Apologies for the late posting. I’ve been spending the last few weeks shopping, getting Jr. Mintz ready for Junior Kindergarten! Can you believe how expensive school uniforms are? Especially when children his age will likely grow out of it in less than a year? And trying to decide what size to get is stressful – I bought his regular size at most clothing stores, only to find out that it’s actually at least half a size too big. The store is online and based out of Quebec, so returns are challenging. Not to mention, it takes at least two weeks for them to arrive. Anyway….on with the episode, an update of our family (yes, the three of us had COVID)

The post Season 2, Episode 7: Summer of 2022 Update appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

How have YOU been dealing? Do you have any permanent changes in your life? Are you back at the office full time? Working form home? Hybrid? Let me know!

The post Season 2, Episode 4: These Past Two Years and How Things Are Now appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

I’m FINALLY posting this! Apologies for the delay….I had some website and email issues last week which lasted several days. It wasn’t completely fixed until the weekend! Maybe I’ll talk about this in a future post. But without further adieu, here is episode 9:

What have you been doing? Are things getting back to normal where you are?

Image credit: Dech St/ShutterStock

The post 19+ Months of Pandemic Life: What I Did appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

So what have I been doing lately, besides working on my new show? First of all, with Toronto opening up again, I’ve started to go back to some things I did in my previous life. Like going non-food/essentials shopping. If you follow me on Instagram, I walked into a Sephora store for the first time since March 2020 recently and bought moisturizer and tinted lip balm! I also had my first haircut in some 18 or more months! That was so wonderful!! I splurged on that one – LOL. A lot was chopped off, but I don’t think it’s long enough to donate. I have that chopped off hair sitting in a drawer in the bathroom. Thank goodness the hair is still long enough to tie back as I need it in that length to work out.

Speaking of working out, I recently went back to the gym. The REAL gym, rather than working out on my home elliptical and via streaming. I’m still using the elliptical and have kept my Essentrics.com subscription, but going back to the gym, to a trainer and seeing more people – even though you’re not having a conversation with them necessarily – is such a good thing for the mind. The past 16 or so months have been tough for me from a mental health perspective, as I’m sure it has been for many people. Not everyone would admit it because they don’t want to be shamed. It’s disappointing that mental health awareness is so behind the times, especially in some cultures – many think it’s a “middle class invention,” or worse, do not acknowledge it at all.

I’m writing this on August 1, and as of this date, I have yet to dine in a restaurant. My family and I have ordered tons of takeout, especially on weekends (we’ve kept up with our weekend brunch, and have even tried places we never went to in the past. New places we tried over the last 14-15 months include Starving Artist and Lady Marmalade. The little guy loves Starving Artist and even has a “waffle dance”). Now that dining in is an option, it’s nearly impossible to make reservations at some restaurants, especially for dinner. I tried making one for our anniversary, but they were fully booked. Luckily, we were able to get one for brunch the following day.

What else? Well, as you probably know, the little guy is growing up fast. He’ll start preschool in September, and we’re really hoping that things don’t change much and in-person learning is in session. He hasn’t seen a kid his own age since March 2020 outside of his virtual music classes. His vocabulary has improved a lot since then and even since the expressively delayed episode dropped on July 6. While you can’t carry a full conversation with him, his sentences ARE getting longer. I’m only hoping that he’ll be able to properly say the “magic words” (i.e. please and thank you) without prompting and lose the habit of saying “huh” for “yes” by September. I’m told that vocabulary can increase significantly as kids see other kids. They have to figure out how to communicate with each other, after all. I’m also hoping that he’d understand one isn’t the centre of attention and that people won’t always respond when you call their name. He SAYS he gets it, but I don’t think he does. He’ll find out the hard way if he doesn’t understand before school starts,

As for everything else, I’m still cooking more, still making my weekly soda bread. I haven’t really experimented too much with the recipe (I typically use a mix of flours including quinoa, oat, spelt and whole wheat), though I started baking it with a lower temperature (dropping it from 450 F to 420 and extending the baking time to 45 minutes with the lid on and 15 with the lid off). Still works great. I’ve also made two ingredient oatmeal cookies (the recipe for this is all over the internet and basically involves mashed bananas and oats (some suggest old fashioned rolled oats while others use quick cook. It doesn’t matter, to be honest) several times. That’s basically the only cookies I make since I typically don’t like adding too much sugar to any baking (the only sweeteners I own are honey and maple syrup – outside of foods that have added sugar in them already, such as ice cream and some chocolates. If you’re wondering, YES, I own 100% cacao, too). The little guy loves the bread. I’ll talk about my cooking in an upcoming episode of my podcast.

Podcast recording has been great. I love doing my own show, talking about things I feel are important to discuss. Some might find me a little conservative, but in a world where people like me struggle to get topics acknowledged – especially when it comes to diversity – then outside of blogging, podcasts are the a great way. I just need better ways to promote the show without having to spend money! Hahaha!!

Image credit: Christian Horz/ShutterStock

The post Yes, I Still Write Blog Posts – Basically What I’ve Been Up To… appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

I worry about kids. School is remote again, and likely for the rest of the academic year. Ontario teachers who aren’t in high risk areas or working with kids with special needs aren’t getting vaccinated yet to my understanding. So nope, school’s done until September. At least by then, teachers will be vaccinated. Kids won’t be eligible until next year. However, the fact that they’re trapped at home, unable to see peers. It’s not that great for them from a mental health perspective. We’re a social animal and interaction with others, REAL interaction and not just seeing people on a screen is very necessary. However, due to stigmatization of mental health, some families, particularly those from cultures where mental health is even MORE stigmatized, consider PHYSICAL health to be even MORE important, and, thus, are less furious at the fact remote school is on. Sad, but true. I have heard it from my cultural community. Am I mad at them? F***ing YES. I’ve had people criticize me for even THINKING about sending Jr. Mintz to in-person preschool in September. It’s ONLY APRIL, people! Who knows what things will be like in SEPTEMBER?

I also worry about older people who live on their own (either with a spouse or by themselves) and are having difficulty registering for a vaccine and people with disabilities who don’t drive, and can’t get to centres to get their shots. They certainly aren’t risking it by taking a cab, transit or Uber/Lyft. And those who are linguistically challenged? Good luck. Many don’t ask for help because they do not want to appear weak. It might be cultural or it could just be personality. What we REALLY need are more mobile clinics and notification ahead of time that said clinics are going to be in the area. We also need to offer workplace vaccination clinics, especially at fulfillment centres, factories and other places employees work cannot work from home. Opening slots for people who live in certain neighbourhoods isn’t good enough, especially if these areas are mixed income/education (for example, the neighbourhood I spent part of my childhood in uses M2M as the first three characters of its postal code. M2M is considered a “hot zone.” However, there’s no way the street I lived in is a “hot zone” when homes are large enough to easily self isolate if needed, and is solidly middle class. “Essential workers” on that street are teachers and medical professionals, not factory employees and grocery store clerks. Who are the people who’ll be registering? That’s right, people from that neighbourhood, due to their education and the likelihood of having jobs where they can work from home. However, I’m not sure if I can say they’re taking advantage of the fact they’re can be vaccinated. Everyone wants the vaccine.

Meanwhile, I suppose we just have to deal. Find ways to destress. This could be just turning off social media, since everything on it is either about the pandemic (always criticizing, of course. And why wouldn’t you? All three levels of government are handling it very badly) or hate in this world. And the latter on how to handle hate only comes from one or two perspectives, never taking into consideration that hate can come from EVERY F**KING COMMUNITY. Because we ALL HAVE OUR BIASES, so please stop FOCUSING ONLY ON SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION. And how are we supposed to learn from each other if we CAN’T SEE EACH OTHER? Virtual isn’t good enough. There are very few diversity/equity discussion groups where I can feel “safe” in because they don’t find that my perspectives fit the “narrative” of people from my culture or anyone who is a child of immigrants. I’ll just leave it there as the post is about the pandemic.

That said, I’m still baking, especially kefir soda bread on a weekly basis, which has helped me for the last year. I’ve also used a version of the recipe to make savoury hot cross buns for Easter (turned out disastrous, but only because I don’t own pastry bags and wasn’t able to make proper-looking crosses with a freezer bag with a hole) and two ingredient oatmeal cookies (mashed banana and quick cook oats). I probably should be baking a bit more if I had time. I haven’t recorded a new episode of the podcast (the show’s creator recently had a baby), but that’s not what has been keeping me busy. However, I AM getting more involved with philanthropy-related projects, which I’ll discuss at a later time. Working on projects such as these ones are helping me mentally speaking as it takes me away from thinking about the pandemic and other issues going on in the world not related to what I’m doing. It’s all good. And I’m looking forward to delving deeper into them.

The post F*&K! We’re Still In This Pandemic Mess! appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

My weekends are still involve making kefir soda bread, having delivered brunch with my husband and son, sometimes errands, and of course, playing with Jr. Mintz. He’s grown up a lot in the past few weeks. His vocabulary is still low for his age, but he definitely understands EVERYTHING. You ask him to point to an object or colour and he will do that. He shows you what something or someone is doing, even if he doesn’t express it verbally. I have no doubts that if there was no pandemic, his vocabulary would be much, much bigger.

Another bit of craziness recently: The stock market has been basically crazy over the past couple of weeks. People on Wall Street Bets, a Reddit group, went crazy buying shorted stocks, especially GameStop, a brick-and-mortar store selling video games and related products. The place is basically a relic of the past, and will likely close. This sent their shares skyrocketing – up to $350+ (from barely $5 or 6) US (it’s since gone back down…way down, trading in the double digit figures). It was a way to get back at hedge funds, so that they’d lose money. These retail traders felt that they deserved a larger share of the stock market. However, what they didn’t realize, and probably STILL don’t realize, is that no one is really winning. Some of these day traders have been BORROWING money to bet and aren’t even looking at the long term, which is what retail investors SHOULD be doing. Some might even have bet their kids’ future tuition away! Really? You want to do that? I have to admit that I was freaking out at one point, but really, my portfolio is for the long term. It’s been getting better, so I guess when you can’t actually go to Vegas, you let Vegas come to you. I really apologize if I come across as some kind of snob. But to be honest, this is my reality. Everyone has a different reality. The only REAL good thing that came out of this is more people are becoming interested in investing.

What else? Groundhog Day was earlier this week, and Ontario’s albino groundhog, Wiarton Willie DID NOT see his shadow. This means it’ll be an early spring (I hope)!!

The post It’s February! And It’s Still Crazy! appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

I haven’t really been going out too much. Fear of getting sick is the major factor. These days, I really don’t go out very much. Twice a week, max. Compare that to pre-COVID days when I’m out basically EVERY SINGLE DAY. I went to fitness classes (and I miss them a great deal). I went to the grocery store every day (yes, I “old world shopped”). These days? I’m working out from home and grocery shop at stores when I leave the house. My son might come with me, but even HE isn’t getting out too much. My husband and I brunched every weekend back in the day. We still do, but it’s delivered to us.

I’m not feeling good. I mean, I’m PHYSICALLY fine. I’m still exercising daily. I eat well. Heck, I think I’m eating better NOW than I did back in the beginning of the year. I’m cooking more. But mentally? Nope, not that great. It’s not just COVID that’s affecting everything. Things are changing so quickly politically and philosophically that my brain just can’t keep up. Okay. There. I said it. I’m not WOKE. I am not READY to be WOKE the way people seem to want me to. Maybe it’s because so-called diversity activists don’t seem to understand my voice. And I don’t understand why. I’m coming from a child-of-immigrant perspective. Isn’t this SUPPOSED to be something which SHOULD be included?

I feel like the immigrant (or child of immigrant) view is largely being ignored. I mean, some groups are not getting the services they need and have the right to have because, well, they aren’t being served linguistically. I know this isn’t really an issue (for the most part) for my heritage community (or whatever the proper term is) – the Cantonese speaking population is HUGE here – but that isn’t the case for everyone. And even for Cantonese speakers, there ARE services which might be lacking as there may not be many people in those industries who speak the language well enough (I speak PASSABLE Cantonese, but I’m unsure if I’d be good enough to be an interpreter. And I’m Chinese-illiterate anyway (please don’t shame me)). Why is this the case? Well, it could very well be due to parents PRESSURING their kids to go into certain industries (are we allowed to talk about this?). It isn’t necessarily a systemic thing. Of course, the so-called “WOKE” people would never admit that. And frankly, that’s kind of sad.

Yes, right now, we ARE being more open about our mental health. But that focus is very much due to COVID. And being open about mental health is very much an Anglo-Protestant sort of thing. Many communities in Canada still have a “tough it out” mentality (though it’s getting better). Now, my parents are very integrated compared to the “typical” immigrant (working outside of the community and having had an English language education back in the old country helped) and are more open about mental health awareness, but that isn’t the case for everyone (remember my post on Asian culture and mental health awareness?). However, it seems like this isn’t part of the narrative. At all. Diversity-focused activism is very much centred around anti-Black and anti-Indigenous bias, not taking into account various immigrant and child-of-immigrant experiences. In fact, at times, many seem to assume that talking about anti-Black and anti-Indigenous biases will automatically erase other sorts of bias. NOT TRUE. This is like making gluten-free pizza crust available so “everyone” can have pizza. Gluten-free doesn’t mean “everyone” can have pizza. What about Keto? Or are, for one reason or another, abstaining from over-processed grains (because a gluten-free crust doesn’t necessarily mean whole grain crust!!!)? So unless that gluten-free crust happens to be made from cauliflower, you aren’t accommodating EVERYONE. And it’s frustrating, mentally, especially when people seem to dismiss or deny that it’s an issue. And that seems to happen. A LOT.

So combined with COVID, being trying to be “WOKE” and reading posts on social about being WOKE/”how sad” things are, etc, etc…AND to be told that all issues can be covered just BY being WOKE when it isn’t always true just makes things more stressful. I try to laugh it off, especially when it comes from people going out of their way to be PC, but no, it’s not fun. And when those who try TOO HARD really come off negatively, offensive, perhaps (I’ll get into that another time). And when you deny that you ARE, you aren’t giving others a chance to give their perspective.

So once again, how am I doing? NOT GREAT. And society is to blame for that.

The post No, Things Aren’t THAT Great…Mentally appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

I’m still baking weekly, and I’ve added butter making to the list of DIY projects. I thought it was going to be complicated, but nope, TOTALLY EASY with a food processor (I was NOT about to attempt mason jar butter. I don’t want to shake a jar for 20 minutes. #justsaying)! 500 mL of 35% cream in a food processor on a medium-high speed for six or so minutes. Drain, rinse in ice water until the water is clear and bingo. I don’t know exactly how much I have – I’d say it’s around a cup or so. A quarter of it is sitting in the fridge, with the remaining frozen. We don’t eat/use that much butter in the house (I tend to use quark or olive oil on bread. Or hummus). I’m now trying to figure out what to do with the remaining buttermilk. This is old fashioned buttermilk, not the stuff you find in grocery store (cultured buttermilk).

So what should I do next? Cheese? I’ve been Googling and cottage cheese doesn’t sound too hard to make. Nor is quark. I have an Instant Pot and know that yogurt can be made fairly easily too. Of course, I could just start baking other things. I’ve been meaning to make chickpea squares (it’s basically the same recipe as socca/farinata/chickpea flour pancakes, but baked in a pan and cut into squares), so maybe I’ll make that. Or savoury carrot loaf. I think Jr. Mintz would like chickpea squares as seems to have an obsession with baked goods. No, I probably won’t be making cake or cookies, unless it’s a variation of two ingredient oatmeal cookies (mashed bananas and oatmeal).

I DO have to admit that one thing I’ve been meaning to make are apple dumplings using Chinese dumpling wrappers (can be savoury (if you add cheddar) or sweet (with ice cream)). If you read a post from the fall about my pumpkin mooncakes, you’d know that I LOVE to rehash traditional foods into things more Jook sing (if you speak Cantonese, you’d know what this means. If not, then here’s the definition). I can’t really call these dishes “Chinese” as it may be seen as appropriation – and we don’t want THAT these days! The legit term is, of course, a form of fusion, but Jook sing is just my identity, and I prefer that.

What have you been doing? Any DIYs? Any suggestions for me?

The post Still Stuck at Home; New Project appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

Last week, I posted a short video (see below) on my Instagram account (and on What’s the Difference?’s account) about how one should try to be as “normal”/”routine” as they can while they’re stuck at home. It’s been tough – as someone who works from home, I tend to split my day into parts, taking a couple of hours “off” to go to fitness classes and grocery shop. Well, those fitness classes are now cancelled and I’m trying NOT to grocery shop as often (I’ve been shopping online to avoid an extended amount of time outside of my home) as well as NOT overbuying (we saw a couple spend nearly $700 last week with most of their purchases being non-perishables). But still, working out is necessary for me (stress reliever) and I know I’m lucky to have an elliptical in my unit (my building’s gym has closed). But I can’t JUST do cardio EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!

View this post on Instagram

And that’s on top of regular work and being a mom!!! #covid19 #mentalhealth #stayingnormal #asnormalaspossible #newnormal #delectablychiclife (well, as DelectablyChic! as possible, anyway)#thenewnormal

A post shared by Cynthia Cheng Mintz (@cynthiacmintz) on Mar 18, 2020 at 7:15am PDT

What’s a gal to do then? Luckily, my Pilates studio is offering live streamed classes. They’ve only had two so far, and unfortunately, neither were held during times I was able to participate. I will, however, try a class at a time I’m able to take part. I’m also taking advantage of a free (for now) subscription to a stretch/strengthening program I’ve been doing for years. I’ll have to pay soon, should I want to continue, but I very well might until this whole thing is over. And who knows when that’ll be?

Both (along with daily meditation) will take my mind off this whole thing and perhaps stop me from stress eating. Yes, that’s what I’m most worried about – gaining weight from over-eating. At least I’m grazing on frozen berries (maybe three or four at a time, three or four times a day)? But still…it isn’t good for me. As for normal meals, I’m trying to be as “routine” as possible – loads of vegetables (I bought a lot of frozen greens and can eat a good 1/4 to 1/3 of a bag at a time) and loads of whole grain and low carb breads in the freezer. Unfortunately, this means I don’t really have much room for more (hey, not everyone lives in a suburban home with an extra freezer in the basement)!! I DO think I have enough for two weeks, especially if I continue to get groceries delivered to me several times a week (grocery shopping three or four times a week is “normal” for me and delivered groceries means I have less prolonged exposure to the outside world). But at least the food I have is (relatively) healthy?

How am I handling NOT going out daily? Not that well (as going out is also a stress reliever for me). It’s hard for me not to see people other than my son and my husband. And stores seem to be running out of things – I started an order for delivery from Fresh City Farms today and they barely had anything. They (as in grocery stores in general) are “assuring” us that there’s plenty, but is there REALLY? And what if we just want to eat healthfully? Not everyone wants to buy cookies and cake (even though I hear many ARE – and are binging on that due to stress)! Maybe I need to think of something else to take my mind off all of this.

I know some people are binge-watching movies and TV shows to take their minds off the whole thing (hey, maybe the. So far, I’ve only seen one – Singin’ in the Rain. I probably should go through some old Disney favourites – The Little Mermaid, Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast (OG versions…or should I watch the remakes? I mean, Will Smith as the Genie? Ummmmm NOOOOOOOOOOOOO). As for TV shows, I really SHOULD be catching up on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (I’ve only seen the first season and the first two episodes of the second) and perhaps start Succession (an HBO series). But that’s only if I can find the time. People tell me the latter is really good.

And not being able to go outside for anything other than picking up groceries means my son doesn’t get to play outside. He loves going out and though we think he’s mostly oblivious to what’s going on at 17 months, I’m sure he’s wondering WHY he’s indoors all of the time. Having my husband work from home means my son gets to spend more time with his dad. We’re still trying to get him to walk on his own. I KNOW he can do it. He walks quite quickly if you hold on to him, running, even, but he just doesn’t have the confidence. He’s really shy. If anyone has suggestions as to how to build a kid’s self-confidence, please shoot them my way. Honestly, this kid is pretty much the only thing that is bringing a smile to me these days.

How is everyone adjusting to the new normal? Do you have a new normal? Are you worried about your health outside of COVID-19? Like you’re not getting the kind of food you typically eat? I’m reading that some people have started binging on junk food (like purchasing Oreos instead of their usual greens and whole grains. To be honest, while I’ve eaten cookies recently, I have NOT had an Oreo (or a Chips-a-Hoy or PC’s Decadent Chocolate Chip) in years). Heck, my husband and I had breakfast delivered to us today and I chickened out on ordering from McDonald’s!

In any case, don’t just stay safe and healthy, but STAY SANE! As you can see, I’m trying to be as routine as I can, adjusting here and there where I have to. It’s my only way in attempting to relieve stress. I’m sure many people feel the same way and it’s important to stay stress-free.

Image credit: CLS Digital Arts/Shutterstock

The post Social Distancing and Keeping a Routine appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.