Naan, and pt

Yesterday I made a salad of tuna, chickpeas and the chickpea mayo which didn't thicken but tastes fine. And I made half a dozen naan. 

Supper, another similar meal for lunch today.

The naan rolls nicely and you could do it like a wrap with this salad but I'm too clumsy to avoid decorating my sweater with the contents, so I warm it briefly, then roll it.

I made a yogurt dough, so it tastes tangy. I halved the recipe and still got six naan out of it. 

You mix all the ingredients, and knead till the dough comes together and the flour is incorporated, then leave it covered about ten minutes while you dance around the kitchen or do your stretches to amuse the neighbors.

Then separate into about golf-ball sized pieces, roll them out into more or less circles, then cook. This is where cast iron is great, oiled pan, hot, and watch the bread bubble up, just a couple of minutes per side, so you get that beautiful browning effect. 

I stacked as I cooked and the next day it's fine. I saved three breads uncooked so as to have fresh bread again tomorrow.

Today was a PT day. Great workout and massage, leaving me stretched and relaxed and tired and very glad I didn't have to drive home.  

Home PT is fine. He brings his table and various bits of equipment such as resistance bands, and loads of good advice as well as general chat. 

He believes in friendly chatting as part of the treatment and convo ranged over gardening, TV, batteries, Gary -- they remembered each other from when HP was the patient -- marriage, kids, and more.

This afternoon is yet another Hamish, sugar cookies from the batch I made last week where I froze half the dough, and a pot of tea. Unless I suddenly decide on some enterprise I haven't thought of yet. Stay tuned.

And here's some information to answer a question from yesterday's post:

Happy day everyone, online with friends tonight, unless there's a tariff on internet chatting before then..

Naan, flowers and a visiting bee

I'm running out of bread because I forgot to order it, so I made a batch of naan, using my all purpose dough. I've used this for pizza, pasties, flatbread, you can do all kinds of things with it.

Yogurt, flour, baking soda, salt, makes this dough, which you knead a bit in the bowl to bind it, then rest for half an hour.

Then cut into six pieces with the bench scraper which is the best kitchen tool I ever came across 

If you want round bread, you form the pieces into balls before rolling out,  but I wasn't fussy 

Then heat the cast iron skillet till a drop of water sizzles right off it, swipe just a drop of oil over the surface with a paper towel 

And start cooking. When you see bubbles rising, you turn it over and cook on. You see the output on the plate and the last one still cooking.

Today's lunch was the rest of a tomato, cheddar, miso tofu, egg bake, with a green salad, no dressing, sometimes I just like the greens flavors 

And a naan bread. This can be torn to help catch all the baked flavor, and it's flexible enough for a wrap. So I have five more naan to get me past my bread desert.

What I like here,as much as flavor, is the varied textures. Soft bread, crisp greens, the baked dish, all different and interesting.  Colors too.

During Handsome Partner's last years, he permanently lost taste and smell, sad rare prescription interaction. This meant I cooked with color and texture in mind instead, to keep up his appetite.

He was also paralyzed from C3, the upper spine, down, so he had limited use of his hands and couldn't use more than one table implement at a time. So I also learned to cook food that could be eaten with a fork and fingers. This meal would have fitted the bill. He'd have enjoyed this. I'd have torn the bread into manageable pieces. 

When I made soup, I'd bring it to the table and drop hot croutons into it, so they sizzled, which always triggered appetite. So I guess sound enters in, too.

Today's wild patio area 

See the tiny bee? Near the bottom.

Coleus sharing space with a weed which I like enough to leave alone, daisies coming out 

newcomers, different every day. It's attracting bees, butterflies and moths, as well as the resident praying mantises. Or mantes, maybe.

I really like this kind of untamed looking garden area, much more than formal pots of polite flowers.

Happy day everyone,  life's a banquet!