Our favorite shelter in place activities

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Spending more time indoors means we’ve been finding new ways to stay entertained

Like the rest of the Bay Area, the City Attorney’s Office has been staying home whenever possible to slow the spread of coronavirus. With more time indoors, we’ve gotten creative with how to have fun and stay entertained. We’ve been loving comedies, action series and reading up the history of San Francisco to keep us entertained. We also want to share a few of our favorite recipes and how we’re staying safely active in our living rooms. Tag us on social media with what you’re enjoying – and let us know if you try any of our top picks!

Without further ado, here are some of our favorites, including a few guilty pleasures:

Shows

  • Perry Mason
  • True Blood
  • Ozark
  • Killing Eve
  • Veep
  • The Good Place
  • Community
  • Brooklyn 99
  • Survivor (we’re seriously missing sports!)

Movies

  • The Big Lebowski
  • Always Be My Maybe
  • Free Solo
  • The Big Sick
  • Avengers: Endgame
  • Die Hard series
  • James Bond series
  • A Quiet Place
  • Key Largo
  • Groundhog Day

Food and Drink

  • Bundt pan chicken with potatoes and spinach– something like this recipe.
  • Risotto and arancini balls with leftover rice
  • Braised beef or pot roast for sandwiches and stroganoff. We like this video that keeps it (sort of) simple.
  • Chocolate cake with caramel sauce
  • No knead bread-making (it’s easy, we promise!)

The Best Rigatoni Bolognese

Start with chopping one whole white onion and place into a large pot with some good olive oil and sauté at medium/high heat. Next chop 4 large peeled carrots and add them to the pot and continue to sauté. Next add one pound of ground beef, for most flavor use 80/20 – variations can include veal or pork or a mixture of the three. Brown the meat and add some salt. Next take one can of whole San Marzano tomatoes and add a half can of water and bring the pot to a boil. After a few minutes of boiling bring the temperature down to medium/low heat and continue to cook the sauce stirring every 10 minutes for 2 hours or until sauce thickens – heat may need to be adjusted depending on your stove/range. 

Next boil water and include some salt in the water, bring to a boil.  Add 1/2 box of Rigatoni and boil for 10-12 minutes – al dente.  Drain the pasta and add the sauce to the pasta and mix.  Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese. Serves four comfortably.

Great to pair with a great glass of your favorite red wine.

  • Water 2 Table seafood delivery – Although they’re normally a wholesale provider for restaurants, this company is doing direct to consumer sales during shelter-in-place. We’ve used it a few times and freeze anything we can’t eat immediately!
  • Vodka on the rock with lemon. (Yes, ROCK.)
  • Grand Marnier in bed.
  • Tequila, La Croix, slice of lime or lemon

Books:

  • “Imperial San Francisco” by Gray Bechin, a nonfiction that gives a lot of context to how the City became what it is
  • “Midnight in Chernobyl” by Adam Higgenbotham
  • “The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larson
  • “Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu
  • “Educated” by Tara Westover
  • “There There” by Tommy Orange (Bay Area author, though this deals with some serious themes)

Podcasts

  • Storied: San Francisco
  • Fifth & Mission
  • Total SF
  • Radiolab
  • Ear Hustle
  • The Lawfare Podcast
  • Strict Scrutiny
  • The Daily
  • Presidential
  • Pod Save the World
  • Pod Save America
  • This American Life
  • Overheard at National Geographic

Music

  • Spotify Work from Home playlists
  • Spoon
  • Pearl Jam
  • Foo Fighters
  • Paul Simon
  • KDFC classical music station, streaming and broadcasting

Games

  • Rummy tiles
  • Rock band
  • Catan
  • Jackbox online games (good for both a crowded house and remote with friends, you can play over Zoom!)

Exercise

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