In The End, Haiti

Five days ago, I wrote this:

Today, in a fit of pique, I refused to put on pants. I've been wearing pants for a month straight, you see. Jeans, jeans and more jeans, sometimes alternating with a lone pair of cargo pants. And today I simply could not take any of them anymore. Wherefore my pretty skirts and tights? My New York City shoes, my dresses? I used to be so well-dressed, back in that other life I used to have. This morning, when I peered into my mother's closet and my pants stared out at me so sensibly, so responsibly, almost balefully from their perch, I just kind of wanted to pinch them where it hurts. Hard.

Instead, I closed the closet door and put on my favorite gray woolen tights, a nice denim pencil skirt (one of two skirts I dared take with me for these first few months) and my new pair of knee-high boots (happy new year to me!). Ooh, things were looking up already. I dabbed on makeup and put on my favorite earrings and felt almost womanly for the first time in a month.

Do you have a sense of where this is going? Because thusly clad (well, and wearing a jacket) I sashayed outside the house, got into my mother's car and, about 4 feet later, realized that the car was A) stuck on solid ice and B) had a flat tire. And there I was, defiantly under-dressed and freezing my...knuckles off. A kindly crew of garbage men and a good Samaritan took pity on me and helped with the car while I weakly shook my fist at the sky and at my vain self.

Universe, I salute your sense of humor. Also, I'm wearing pants again. You win.

I was going to tell you more, you know, about a Rachael Ray recipe I tried (and loved) a week before I left New York. There was a point to all that up there, is my point. But four days ago, I came down with a stomach flu and the thought of ever having eaten before or ever eating again became an impossibility. I will spend the rest of my life drinking fennel tea and eating Zwieback every other day, I thought solemnly as I lay in bed and contemplated my nausea. Too bad about that food blog, I thought. And all those recipes I never got to try.

Then, two days ago: Haiti. And though I may be able to eat breakfast again, the news from that country has struck me dumb. So all I've got for you today is this:

Partners in Health

International Rescue Committee

International Medical Corps

CARE

American Refugee Committee

Save the Children

Doctors Without Borders

Comments

[Vicki]

Thank you so much for supporting the relief effort in Haiti -- a very
kind gesture.

[Anna]

Zwieback is a good mention on a foodblog (and the pants vs. tights issue is entertaining too ;)) I miss zwieback here in shanghai, you can get it but extremely overpriced!
my favorite way of eating zwieback:
in bed on Sunday mornings dipped into a cup of hot chocolate or hot milk. yessssss...

[notyet100]

take care dear,,,

[Mama JJ]

Mennonite Central Committee is another wonderful relief organization: http://mcc.org/

[Gemma]

I travelled to work wearing ballet pumps rather than wellies or trainers for the first time since the New Year. I'm not sure it was sensible.

Another option for readers in the UK - http://www.dec.org.uk/

[Tracy (Amuse-bouche for Two)]

The weather has broken a bit here. It promises to be 51 degrees...a heat wave. I, tired of wearing pants as well, pulled on my black tights, pencil denim skirt and mary janes. Smiled when I saw your post. Was going to buy my mother a new digital camera for her birthday next Friday, but I think she won't mind if I donate the money I was planning to Haiti in her name instead.

[Janet]

Thank you for this. I hope your own recovery is quick.

[Robin @ Hippo Flambe]

Thank you for this list of ways to assist the already impoverished citizens of Haiti. It is good to have reliable information like this as there are many hoaxes out there. Everyone should be careful not to blindly give money out to requests for money for the relief effort. A tragedy like this gives the scammers a new tool to solicit money. Make sure your contributions go where you wish them to.

-Robin

[Krista]

I hope you feel better, much better soon. :-)

[A Mouse Bouche]

Thank you for that list. We're having a yard (well, apartment) sale tomorrow with proceeds to benefit some of those organizations. a good way to clean out our closets and support those who can help during this incredible tragedy.

[Lucia]

Half the population of Haiti is children and youth. Please also include UNICEF. They were there before the quake, are there now and will remain there. A proud UNICEF staff member.

[Laura]

Yes, in the end, Haiti. I have been feeling my good fortune every time I have eaten, bathed, driven to and from work in conducting my normal life. And feeling the juxtaposition with the intimate horrors that those people are going through.

I hope the aid reaches them soon,

And I hope you feel better and get to publish that recipe you loved!

[gemma]

yeah, Haiti kind of puts the pants vs skirt problem into perspective. Watching the coverage has been so heartbreaking. All we can do is DONATE DONATE DONATE.
x

[Janet]

I've been watching the reports out of the country and it's been heartbreaking. I could not imagine living through such a tragedy. We've already made a donation to the Red Cross.

[Jimmi]

Luisa, thank you for the list of places where we can donate. The need is so great, but every bit one can give will help.

[Meister - The Nervous Cook]

Thank you for this post and this list. Puts life into perspective, but what a tragic way to get that perspective, you know?

My friend at Barrington Coffee Roasting Company (http://www.barringtoncoffee.com) are also offering a limited edition batch of their Haitian Highlands coffee project for sale, and will be donating all the proceeds to Partners in Health on the island.

I think it's a wonderful way not only to contribute, but to also make a bit of a cultural and culinary connection with the people and the place during this sad time.

[Honeybee]

The news have a way of puttings things in perspective, don't they...

On the trousers issue: I am nine months pregnant and have been wearing dresses for for what seems like hundred years. Trousers make my legs swell. Oh, how I long for a pair of jeans! :))

[Linsinthecpt]

If you are considering donating to Yele Haiti, please read this article from ABC News first; your money may not be going where you think it is going. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=9577218

[Luisa]

Thanks for letting me know - I've taken down the link. There are plenty of good places to donate money; let's hope it starts making a difference and soon.

[The Leftoverist]

I'm sorry you've been sick--the one time I've had a stomach virus since becoming a food blogger, I really did think it was the end of that venture.

And Haiti really does put every single thing into perspective, pants, skirts, and all.

[Shawna]

Sorry to hear you have been ailing, Luisa. Hope you are soon up and about- wearing whatever you please.
Oh the devastation in Haiti is beyond comprehension. Those poor souls... Pray and pray some more for them.

[Jancd]

Those dear people in Haiti need our prayers and our money, don't they? We thought it was bad when Hurricaine Ike hit here on the gulf coast at Galveston, but this earthquake makes Ike look like a little puff of wind. Pray, pray, pray.

[Emily]

What a beautifully-written and poignant tale of a new life and the perspective someone else's disaster can give you! Luisa, I always think you write beautifully but today you set the bar a little higher...thank you :)

[june2]

Wait, there was always going to be the flat tire. That's why the Universe inspired you to wear the skirt and boots, so that then it would then be very easy for those men to offer to help you and you would find it very easy to accept their offer - being in a skirt - and you would be spared all stress!

The universe always has our best interests at heart, even if it seems overly complicated to us. This is how I like to imagine the outcome for Haiti - yes lots of people died. This is unfortunate. However, we must now see that there will be a LOT of jobs and education (the cultural input from all the attention alone will be substantial) for at least the next few years for these long-unemployed people and once the rubble is cleared away, they'll have a shiny brand new, vibrant country!

[radiogourmet.wordpress.com]

Luisa - your sense of humor astounds me. And your pluck - pants, in Berlin, in January? Ha. ;)

And your compassion for the people of the world, too. Haiti kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? And yet, you're doing all of this for a very good reason.. be it slipping into knee-high boots in -7 C. weather, whipping up a nice portion of mashed carrots to help your innards or telling us all about it to keep people entertained in the middle of all the sad news and misery.

We still need to laugh, at ourselves, with others... and at the universe.

As for June2's comments about a 'shiny brand new vibrant' country... how I wish it were so. A lot will change now. But whether the world, and Haiti itself, will have the wherewithal to change profoundly is still very much up in the air.

[Nik]

"yes lots of people died. This is 'unfortunate'" - would you say this if it was your son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, uncle, and/or aunt... who died in the earthquake?

[Meredith]

How do you make fennel tea?

[Jutta]

No pants? Why did you leave NY?

http://improveverywhere.com/2010/01/18/no-pants-subway-ride-2010/

I know, Haiti and jokes, that doesn't fit well. But I couldn't resist, forgive me.

Greetings from Frankfurt!

[Annie Purse]

Hello, i just finished reading your problems with German Brown sugar. I think if you add a little organic molasses to it you will have your americian brown sugar. I have been doing that for years as i have a child who is allergic to the sulphites in store bought brown sugar and all natural brown sugars are a little dry. Works for me. I have also added it to white sugar to make moist brown sugar.

Ciao. Annie