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

The post 2021: What a Year! 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.

His vocabulary has increased slightly since the episode was recorded a few weeks ago, adding “Canada” and “pineapple” to the list. He’s also getting more demanding, telling adults to “sit down dere!” Does anyone have an expressively delayed child?

The post Cynthia Talks Life, Episode 2: My Expressively Delayed Child appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

Introducing What’s the Difference? It’s a podcast about living with invisible disabilities. I’m hosting the show with three other women who are also living with challenges. They range from a heart condition which was diagnosed at birth to blindness as well as another woman who also has epilepsy. Our first episode debuted on February 12. We discuss how our disabilities/challenges have impacted our lives, including how we’re treated once people find out about them, how it impacts romantic relationships, work life and more.

This is going to be a regular thing and my co-hosts and I hope that it will help destigmatize invisible disabilities (which often gets left out of the picture when it comes to ability diversity) and give people like us a voice. Considering my cultural heritage seems to be one which hides things quite a bit (I don’t even want to get into it when it comes to mental health. It’s YEARS behind Anglo-Canadian culture and there’s still stigma there), I KNOW that I might heavily criticized. I don’t care about that – it’s important to make changes, no matter how challenging.

What’s the Difference? can be heard on Anchor as well as pretty much anywhere one finds podcasts (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts). I’ll be posting new episodes on this page as well. Of course, please subscribe if you’d like to be notified of new episodes. We’re also on Facebook and Instagram!

Image by frank_peters/Shutterstock

The post I’m a Podcast Co-Host! appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.