Good medicine

It got me!

Sadly I missed Easter Sunday with family, but we FaceTimed which was really good. At least we could all see each other’s faces and have a chat. A few days later Someone also succumbed, for the first time. Being ill at the same time was novel.

We were starting to come out the other side and feel a bit more human on Friday, so I made a two cheese & red jalapeno sourdough to celebrate.

I had a craving for tomato soup for lunch to eat with the bread, so whizzed vegetables in the food processor to cut down on the energy needed for much chopping.

I’m sure this particular craving goes back to childhood. Cheese on toast with Heinz tomato soup was a regular lunch, and especially after being unwell.

It was such a tasty soup that I quickly wrote down the ingredients and rough quantities, before my Covid brain could forget, so I can replicate it sometime.

One bowl left chunky ish, the other blended according to preference. Homegrown basil to garnish, along with mustard which needed eating.

Every day I kept to my plan and planted a different batch of seeds. Zinnias I planted on Wednesday are now, less than a week later, strong seedlings complete with leaves. The downstairs of my home is essentially a functioning greenhouse. I love it. There are tomato and pointed red peppers seedlings, broad beans, parsley and nicotianas to come (maybe) and more. One of my uncles once told me: “Gardening is a matter of luck and cosmic force, Rachel.” So true. Let’s hope both come through for me.

A good mocha at the right moment. I’d walked too far yesterday and needed to rest. It did the trick.

Giuseppe Verdi tulips, beauties aren’t they? I thought I might have planted them a little late, as I didn’t get around to it till nearly Christmas.

I made Hot Cross buns before I started to feel unwell on Easter weekend. Have you spotted the one Not Cross bun? It might have been for the atheist, or perhaps because I ran out of paste!

All shared with family. And another batch sans crosses later, for the freezer.

I’ve been going for a one mile walk every day, to get fresh air and push it through my lungs. But then need to lie down afterwards, with an audiobook because of fatigue. How Not to be a Boy by Robert Webb is turning out to be a great listen.

Today’s walk was worth it for these Lucky dip cookies, made with some leftovers from Easter treats. You throw in what you have hence the name, this time it’s milk chocolate chips, raisins, walnuts and salted peanuts. They are becoming a bit of a post-Easter tradition.

I bought the SP, along with eggs and butter, because the sweet and salty combination is a favourite. Goodbye Easter weight loss!

I’ve just realised, only in the last few minutes, that I genuinely feel a bit better. Something has eased. I’ve maybe, just maybe, stopped coughing slightly and my tight chest has somewhat loosened.

All because of raw cookie dough?

All hail raw cookie dough!

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So, my medicine appears to be good food, good coffee, flowers, planting and nurturing seeds, gentle movement outside, entertaining books and audiobooks. What’s yours?

5 things on a Friday

1. Crocheting!

Here’s the somewhat eccentric thing I was crocheting at the end of last year. It felt slightly weird to be crocheting a cover for a cafetiere to sprout mung beans, but when I started to blog people were all over crocheting covers for wooden coathangers. So perhaps it’s not that strange! (Eccentric crochet first mentioned here.)

I wanted to try sprouting mung beans in a cafetiere, as I’ve seen it can result in really plumptious beansprouts. (Apple really doesn’t like that word. It’s very red and wiggly underneath. Well Apple, Google says it’s real and has a pronounciation guide, it’s not a Rachel Special.) I started them on Monday and so far I can’t see that they’re looking any more impressive than they did when I sprouted them in a soup mug, covered with a piece of muslin and secured with an elastic band… We will see…

I’ve also been doing some proper crochet. I’ve dug out my Ana Lucia shawl, found some notes on the pattern and realise to my shock that they were written in October 2019. This IS going to be FINISHED this year.

It’s further on now, with some very nice charcoal stripes, but I’ll wait for a brighter day to take some updated photos. It’s grey, grey, grey.

2. Baking

Think I’ve invented pizza topped sourdough focaccia!

Sun dried tomatoes, green olives, a thin spread of red pepper pesto and a sprinkle of mozzarella. The SD proved overnight in a bowl in the fridge waiting to become something last Sunday. A piece was so tasty eaten with a fruity crunchy red cabbage slaw, with the last of my Christmas dressing (dijon, honey and clementine, instead of lemon juice) dressing and topped with omega seed mix.

Lucky dip cookies from a Good Housekeeping magazine in March 2017. Recipe can be seen here.

I’ve just used up the rest of the cracking nuts and chocolate chips from Christmas, with some desiccated coconut, raisins and a few more of those mixed seeds. They haven’t been tested yet. Soon!

3. Sprouting

A spicy mix of red cabbage, broccoli and radish volcano, my first sprouts of the new year.

Butternut squash, sweet potato and chickpea curry, with roasted cherry tomatoes and a handful of sprouts on top. Warming winter meal.

4. Walking

It’s always an effort to walk when it’s cold and grey, but look what a lovely day it was when I took these photos last week. You’ve got to get out there whatever the weather, but particularly when it’s this blue. The snowdrops are already up and in bud, I should go back soon because they’ll be open now. Beauties.

5. Reading

Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene. Very much of its time, partly making me cringe, partly making me smile. I thought I should read one of his novels.

I’ve been listening to Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes but I’ve run out of hours on Spotify, so I am waiting for my new allowance. I could get the library book, in fact I was next in the queue on Libby, but I sent it back. I’m really enjoying the narration.

I’ve been approved to read a proof copy of the forthcoming accompanying book to the BBC series The Repair Shop. It looks interesting. As new converts to the show (after it’s been on for about a hundred years) I spend evenings wiping my face with mascara coated tissues. Every time one of them wells up, I do too. Then when the big reveal happens and they start boo-hooing I have tears rolling down my face. It is the devil‘s work! Can’t someone bring something in which THEY once bought and is now damaged? Do we really have to have every item loaded with some sentimental family significance? It won’t stop me watching, but I’m definitely going to go through a lot of tissues this year.

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What are you up to? How about sharing a few things?

Lastly, HAPPY NEW YEAR!