Merry Month of May

It is the fifth day of the fifth month and boy is the sun blazing at full blast here in enhanced community quarantine territory.

Yesterday, the heat index was a whooping 41 Celsius degrees. I took 3 showers and still felt all sticky from the humidity.

This is our lunch today. Stir fried vegetables with margarine. The thing is when we first got married, 12 years ago, I didn't know how to cook.

My late mother in law when she was in town for a month for our wedding, she even told me in no uncertain terms that not knowing how to cook is NOT a laughing matter.

But she is from the old generation who believed that a woman's place is at home, serving her husband and taking care of the children. So she had nothing on me because we don't have children and my hubby serves me (not a feminist thing!) but nah, I was not offended, at all.

A lot can happen in 12 years, mind you. Now I do all the cooking because I work from home. I can whip up a meal from scratch thanks to the numerous recipes I find online. But this certain dish, I learned from the hubby. It is a tedious process  of chopping, then boiling each ingredient first before stir frying them with butter or margarine, salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking is my form of exercise nowadays, from slicing, dicing and chopping each ingredients to the actual cooking phase where I need to wear a hair net to keep the bucket of sweat from my forehead to drop on the pan. It is a major exertion and exhaustion effort. But when the hubby compliments me for the meals then all the fatigue just evaporates and I smile. =)

So far, the ECQ is until May 15 and by the look of things, it might be partially lifted in some areas. But if you ask me, I think it would be a huge risk to venture out, knowing that most of us have not been tested so who's to say who amongst us is virus-free?

Yet I understand the wicked blow this quarantine period has dealt to the economy. Scenes of people lining up for hours in this extreme heat just to get cash from the government is heartbreaking. There is only so much government can do, really. And no I am not politicizing the situation, just saying how it is.

To date, we have received two relief goods package. It had around 12 canned good mostly sardines, some meat loaves and karne norte (corned beef) and about 5 kilos of rice, total. Good quality rice, mind you. But the brands of the canned goods I am not familiar with so it will just stay in the pantry for now.

Hubby is the only one who can go out to buy food and medicine as his name is on the quarantine pass which was issued by the barangay. He has gone out only 3 times during this entire period and I insist he should self quarantine for 14 days every time he goes out of the house. 

He would also buy supplies for my octogenarian parents who are stuck in a condo unit even though they are getting restless and want to go out, very badly. But they are in the high risk category and you should see my long text messages to them repeatedly telling them to stay put, especially my 83 year old father.  The situation is reversed now, it is the grown up children telling the parents what to do. 

Ok lunch time!