingredients and make a tasty meal I wouldn’t mind eating more than once.
The question on everyone’s mind is how long will this last and how do we as a world collectively move forward from this pandemic? How much corruption will come out when this is all over? How will the economy recover? Are we going to have to wear respirators to go outside next? Already to even enter a grocery store you must be wearing a mask which I have no objection to but this is today’s new normal. latex gloves, masks and at least six feet of separation when out in public. What I hope never becomes the new normal is a mandatory vaccination or some other way to usurp the 4th amendment using the guise of public safety. I’m hoping for a better tomorrow but trusting in the most high and not man is what is key for me.
Upon entering Nocciola you see this blackboard above 
The concept of housemade pastas and only wines for consumption with no hard liquor is a good alternative to most of the food options in East Harlem’s restaurant scene. We started our dinner off with complimentary bread and olive oil with pesto for dipping our bread in.
The Bread is very very good here.
You just want to soak up all that delicious olive oil based dip into the bread and slowly savor the flavor.
A closeup on that creamy polenta & mushrooms.
For our main course we chose whole Branzino and Pappardelle pasta. 
This is yet another great pasta I’ve never tried before now. It’s a meatsauce with broad long strips of pasta. 
I thoroughly enjoyed fork full after fork full of this dish. I recommend going with the full portion plate.
The Branzino was cooked to perfection. There were grilled potatoes, asparagus, & a grilled lemon wedge adorning the plate. A nice bottle of Pinot Grigio helped us wash down our meal before desert.
Nocciola has quite an extensive list of wines. If your not sure of what you’d like the servers can definitely point you in the right direction and allow you to taste a wine before deciding whether or not you will have a glass or the full bottle. 
The pannacotta is rich and pairs well with the fruit and powdered sugar & chocolate sauce. It’s not a heavy desert which is perfect after everything we ate. On a scale of 1 – 5 dinner plates. Nocciola gets 4 1/2 out of 5 dinner plates. We recommend Nocciola to anyone interested in changing from the “usual” dining experience and give your palate something different. The menu boasts more than what you have seen here and I’m sure will not fail to please.
THEJNSREPORT
THEJNSREPORT 