Coronavirus Pandemic 2020- A tribute to mom

Cyprus Flaounes

As mom lies alone in her sickbed at the nursing home, I roam the house feeling helpless.
I'm thinking of what I could do for the woman who left her small village at twenty years old, bore four children in a foreign country without her mother, fed, clothed, washed, changed, educated, loved all of them the best she could.

On this blog, I have mom's recipes for some of the most beloved traditional foods.
One of them is Eftyhia's Cyprus Flaounes, which I see is one of the most viewed blog posts on this blog. Also, her Mom's Cyprus Eliopites, Olive Breads, are also very much viewed and  hopefully baked. As we are facing this crisis and cannot bake our traditional Easter Breads, the only thing I can do is write a tribute to my Mother and all mothers around the world.

Mom returned to Cyprus in 1960, only to flee with her family back to New York  in 1964,
when the Turks bombed the island. In 1967 she returned to Cyprus where we lived until the Turkish army invaded on July 20, 1974. This time, there was no return. Turkey still occupies the one third of the island they took during the invasion, and expanded during a cease fire.

The small hotel, Casablanca, that she and my father built and completed in 1974,
has been used since as a hotel for Turkish Army Officers to take their R&R.

With all that adversity, she and dad continued raising their family and lived for the past 46 years in New York.

This past November, she fell and ended up in a nursing home. Just as we got used
to that idea, the coronavirus hit the world worse than a meteor. Nursing homes, of course, are very vulnerable. We found out two days ago that mom has been running a fever and coughing. She is getting tested for the virus. We haven't even been able to contact the staff to find out about her vitals and her fever.

The world is in such crisis that for days no one has been answering the phones on the floor.
How do I know what's happening with my mother?

Just got word that she's alert, talking and eating! We have hope.

Hope that we will see each other again, speak to each other and tell the stories of our ancestors.
Hope that we will share our traditional breads, whose  recipes have been preserved here, because mom can no longer remember them.

Hope for humanity and an end to this cruel Pandemic.

Maria

Squash and Poplano Pepper Quesedilla with Roasted Tomatillo salsa

When I saw this recipe, I was mostly intrigued by the Roasted Tomatillo salsa. I had never tried a tomatillo salsa and even though I saw the little green pods at the markets, I had never tasted the fruit inside.

So, off to the market I went and bought the ingredients. In the meantime, I asked my friends whether they had ever tried the tomatillo sauce. And a good thing it was because I discovered that the raw tomatillo sauce that I had originally seen in the recipe could be a little too tart for some people.

 So, off to the internet I went in search for a roasted tomatillo sauce recipe.

I have to say the result was so good that I have been putting that sauce on everything! Salad, soups, avocado, plain old bread, you name it! It has a fresh, bright, spicy flavor that wakes things up!

 But, it really goes with the squash and poblano quesedilla.

It makes a great appetizer if you are having company and a nice ight dinner if you are just having a family dinner at home.

 Okay, okay, here's the recipe:

1 small/medium acorn squash
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons diced white onion
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 clove garlic, minced
2 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled and cut into strips
Salt and pepper to taste
10-inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend of your choice
 Butter for frying quesadillas

Tomatillo Sauce:

1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatillos or 3 (11-ounce) cans tomatillo
1fresh jalapeno
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
 2 teaspoons coarse salt

1. 1. Preheat broiler.
   2. If using fresh tomatillos, remove husks and rinse under warm water to remove stickiness. If using canned tomatillos, drain and measure out 2 cups. Broil chiles, garlic, and fresh tomatillos (do not broil canned) on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.
   3. Peel garlic and pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender.

• Salsa can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.