If anything, this lockdown has unearthed a chef in all of us. If you haven’t been experimenting with food or trying out new recipes, are you really doing this lockdown properly?
Actress Millicent Mashile has been doing just that, and she says she’s even become an overnight chef. She took us through what a typical lockdown day looks like for her and her family.
Wakes up: 11am.
“I wake up so late, it’s embarrassing to even say LOL! But that's when I went to bed after 3am.”
First thing you do after waking up? “First thing I do is grab my phone and play a worship song while I lie in bed and just meditate, read a scripture or a book.”
Breakfast, lunch, dinner . . . “Since the lockdown, I can only take in two meals a day. There’s just not enough time, maybe because I wake up so late, but I definitely don't eat breakfast because I'm sleeping.
“I have oats or a toasted sandwich for brunch. For dinner, I go all out LOL! I've become an overnight chef. I'm been experimenting a lot, but my favourite has been Indian cuisine. Butter chicken, samoosas, curries, stuffed chicken, all kinds of pastry dishes. Oh, and lots of baking, but that's mostly my kids, they love to bake. We've probably used 20kg of flour since lockdown.
“I force my husband to make us a braai on Sundays because I would be so exhausted from cooking every day. He loves meat, so he never says no.”
Eating more or less? “I love food and I would love to eat what I like, so I compensate with a lot of exercising and drinking lots of water. However, I love healthy food, so I'm not so bad. I could do better when it comes to snacking.
Between meals . . . “During the day we do the kids’ academic work; shoot some content for the kids’ YouTube page; read, play with the boys just to get away from electronics for about two hours.
“I also write scripts, yes, I'm a brilliant scriptwriter. I've finished writing a short film and a theatre play during lockdown, looking forward to implementing those projects.”
Watchlist . . . “I watch my show Out and About on ONE Gospel; I watch a lot of YouTube food vlogs; I love watching movies on Netflix; I also catch up on South African reality shows. My favourite is Papa Penny and The Bachelor [SA].
Bedtime . . . I go to bed between 1-3am, my sleeping routine is totally out the window. Also, I love quiet time alone when the kids and hubby are in bed. I catch up on my television and laugh and cry because I love it when beautiful stories are being told. I also FaceTime my twin sister and catch up, we miss each other so much.”
