A Foodie's Worst Nightmare

The bright lights in the fresh section of the supermarket are almost blinding. There were not enough produce to filter the otherwise bearable fluorescent rays.

My heart sunk looking at the empty bread aisle. I humoured myself, “Good thing I know how to bake my own bread.” But even that is virtually useless if there is no power.

Moving on to the bottled water section and the tale was pretty much the same. What’s left in the shelves are luxury European sparkling water brands. I’m in no mood to splurge nor to celebrate.

Spam and canned corned beef, much maligned products in this society, suddenly became popular.

Aisle after “essentials” aisle tell the same story.

But it’s not all bad news. Take heart my foodie mates. Bulbs of fennel and bunches of rhubarb are still on hand. Get your MasterChef’s hat on and dazzle us!

The Great Deluge of 2011

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all. - Ecclesiastes 9:11

With a heart full of gratitude I am writing today. In the midst of the great deluge the city I love, Brisbane, is experiencing my family has been left unscathed. We’ve remained dry. Clean water is still running from the tap. And our power was never cut, not even for a few seconds.

Spare a thought though for those who are less fortunate than us, those who have experienced the full brunt of the flood. Despite all the planning and preparations lives were still lost. Uncertainty is what’s awaiting evacuees on their return to their homes, if they still have homes to return to.

How easily did we forget? It was 37 years ago when Brisbane last went under water. The city rebuilt itself like it would never happen again. Seemingly impenetrable million dollar homes started lining the banks of the river only to be swallowed by the water they so desperately want to be close to.

“Time and chance happen to them all,” says the wisest man that ever lived.

By today’s estimate it will take at least two years to recover from this environmental crisis. The city needs all the help it could get. If you are moved to do so please do not hesitate to lend support. Follow the link below:

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Patrick Mendoza, a very good friend of mine who’s responsible for all the photos on this post. He and his lovely wife Pilar tried to go to work yesterday only to be halted by all this water. The photos definitely bring home to us what my city is going through.