Oprah, the Ugly Handbag and the Ugly Face of Racism

The Zurich store where they told Lady O where to park it

Today, I read an article about Oprah being snubbed by a salesclerk in Zurich, as the salesclerk made her own assumption that Miss O simply could not afford the US$38,000 bag.

Miss O - how many billion dollars is she worth again?

But this is not the issue - whether she can or cannot afford the bag.

Besides not knowing her customer was one of the most powerful and richest persons in the universe, the salesclerk clearly made an assumption based on the customer's appearance, and whether it was her race, or what she was wearing, that is just not cool. It happens right here as well. People make assumptions about you based on your ethnicity - whether you are black, white, Asian - there is always something that is ascribed to you because of your race.

The salesclerk probably made the assumption that this black woman, as nicely dressed as she was in her Donna Karan, just did not have the moolah to put down on a ridiculously priced, and dare I say, ugly handbag. But how dare she make that conclusion, and worse act on it? It's one thing to THINK it, but it is just malicious to ACT on it. It spits in the face of where black people have come after years of struggle against this same sort of nonsense, and it is just a basic contravention of the general rules of customer service - if you want to keep it simple and non-controversial.

This is a global news story because of the person it happened to, but it happens to a lot of us. I would tend to agree with Miss O that she was discriminated against because she was black. The shop owner's reasoning that it was a mere "misunderstanding" is insulting. Even worse, when she says Miss O was treated badly because the salesclerk did not recognise her. That makes it right?? So if she knew it was Oprah, she would have let her see the bag? What about if I - non-billionaire, average black global citizen - walked into this store? I would be chased out? Seriously!

Having experienced subtle and not so subtle racial antagonism on my most recent vacation, where for example, a bus driver in Rome refused to let me on a bus out of pure spite, I can relate to what Miss O endured. What is even more insulting is when people, in trying to brush off your personal experience and feelings after such an encounter, try to argue that you - black person - are "too sensitive", "not everything is about race", "sometimes you don't recognise you have a chip on your shoulder". These were some of the suggestions I got while trying to explain my feelings of humiliation and anger after such an encounter, by a well-meaning white person, who simply cannot understand and appreciate MY experience, in much the same way that I may not appreciate his.

The handbag at the centre of it all
$38,000?? Really?

It is sad that when I travel to some places, I am not just single global superstar, but I am the "black tourist". I am usually in the minority, and often singled out, for not always uplifting and positive reasons. So yes, Miss O - even as rich and powerful as she is - is just the black woman walking into a store, which maybe in the salesclerk's opinion, she had no right to walk into. The fact that we still have not one or 10 people like this in the world still, but millions, is heartbreaking - in a world we like to consider progressive, and in societies that consider themselves modern, progressive and rate on global satisfaction indices as some of the best places to live. Best for whom though?

It is sad that these types of experiences can sour your experience with a place. I met some of the best people in Rome but the few not-so-nice experiences threatened to sully my perception of the city because it is not just an attack on me, or on Oprah. It is an attack on a wide cross section of the global village - a village that often is not warm and welcoming to everyone living in it.

When not even my money can motivate you to not act hateful, then I have to completely re-evaluate my desire to visit your shop, your restaurant, your city or your country, because at the end of the day, my worth is more than golden, and if you cannot appreciate that, then I know where I can go. I don't think any of us, should subject ourselves to the ignorance and hatred of others, and we need to not just THINK about taking our worth back, but ACT on it.

And that girl was lucky anyone wanted to even see that handbag - black or not - cause the bag is fugly. I would not pay $38 for that, much less $38,000.

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Food Police to the Rescue

Lunch for work this week

Last night on the primetime local newscast, they showed a story where the city's health inspectors had closed down some more food establishments in the southern city. They have been out and about with a vengeance, ensuring that eating places have their establishments in tip top shape. Many, sadly, have not.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am more than slightly anal about hygiene and when that is married with food that I have to ingest, well...I am a nuisance.

With that being said, it is why I have an adventurous streak when it comes to cooking because my rule is "If I love it, I better learn how to make it". I stopped buying roti, for example, from all unsundry and through the amateur chef's Bible aka the Naparima Girls' High School cookbook (big up my alma mater for being awesome and global) I have been able to whip up a complete roti/curry meal for myself, friends and family, when I need to. That being said, I do still patronise roti shops, but the list of those shops is very, very short.

So when I saw the news item last night, it reminded me why I am drinking celery and spinach this week. It also perhaps provided extra clarification as to why I felt so ill on Sunday, since I had lunch from one of the nasty offending establishments that was closed down yesterday.  I typically avoid food courts like the plague but when this place in particular opened, I thought maybe they were above board. I guess I was wrong. Seeing some of the photos I was disgusted, and it goes to show that "having a name" when it comes to food, and having a nice modern and professional menu board and well dressed frontline staff does not mean what goes on in the back is up to scratch.

A pot observed in one of the kitchens yesterday.
A pot being used to cook stuff for us to eat!!!
Photo credit: Trevor Watson

I guess eating out is like love - your heart may get broken but you don't give up. You cannot cook all the time, and you cannot cook everything. Some may even repeat the saying we use here, "what doh kill, will fatten, and what doh fatten will purge", or yet another,  "what you don't know, won't hurt you". Well, I may not always know what's going on in the back there, chefs and cooks, but I am glad that the authorities are letting us know and I hope that they remain this vigilant about it. In the meantime, I will still eat out, though with serious discretion - though I wonder if I can get any more picky about it. lol.

And I have a salad and some veggies - last night's veggie/fruit cornocupia...

Apples, carrots, a small lime, celery, spinach, cucumbers.
To the juicer we go - yummy.

I have been doing really well with my detox but it has been hard. I decided to go full hundred yesterday and not have coffee, but that was an epic fail and I think I started seeing smurfs, gnomes and fairies by 9.30am. I immediately went to the office kitchen, where all they had was Maxwell House and Nescafe instant, and I made a cup of watery, creamless, near sugarless coffee. It was not gourmet but it did the job. I also got stuck in traffic heading back to South and had no snack, having eaten my banana in the morning. By the time I got home, I was about to eat the dog if he came near me. I ended up inhaling/destroying a pack of Chee-Zees before being grounded enough to juice the fruits and veggies above, and make a soup.

Just a few more days.

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Death of a Foodie Superstar!!!

Yesterday, I felt sick. Deep down sick. And I listened to my body and it was saying...no...it was SHOUTING...

Chile, you keep putting all sorts of crap in me and I have had enough of it, so take jammin'.

The last straw was probably girls' night on Saturday, where besides girl talk and buckets of laughter, we had sushi, wine and cocktails, and then ended the night with Belgian waffles and ice cream with too much whipped cream and girlish nonsense. It was a great evening, but...

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like crap, and even though I still whipped up a more sensible brunch that same morning for las chicas, I knew I had hit rock bottom. The good times had to stop rollin'.

Honestly, I have not been taking very good care of myself for a while and the effects are seriously manifesting themselves now, through bad skin, weight gain (duh), lethargy and all those yucky feelings, so I am hanging up my cocktail glass and my knife and fork, and busting out my juicer.

I do a detox 2-3 times a year (remember this post-holiday detox moment), as it brings me back from the brink of destruction and more importantly, reminds me that I am at my best when I eat well, and by well, I don't mean overdoing it, but eating healthily. My mojo is gone and well, it's time to get it back. I made an emergency detour after work to run into Hi-Lo to get all I needed for this juice cleanse, cranked up the old juicer, and added celery, spinach, apples, cucumber and ginger to make a very refreshing and natural nightcap after a long work day. I know these are not the awesome food pics you have come to know and love but it's really quite delicious and all natural. I had a green frothy moustache after downing this number.

This week - lots of water, lots of fresh food, usually no caffeine but let's get serious, now. lol. I need my coffee. I will just have one cup instead of 2. Promise.

Annnnnd lots of sweat purging aka exercise.

I need to better manage and channel what little energy I have left into staying focused at the gym. I have enlisted my girlfriends as support and I have also done the unthinkable but something that is on my bucket list, albeit somewhere at the very bottom - signed up for a road race! Jeebus! Now don't get excited, I will not be running any marathons, as I think it is well known...WELL KNOWN...that I hate running. It's just a couple 5Ks but clearly the goal of getting back into all these clothes I have in my closet is not enough motivation. I think my Hi-Lo girls are tired of the pink t-shirt I have been beating every week, and let's not talk about the daily struggle of trying to decide what to wear and which outfit to recycle to go to work. And yet, that has not pushed me over the cliff towards ending the madness yet. However...public embarrassment, or rather, staving off public embarrassment is a great motivator, and yeah, that sense of accomplishment and all that after school special stuff.

No cocktails this weekend. No nothing. And it's a long holiday weekend too. Cripes! I will be home. With my Kindle and my juicer and my water bottle. Wish me luck!

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Friday Fun at Fanatic

Our chefs at Fanatic Kitchen Studio

So last week, on my regularly scheduled day off, I decided to strike against errands, work brought from the office, and hustling and have a DAY OFF. I started the day at Nichossa's Restaurant and Bakery Desserts, with a long, leisurely, and fun breakfast with the mumsy, and ended it at Fanatic Kitchen Studio, with great people and great food.

So while things have been going on at Fanatic for a while, I, in usual laggard style, had not been yet. See, after a long week at the office, and waking up at 3am every day, I go through these phases of petulance and bad-mind, where I rant, "I drive up the highway all week and nothing can get me on that highway on the weekend cause I am too tired", but there are only so many things one can do in the south of the island, and if you cannot eat another sushi roll, or do not fancy having wine served to you in a glass with a straw (yes!! this happens), you suck it up and fill your gas tank, and your coffee tank.

Anyway, the BFF and I moseyed on up to the Fanatic Kitchen Studio for an evening of food and fun. In what can best be described as an almost intimate and interactive cooking/dinner party, the Meet Me @Fanatic event is aimed at getting people to engage and interact the way we used to, sans technology, face-to-face. Do you remember those days? It used to happen around the same time we mailed actual letters to people. Needless to say, that was always going to be a hard sell in a world where everyone is plugged in, all the time, whether it is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or whatever it is. The smart phones were everywhere, like gadgety gnats. Still, we did “log off” long enough to meet new people – some we did not know at all until that evening, and some we may have only interacted with over the interwebs. Special hello to the gorgeous ladies - Trinichow, Corey from Learning Patience and the bubbly, Introvertly Bubbly. What a treat to meet you all offline, and it was not even planned!

But the real highlight and the real draw was always going to be the food, from the pholourie battered shrimp, to the potato and fish cakes with curry mayo, to the trininista-five star winning pork loin stuffed with cornbread, goat’s cheese and cranberries. That pork was the truth!

Potato and fish cakes with curry mayo

Jambalaya - smelled nice but I did not have any as it had ochroes

The winning pork - pork loin stuffed with cornbread, goat's cheese and cranberries

Veggie Crostata - layers of yummy vegetables

The nameless cocktail was lovely. The "sangria" was...

There were live cooking demonstrations, a mixology demonstration and lots of chatting, as the small group of maybe 30-35 persons, boasted some great individuals. My one comment in aid of improvement would be directed at the drinks service, which was not the best, and could have used some additional bodies for support. As a "drinkie" (foodie, drinkie...get it? lol), I was mildly disturbed by this, as well as the sangria that was not really a sangria. But, the cocktails, when I got them, were splendid and thanks to a couple of the guests for the donation of vino to keep the evening going.

All in all, it was a nice way to spend one’s Friday evening. When I lived in London, there was always something different to do, and I love that we have feverishly moved away from the same old, same old here as well. So, kudos to the Meet Me @Fanatic team for a great concept for meeting new people in an environment conducive for doing so, as I always say, food is the equaliser. Looking forward to the next one.

Not going up the highway this weekend though. I am way too exhausted. Keeping the good times closer to home, but with great girlfriends, you don't need much.

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Kitchen Porn: Cajun Chicken Frittata

My frittata essentials 

So I came back from vacation and hit a blogging slump and a life slump. It always happens. The high experienced over 3 weeks as a result of unbridled freedom and excitement, is shot from the heavens by the bullets of reality – early mornings, enslavement to the utilitarian laptop at your desk, dry phrases and jargon, meetings, daily routine, schedules. Yep. Reality bites. It is also not very exciting to write about. I guess I will have to turn to other things to keep this blog going.

In the first instance, a lot of my blog, whether I am at home or abroad, is about food. I love food - good food - and love both preparing it, and eating it - and as I said in my last entry, it is part of life, in how we interact, socialise, celebrate life's moments. Still, I am hardly a food blogger, so have no fear, photos of bags of flour will not take over the blog.

But...I did have a bit of foodie success today as I made my very first frittata ever! I had always wanted to try my hand at making one but just never did. But I was committed to making it happen this weekend, and so I marched to the supermarket yesterday to restock my cabinet and to get my fritatta essentials. I would do a cajun chicken frittata which would be breakfast this week.

I chopped some onions, grated some garlic, roasted a red pepper and then chopped it into strips, and stir fried it all in some EVOO, with a bit of black pepper and salt. I had also previously boiled and chopped a small potato and set that aside.

I used 6 large eggs, and added some milk, and whisked, following which I added my stir fried veggies and my potatoes, and my chopped chicken slices, and blended all the ingredients together.

Finally, I added some red pepper flakes, some light cheddar cheese and some parsley. Into my well greased dish, I poured my gooey mixture and popped it into the oven for about 35-40 minutes.

And the results were great. I was planning to start on the stove top and then transfer to the oven, but was not sure whether my skillet was oven proof so went the oven method and I was very very pleased with the end product. I am now a frittata maker!!

I did put it under the broiler for a couple minutes and it was perfect after that.

I also used the baking time to make myself a nice pommerac chow. Pommerac, as we call it here, and also known as the Malay rose apple, is one of my fave fruits ever, and so when I FINALLY got a bag of these gems on Friday, a chow was in the cards. Simply cut up, add salt, pepper, grated garlic, chadon beni, and mix. Heaven.

Today was a good day in the kitchen, and you have not even seen my oven-baked chicken curry with roasted red peppers. Okay okay...here you go.

Time for a nap. All this kitchen madness has worn me out.

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