Food For Thought

Thanksgiving is always a big food oriented holiday (though as I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to view the holiday with more and more derision but that’s another blog post) and who gets the benefit the most from it? No, not my brother and I, poor starving college students who are suffering from having to feed themselves for the first time. No, not my dad, who enjoys cooking for some reason. No, the real person who comes out on top during Thanksgiving isn’t, in fact, as a person at all – as you may have guessed from the title, the real winner is my dog, Riley.
For a rescue dog, she sure isn’t shy about manipulating you to get what she wants. First, she’ll headbutt you, to make sure you know she’s there. Then, she’ll sniff the air, to make sure you know what she’s after. Then, she’ll place her face on your leg, which somehow fits perfectly, and stare up at you with those sad dog eyes. “Why haven’t you fed me yet?” those eyes ask, even though she broke into the food bag (true fact) half an hour before you gave her her actual dinner, and she ate all of her actual dinner as well. “I’m just so hungry,” she thinks at you. If you don’t react right away, then she’ll take her head down, headbutt you once more, and then place her head on your leg. And on God, you try to resist, but that’s the thing about a good conperson – as soon as they walk up, you’ve been hooked.
A piece of turkey given, lightly taken out of fingers (Riley takes treats really, really, gently, because she’s an angel of a dog). One piece of meat silently dropped onto the floor. Another piece of turkey falling from the plate as the meal’s being cleaned up with an obligatory “oops.” In the end, Riley’s eaten more turkey than my brother, who isn’t that big of a fan of the bird, and her tail is wagging faster than any of us can move.
Happy Thanksgiving.

I don’t like soup.

I’m not sure where or when my dislike towards the innocent liquid dish began, but I can assure you that it would never be my first choice for dinner; or on my personal food menu for that matter. To me, soups are just hot liquid bowls of salt and I’m convinced most of the solids–veggies and meats–are just plain soggy by the time it hits the table ready to be eaten.

However…

Steaming with a mixture of smells: veggies, meatballs, and chicken broth, minestra maritata may be the only soup–second to locro de papa–that without hesitation I would eat and make at home. I’m not sure what it is about this soup that I am willing to make an exception for it. Perhaps it’s the simplicity of a seemingly complicated dish. Or maybe it’s the fact it brings back childhood memories; after all, the first time I had it was around this time of the season in elementary school. Whatever the reasoning, it makes me happy just smelling it; comfort food!

Because I like it enough, I’m gonna share with you guys a short recipe/ingredient list. Do change or add to it as you like; food is always al gusto!

INGREDIENTS:

• orzo or acini de pepe (1/2-1 cup, do not go overboard, trust me on this)
• chicken broth (5-6 cups)
• escarole (any greens)
• ground meat (any works, I like to combine two different meats)
• sliced carrots (any vegetables really)
• SEASONING!

As far as how to make it goes; be sure to boil water for your 5-6 cups of broth. From there, like I said before, food is to your liking, experiment with how you like your meatballs; I typically chop garlic, cilantro, and onion for mine; also mixed meats and some salt.

Note, when your broth begins to boil you’ll want to have your meatballs, veggies, greens, and pasta ready to be added; leave them to a slight boil then medium heat; or at least till the pasta is ready. Season it as you go along and taste test.

Feel free to ask me for help if you want or google. Google is always nice.

It is crazy how one person can totally change an experience for you.

My time at the mobile food pantry at Phipps West Farm was the best one yet because of Deborah. She was a lady volunteering at this site and was stationed at the ‘Grains’ section right next to me. Deborah currently lives in New Jersey but she grew up in the Bronx and was volunteering that day because her mother lives at the partnership site. Deborah was awesome.

As soon as I showed up to the location, she immediately came over and introduced herself with a bright, cheerful smile. Instantly welcoming. And she knew she had a smile and energy that could light up a room. She told me about how she always gets free tickets to go to talk shows like Good Morning America and sit in the crowd to smile and clap. The film crew people even told her she had a great smile and she was so proud.

The whole time Deborah and I had a great time. We would chat and crack jokes in the down time, help each other when people would show up with the “Shopping for four families” card, and made the most of the cold morning. We had such a fun time together that she asked if I was coming back and volunteering in December. Since she made it so much fun for me, I asked Caycee if I could come back to this site next month.

Then Deborah walked me over to the BX9 bus stop so I could make my way back to Fordham.

Doing anything for the first time can be intimidating. The first day of classes, the first time you try new food, or even meeting people can cause anyone a certain amount of anxiety. It’s a natural reaction to the unknown and something I feel daily. But as I have come to find out, one person can make a whole lot of difference in these situations and can give you a whole new look on how you tackle similar situations in the future.

The morning came of my first shift to volunteer at the mobile food pantry and that anxious feeling I always get was not being a stranger. I hopped in a car and headed to a place in the city I have never been to before to work with and serve people I have never met or seen. As we slowly prepared to serve the people at the spot that anxious feeling stayed with me. It persisted into the first few faces who I helped through the line. Each person was nice but most didn’t speak a lot of English so there was not a whole lot of communication going on outside of them pointing at food and me telling them to have a great day after they left. But about an hour into serving, I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely elderly woman named Maria. Maria walked up to me with an empty bag a big smile on her face. I could tell after we exchanged hellos that she, much like the other patrons, didn’t speak English as their first language and did not know much of it at all but that smile she was sporting when she walked up to me remained on her face the whole time I was helping her. She would thank me after every item of food I placed in her bag and after we were done together she looked me in the eyes and said “Thank you. God bless you.” As she walked away from me I had a moment to sit there and think about what had just happened and what she said to me. This woman I had never met before came to me knowing we wouldn’t be able to talk much and she communicated more to me than most other people can do with words. I could tell by the way she was so grateful for everything I was giving her and that this food was going to be prepared with love and care for whoever got the pleasure of eating with Maria. 

Maria calmed my nerves and reaffirmed why I enjoy volunteering. Thank you, Maria and God bless you.

Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli, has always been near and dear to my heart. These movies were always some of my favorites growing up, with my brother and I still watching them together to this day. The magical stories, the fascinating characters, and the beautiful animation are all part of what makes that studio, and those movies, so special.

For this post, however, I want to give a special shout out to one particular element of every Studio Ghibli movie: the food. In EVERY movie, whenever food is featured, it looks delicious and it makes me so hungry, every. single. time. Some personal favorites follow:

And that’s all the mental strength I have. Thank goodness I’m writing this before dinner, ’cause I am starving now.

Studio Ghibli, keep making magic.

I never realized eggplants were a large portion of people’s diets until Wednesday; it was the first vegetable to go; and it was the first vegetable that was asked from me. They called it berenjenas, which is Spanish for eggplant, and their faces would light up whenever I handed them one; it didn’t matter its size or color. Surprisingly enough, most of the mobile market’s customers even ignored the possibility of having fruit: mangoes and grapes; all that mattered was to have a berenjena in their bag.

I’ve actually never tried eggplant; my family has never served it in any dish nor have any of my friends shared a dish with me that had the vegetable. So, for me, eating eggplant seemed almost like an anomaly; it was an idea so foreign to me that I couldn’t wrap my head around. Now, I know that might seem ignorant to some; I’ve had my fair-share of locust, guinea pig, khash (boiled sheep feet), and cow tongue; so maybe I’m the weird one for still not having tried eggplant.

For that reason, I decided I needed to try eggplant! Some of the customers told me that you can take the eggplant and make it into a stew when it gets cold or if you’re sick; others suggested to me that I should fry and eat it with honey or salt. Since I don’t know much on cooking with eggplants, I think I’ll experiment with a side dish of some sort; something simple and small.

Let’s see if it works out.

• 

It was a warm, sunny morning as I walked from the 145th Street Station to the location of the Mobile Market. As I was walking up Amsterdam Ave, I noticed this beautiful mural on the side of Mark Levine’s Office, which is the partner for this mobile site. You can also see in the picture the people lining up for the pantry. Although WSCAH’s goal was to move away from the stigmatized ‘soup kitchens’ and lining up for your food, these Harlem citizens seem to use the time waiting as a social hour. When I walked up, everyone was lively and talking, in all different languages.

My walks between the mobile pantry site and the subway station made me want to move to this part of Harlem. The streets and sidewalks were wide, it was not bustling and smoggy like Midtown, and it was shaded with tall trees. The architecture on the buildings was exquisite. This part of Harlem is considered a historic district as this district contains a notably cohesive and intact collection of late-19th century row house architectural styles, including rows of neo-Grec buildings with their classical ornament and incised details, along with Queen Anne, Renaissance Revival, and Romanesque Revival style buildings. As soon as I got home, I started looking at available apartments in the area…

Going into my first day at the Mobile Market, I was feeling quite nervous for a few different reasons. One of the reasons was my inability to speak Spanish as I had heard from other classmates that most of the customers were Spanish-speaking. In addition to that, I had concerns about the overall process of the Mobile Market because I knew it was going to be moving at a much faster pace than the 86th street pantry. With that being said, I also felt prepared for the day due to the fact that I already had some volunteering at the pantry under my belt. 

I arrived at NMIC a bit early, so I spent about 15 minutes outside waiting for Caycee to arrive. Once she showed up, we checked in with the receptionist at NMIC and awaited the arrival of both the truck and Uber filled with bread from WSCAH. We actually had some issues with the Uber because it was saying that he arrived, but the car was nowhere to be seen. As it turned out, the manager at WSCAH accidentally sent the Uber to Ira’s House instead of NMIC. Once we settled that issue, set up the truck and organized the line of customers, we found out that three students from a food safety program at NMIC were going to help us for the day. This was definitely a pleasant surprise because I was the only volunteer there, and it was only my first time at the Mobile Market. Giving out the food was very similar to 86th street as they based it off of the same points system, so it was less of an adjustment than I had thought. The time ended up going by extremely fast because of how busy we were, so for this reason, I would say that Mobile Market is a very different experience from 86th street, which takes longer for each customer, but gives them more options for food.

When I arrived at the market I met Ryan, the volunteer coordinator, and Pedro, the market manager. The first thing that I noticed was the long line of people waiting to either be checked into the market or register as customers. I found it interesting how there were about 20-25 people waiting to register at that time, and I’m curious to see if there will be a similar amount next time I come in. This made me think about the amount of food that must be available in order to accommodate all of these customers, who may also be shopping for other family members. During my first hour at the pantry, I mainly worked on packing out food items and leveling the shelves. When it started to slow down and there wasn’t much to do, Pedro showed me to the storage room where he asked me to wrap all of the celery in plastic bags. During my last hour, I was able to help a few new customers with picking out the correct amount of groceries according to the points on their shopper card. It was definitely interesting to see the initial reactions of new customers to the food pantry as some were very pleased to see that there was a wide selection, while others were slightly disappointed with how much, or little, they were able to get with their points. I tried to clearly explain the guidelines for the food pantry, but there were a few customers who felt as if they should be able to substitute certain items if they wanted more grains as opposed to protein. It was helpful to have staff and more experienced volunteers around to help with situations where customers may be frustrated with the rules. Overall, my first day was filled with learning new things about WSCAH and food pantries in general. I look forward to going in for my next shift now that I know what to expect and how I can provide better assistance to both customers and staff.

The day began very nervously. Having no idea what to expect, Ann had set her alarm for 8:20 am the night before (on a day where her first class wasn’t until 4pm, but for a good cause, who needs sleep? Right? yeah…) and her nerves woke her up before the alarm could go off, sounding the theme song of the hit BBC show The Musketeers. The only reason Ann was so nervous is because she gets nervous about pretty much anything she hasn’t done before, so she really didn’t put much stock into those feelings as she took the 1 line all the way to the end-ish. By the end of the day, the nerves would be a distant memory. Though three hours long, which isn’t very long to begin with, the shift flew by in a daze. Meeting the people who run the Mobile Market, and some of the other volunteers, was a genuine pleasure for Ann. The people who they served were, for the most part, very patient and nice, and never once did Ann feel like she was back in her days of retail like she had been warned about previously. In addition, Ann learned that she knew more Spanish phrases than she thought she knew, so it’s the small victories.