The reveal

 The cooking and baking day yielded 

Carrot, sweet potato soup 

Whole-wheat, oat and chickpea bread with cumin seeds

Cordial from fresh limes and lemons with turmeric, honey, ginger and molasses, seen here draining 

Mayo in the background that didn't emulsify but did taste very good, so it works as an extra flavor, a spoonful trailed over the soup bowl to serve.

So now even if I have no interest in cooking for the next few days, I'll still eat well. Supper was a bowl of soup, slice of new baked bread, glass of cordial. The cordial is quite intense, so you dilute it to drink.

Happy day everyone, I hope everyone is holding up okay. Ted says sit in the sun, it's good.

Remember you're somebody's guiding light 

Photo AC 

Mayo, bread, soup

Today is a basic day. I made a gallon of laundry liquid, next comes stock, then soup, and bread. This is because I was out of all of them. I'll also take another try at mayo from aqua faba, the last try not working so well.

The  laundry stuff lasts ages, needing about half a cup per load, so at least 32 loads, which explains why I can't find the post about the last time I made it. It still seems to be a surprise when it runs out though.

Here's a screenshot from September, which might in fact be when I last made it, for people who fancy trying their hand.

Quarter bar (one ounce) castile soap, grated and melted in one cup water on the stove,  quarter cup each of washing soda and borax, stirred in the container half filled with water. Then add the melted soap solution, fill up with hot, not boiling, water, stir and stir. Leave 24 hours to cure, shake, use. I shake it every time because the contents can settle.

Done. Cheap. Very little shopping involved.

Oatmeal I got this week from Misfits will get into the oatmeal-whole wheat bread I am about to commit.

There's a bag of peeled carrots and a cooked sweet potato in the freezer, plus stock makings. By end of day it will be soup.

And maybe there will be tuna salad if the mayo works out. Aqua faba is a vegan egg substitute. I'm not vegan, (clearly, tuna?) but I like trying substitutes. Definitely for eggs which can only get more pricey. Especially since today's bank alert tells me the plumber cashed his $$$$ check.

On to cheerier things. I heard last night that an online friend on another platform saw yesterday's outdoor picture I'd posted there and her mood improved from seeing it. 

She'd been very down that morning, worried about her SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid and subsidized housing. Old lady who worked all her life until felled by leukemia, now hanging in at home. 

She has a lot to worry about and I was so moved that I'd unknowingly given her just a moment of feeling better. She's unsinkable, but even she needs a cheerful note now and then. So there's that. 

Hamish Macbeth continues and I think I'm near the end of the ebooks, oh dear. I may have to start writing more of them.

Happy day everyone, and if you're up for cutting way back on buying 

A word of encouragement there!

First footing done, also chickpea "mayo"

Handsome Son brought in the new year this afternoon, first-footing the house and bringing shortbread and ginger ale.

First footing is the tradition that if a dark haired man bringing food, fuel, alcohol and money is the first person across the threshold after midnight on New Year's Day, the family will have good luck all year. Food, a warm house, partying, and the ability to pay the bills.

It used to be a lump of coal was included, but I don't know who has that now. We were happy with what we had.

Added to Mary's cake and chocolate cherries, and a large pot of tea, it was a merry afternoon.

Yesterday I tried making that chickpea mayo I've mentioned. It's not mayo in texture more like thick cream. 

I did various things to mayo it up, including extra chickpeas and an egg. Never achieved mayo texture, but it does taste good. 

So I'm testing it here on whole-wheat with chopped parsley, ready to insert slices of this hard boiled egg, to make a supper sandwich.

Lovely New Year's Day, complete, a few minutes ago, with a flying visit from Gary to wish me HNY.

Online meeting with friends this evening.

Happy day everyone, try something new just because.