Today AJ had a good day but fevers have returned so Corona is a very stubborn virus. Please keep praying as that’s what we all need. I decided to add a guest writer every week, so all my friends get ready to be called on. Here is Saniya Jaffer Business Analyst at Unilever and my pillar of strength!
Hi everyone, today I decided to give my mom a break from the blog and hop on and share my perspective and our ups and downs of day 10.
The topic I wanted to revolve today’s post around is acceptance, and our new normal.
Over the course of the past ten days in quarantine and isolation, myself and my mother have been through a rollercoaster of emotions.
Do we have this virus?
Do we not?
Are we going to catch it from touching the microwave that my father touched?
The tv remote?
Is washing our hands three times in an hour going to prevent the spread?
What will it manifest like in our bodies?
Will it be the same as it was in my father?
In a sense, I know we are all feeling something like this right now, especially in New York. Not in most of your own homes, thankfully. However, we are all in a constant state of worry. Where can we go without exposing ourselves? Should we be scared? Should we be nervous? What is ok, what isn’t? This paranoia has been eating away at all of our sanity, slowly but surely.
While I can’t answer a lot of those questions, what I can say is that social distancing is key. From being in a house with a doctor, I’ve been hearing the updates on hospital capacity, and healthcare workers day in day out working their hardest to help everyone. It is hard to accept that our new normal includes being away from our friends and family, taking less trips, working from home, and staying indoors. However, I can say that accepting this way of life makes it easier to move forward. For me, accepting I can’t go out and see my friends has made me reach out to friends around the world who I’ve lost touch with via phone or video call. It has also allowed me to finally start reading more books, and painting/sketching with my free time.
Through all of this, today both my mother and myself finally felt like we could breathe. It wasn’t anything significant, there were no developments in how we felt or anything like that. But hearing of a couple more people close to us testing positive, we finally came to terms with the fact that we, and many in the city and across the US, are in fact going to get COVID19. And guess what? That’s OK. What makes it okay? The fact that we are doing all we can to protect those who might not be okay- the immune-compromised, the old, the weak- by staying at home and distancing and remembering this daily. In terms of symptoms, neither of us have experienced high fevers, shortness or breath or any sort of cough. What we are experiencing is heightened body aches and pain. Also some fatigue and lack of appetite. Additionally my mother’s eyes have been burning for a few days. There is no guarantee that these are in fact symptoms of the virus, however, accepting that it could be and that we are OK, is a comforting fact. Today I read “About 40 to 80 percent of the state’s population is going to be infected by corona virus, says Governor Cuomo. That amounts to 7.8 million to 15.6 million New Yorker’s infected”. While this could easily feel like an alarming number, if we are staying home and practicing safe distancing, monitoring our bodies, and building up our immune systems- that is the most we can do. Eating healthy, paying attention to our bodies, and staying healthy- this is what will fight the virus for most of us.
Over the past 10 days I’ve felt like I was going crazy at many points in time, however one thing that has been keeping me sane and raising my spirits daily are my friends and family. My friends- not just across the country but across the world- reaching out to me daily, asking me how I am doing, asking how my father is, FaceTiming and making me smile. My cousins and family members- near and far no matter how much time has passed between our last interaction- showing me limitless kindness, love and support. I truly believe that the power of human connection and shared experience will bring us together to support one another and remind ourselves that we are all in this together. We all feel it, and it sucks, but we can and will lift one another up. All of us have so much to be grateful for- our homes, our families, our friends, our ability to connect with our loved ones around the entire world. I keep reminding myself that my problems- are really just a lack of luxury- losing a privilege that is and never was essential to my survival.
How do we move forward? How do we stay sane in this time of unprecedented uncertainty? Hope. Hope that we as a global community will come together to support one another. Hope that we as young people will stay home and distance ourselves to protect those more vulnerable. Hope that our medical professionals stay safe physically and mentally as they see the damage this virus is causing first hand, every single day. Hope that those less fortunate that us are getting by too. Hope that, inshallah, this too shall pass.
My baby did the hard work and so here is my yesterday recipe made with stuff from my pantry and freezer.We wanted something warm, hearty and spicy !!
Red Curry Soup
Ingredients
- 1 box chicken stock (4 cups)
- 3 Tbs red curry paste ( its a store bought concentrated paste)
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 quart mushrooms
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 2 tbs lime juice
- 2 tbs chili garlic sauce
- 2-3 tbs tomato paste
- 10-15 shrimp
- 1 bag shelled edamame
- 2-3 tbs oil
- 1-2 tsp chopped garlic
- 1-2 tsp grated ginger
- 2-3 basil leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 green chilis
Method
Heat the oil, saute the garlic, ginger and onions for a few minutes then add the mushrooms, add the red curry paste and keep sauteing till vegetables are slightly soft.
In a pan, pour the stock and let it boil, then add the tomato paste and chili garlic sauce, lime juice and brown sugar. Taste to see if the spice is to your liking and add more if needed.Stir and add salt and pepper.
Once the soup is boiled add the onion mushroom mixture. Add the coconut milk and once its mixed well add your shrimps and green chili and let the soup boil so the shrimps cook. Top with basil leaves and enjoy!
