Day 17 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Hope #2

Bonjour encore cher amis! (Hello again, dear friends!)

We reach out to you across the world, across the countryside, across the street to say we are thinking of you.  It's very frightening to see what's happening. The true horror of this crisis unfolds day by
day.   I know we'd like to turn back the clock four months and find this was a bad dream.  But there is hope.  We can do it - take a deep breath and believe.

A drive between our villages that seems like a dream now.

Day 17 - I woke with the dawn, As consciousness cleared my thoughts, I realized I was clenching my jaw. I had to work at it to relax the muscles which felt tired. I must have slept like that.  Like you, like everyone on the planet, we are overloaded with useless information.  My sorrow is endless.  I'm sure you feel the same.  But we must try to do more than survive.  We must, as the memes put it, thrive!

Throwing off the gloom because I know it won't do any good, I decided to read the news.  I almost wish I hadn't.  Those on the front lines taking care of the sick have earned more than our respect.  They are heroes who put themselves in danger every working day.  When I read of nurses who care for people in the community having their cars broken into for the few masks they need for their work, I was horrified.  Doctors and nurses are dying.  The Catalan nurses posted a series of shots of themselves in the nude.  This was not to be sexy.  They had their hands placed strategically to cover themselves but what they were trying to say to their government was that they feel unprotected because there are not enough scrubs, plastic gloves, or masks for them to do their jobs with any security. 

That was depressing but then, I found there was also hope - reports show that social distancing has begun to slow this thing down.  An Italian man has recovered and he’s 101! Wonderful.  The areas in lock-down are seeing a stabilizing of new cases.  It will take some more time to be certain.  But that is hopeful.  Austria, the European country who closed down first has seen a fall in the number of deaths for four days now.  It's a start.  It will take more time in places where the clamp down has not been respected until now.  There are numerous vaccines being tested all over the globe.  China claims they have a flu drug that seems to treat it.  The drug that fights Ebola may hold the key for treating it too.  The University of Pittsburgh have developed one that has worked in mice.  Now they hope to fast-track the testing in humans.  It definitely looks hopeful. This is the article I read - click here.   

I felt better and decided to put down the phone and try reading that French poetry book I bought long ago before I was fluent.  The binding was such a pretty color of blue that I couldn'

Dent's Treasuries of French
Literature: French Poetry

t resist it over 20 years ago one afternoon in a used bookstore in London.  I began at the start and read.  As I turned the pages, I remembered how hard it had seemed the first time I opened it.  Now it was as easy as letting water flow over my hands at the sink.  (Easier, as I don't have to concentrate on waiting twenty seconds before I stop.)

Each poem was a messenger from another human soul.  The book begins with simple poems.  For example: one is about flowers, another about a cat, a third describes the autumn.  Many of them have a religious message. The book published for schools and was meant to accompany French lessons.  The sentiments of another century are both the same and different from ours.  I wonder what people will think of our poetry in a hundred years? I know they will find some common bond with us, no matter how the world changes. It's a beautiful connection.  A connection to other people who lived in a world just as uncertain as ours.  Like us, they had fears and hopes.  So then I got up and started the day with hope in my heart.

 It's not easy to find a way to stay sane and positive while we stay at home day after day. Our eyes are tired from the hours we’ve spent

The tv is getting a work out this month

reading, the TV means we sit too long in one place, and  we can only go out for an hour, either for shopping or walking.  Yoga has become something we do together on days when it's too wet or cold outside for my partner to go running.  We are following a series on YouTube and for me it's quite a challenge - because the instructor is in French.  It's supposed to be for men, but I can tell you having done many courses for women, the routines are very much the same.  We are working on a different series, but if you'd like to see what I mean here is one of  Heberson's 15 minute routines. (I don't know if you can see this outside of France, but maybe.)

We find that like everyone else, we have to do a lot of cooking.  I'm happy to think we are all having to be creative with those staples like pasta, that we have stocked for months.  I have been tempted to bake goodies but as we have been working on losing the extra five pounds we put on over January, I have resisted.  Instead we have concentrated on trying main dishes that take a lot of time.

Yesterday it was homemade enchiladas. I'd been dreaming about Mexican food.  Fortunately, there were tortillas in the local shop.  I tried making my own flour tortillas years ago and they were just too heavy and thick.  Since then, I have succeeded with chapatis, so there is hope.
Ah, hope - it does spring eternally!

  At the time, even salsa was hard to find in the French stores, so we had to live with mine and made tostadas that needed to be cut with a knife.  Corn tortillas were not an option without the slaked lime to soften the batter nor could I buy Masa flour. (I expect that a few months ago if I'd wanted to, I could have

ordered both off of Amazon.  Today, you can't get anything in fewer than four weeks - the postal service in suffering a lack of employees and an avalanche of packages from online

Looks like enchilada sauce

purchases!)  As I said, fortunately, ready made tortillas were in the shop.  The sauce, no.  So, off I went to the internet and read a lot of different recipes. This is the one I used and it was spicy! Kate's Enchilada Sauce

My partner, Y,  did the chopping and frying of the filling as I made our first ever homemade enchilada sauce. Note to self - maybe use 3/4 teaspoon cumin powder next time. Kate's sauce nearly blew my head off.  But hey, that's part of why we love Mexican food, right? Right - my partner just said, "Make it exactly the same - J'adore!" (he loves it.) It took us all afternoon which is great as we need the time to pass. As accompaniment, we watched a French slapstick comedy from the early 70's about a band of bank robbers.  It was a bit like our American films of the times.  They made these bad guys loveable and definitely didn't let them get away with the crime.

The cabbage, potato & carrot soup we made a few days ago was wonderful as always - yes,

It looks right... yes, it tastes great!

Carol's soup that I told you about on Day 11  Then we sat down to our main course and it was the best.  Not because we are great chefs, but because we'd made the journey from wishing for, searching for, creating and eating Mexican food. We've been putting soft tacos together for months, but I was hankering for that special flavor of tortillas baked in red sauce.  Y was pleasantly surprised as he'd never tasted such a combo before.  I was happy because it brought back memories of many a Mexican dinner in the States.

At a restaurant - salad, rice
lentils cooked with mango
and Rougail Saucisson

 Y has been sharing the flavors of his youth with me - the spicy foods of La Reunion.  The dishes there are a trade winds blend of Indian, Chinese, African, and French cuisine made unique by the local fruits and vegetables.  I was happily addicted from the first dish - though he did have to make two versions of Rougail - one with sausages and one with vegetarian sausages.  But that's how we roll in our house.  Here is a recipe for it to give you an idea of what it's like. This recipe is for 6 people.

While visiting his family, I tasted many different "achards"  which is a kind of spicy pickled "slaw" salad.  They all seemed to have green beans and carrots with a ginger and hot peppers taste but every one I tried was a little different. I was hooked after three bites. I was fascinated

Lunch with family
with the homemade
Achards at the front

at the local markets to see the vendors using machetes to whittle a variety of vegetables and fruits into shreds. These shreds were bagged and sold for families to then make their own achards at home.  It is high on my list of things I want to try making this year, but seriously, I think I'll use my food processor.  I picked up a few recipes while we were there: Here are two Achard recipes in English.

After that long session of cooking yesterday, today I'm thinking quick and easy for today - probably omelet!  Taking the same veggies I used to make Italian food, I'll forgo the garlic and then cook them with a a bit of salsa. Then I'll probably wreck two months of eating sensibly and serve it with spinach cooked in creme fraiche! (Imagine cooking it with something in between cream cheese and sour cream if you've never had the French version.)

And so we get through another day of quarantine.  I think before dinner, I'll go out and take that permitted walk.  The little street that curves around the church is pretty and there is a new fountain in the plaza next to it.  I definitely need to get some fresh air and step away from the computer and the news. 

Thank you for being there.  We are with you in spirit also.  Yesterday, there were so many positive

posts among the sad ones.  You are inspiring others with your posts and messages about coping with the confinement.  We all have found ways to pass the time.  I haven't cleaned or organized nearly as much as many of you but maybe tomorrow?  Ha!  I'll probably just write.  We are going to survive - and more than that - given time we shall thrive once more!

Take care, nos amis. You revive our hope. Every one of you is a light in our sky.  

Notre Dame del Prat in Argeles sur Mer

A demain!  (See you tomorrow!)  Link to Day 18