It was another pandemic year, a year of mostly staying in. My husband and I only went to a restaurant to dine in ONCE, and only because we were able to sit outside. It was brunch, and for our anniversary. Our usual anniversary spot downtown. I missed dining in a restaurant, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to stop this thing. And though we’re now, as of New Year’s Eve, not only fully vaxxed, but also boostered, we’re still not comfortable going back. It’s winter, after all, and the case numbers are skyrocketing. After all, we have a young child who cannot have the vaccine just yet. We haven’t really tried new places which we liked via takeout.
Speaking of kids, Jr. Mintz started preschool in September. He started school with a very limited vocabulary for his age, and has since vastly improved. He still isn’t where he should be and still refers to himself in the third person, but we’re hoping that a year of school would greatly help! If he gets to go back to in-person school, that is. The provincial government has already announced a delay (by only a couple of days) in the start of school. He needs the in-person interaction.
I haven’t experimented too much with food most of the year. I mean, I made Cin Cin Mien during the Lunar New Year, which was inspired by dan dan mien, and then towards the end of the year (okay, last week), I made pain au cacao, a take on my weekly soda bread with a hint of cacao powder and cacao nibs. It’s actually really good (to me, anyway) and I’ll be posting the recipe soon. I recently found a YouTube recipe channel where the chef/host/whatever you call her makes somewhat every day type foods using the kinds of ingredients I’m more likely to have at home (for example, the only sweeteners I have at home are maple syrup and honey. I don’t have other sugars (unless it’s something that’s already sweetened like desserts, chocolate, fruit spreads or fruit…if fruit counts at all) and am not about to go out to buy any if my baking experiment fails. I think a lot of people fail to understand this. One person suggested recipes using agave. Well, I don’t have agave and I don’t think you can sub maple syrup or honey 1:1). She recently uploaded a homemade pasta dish using, believe it or not, tuna. She uses fresh, but I think it can work with canned. Or even with salmon or other types of fish. The most unique one uses self-rising flour and ice cream (!!!!!)
Another thing this year: I left the invisible disabilities podcast and started my own. Cynthia Talks Life (DelectablyChic! or Otherwise) talks about, well, issues I’m passionate about. This season, topics ranged from being a child of immigrants to my views on diversity, identity and inclusion (let’s just say that I’m NOT a big fan of current DE&I narratives because it’s actually NOT very inclusive. I’ve been told to “shut up” enough times (worse is when I’m told that I’m “centring” (WTH does that mean? Self-centred?)). You’ll have to listen to the episode to get my perspective. But whatever…the leadership is never going to allow differing perspectives. Sad, but that’s the way they are), to mom/parent-shaming and food. I plan to drop another season in 2022, probably starting in March.
I’m otherwise exhausted. I don’t even know if I know how to be “normal” anymore. Here’s hoping that 2022 will be much better!!!
Image by: Volha Barysevich/ShutterStock
