"Welfare food challenge ends - for some.."

Metro News - Food Challenge

Thats the title from the online Metro newspaper. For those outside of Vancouver who don't know about this story, advocates have been trying to bring attention to the lowered rates of the Canadian version of the Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB). In 2002, the DPB rates here was slashed. I have no idea to what level but that never bodes well for single parent families or for those with disabilities unable to get a decent job or for those facing or experiencing homelessness. And from what Ive noticed in the first month of living here - homelessness is a very serious issue here. But I suppose my opinion of that belongs in another post.

So this food challenge was to encourage people to try living on $26 of food a week, and for only a week to see what its like for a person in poverty here in Canada esp in terms of physical and mental health. I did not participate. I feel I do not need to, I lived that life for an entire year and more particularly in 2009. I witnessed my Mum doing this same 'challenge' as a single mother, and although I was too young to notice the daily and weekly struggles she faced with raising two children alone on the DPB, having lived it and struggled with it myself as a single person, I now appreciate the huge amount of courage and perseverance she had in getting herself and my brother and I through that season of life. I will not diminish how hard it was for myself and my mother (even more so for her), but I do recognise that those periods of hardship and poverty did produce something that would benefit us later. Empathy, generosity, a renewed perspective of the meaning of 'wealth.' In all honesty, I don't think a weeks worth of a food challenge is really going to do that. I appreciate those who actually tried but I am even more impressed with those who decided to do it for a full month like Ted Bruce.

Ted Bruce is the Executive Director of population health for Vancouver Coastal Health (a health provider). Bruce said his goal in taking part in the challenge, which wrapped up Tuesday (October 23), was to raise awareness of the degree that poverty contributes to making populations sick.
What I am impressed with, is the fact that this guy could have opted out of this and just called in a bunch of people to do it for him as a guinea pig style research project. He probably makes a decent amount of money in his leadership position and probably lives in a nice house or condo in a nice suburb here in Vancouver.

Food Challenge Blog

But he did it, and he recorded his experiences in a blog (see above). I have yet to read it but I will after this.

I can still remember the year of 2009 as if it were yesterday. Boy what a time of change that was for me. I was comming to the end of a four year relationship, and by September that year I had met my future husband. Secondly, because I had failed two papers the previous year at polytech (college) I was forced by the school to take the entire year off to complete them - one per semester. That was a massive blow to me. Since completion of my degree was well joined with my sense of (unhealthy) pride that sabbatical lowered and humbled me very much, esp as a professing Christian. Prior to these events I was steadily forging my identity around my degree (in occupational therapy) and in my relationship with the guy I met in highschool in whom I had idolised and given credit for pulling me out of the hell hole of living under my abusive stepfather. Neither of these things were what God had planned for me I believe and now see looking back in that rear view mirror. Because my study situation differed from a traditional full time student, I was ineligible for the student allowance, a free living allowance of $250 a week made by the NZ govt and since I was loathe to increase my student debt I refused to borrow money for living except for school fees and supplies. So in absolute shame I ran away from the student focused area of Dunedin and decided to board with a woman and her daughter in South Dunedin in the poorer hill suburbs. I did this to avoid questions as to why I wasn't in full time study anymore. It was a small neighborhood and I greatly feared being asked "Aww was it too hard for you? Did you drop out?" After much quarreling with myself I also applied for a job at McDonalds but it was an oncall position. That too was another thing that hit my pride really hard. I despised McDonalds and did not want to 'stoop low' so to speak. Even though I had happily worked in Subway, I considered McDonalds to be the lowest of low in terms of takeaway jobs. In the past I had gotten used to being offered jobs and me thinking my shit smelled better than everyone elses. I did not tell my manager this of course.

I was later to find out that the woman I boarded with failed to tell me that the board I paid did not include food. I thought it did, and made that clear at the beginning, but after a while I noticed the lack of food in the fridge and absolutely nothing in the cupboards. One day as I was placing my board money on her bedside table (as was the norm) I noticed out of the corner of my eye the amount of random food in her room.A suspicion formed in my head and without apology I went to her wardrobe and opened it and found bags upon bags of groceries. Not only that was also the unplugged internet modem ineffectually hidden by bags that I had been searching for, which was also an agreed on portion of our board agreement. Verbal only of course. I felt very much stuck with her and that situation. I was unreliable in my board which made the idea of me moving back into a traditional flat situation a dumb idea. I did pay my board but sometimes it was a week or so late due to my sporadic pay from McDs. Because of my sporadic pay and the hidden food and hidden modem I had to pay for my own food and if I wanted internet I could only go to school for that. After board and petrol I was usually left with $10-20 for food a week. I was literally trying to run my life off an oily rag.

Getting sick was a non negotiable, since I couldn't not go to work. But this is Dunedin after all, even wealthy homes have crap insulation down there. And as a lifelong asthmatic I have always been susceptible to 6 month long coughs and sore throats and in Dunedin esp I was even more susceptible to pneumonia and bronchitis as I had had a mild form of the former and several nasty cases of the latter.







So, from memory this is the food I pretty much ate during this period:

• Porridge, I ate a large bowl with a little bit of honey every morning. No matter how full or bloated or sick I felt I made sure I ate the whole lot. Even if I had to chug it like a yardie I did. This is because I couldn't afford a proper lunch, and I did this to remain 'full' until say 3pm. It never worked of course and that 12:30 - 3pm period was the worst part of my day when after working hard all morning in my study I could smell everyones food. During that lunch period I got regular stomach aches and dizzy spells, which I tried to quell with drinking lots of water so I wouldnt become dehydrated.

• Miso soup sachets, Expensive in chain grocery stores since its an 'international' food item. Luckily there was a very cheap Asian food wholesaler near the university and I bought miso in packets of 10-20 sachets for like $2. Technically this was my 3pm lunch. I had one of these in a cup of hot boiling water, boiling because it meant I had to take ages sipping it, which helped prolong the 'meal'. For those who don't know, miso is pretty much a soy paste with seaweed. Luckily I enjoy the stuff since I was (culturally) forced to drink it regularly when I visited Japan when I was 15. Lots of westerners think its disgusting. In China and Japan, miso is often served as an entree for every meal including breakfast hence why I got used to it and came to eventually enjoy it.

• Fresh lemons and honey, For alot of people its very hard to come by cheap fresh lemons, but in the South Island in NZ it seems everyone's parents or grandparents have a lemon tree. When I wasn't stealthily taking them from my mothers tree back home I would contact friends who were given too much from their parents OR if their was none to be had Id spend $2-5 on a bag of them at the Otago Farmers market. Seems like a weird thing to buy but I was of the very strong belief that I would keep my health intact if I had a cup of hot water, with the juice of half a fresh lemon and a teaspoon of honey every day or so. I got this idea from the story of Captain Cook and his crew getting scurvy and other nasties from living off a stodgy diet of liquor and salted meat. I figured, that in my poverty, my constitution must be similar to the sailors impoverished diet.

• Fresh bulb of garlic, Same reason as above, I bought garlic for my health as Id heard ample fresh garlic in a diet is very good for you. Bought on special of course or from Otago farmers. A garlic bulb would usually last me a fortnight or more so it was a good investment.

• Potatoes, starch and fibre. Not very healthy on the scale of carbohydrates, but like the Irish I depended on potatoes to fill me up after the porridge had long run out. I tell you what. To this day, in my food psyche NO food is more happily eaten by me than a baked potato (never peeled since I considered the loss of skin as a waste) with a bit of salt and pepper and margarine. I usually bought a bag of potatoes for $4 from the Otago Farmers market as well.

• Pasta, usually the budget brand spiral or spagetti. 99c a packet, 80c on a good day. 

• Mince/Ground beef, the cheapest of course. I couldnt afford the heart tick brand, so obviously my mince had more fat and water in it. I didn't care really, fat in the mince meant little to no oil is used when cooking it. This was pretty much the only kind of meat I ate, except for random visits from my mother who had an inkling of what I was going through and would usually take me out to dinner and feed me chicken or seafood and huge portions of vegetables. This mince would usually go towards a spaghetti recipe Id learnt off my mother and cooked it at least 3x a week, then eating its leftovers. For flavour I usually had dried herbs and spices around that I added and to 'spice' it up Id change the type of pasta I used  to trick myself that it was a different meal.

• Canned tomatoes, Budget brand again of course. 500ml cans usually cost 90c, if the larger cans were on special, Id buy those instead. This went towards my pasta recipe.

• Skim milk and skim milk powder, Seems a no brainer really. Ive never not had milk in my diet. I would measure out my milk for my porridge and instant coffee in the morning and if I had some left by the end of the week Id mix the rest with custard powder and an egg (if I had any) and cook it up for a treat. 

•  Eggs, If I had a good week (money wise) Id buy half a doz of eggs and treat them like gold bars.  

So that was pretty much my diet, day in day out for an entire year. Now I'll be honest here and say that McDonalds food was added to my diet after a while but this was very variable and unpredictable. As an employee I was entitled to free drinks, and after drinking one med coke I noticed the huge sugar hangover Id have afterwards so I stopped drinking it pretty quick and switched to their orange juice. That was full of sugar as well but it felt far less worse than the effects of coke. Plus I was hoping it would have a smidgeon of vitamin C in it somewhere.. The burgers on the other hand.. Getting them free was dependent on our food and customer service on a monthly basis. We called these 'gap busters' and I hated it. I used the incentive of possible free food as an incentive to work hard at any tasks I had so I quickly became good at all the random and nasty jobs like cleaning and working at the deep fryer during the dinner rush which is physically exhausting mutitasking in front of boiling oil vats while being yelled at by my manager, a pompous idiot who acted as if he owned the restaurant and took inspiration from Gordon Ramsay's Hells Kitchen. Very rarely did we actually achieve a gap buster, and this drove me insane, since I couldn't even eat a lunch from home while working around food that I couldn't eat. But on the off chance we could eat the food, I always went for a large orange juice and a skinless chicken deluxe burger. I stopped eating fries since fries had become my job by default and I was sick of looking at fries.

By choice I still continued to donate blood during this period as I had done since highschool and it was during these donations that the nurse told me how my iron levels were doing as well as the general health of my blood and I was always pleased to be told that I had excellent iron levels for a woman of my age. Excellent iron meant the honey, lemon, garlic, water, tomatoes and soy in my diet was somehow keeping me healthy...

Setting these food choices aside I'll also add the importance of charity. Some people who took this Welfare Food Challenge told media that they were going to refuse foodbanks, dinner drop ins run by churches for homeless etc, help from family. Another guy said the challenge impacted his social life in that he hated not being able to be generous to others. My thought is, there is a type of  people who find it easy to give and not take. They have a personal prejudice against receiving charity, being on the receiving end of help. I used to be like that in a way and I quickly realised (while hungry and smelling everyone elses lunch) that Id be a fool to not eat just because of my stupid pride. But at the same time I didn't outright ask everyone for help, since I was becoming reliant on God and seeing him help me in amazing ways. It humbles us and when we eventually have periods of harvests and celebratory comforts we are able to remember what we went through and have an open heart for others who still remain in poverty, whether theyre in Africa or across the street. Giving with a cheerful and loving heart is a great thing to learn and if empathy only truly comes from knowing what that person is going through cos you've gone through it yourself then thats suffering well spent.

I didn't enjoy my season of poverty and I hope it doesn't happen like that again. But I thank God for the massive growth that occurred with my maturity, my outlook on life and my faith in him for looking after me.

Moving Day in 9 days!!!

So currently everything we own that we got from New Zealand is crammed into the basement and my parents in law place. Usually Id be bummed as I was back in June when I had to give away or sell a lot of stuff that I had spent a significant amount of time buying and collecting. The boxes that were shipped from NZ all sit stacked neatly under the bunk bed my father in law WAS working on. But you know what? Im really excited. We've got a house lined up. Its got a working gas fireplace, insulation throughout, a washing machine and dryer, the living room is really decent, the bedroom is tiny but we've got a spare room to use as an office and the kitchen is pretty neat and best of all - no earthquake damage! Even more cooler is that we live next to a forest and bears are apparently as common as squirrels. 

My mother wouldn't be surprised about this but every now and then (usually once or twice a day) I 'sneak' down to the basement and just stand there staring at our stuff with longing. I used to do this from about the age of 10 when I first started collecting homewares and the like. I started off with shoeboxes and would fill them up with particular mementos I knew I would enjoy as an adult and the odd gadget. Those shoe boxes were my first glory box in a way. Then in my teens as I earnt money myself I started to buy serious kitchen items like utensils and teatowels. My shoeboxes were placed in larger boxes and by the time I started polytech I was buying and storing and hunting to no end. It became like a decade long game to find the item that matched perfectly my idea of what I was looking for. The majority of items were meticulously organised in numerous large boxes that I stored my my mothers attic. And every time I added a new item, Id climb into the attic to place it carefully with the rest then sit there with the torch going over in my head the inventory of items, occasionally, looking for a specifically wrapped item, unwrapping it, then holding said item as I visualised (ok ok fantasized) how the item was going to be used in the future, usually involving a more lengthy fantasy about a particular recipe. Then when I was finished Id carefully wrap it up again and put it back exactly the way I found it. Those boxes did take up quite a bit of space which my mother loved to remind me, BUT as Id say to her now, at least I was organised and I kept it out of the way in the roof instead of leaving my room looking like New Orleans post Katrina or chucking it all crazily into the garage. As a result, on the day I moved my stuff into my first house with my husband a week before our wedding, unpacking those boxes with all those items that I had spent years investing my time and money was like at least 5 Christmas mornings all in one.

So now, its kind of happening all over again. After a lot of heated debates with Steven back in June, he finally backed down and allowed me to ship my most beloved kitchen items to Canada - my pots. Individually bought, heavy stainless steel with copper bottoms. My mother has a similar set but nowadays theyre extremely rare to find esp in New Zealand.The other important items are all our books. We were hard pressed to reason giving up the majority since they were individually bought by either myself or Steven and all our books are regularly reread. Im absolutely giddy with excitement with the thought of rearranging our new home with OUR things esp it being a whole new country for me. And I think it would help me a lot seeing my things that remind me of my family, my passions and ideas and taste in decor etc. I can't wait!

The other big reason for my excitement - privacy. Don't get me wrong, not many women are blessed to be ok with, let alone genuinely enjoy living in the same house as her husbands parents as I am. But Steven and I are still technically newlyweds - at least we still act like we are, and the spontaneity required of doing newlywed stuff is extremely limited when theres the chance of his parents hearing or seeing something by accident, so yes I looking forward to that extra bit of freedom and privacy that separate homes allow. Although I will miss their outdoor jacuzzi very much....

*Sigh!!

To do..

A 'to do' list of recipes from a some blogs to make once we're in our new house on Nov 1. I can't wait til I have my own kitchen again!

- Maple syrup and Pumpkin muffins
- Whole wheat and spinach tortilla wraps
- Caramelised onion, goats cheese and spinach strudel
- Ricotta leek herb tart
- Strawberry banana bread
- Holiday Soap

Since arriving in Canada recently I gave myself a bit of homework in figuring out, what exactly is Canadian cooking? What does it look like? What food is used/favoured? A few things Ive noticed so far having lived through my first thanksgiving and heading into my first North American Halloween season, is everyone LOVES their white meat (chicken, turkey); maple syrup is used at any chance possible for savoury and sweet food and the presence of all things pumpkin (again used both for savoury and sweet things).

Even though we're a long way from Mexico, their food culture are well and truly present up here and quite frankly - I love it. You can go to Walmart and buy el de paso products in bulk with spare change. Mindyou, Ive seen more european eateries here in Vancouver, but in the grocery store, Mexican reigns supreme in the 'International' aisle. My mother in law is a vegetarian and specifically buys lots of healthy food and the one thing shes got me hooked onto is whole wheat spinach tortillas. Their my new favorite food since their so versatile with what you can do with them. And with thanksgiving just past, the hubby and me have been more than willing with throwing turkey dinner leftovers onto a tortilla, sprinkling a bit of cheese on top and microwaving it YUM!!

With thanksgiving gone and Halloween coming up, theres one food item that doesn't go away - pumpkins!
In New Zealand we of course have pumpkin season as well in Autumn (Fall), and like here in autumn it is cheap to buy pumpkins. But thats where the similarities end. In NZ our food culture largely stems from our British ancestors. Many of us still have relatives particularly Grandparents who are still staunchly British by birth and culture. And while Canada reacts to being a part of the Commonwealth like a cat thrown in water, I believe New Zealand still largely embraces it whether they know it or not particularly in regards to the food culture back home. Back to pumpkins, in NZ we treat pumpkins as a savoury food not a sweet food. Here in Canada its the opposite. Every time I check out the food magazines here theyre all about the turkey (of course) and turning every dessert into a pumpkin themed hip hip hooray. When I mentioned pumpkin soup I got a couple of quizzical looks from people as if turning pumpkin into soup is a complete waste. Oh well..

Dream home

The essentials:

A rangehood. I didn't realise how much of a wonderful invention this is til I moved into a flat with my husband where the oven was place under our raised cupboards. We have zero ventilation, which makes the kitchen very steamy unless I open the window which works but sucks if you have to do it in winter..

Log burner. A log burner is awesome in and of itself. It doesn't
require gas nor electricity, and having lived through a 2 week
power cut they're bloody useful things. But, this is my honest opinion, before there were tv, I rechon this is what people used to watch in the evenings. And the only 'people' who maintain this ancient trend are pets. And I confirm this as a witness having watched my family pets contentedly star at what we called 'fire tv'. Plus theres nothing so therapeutic as having a wicked stacked firewood pile and being allowed to be a pyromaniac when building a fire.

Bath with clawed feet.
Steven probably wants a more modern jacuzzi type bath with jets, but thats his desire and this is mine. Old fashioned but classy - totally me. I like how the back tilts so you're in a sitting up position in a deep bath, plus I know if I were in that bath Id feel like a pampered Austen princess. A bathtub Mrs Darcy would approve of!




Bookshelves!!

I want books to be the main visual focus and form of entertainment in my home not a TV. A plain shelf is not good enough, it has to be the floor to ceiling one with the movable ladder like this one and more space to put books. And the cherry on top would be a special comfy reading chair. Or even better would be a book youpull that rotates the shelf and reveals a secret little hideaway room (that resembles the Griffindor common room in Harry Potter).




Vege & Fruit Garden
That lady in the hat, happily focused at working in her garden - thats me in the future..








Chickens

Dunno whose kids this is, but it depicted something I like - The idea of raising kids who are brave and intelligent enough to hold a chicken (something I have yet to do!) Plus their such cool useful animals. If you keep them in a 2m x 2m contained area area they will dig and compost a ready made garden for you! Then you can move their coop to another spot for them to dig and poop on. And of course you can fatten them up, kill em and eat em, or if they become too much of a beloved pet you can just use their eggs. One thing I also feel very strongly about is educating children on where their food comes from. And if my children regularly witnessed and partook in the respectful killing of an animal that had a fantastic life outside, they would respect the animal and their food more. People think thats old fashioned, but really modern Italian children witness that sort of thing everyday and they have a fantastic food culture.

Treehouse
I don't EVER want to see my kids playing war games on a stupid gaming console or computer inside. I want them playing war games outside. As a little girl, I was never interested in feminised play houses. My grandfather built my brother and I a treehouse at our family bach and my brother and I also frequented a local reserve and built several treehouses and 'huts' and we spent hours playing around and hanging out and exploring. Even if we never live in luxury or have a big house, a tree house affords more room for kids (who make the most mess) and would help a little house be tidier and bigger.

Homemade Ketchup

Im gonna try and make homemade ketchup using the recipe from Jamie Oliver which can be read here:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/homemade-tomato-ketchup

OR can be viewed here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJTA0L5dN2g



I'll write back to see if its actually a decent recipe or if I changed anything about it

Vegetarian Enchiladas

nb: This recipe was taken and amended from
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Black-Bean-Veggie-Enchiladas

1 onion
1/2 green capsicum
2 tsp oil
1 garlic clove, diced
large handful of spinach, chopped finely
1 cup of corn
1 can of mixed beans, drained
1 packet of taco seasoning (35g)
grated cheese for sprinkling

1 can of chopped tomatoes
1Tbsp of cornflour
salt and pepper (seasoning)
1 tsp garlic powder 1 Tbsp parsley (dried)

4 tortilla wraps, warmed
(1 cup of flour,1/3 cup of milk, 2 Tbsp of oil & flour for rolling).

• (Sauce)In a small saucepan, poor in can of tomatoes and using a stick blender, mulch the tomatoes so it resembles a thick sauce.
  
• With a whisk, mix in the corn flour, seasoning, parsley and garlic powder. Set aside.
  
• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
  

• (Tortillas) In a medium bowl mix flour, milk and oil together with a bread knife, then using hands knead into a ball and cut into quarters.
  
• Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough portion on a floured surface getting the tortillas as thin and as circular as possible without ripping it.
  
• On a medium heat, place each tortilla on a large frying pan (no greasing required), and flip over once bubbles appear. You want them very lightly toasted and still whitish in colour.

• (Bean mix) In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, saute onions with oil, then add rest of bean mix ingredients and heat through.
  
• Heat up the tomato sauce at a medium heat, til it begins to lightly bubble, stirring occasionally, then turn off heat.
  
• Spoon mixture onto tortillas, wrap & place in a greased rectangular oven dish. Pour over tomato sauce and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
  

We're moving...

First things first...

Steven and I are moving back to Vancouver, Canada. This is not a decision we chose on a whim in the moment. This issue of where to live and in particular our expectations of how we wanted to live came to our attention on the day of the double earthquake we and everyone in Chch experienced last June.
On one hand we didnt want to run away so to speak when as able bodied persons without children or elderly living with us, helping to rebuild Christchurch felt like a given. For me in particular it has been my home for 22 years, even including the times I lived in Dunedin as a student, Christchurch was always where my heart was. My mother and family live here, my church is here, my mentors and close friends are here. Why on earth would I consent to leave?

A couple of reasons, two practical and one selfish.

The selfish reason, for me personally I am naturally adventurous and I love to travel. Canada is the second largest country in the world and is a part of a continent. I think of CA (geographically) as like a blown up version of NZ really. I want to have a crack at living there long term. I want to explore the place.

The practical reasons, are money and housing. Here in New Zealand, Steven's Canadian qualification as a specialised teaching assistant isnt recognised, therefore all he can he can do is the minimum as well as the pay. With the recent earthquakes and govt cuts to spending in schools, its likely that when push comes to shove he would probably be first in the firing line. In Canada he has strong networks and strong work and character references. Not to mention hes paid more in a dollar with a higher value than NZ. I suspect he also very much misses the personal satisfaction that came with his last job and previous church through mentoring young people.

Secondly, finding a job as an OT in NZ is awful. Out of the 2009 graduating group from the OT school in Otago, 2/3 had to move to Australia to find work, despite the fact that there is a huge need for OTs the govt just can't afford us. The govt here made cuts to ACC a while back and those who got made redundant were OTS and physios. So when a group graduates theyre not only competing with their fellow classmates for the few jobs but their also competing with very experienced OTs. Its an unfair advantage that causes the new grads to do a runner over the ditch after being turned down for a position for the 20th time. Quite frankly, Ive had enough disappointment in just completing this degree. We hope to have children in the future and though I know money doesn't buy happiness I dont want an unhappy husband who is working in a area that doesnt meet and accommodate his potential. I dont want to raise children while struggling to pay back my $20,000 debt while unable to find decent work. In Canada, occupational therapy is huge and definitely valued. The minimum pay alone made me gasp when I first saw it. In Canada we can get house and contents insurance. I have no idea what it takes to save for a house, but to save for a house in Christchurch where the majority are broken and cold and the minimally decent ones become so inflated in price you have to be a millionaire to buy. On our pitiful income? With children in the picture? I dont think so. Vancouver is incrediably expensive, but I don't ask for much, but I feel more confident over there than in Chch.

I don't feel that wanting to be in a wealthier country to NZ is selfish and materialistic. Im not expecting Canada to be some kind of free ride to get away from liquefaction and pooping in the backyard. I want to pay off my huge debt, I want to see my husband happy and fufiled in his work and our church and I want to raise our children myself instead of giving them to others while I work full time with a dinky income while they develop asthma and chest infections because we can't afford a healthy home.

This hurts more than I think anyone can understand at the moment. Its very bitter and sweet at the same time. I start sobbing at the top of a hat if I think about those I love who I will be leaving, but I am also excited and happy and hopeful in my heart for this next adventure that awaits us.