(cooking, us, cats, health)

[elainegrey]

Happy cooking things:

Bread pudding in a pumpkin: will do again.

Seared baby bok choi with potatoes and pre-cooked tofu made a nice lunch. (I've learned that pressing and then air frying slabs of tofu really creates a nice chewy texture).

Used hatch chili skins that i'd shoved in the freezer, ground up two very old dried-out okra, and coriander stems and seeds to make a broth. That plus left-over black beans from the freezer and some left over tomato paste made a very satisfying soup. House smelled lovely.

Realized we still had frozen Wellington from Thanksgiving, so not making that today. Caramelized onions and made quasi-duxelles from the fresh mushrooms and shoved in freezer for some other time.

Shallots and beet greens, first cooking the stems and shallots down, then adding the greens. Served over toast that i used to wipe up the caramelized onion pan with slivers of a nice sharp cheese (Sartori Merlot BellaVitano). Bliss.

Happy that that is net-less stuff in freezer, plus got fresh green things eaten or fixed before they went too sad.

I need to eat down the freezer so that when Christine has surgery on Jan 13, we can have comfort food for her in the fridge.

I carefully watched for a low stress time to give Christine more stress: i shared with her some observations about the things listed for her surgery appointment that point to some recovery aspects i knew she would find.... hard. She's coping OK. I am pretty sure the surgeon's description of recovered state was interpreted by Christine to apply to immediately post surgery, so it was a surprise. What is stressing me is the need to go to Ohio and the uncertainty about the recovery needs. I have a hard time believing that we could be scheduling the week of MLK day.

Today both Marlowe and Bruno did inappropriate urination. That stressed Christine lots. I got a laundry line set up in the back porch, under the ceiling fan, so hopefully this will ease some of the appliance demands.

 Out of an abundance of body shame, i have ordered a long, drapey sweater at basic markdown. I'm already stressing about what to wear if/when i go to Ohio in January, and -- given some of the dynamics of dealing with executive directors -- i feel anything to help me project confidence is good. If i am constantly tugging at a tight cardigan, that won't help. I'm ashamed of my body shame, too. Irritated at the 15-20 lbs i put on this year.

I see a dermatologist for the first time in aeons. Discomfort i have been dealing with for twenty years. I think i want to get serious about getting it addressed.

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

Oooh bread pudding in a pumpkin!

[tamena]

bread pudding period sounds wonderful, put it in a pumpkin? Yes Please!!
I wish there was a magic wand to wave away the body anxiety so many of us carry. I have the same issues and it's not helpful at all *hugs*