A few months ago, I was introduced to the Lullaby Project via the University Health Network’s (UHN) Krembil Brain Institute. The purpose of the Lullaby Project’s collaboration with Krembil is to offer mothers living with epilepsy the ability to create lullabies for their kids and also to see how music impacts those living with the condition. All participants were matched up with a songwriter who would create something for them (or another singer) to record. This was done in partnership with Massey Hall/Roy Thomson Hall. The song I recorded (with special thanks to my songwriter, Scarlett Flynn) is called Bug.

I really enjoyed working with Scarlett and recording. It was my first time recording solo at a studio – I had done some recording as a member of the school choir back in high school for a singer who performs for elementary school students (I don’t even remember his name. It wasn’t a big name musician from the kids’ music world like Raffi or Sharon, Lois and Bram). All the choirs in the school, from JK through high school also recorded an album of holiday/Christmas music back in the 90s. But that was done in the chapel, not an actual studio.

Was it nerve-racking? Maybe a little, but like I said, I had a lot of fun!! And I love singing, and really, I should do it more outside of the shower. I haven’t really done much singing since Jr. Mintz was very young. And prior to his birth, I rarely sang. A far contrast from when my high school and university days – especially high school, when I sang in chapel EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL DAY!!!

NOTE: The Lullaby Project is an international program first started in New York through Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute. The Toronto chapter (??)/program first collaborated with Jessie’s Centre, which helps empower young women/parents, providing them with programs and services to help them, including education, health services and housing support. It later expanded to projects with the Regent Park Community Health Centre and UHN’s Krembil Institute.

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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

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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

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It’s December 25, so Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the holiday. We had our annual holiday dinner party over the weekend, so we’ll be spending today watching movies and ordering in Chinese. In other words, it’s what my husband calls “Jewish Christmas.”

So what’s “fake Chinese?” Ummm, it’s North American-ized stuff. You know, chicken balls and chop suey? Except we aren’t getting chop suey. We’ll have egg rolls though (rather than SPRING ROLLS). I’m sure I’ve written about this before. It’s something we’ve been doing years – probably since we married and I like it!

So how was our annual dinner? It was GREAT! Our menu was a little different this year. No latkes, since Hanukkah was early (we always have our meal catered from Pusateri’s), but it DID include turkey breasts and beef. The truffle mac and cheese I served last year (NOT from their “official” holiday menu) was difficult to get. I had to call the store several times just to get it and confirm that it was there. Since you can’t order it online, I wasn’t able to have any sort of official confirmation. I ordered it again since it went really well with the guests last year.

This year is Jr. Mintz’s first Christmas. He isn’t old enough to understand presents, Santa or decorations yet, but he seems to LOVE the tree. He likes lights in general, preferring to look out the window than play with the dangly toys on his play mat. He did receive toys for the holiday, including a stuffed dog by Cuddle+Kind and a doll by Birds Love Bees (we aren’t trying to limit his exposure to big brands, but we DO love to help smaller/indie companies). I really hope he’ll appreciate them eventually.

What else did we do? I made my annual baked French Toast (or more accurately, bread pudding). I made both savoury and sweet again this year, using both challah (savoury) and croissant (sweet). The savoury one was soaked in an egg (two egg whites, one whole egg) custard mixed with both regular dairy and almond milks (the almond milk was from Greenhouse Juicery. They FINALLY have an unsweetened version!!!) mixed with some garlic powder, black pepper and a spice mixture I made. I also added quark to the custard. The casserole was topped with grape tomatoes and bocconcini. The sweet one, with croissant, was first topped with a spread called Rawtella (think Nutella without the nasty stuff) and dipped in an egg (again, two egg whites, one whole), dairy, almond milk and quark mixture with cinnamon, as well as vanilla and cacao powders. Yum!

Tomorrow’s Boxing Day. I’m NOT going to make the same mistake I did last year – purchase a useless printer (I thought I had a good deal by paying $60, but it looked like the printer I had in 2011. Ummm, NO. And I STILL haven’t replaced it. I don’t print much, so I guess it isn’t that big of a deal. It’s been working, and that’s the important part, right?). I’m really going to focus on things we need for Jr. Mintz. He doesn’t need any more toys – more like a better baby monitor (the one we have is supposed to be good, but it seems to go offline at least once a day). Yeah, I know, #firstworldproblems.

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Baby Mintz is two weeks old and is slowly learning how to be a baby (technically, he’s 37 weeks gestation, don’t forget – his actual due date is November 18).  He was having a lot of trouble with the bottle for several days and the hospital wouldn’t let him go home until he could be on full time for 48 hours.  It took him until Wednesday to start grasping the idea of taking a bottle for food (rather than a feeding tube) and we were able to go home on Friday.  Thank goodness!  I just can’t deal with hospitals anymore.  At least we didn’t stopped having to commute to St. Catharines after the third day AND the Toronto hospital was subway accessible (though not our first choice).  We are, however, very glad to have him home and look forward to spending much more time with him.  Meanwhile, there’s MUCH MORE TO DO (e.g. making doctor’s appointments, looking for parent/baby programs – especially ones WELCOMING to parents who were never pregnant).  I’ve also contacted two preschools (yes, I’m thinking that far in advance).

We’re glad we can spend much, much more time with him and caring for him in an environment which we find much more comfortable.  My parents have been in daily to visit their grandson (and still getting used to being known as Poh Poh (my mom) and Gung Gung (my dad)).  Adam’s parents will be coming in a few weeks.  We’re going to be at this for the rest of our lives!

My husband and I would like to thank the staff at both St. Catharines General and Toronto East Hospital for their kindness and effort in caring for Baby Mintz and for showing us what to do!  We were completely clueless (okay, maybe not CLUELESS – I’ve cared for children before – just not newborns) at the beginning and we’re slowly getting the hang of it now.

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