Tuesday, cabinets, locks, Textiles and Tea

Tuesday's plans got moved around a bit. Michael the Marvellous Maker, installed the cabinet and the door keys.

Ted and Big Ursy checking there, to make sure he does it right.

Then we had a ceremony of carefully keeping the new keys, tossing the old, and I tossed all the old then later had a thought. The top lock, for which I had several keys, was the original builder-installed one. As is the lock for the outdoor storage.

I vaguely remembered there was a key for the outdoor storage, too. I never lock it but, in case any kind neighbor turns the inside knob and carefully locks it, locking me out, I'd better find the key. 

So I retrieved the two old keys for the top lock and, clever me, they fit the outdoor storage. So now they're labeled and saved. 

I thought about the neighbor possibility because years ago in our first house a visiting friend followed us out to the garden, to drink tea,  locking the door after her. 

I was too late to stop her, and pointed out I didn't carry house keys out to drink tea in the garden! And the only other door was the front porch, which only locked and unlocked from inside. Windows were too high for any of us to force. Very expensive locksmith visit ensued. The friendship was a bit dented by this incident.

Back to the present, Gary buzzed in and out, admiring, making me accept potato bread, he's deglutenizing his kitchen, retrieving the plants I minded for him, and Billie barked along. 

After all this I thought I'd rest a minute, after lunch, before my Tuesday knitting group. I woke when it was half over. Oh. But I did make the planned delivery to the food pantry, ahead of their Thursday distribution.

Then it was a pot of tea on the deck, crowds of shouting birds, and my kindle open to

Late summer deck reading, very niche.

Textiles and Tea was a revelation about making, farming, dyeing and working with silk.

Karen has literally done all that and learned from silk farmers in India, working with wild and domestic silk production. That's what her book is about. She's a plant whisperer!

I made the crunchy tofu for supper, this time as dice, with more seasoning -- umami mix, cayenne -- in the batter. 

It used up the rest of the batter from the fish, and the panko. I thinned the batter a bit.

This worked fine, in the toaster oven, not much oil, and it still crisped up, about 40 minutes at 400°f, or what the toaster oven claims to be that.

Foyle in the evening. Nice day, despite detours.

Happy day, everyone, may your detours be fun ones.

Monday, warm, dry, puffy clouds, slider

Despite dragging fatigue, side effects of the allergies and the allergy remedies, I managed to change the bed and do the laundry, now all away.  

I wasn't up to anything much physically, other than falling asleep whenever I sat down, so I wrote the day off for walking and exercising.

The deck was lovely, all kinds of birds and insects and this accidental art which looks like an impressionist setup, the dappled shade and the multiple patterns 

Then while I was reading Trollope and resting my eyes, Michael the artist -contractor came over with the renovated base cabinet and the slider he built.

Tomorrow he'll install it, and I can stop working out of a crate of baking gear. It's beautifully finished, refurbished drawer now sliding in and out smoothly, I'm just very happy with it. What an improvement on the old cabinet. 

That geared me up to making a plum crumble using all the rest of the plums. The crumble is oatmeal, some of which I ground to flour, some I left as is.  Drizzle of molasses over the top. Usual nutmeg, cinnamon, butter, salt in the crumble. In the fruit there's cornstarch to thicken it, lemon zest, cinnamon, no sugar, I like it tart. 

And here's the cook's first taste. With Greek  yogurt and a sprinkle of sugar. 

He also brought a new set of locks, plain brass finish with keys. No codes and videos and Benny Hill music.  He'll install them Tuesday.

Foyle is now working for MI5 and still trying to retire to Hastings to go fishing. Some wartime colleagues show up in new secret jobs, and if they didn't shoot so many scenes in near darkness I'd manage to follow it better. 

Most of the secret men are in raincoats and hats, I have no hope of knowing who's who. But it's still good watching, including the terrible cardigans women were wearing, and austerity shoes. Women in their twenties looked about fifty in those big felt hats, designed to repel boarders.  

This was before the New Look came in, when skirts became long, bodices were fitted, and women looked pretty good if they could save the coupons to get a new outfit, big if at that time, clothes rationed for years.

The puzzle is still in the box. Maybe Tuesday.

Happy day everyone, don't worry if the puzzle's still in the box. To every puzzle there is a season or something.