It was a smashing hit. Those men showed up and showed out. For the first time, I bought something from every single chef. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to making it a success.
Koskel Times (They official now with name and ting)
All the chefs for doing such a good job and keeping us fed
The winners – competition was fierce but you obviously had the edge
The volunteers – I know that the Koskel Crew couldn’t do it all without you
All the patrons/the limers/the nyammers (eaters) – old and new…thank you for your unwavering support to make this the event to look forward to every year in September
Koskel had branded cups, a backdrop for pictures and the team just made some upgrades in general that took the event up a couple notches. In my opinion, this year had the most people I’ve ever seen in attendance and things can only get better going forward.
For many months now I’ve felt like my disability is worsening. I still do everything I’ve always done but as far as I’m concerned, I’m moving slower. Sometimes, tasks are just not as easy and/or “seamless” as they used to be. Now, I will admit that I’m certainly not as active as I used to be. After the ‘vid, (early last year maybe?) I reached out to the personal trainer I had prior, and she told me that her schedule just didn’t allow her to continue training. I had to start my search for another. Long story short, I had 2 trainers who were with me for a month or two each and for some reason or other, they had to stop. I always try to do things at home on my own but that NEVER works out long term – NEVER. Last year I joined an online “MS Gym” (it’s actually targeted training exercises for MS patients) and started hot and heavy…started. At the beginning of this year, I actually signed up for an exercise research study that was targeted to African Americans with MS. I jumped at the chance to do it because I would be accountable to someone (which, alas, is what I need to stay on the exercise bandwagon) albeit for a specific length of time. I met with my coach weekly at first and then as the study progressed, time between meetings lengthened which was fine because I still had to track my progress etc. At the end, I promised her that I would continue…I did. For a while…at this time, I couldn’t tell you the last time I did any of those exercises. sigh. Now and again, I’ll do a workout I found online but I’m not consistent with it. The one thing that I have been doing consistently is climbing with my Catalyst crew, which is good but it’s not enough.
Anyway, I say all that to say that I didn’t know if my worsening state was related to my inactivity or the disease itself doing its thing and running its course. I scheduled an MRI – 2 actually, my brain and my cervical spine. The last time I’d done either was in 2021 so it was good timing and probably due anyway. I was happy to hear from Gilbert that there’d been no significant changes from the last one which is great news. The last time I’d felt that things were changing (back in 2015), we found that I actually had a new lesion at the base of my neck that could have explained what’d been happening (the disease doing its thing!). That’s great news but I really do need to start back working out consistently. I’m going back on the hunt for a personal trainer. How pathetic am I that I need to be accountable to someone to keep on track with working out?!? To be honest, there was a time that I didn’t enjoy going to the gym and such but that changed some years ago. If I could go by myself, we’d be having a different conversation right now, but I dare NOT do that because of the potential disaster that could be. GASP!!
Switching gears…Men Who Can Cook, the annual fundraiser thrown by Aunty P and crew is happening on Sunday. If you are in the Atlanta area, this is a beautiful, well-planned event that gets better every year. The event name went from “Men Who Think They Can Cook” to “Men Who Know They Can Cook” to definitively and just simply :-), “Men Who Can Cook” and it is true. All the chefs go all out, and all the food is delicious. Looking for something to do on Sunday? make your way there for a good time, scrumptious food and a fantastic cause!
I’ve been M.I.A. and I just cannot believe that so much time has gone by since the last time I posted – not sure where it went but I’ve had alot going on. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again “the older I get the faster time flies and it sucks!” I actually had an idea for something else, but I’ll table it for now because I have to speak to this. First off, I’m not going dark again…I will continue to write and publish, I really honestly didn’t even realise just how much time has passed since my last entry.
This past Sunday was the annual “Men Who Think They Can Cook” event in ATL. I’m sure that I’ve written about this event before, but it was brought into fruition by one of the old heads here in our Atlanta community (she will kill me for calling her that, but it’s fine I’ll take meh cuss). I moved to Atlanta in 1991 at the mere young age of 19 and for the first 3/4 years or so, I knew very few Trinidadians and then one day I had the privilege of meeting this lady (I wish I could remember how we met), P. Ram. And all of a sudden, I was exposed to a Trini community that remains my family outside of Trinidad to this day. These people didn’t know me or any of the other students who came here to go to school, but they knew that we were young, students who left their parents’ homes and pretty much had nothing and that was all that mattered. They welcomed us into their homes, their lives and we became “their children”. Now that we have grown up, when we get together or see each other, it’s a beautiful thing. So much time has passed and it’s hard to fathom that they were around my current age when we first met…WHA?!? P. Ram is called Aunty P by EVERYONE…and I mean EVERYONE. She is a pillar of strength in, and the glue of the community and all she has to do is say something or ask for something and it gets done (she also has a nickname “Queen of the underworld”, but you didn’t hear that from me…heeheehee).
I don’t quite remember when she had the idea to start the “Men Who Think They Can Cook” event but she started making phone calls to all the men in the community and pitched the idea which was a cooking competition amongst the men. Each chef comes out with their food which is then sold to attendees and a portion of the proceeds is donated to a Multiple Sclerosis organisation on my behalf. It’s an MS awareness, fund raiser that is done because of me for me and it is very touching to me every, single year. For the first number of years, I told her to work with the MSCA since I was a patient there. I am no longer affiliated with the MSCA (story for another day…one of 2020 happenings) and so this year, I told her to work with Catalyst Sports. I was extremely happy when Gillian from Catalyst agreed and was available to come out to support as well. This is one of those times when the “old” old people, the “current” old people and the “current” old people’s kids come together and have a whale of a time eating GREAT food, drinking and limin for hours. I feel confident saying that everyone looks forward to it year after year.
I don’t usually say anything at the event, but this year I wanted to and felt that it was long overdue that I thanked Aunty P. and her organising crew, the chefs (repeats and new…in fact I believe that the winner this year was a newbie), all the supporters who came out and of course, Catalyst – meeting that crew is one of the highlights of the past few years for me. It is always overwhelming to see the support, feel the support that I have in our community, and I just needed them to know how grateful I am.
