Hot cross buns, Alfredo's German cousin, and warm puppies

Yesterday I had a visit from Billy and Gary to update me on the sick neighbor who was suddenly in the midst of a serious, life threatening,  setback, rushed into hospital at the weekend, is now doing better, and may get home today.  

We've had a tense couple of days. This was after she'd completed the series of radiation and chemo, and was hoping to start feeling better. Sadly, I think this complication can be a side effect of the treatment. But now we're hoping for the best.

My role is to be the person the caregiver gets to unload on, and I'm doing it gladly. Every caregiver needs a nonjudgmental listener who's been there.  It's exhausting taking a person into the hospital, all the treatment days, then visiting and worrying. 

Her daughter has been attending as possible, but she's  young, early twenties, and has to keep up with her job, so Gary has been very much needed, with occasional visits from friend's brother and sister who live several hours away.

Meanwhile, since Good Friday is this week, and I needed to make bread anyway, I made a version of hot cross buns. 

I mixed half a recipe of my usual wholewheat bread, and added in fresh ginger chunks, dried cranberries, and the zest of lemons and blood oranges. The spicy ingredients are symbolic of suffering..

Then I formed half a dozen rolls

Baked them 20 minutes at 450f

And iced them with the traditional crosses, symbolizing the sweetness of the sacrifice underlying the anguish of the cross. I'm mainly in it for the buns, though, rather than the religious observance of my childhood.

Pretty good considering the liberties I took with the recipe.

And I made fettuccine Alfredo, cugino tedesco. 

Fettuccine tossed with butter and blue cheese crumbles, with the last of the sausages. So it's Alfredo's German cousin!

This week I need to get out the Easter decorations, a selection of rabbits, cats and eggs. Today maybe. It's looking as if Handsome Son and I can celebrate Easter on Saturday, nearest in recent memory to the actual day.

Winnowing is not worth a picture today, just a recycle of a few plastic containers whose lids are long gone. I'm definitely conquering the plastic containers. Just a few more days of winnowing, then I can review the effects on my surroundings and on me.

Happy day everyone, anyone may eat hot cross buns, no need to be exclusive. But Passover period observers may need to wait a few days, because leaven.