I woke this morning to the smell of disinfectant. I used to like that refreshing, reassuring smell of clean after a weekly scouring. Now that I am at home like everyone else, I have the time I don’t usually do, to wipe surfaces and spray doorknobs, handles, stair railings and light switches once a day – twice when one of us goes out to grocery shop and on those days, I sanitize the interior of the car. I’m not in love with that clean disinfectanty smell anymore because it’s constant and it signifies a really dark time on the planet. A time, quite frankly that was going to come sooner or later.

When I am not de-germing, I think about life and how we got to this point. Life today is so fast. Information is so immediate and mistakes humans make are there on the internet for all to see and re-see and this accessibility takes up so much of our time. It takes time away from conversation, and work and our families. It took a virus to keep us at home and re-acquaint us with ourselves, with our children,noticing how much they have grown and changed. It took a virus to gather us around the kitchen table for more often than for just a hurried breakfast and dinner, maybe in our usual rushed way of living. It took a virus to  lead us back to our hobbies and passions and forced us to be creative in a time of need.

Yet, some of us can’t listen, obey, comply or think if not of ourselves, of others. This virus has shown us how kind many of us are and how selfish some of us can be. It separates the ignorant from the knowledgeable, the leaders from the followers and if you look at the news and at some of the people in the grocery store who still don’t understand social distancing, personal space and separation, you’ll see that many of them resemble sloths.They have what I call sloth face – blank stare, clueless, slow moving, stalling for minutes in front of a product, handling it, hugging it, in some cases smelling it – it is amazing to me how stupid and downright inconsiderate some humans are. I don’t know how people aren’t finding things to do at home, especially in such a high speed digital world. How can being at home be so difficult when I’ve seen people out in public in regular times, glued to their phones. We still have cell phone service and data and wifi so now that we are home, we actually are in less danger of getting hit by a car, or falling off the side walk while texting. There is plenty to do at home, believe me! And for the phone addicts, maybe they can try something new, like reading a book. But instead, the stupid humans are looking for loop holes in the protocol, thereby running the risk of contracting and spreading the disease and possibly killing someone we love.

My mind also wondered about industry. With a shortage of medical supplies, mostly because the world relies on importing goods made with cheap labor from the East, the people able to heal us are left poorly protected and at risk of contracting and spreading the virus as well. It is time for Canada to make our own supplies. We have many abandoned factories as a result of American companies pulling out of Canada in favor of cheaper far East or Central American labour and as I recall, there is  a particular former auto plant in Oshawa, uselessly empty. We have college graduates and trades-persons in need of employment. We have the bodies to create a manufacturing work force to make medical supplies in Canada and we should – not just now, but moving forward. We don’t need to import things we can make here. I say pay Canadians to make what Canadians need. We rely too heavily on cheap crap from overseas. Any political leader in any future elections who’s platform includes making that happen on a large scale in this province/country, has my vote.That way we can flip the bird to America and it’s impostor of a leader and take care of our nation’s needs Let’s face it, Trump has been (badly) impersonating a president for 4 years and is such an ignorant hindrance to us so many times. He is at best an ignorant bully, voted in mostly by trash.

Moving forward, we have to change the way cruise liners are operated with regards to disease. A cruiser myself, the company we travel with is quite clean but new ways of boosting hygiene and stepping up disease prevention must happen.  The way we dine out and commute and shop has to change. I thing the queuing and cart and hand sanitation must continue long after this virus is conquered. I think when you are sick, especially in North America, you should stay home from work, school, activities. That’s what sick days are for. Also, sick days should not be abused because it make it worse for everyone when privileges are abused. If you must go out when you are sick, wear a mask. Trust me, if frivolous aesthetics are your concern (hmmm…who recently said that this week when he publicly said he wouldn’t wear a mask) know that for many of you who think like that, a mask is a damn improvement. Spare us all your face and your germs.

Having time to slow down and take the time to think has happened to me a few times in my adult life and it’s not a bad thing. Surgery, child birthing, raising a special needs child, raising my other child, not having work for a while when we moved more than once, waiting on a terminally ill parent to pass, living in Montreal during the ice storm….I have had my moments of doing nothing and getting by without human contact or certain material things. I am still here. I have learned something valuable from all these moments and I am learning a lot from this pandemic now. Humans need to be slapped in the face by disaster to recognize what they could do better. This is different from a typhoon, hurricane, earthquake or a tornado. This is affecting every one of us on the planet and we have to change how we protect ourselves from disease. We have to stop black market sales of the things people will consume to achieve virility, longevity and hocus pocus cures for diseases or defects. We need to not be medieval in our thinking and trust the proven facts that exist; facts that can protect us. We have to want less material things and work harder to sustain the things we need like clean air, clean water and a clean environment. We need to stop taking shortcuts and we need to take ownership of the things we do wrong and fix them.

Looking out the window, I see birds going about their springtime business, the sun is shining and the wind is gently winding it’s way through branches speckled with buds about to bloom. As the branches nod in the breeze, a chubby rabbit hops up onto the top level of my back deck and is staring straight into our kitchen as if to say, “hmm…still stuck in there huh? Your species needs to rethink some things,” And before I can get my camera (because I too don’t know how to leave things to memory – plus we have to prove everything to each other with visual evidence on Instagram) he hops down the stairs and out the back gate which someone has left open. The rabbits and birds have their freedom. They can go wherever they want just like we could 3 weeks ago. But the spread of this disease is our fault. Humans are incapable of listening, reasoning and following orders for our collective good. I have heard and read stories of people who lost loved ones, pining that they could not be at their side to take their hand, kiss their foreheads and usher them out of the world with love. And while people do die instantly and unexpectedly sometimes, the saving grace of illness is that at least, someone you love could be at your side as you leave your life. This virus has taken that grace away. We are a highly emotional species, yet we don’t take into consideration how we react when our loved ones die…we keep doing the wrong things, over and over and over again.Then tragedy strikes again, we are emotional again, we ask “Why, us?” again, and in two weeks we are back to doing stupid things.

So as we move into week 4 of being at home, we spend time with our family members, we find ways to pass the time and we make the most of this time of re-connection with the people in our home. We re-connect with those far away by phone or computer and we try to stay upbeat, positive and push our creativity to a new level. We have learned to determine what things in our lives are non-essential and moving forward we probably will choose to continuing living without them. We will watch this disease ravage the world and watch as some of us just live like we just don’t care. We watch them spread disease and we watch people lying in hospital struggle to breathe and watch as others are wheeled away shrouded to be stored in a parking garage, an arena or a refrigerated trailer – people who were perfectly fine just days or weeks before. We will watch day after day, hoping in our hearts for an end to this brutal time, thinking of doing the things we love to do and never taking those things for granted again. We will tell our family and friends how much we love them more often and I feel many of us will emerge from more grateful for what we have and who we have in our lives and we will be more appreciative of every person, every place, every action, every bit of joy and beauty around us.

Those of us who survive will have to change. We have to do things cleaner, better and more responsibly. Let us think of ways we can change the way we do things in our lives which will change the way we affect others. We have lots of time to think. Today is a good day to start.

Our family eats vegetables and fruit everyday but we try to do a Meatless Monday every week. Trying to deplete the fridge and pantry before going to the grocery, we were happy to see that we could go meatless today. I pulled out a couple cans of chickpeas, some green beans and some left over naan and roti from last week’s meal. I grabbed the curry powder and the black pepper – black pepper helps our bodies absorb the curcumen in turmeric – and of course I took some Himalayan salt from the pantry as well.

Open the can of beans, drain and rinse –

Wash your green beans, cut the tips off and blanch them in boiling water for no more than 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Chop up the onions and garlic. A tip on garlic – to get the skin off place in a bowl (stainless steel or glass), place a plate on top of the bowl and shake the crap out of the garlic. The skin falls off and you have nice smooth ready to cut up and cook cloves of garlic.

We have vegan butter at the moment and I melted it in a large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and allow them to sweat.

When the onions and garlic start to turn a soft yellow (you can also tell by the glorious smell when they are ready), add the curry paste. and mix it in then add the chickpeas and stir so that all peas are coated with curry.

Let the chickpeas simmer for a minute add black pepper and salt, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. If you find there is not enough liquid in the saucepan, add a little water. Closing the lid will allow for condensation and therefore the peas wont dry out and burn.

Next, cook the beans. I like to give these a garlicky flavor, so I used the vegan butter and added some garlic salt and a bit of fresh chopped garlic.

Melt the garlic butter in a smaller frying pan, and on high heat cook the beans, tossing and constantly moving them for about 3 to 5 minutes. By the time the beans are cooked, the meal is ready to be served. Remember I warmed left over naan and roti skins to serve with the meal however you could do a side of rice if you wanted to or serve with fresh vegetables like cucumbers and carrots or whatever you fancy.

This is the meal we had for lunch today – meatless, vegetarian and delicious. Cook what you have at home during this time of social distancing and isolation. When your supplies run low, go out and replenish but only then. I am typing this up trying to distract myself but it’s hard. The news is on and there is a plea that will soon be an order for all over 70 to stay home. When I was out getting supplies the other day, 90% of the people out and about were old buggers. Why can’t people place orders? Get delivery service? Why are some people and in my community old people so bloody stubborn?  Our community has no reported cases of this virus. We need to keep it that way. Everyone is pointing the finger at young people but I am going to point the finger at stubborn old people too including my in-laws. Compromised as hell but still doing what they want to do. If you contract this virus and you get it severely, you will die and you will have to know going in whether you want to be kept comfortable with morphine or whether at your elderly age, do you want to be flogged until you die by being placed on a ventilator for 3 weeks. You will not survive and you will die alone. Please STAY HOME. It is the right thing to do.

Both my sons are competitive athletes and they are very aware of staying in shape and eating well while waiting to be allowed to pursue their sports once the pandemic is over. This morning a veggie omelette was the general craving for Logan. Adam is more of a peanut butter/almond butter toast guy. He likes bagels and cream cheese, fruit or will have cereal. Logan is more like me, but mostly like my sister who enjoys a big, cooked breakfast. In keeping with the theme of only going out when necessary, we are using the ingredients we have in the house to make our food until we have a substantial list for us to do a grocery run. I really don’t want to be out in public if I don’t have to be so we are sticking to this plan.

Omelettes are great because you can put whatever you want in them and you can eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time. Here is how Logan makes his veggie omelette:-

Take 2 or 3 eggs and whisk them in a bowl.

Add a splash of milk ( you don’t want too much liquid when making a veggie omelette because veggies let out water when you cook and you don’t want a soggy runny omelette)

Whisk in the milk and add some black pepper. Whisk that into the eggs and milk and set aside.

The veggies in the fridge were mushrooms, onions, mixed greens and olives. Using olives eliminates the need for adding salt as the olives gives it a salty enough flavor.  Chop up the veggies and set aside.

Time for the cheese. We had a peppered Monterrey Jack, goat cheese and 2 year old smoked cheddar from our local factory – Mapledale cheese factory. Once that is shredded, set it aside.

We have vegan butter on hand so that is what was melted to coat the pan. With a pan like the Rock you need less butter or oil to cook your food because it has a non-stick cooking surface.

Add the egg mixture to the pan and let it cook on a medium high heat until it starts to solidify then turn heat down a bit.

Add the veggies, spreading them evenly and add the cheese. Once the egg starts to leave the edges of the base of the pan use your spatula to start rolling the egg from one side to the other as if trying to roll it.

It it breaks that’s okay, just flip it over in pieces and push the pieces together as you are done rolling. Gently press down on the omelette. Some cheese will ooze out but that’s okay. Once the omelette feels solid, plate it, add sides and enjoy.

Remember an omelette is what you make it, meat, meatless, just with cheese, it’s a blank canvas so have fun. Just remember to use enough eggs to contain your ingredients. the more or the bigger the ingredients, the more eggs you will need. When he is training, Logan usually uses 3 to 4 eggs.

Enjoy!

Stay home. Stay safe and try new recipes. Use out what you have at home before you go do a grocery run. Don’t go out if you don’t have to, reduce the number of times you go out in public. Wash your hands and disinfect all surfaces including door handles, light switches, stair railings and the dash, gear stick, door handles and steering wheel of your car. Together we can keep ourselves and each other healthy ~ Daniella and family

It’s Sunday. It’s raining. There’s thunder and lightning and it’s chilly. I have to make lunch and I want to use up what I have in my kitchen so that when I go to the grocery, I make one trip to replenish what we need. We are doing our part to keep ourselves and others healthy by staying home and only going out when we have to and if we want a little fresh air, we sit on our front or back decks or go for a short walk minding to stay 2 metres away from other people. Mind you, the times we choose to walk, barely anyone is around.

So…Sunday lunch. Growing up I remember some variations on Sunday lunch. Typically it is stewed chicken and peas, macaroni pie, callaloo, sometimes rice and a salad. Sometimes Mummy would do stewed beef instead of chicken. Sometimes she would not put pigeon peas in with the meat to stew and she would do red beans as a side. Sometimes you might encounter a potato salad and when Avocado was in season and I mean the real deal big-ass avocados we grow on tall trees in the West Indies, not these dinky, little, pebble avocados from Mexico or California that you can buy a bag of in North America, where half of them are over-ripened and black streaked inside. My point is Sunday lunch is a full meal made with variations of a tradition cooked out of love. There was nothing like smelling Mummy’s pot on a Sunday and very often, when we were riding our bikes in the neighborhood, the wafting smells from everyone’s Mummy’s pot came together to make your belly growl as you played as you made sure you were close enough to home to hear your mother shout “Come inside for lunch!” Those were simpler, purely happy times and as I look in my fridge today to pull together my version of Sunday lunch in this time of pandemic, these memories will keep a smile on my face and the love of my birth land, my mother and my extended family will flow from my heart, to my hands, to the spoon to the pot and to my family this afternoon. I think I will play a little soca too, to transport me mentally to Trinidad and put me in a cooking mood.

Now, I do have callaloo*  from a batch I made a couple weeks ago but it is frozen and I really don’t feel like doing the work to thaw it . My beasts will be ready to feast soon, so, time is not quite on my side, plus it isn’t enough callaloo for all four of us. Moving on… I have chicken legs that are thawed and seasoned and I have a can of pigeon peas, so I am going to stew them and I am going to make a macaroni pie as a side. I will also steam some rice as Logan and Adam will want rice, as they say to “suck up” the gravy from the stewed chicken and peas – my “chirren”,oui!

Here, I am browning the chicken by “burning” (caramelizing) a bit of sugar in oil. At the end of me explaining what I have done for this meal, I encourage you to read on as I will tell you the story of the “sweet meat” and why it is so important to brown meat the right way so that it won’t hamper the taste of your dish.

Once I see that nice glowing, rich, brown colour I add my chicken and turn it vigorously in the pot. Next, I add my pigeon peas. If the pot looks a little dry I add a bit of water (because I want enough for gravy) and I put the lid on the pot and reduce the heat, checking on the chicken, stirring occasionally. When the chicken is no longer pink and is tender and seems to look like it could fall off the bone, I know it’s done.

While the chicken is cooking, I boil about 2 1/2 – 3 cups of macaroni. My family loves macaroni pie so I make one where there will be some left overs for teenage fridge raids later. So many cultures have their own recipe for macaroni and cheese. This well known comfort food can be creamy, baked with breadcrumbs, done in a slow cooker … the methods are endless. For us Trinis, if we could solidify it, cut it and share it and make it damn tasty, we certainly will, and so, our macaroni and cheese is a pie without really being a pie but more like a casserole.

While my macaroni is boiling, I whisk together an egg, about a cup of milk salt and black pepper and I shred my cheese. I want to get a real cheddary flavour because there is no point in a bland macaroni pie. I use anything from 2 to 4 year old cheddar from Mapledale, found here in my neck of the woods and i also use a little 2 year old smoked cheddar to well, add a little smokiness to the taste but if I don’t have it, I just use the old cheddar. I have smoked cheese today so I will use both.

Once the macaroni is ready, I drain and I put a layer in my glass baking dish. then I add my cheese and pour a little of the egg mixture on and I keep layering until the ingredients are all in the dish. I top with cheese for a nice crust at the top and like Mummy would say, dot with butter ( today we have vegan butter so that’s what I will use – no real difference in taste) before putting it uncovered in the oven. My oven is at 400 F because my sons are hungry (again and as usual) and I started cooking a little late. Usually I will do 375 F for an hour but today,this pie will bake for about 45 mins, with me keeping an eye on it during that time.

Alright, I’m waiting on my macaroni pie and I promised to tell you the story of the “sweet meat”. My aunts, Ruth (Moye was her Chinese name) and Yvonne were close in age and went to school (SJC Port of Spain) together. Aunty Moye was a fantastic cook. She was also an incredible seamstress who at one time had her own store and had a long reputation of beautifully outfitting women in Trinidad. She was an amazing mother and wife and was a true role model for her younger siblings and eventual matriarch of our family. In a time that shifted from women being successful at home by having “domestic” skills to women having success because of office/business skills, Aunty Moye kept doing what she knew best and was around to see that the benchmarks of success shift again to incorporate all skills of every woman.

Aunty Yvonne was sweet,quiet and super intelligent. She loved to read and acquire knowledge all the time. I remember when she would be at our home after her cancer treatments resting until my uncle picked her up. She was jovial even then and was always content to rest with a good book. She did know how to cook but I think if she didn’t have to she would have much rather spent her time reading, learning and raising her boys. Anyway, I got this story from my mother years ago when she taught me how to brown meat, and in my mom’s clever way, this story was a teaching tool that worked because I remember it every time I brown meat and as you have gathered by now, I cook A LOT!

It was the afternoon of Aunty Moye’s and Aunty Yvonne’s cookery exam. During the school term, they cooked side by side, Aunty Moye right there to lend her younger sister a helping hand. But, all semesters end with exams and for this exam their stations were separated. Aunty Yvonne had to brown stewing beef and while she knew the ingredients and the steps, she had no clue about the timing of cooking and how to generally eyeball the process of cooking food. She put her oil in the pot but put in way too much sugar and added the meat when the sugar just started to get a golden colour. When sugar caramelizes, is a rich brown and is just beginning to smoke is when it looses it’s sweetness. That is when you add your meat. There is a big hiss that kind of sounds like chawahhh and steam and you have to turn the meat over fairly vigorously in order to brown all the pieces before reducing the heat and getting it to a simmer. And what an inviting and delicious smell that screams home – my sweet T&T. Mom said during the exam, Aunty Moye said she could see the uncertainty in Aunty Yvonne’s face and she knew that maybe little sister was in trouble. At the end of the class, the nun marking the exam went about for the taste test. To her credit, Aunty Yvonne’s meat was indeed cooked, though a bit paler than the other girl’s dishes. Sister “Cookery” dug in, and tasted and with an astonished face said ” Oh, my, why is this meat? … but…but this is a sweet meat!”

Needless to say, Aunty Yvonne failed the exam and with the results in hand went home where all the brothers and sisters heard the story at dinner time. In Trinidad, a little heckling (or fatigue as we refer to it) from your brothers and sisters is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s a little ribbing in fun, which I imagine hardly anyone today would be able to handle, no matter how playful. After the story, for a little while, one of the brothers would say, “Aye, Sweet Meat, Mummy callin’ you,” Aunty would blush and Mamma, my grandmother would tell the boys that enough was enough. But the positive side to the sweet meat still flows through the generations today. Mamma apparently called Aunty Yvonne into the kitchen by simply telling her, “I want you to help me in the kitchen today, Yvonne,” and my mom says this went on for weeks and eventually, my prefer-books-to-all-else aunt, learned to cook just as well as her brothers and sisters. My mother told me that story when she was teaching me and my sister to brown meat. Since then, I have told it to my husband when I was teaching him and I just told it to Logan who was here watching me make the chicken. It’s a cute funny story that is a major cooking tip and I hope it keeps being told as our younger family members learn to cook.

The dishes are done and ready to serve. This, my version this afternoon of Trinidad Sunday lunch minus Callaloo. It all looks and smells as it should and I feel good inside with my Soca playing and recounting this story of my dear, dear aunties. I also got to thinking what a good job Mamma did making sure all her children learn to cook well. I don’t have an aunt or uncle on my mother’s side who can’t throw down in the kitchen. And I mean THROW DOWN, dish, after dish, after dish. And so, all the cousins know how to cook too. As Logan put it, “I know if I am ever at anyone related to you mom, I will never starve because you all know how to cook what I like to eat. I’m so lucky.” That you are, my boy, that you are.

Please use this time of isolation and social distancing, well. Remember, get creative in the kitchen. Teach your kids to cook and share your recipes. We have a world wide health crisis that needs us to stay home. Please do so and make the most of the time. Stay safe. Stay healthy ~ Daniella and family.