The Society of Prima Donna Car Owners and other news

So last night, after on and off testing for two days, the mechanic called friend next door to say he could not find anything at all wrong with the car.  Everything checked out. No charge happened, either.  Friend said he wouldn't charge if he couldn't find anything.  However, knowing friend, I would not put it past him to quietly pay the labor and decline to tell me anything about it.  I'm like a kind of honorary mom to him, I think.

So today, after its expedition to the garage and back, more mileage in one run than it's had from me, it's home and smug and working just fine.  Everything lighting up and ticking over and let's hope it stays that way. Meanwhile, the portable battery jumper travels with me.

Friend is quite absent minded, tends to leave vital stuff all over.  I've found his phone in my house, his jacket on the patio, etc.  One time he left his ladder in the loft. So I get in the car, and there on the passenger side floor are his winter gloves, the jumpers from his kit, the carrying case, the lot.  So I returned them, and his partner rolled her eyes, not at all surprised.  He tends to get thinking about the next project, and he's helping people all over the place with different needs, so material stuff tends to fall off the radar.

I now plan to found the SPDCO, see post title, and invite Pam and anyone else with similar automotive issues to join as founding members.  Regular whining is required, as is logging of number of failures to launch.  Dues consist of listening sympathetically as needed.  The prima donnas, in case it's not clear, are the cars, not the owners.

Meanwhile, in other news, food also happened today.  I've been fancying a bit of pasta for a while, and need to eat more greens, so I did both, before the Mischief box arrives tomorrow and refills the freezer.

So I made Fettucini (actually egg noodle, didn't have fettucini in the house) Alfredo.  Didn't make a separate sauce, just minced a ton of garlic, grated Parmesan, and had a chunk of butter ready.  You'll notice the chef's knife, for turning on its side, trapping the garlic so you can bring a mighty fist down and crush it.  Except my fist is not quite mighty enough, so I use the wooden mallet thing to hammer on the knife blade.

The broccoli I boiled right along with the pasta, six minutes did it for both.

And tossed the pasta with the minced garlic, cheese and butter, divided it into two bowls so there's some for tomorrow.  This would be enough for two moderate eaters, I guess. For me it's two meals.

And since there's a ton of garlic, it's good either to live alone or persuade your companions to eat garlic, too, then nobody is felled by your exhale.  Or you could wear a mask, come to think of it.

Mask wearing is good for more than shielding from viruses.  I wear mine no matter whether I'm alone out walking or not, because it keeps my face warm in the winter wind. And today because the landscapers were pruning and blowing dust and molds everywhere with their leaf blowers, which does me in.  And it helps ward off pollen in season, too. All that.

So, fortified by garlic against all kind of demons, including the credit card bill that just arrived, with totals for the jumper kit, the phone, the phone service, and sundry other items,that's where we are right now. 

I also fancy making gnocchi, haven't had them for years, and have no potatoes, also no floury potatoes in the Misfits box, not available in the choices.  So I think I might make them with the yogurt dough and Parmesan cheese grated in.  I also fancy an experiment with cooked drained pumpkin for gnocchi, too, to see how that works.

I really like making items, like potstickers, or ravioli, or gnocchi, which involve a big pan of boiling water you drop things into and when they surface they're done.  More of a game than cooking, really. Haven't made ravioli in an age, either. Must make a note.

Day of waiting, with compensations

The automotive patient is still in the OR, the surgeon studying how to stop the battery from draining.  It's all about waiting today. One bulletin: the car started immediately for the mechanic.  Of course it did.  It's like the toothache completely vanishing once you're in the dentist chair. But my hero friend confirmed that it had been doing that, then dying completely overnight.  So the surgeon continued thinking.

The main compensation being a nice little supper of, wait for it, it took as long to name as to cook it:

Crepes Mornay avec les Champignons et les oignons verts.

Here's a roux cooking gently before the warm milk, salt and pepper are added,  the parmigiano cheese in waiting, with mushrooms and scallions sauteing in the background.

I added more regular wholewheat flour to the batter to make the pancakes a bit sturdier.

 

And here are two, rolled neatly while the last one cooks, I used the same, unwiped, pan as for the mushrooms and scallions, so the flavor would continue.

 

And here's supper, sauce now containing the mushrooms and scallions, spooned over the pancakes and very nice, too.

I have a bowl of extra sauce which might be used again as sauce or might be a base for soup. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Tomorrow is another day.

The day started well, anyway

Here's the breakfast of pancakes from this morning.  I used the pastry flour, and they are light and very delicate, really good.  The first two, as usual with pancakes, not very shapely, but the last is fine, as you see.  I didn't put sugar in the batter, so they're neutral, and I can use the rest of it as a savory, or, like here, a breakfast with a bit of sugar sprinkled on.  Sometimes I like a spritz of lemon juice, too.

And is it now amazingly, one year since the Great Winnowing, when I reduced the contents of my house considerably.  Here's what used to be a jammed art studio

And, after giving masses of materials to artists and students, here's what I kept in a walk in closet

And I can say I literally have not missed a single item I gave away in the Winnowing.  Of all the clearing, only a tiny bag was suitable for the garbage.  Everything else was given or recycled. Several carloads, to be exact.

And here's a picture to accompany a request for input.  This is the nest and eggs pin I created from the cashmere goat fiber donated by Quinn last year.  I spun and crocheted and felted it to make this little pin.

Today I was offered a bag of dog hair from a friend's beloved Belgian Malinois, who died in early 2020.  I plan to spin it mixed with other fiber, and will possibly get just a few yards of yarn.

What I'm looking for are suggestions on what I might crochet or knit or weave with that small quantity, with a gift to the owner in mind.  I think she might like a memento of her much-missed dog. When I was doing the cashmere goat hair, blogistas came up with all sorts of suggestions, which eventually led to my making the seasonal nest with eggs, it being Springtime.  So please think again and see what we can come up with now?

And here's my new exercise program, which looks exactly like a bunch of scarves, which it is.  Silk to be exact, very lightweight.  The idea is to bend down, pick one up, then with a fluid, graceful (!) large movement, toss it, catch in the other hand. Repeat and return. Chiffon or silk are the best choices, because they float in the air, so you have a chance to focus on them and catch them.

It's good for eye-hand, not a big need for me, for balance, this is a need, and for large coordination, which is a desperate need for me, mine being fair to lousy. A friend with serious health conditions which I don't have, has started this at the recommendation of her physical therapist, for improving movement and keeping shoulders supple as well as maintaining and improving balance.

So I did this today, and was able to catch and throw just fine with my left hand, but was all at sea, unable at first to catch, with my right hand. No surprise there, since my left is always my throwing and catching better side.  But once I got the hang of it, my right hand did a bit of catch up.  And it did open up my shoulders nicely without strain, and was generally quite a bit of fun to do.  I could pretend I was being fluid and graceful, anyway.  Always good to vary exercise so you don't get bored and stop.

So that was the first part of the day, which went very well.  Then I thought I'd go out and start the car and let it run a few minutes while I went to the mailbox. That's where the day got away from me.

The car was totally dead.  Not clicking, not cranking, absolutely nothing.  Used both keys in case it was a battery problem in one of the fobs.  Nothing.  Heaved a sigh, and went for the jump starter kit.  Attached it, got the green light, fully charged, tried to start. Nothing whatever.

Appealed to neighbor, who came and tried with his starter kit.  Nothing.  Cleaned the terminals of corrosion, nice and clean, tried again. Nothing.  Called mechanic, tried horn, nothing, lights, nothing. I called the dealership who said they could do nothing unless I got it in to them, I needed to get a towing company. Neighbor said, nah, let's not yet.

He brought out the big guns, charged it off his pickup truck, and after lengthy effort, it finally turned over and ran.  We left it for fifteen minutes, and he offered to take it to his own mechanic this evening, get his partner to follow in a car, so he could get home, mechanic would look at it this evening.

So that's where things stand right now.  Car is at an undisclosed location with a mechanic trusted by neighbor who knows all about cars, and its fate is as yet unknown. Brand new battery was working fine yesterday.  After forcible starting, working fine again today. But I can't be doing this every few days! And I'm not pleased that the dealership was so quick to just replace the battery without looking for any causes why the previous one was weak.  They assumed that it was at the end of its life.

So that part of the day was a downer, other than the huge generosity of neighbor spending most of his afternoon and evening working on it, then delivering it to the mechanic. And came home to chocolate walnut cupcakes to cheer them both up a bit.

Son brought groceries and stayed to eat chocolate walnut cupcakes and drink tea and sympathize.  I really felt very catered to today, despite all, what with two neighbors attending my car and son attending my grocery needs.

Breathing now, and suspecting whatever's wrong, it's not covered.  But I'll be glad to have an operating car. Again. And I think I may have found a good mechanic.  But, as always, we'll see.

A Minority of One

 It looks as if the squirrels may have made short work of my few snowdrops.  Here's a lone survivor bravely showing up anyway.

And I made that soup as planned, with the Pinova apple, butternut squash, carrots and cashews.  I seasoned with chicken stock, salt, maharat, ginger, plenty of ginger, none of this one half inch of ginger for me.  A healthy bunch of cubes is what I used. 

Here's the doings all cooking nicely.  As usual, I cooked the spices in the oil to start then added the onions and garlic.  That way they warm up and don't taste harsh at the end.

And it came out nicely.  Thick but not too much so.  Enough for seven bowls.  I always like to have soup in the freezer for when I just don't feel like cooking but do feel like eating.

Finally got out for a walk this afternoon, about half an hour, in the sunshine.  No gray skies today, that always helps. And returned books to the library, exciting expedition. Nowadays it's exciting to drive to the next town.

And my neighbor reported he was taking his friend to collect his two Boston terriers which had been out in this weather lost for two days, and finally had been found, great excitement there.  They rushed off to wherever the dogs were to be collected.  What a relief.  It's terrible to have a lost animal to worry about and wonder whose hands he's in and if he went into traffic and all the catastrophizing that always accompanies pet owning.

My first cat, Annabelle, once took off from my balcony when I was away overnight and I looked for her for weeks.  A little local girl brought me her collar and tags, found on the main road, after a few days, and I thought maybe it was all up for her.  Friends searched the sides of the road, no sign of her.  I decided, after six weeks I had to stop crying and accept her loss and move on.  I heard of two sister cats who were about to be surrendered because their owner had lost job and home, and I offered to take them, and if he wanted visiting privileges, fine.  

So next day Victoria and Boud, yes, my screen name cat, moved in.  They had different names before I renamed them.  Boud is short for Boudicca, British warrior queen, small but fierce.  She was six pounds at her heaviest, where her sister was double that.

I had kept a litter box and food dishes for Annabelle, covered up, just in case, though I thought it was hopeless. The new ladies made themselves at home pretty well, and agreed to eat and drink, so their owner finally left, seeing I had made all ready for them.

That same evening my downstairs neighbor gave me a shout.  I think I just saw your cat!  I heard her earlier. He knew her because she liked to sit on the balcony looking down at him practicing his golf putting.  I ran down and there she was.  Annabelle.  Thin, covered in fleas and ticks, shouting angrily at me, smelling of dryer sheets.  I wondered if she'd been living in laundry rooms.  So I now suddenly went from no cats to three cats.

We sat up all night while I combed fleas and ticks off her until she was able to stop scratching and biting at her fur.  Vet declared her thin but okay, and we went on from there.  She looked so reproachfully at me when she met the others.

Turn my back for six weeks and you move on, huh, faithless human?  I pointed out that she still had her own box and dishes kept for her.  She insisted on acting like an only cat and the others insisted on acting like two fighting sisters.  So I had two families of cats, really.  They all lived to feisty old ages.  Three stripy cats.  And their hapless caregiver.

Pinova apples, butternut squash and future planning

Tonight's supper, to some a side dish, to me a complete meal.  Butternut squash, two Pinova apples, which are great cooked or eaten raw.

Last night I roasted potatoes, to make egg n chips, and I had a rush of brains to the head and realized that since I was putting in potatoes for 30 minutes at 400F I may as well put the butternut squash in its own dish, in there too, to get tender for use today.

So here's the debris as I cube the squash and the apples, ready to saute in olive oil and butter.  I seasoned with nutmeg, cinnamon, cubes of fresh ginger, salt on the squash.

And here you see evidence of even more planning, since half the contents are for tomorrow's carrot, cashew soup, now to be c and c and s and a soup.

Meanwhile, tonight's supper is sauteing merrily, and smelling very nice. When the apples are tender, the squash already being pretty tender, it was ready.

 And so was I. Tomorrow I'll make the cashew etc soup, and hope it will require fewer tools than tonight's supper.  Also less cleanup, this one involving a mopping up operation because when I took out the carrots, I forgot they were in cold water, a way to keep them crisp in the fridge, and ended up with it all over da place.

The cashews are now soaking, so I'm really prepped for making soup tomorrow. And it's Misfits choice day, where I go to the website and pick out next week's produce box.

Celebration pizza, comfort food pizza

 Yesterday, after a restless night of worrying about the outcome in Georgia, and waking to the good news that the Senate is turned, and two iconic people will be the Democratic senators from Georgia, I thought a nice celebration veggie pizza would fit the bill.

So I made the dough, only this time instead of all wholewheat, I included some pastry flour with the baking soda and yogurt.  This was a good idea, very good crisp dough.  The only thing is that the recipe may have been mistaken in the amount of flour.  It was way too wet, impossible to knead, and I added more and more flour until it made a good dough.  Then I thought maybe resting it would be good, too.

Meanwhile, the new phone rang, while I had my hands in dough, and I let it go to voicemail, then tried to access it.  This is when I decided to rest the dough.  Voicemail would not work.  Would not load, Help function just shrugged and said, we dunno, we only work here, talk to your carrier.  Ah. I realized I had to set up the voicemail from scratch, and Googled on my question, adrenalin a bit charged up, didn't need any further excitement.

And found the code I needed to enter, and I had my password already noted on the old phone, which carried over, to my amazement.  And I got into the voicemail and retrieved the, not very important after all, message. So that was good.

And the pizza was, too.  Seen here as it bubbles up in the pan, first side cooking.

Then you turn it over, and add in the toppings, cover it and cook another few minutes till the cheese melts.  I had mushrooms, which I'd cooked earlier in butter and oil, scallions, broccoli.  The tomato base, since I had no sauce nor makings, was ketchup cut with tomato paste, and worked fine.

 So here's the celebration lunch,which was before the riots and the afternoon of terror started at the Capitol

And since the recipe made enough dough for two small pizzas, there's another one for next time I would like pizza

Which has now become comfort food for today, to digest all that happened yesterday, from heaven to hell in a few hours.  And maybe struggling back again, since the count was done, despite the best efforts at disrupting it, and the constitution prevailed.

I'm hoping for a lot of arrests including investigation of the Capitol police force who clearly aided the rioters in getting into the buildings.  They were part of the plan.

That was the most upsetting part of the whole day to me, that the supposedly closely guarded buildings, where the general public is called out for literally standing too close to something, suddenly it's open house, and armed rioters are invited in to where our entire unarmed government is sitting in conference.

I hope Merritt Garland will bring charges and investigate.  Now that Biden's picks will most probably prevail, we can count on a few more things being taken care of. I hear that the cabinet had a meeting yesterday and the question of the 25th Amendment came up.

For people not familiar, it's the amendment to the constitution which allows for the removal of a President shown not fit to be in office, physically or mentally. It takes some doing, but I hope we do it. Fast.

Great Day in the Morning! Exhaling finally.

 This is all we need to say today:

 

Yes, it's Stacey Abrams, who masterminded the voter registration and getting to the polls yesterday, to save the entire Senate.  She was suppressed out of a Senate seat last time around, so guess what, she came back and took the whole thing!

She's also written some great suspense/romance novels under her nom de plume.  But all in all, she's once again proving that Black women will save us all.

The players on the Atlanta Dream women's basketball team, who were early supporters of Warnock in direct opposition to their team owner, Kelly Loeffler, yes, the loser last night, who bitterly criticized their daring to support Black Lives Matter. 

 Abrams' brilliant organizing skills, and all the canvassers and supporters who went door to door, after they found that a lot of people didn't realize there was a runoff, and got many thousands more of them to vote. 

And now we've taken back the Senate, both Georgia senators now Democrats.  One a Black man, pastor of Martin Luther King's old church, and Ossoff, a Jew, both defeating the white supremacist opposition.  Ossoff so scared Perdue he failed to show up after the first debate.  Fast thinker on his feet, when Fox approached him last week for a quick word, he instantly stood in speech making mode, gave a fabulous two minute address and thanked Fox (!) viewers for listening!  Not exactly what the gotcha interviewer was looking for.  Warnock, a Black senator from a once segregated state.  

These are people we need. And if we needed more, if there's a tied vote in the Senate , a Black woman Vice President will cast the deciding vote.

Sweet day.  I woke up very early, checked the news, then couldn't sleep again.

So what with Monday, phone all set up, yay me, Tuesday, car all set up, new battery of course, as we expected, yay again, car is very happy now, and last night.

I think I have to lie down now.  But first I'm making a veggie pizza.  Mushrooms, scallions, broccoli, on that pizza dough I made a while back and liked a lot.  Made with yogurt and flour mainly.

Still exhaling, and checking to be sure.  

Cold winter's afternoon

I appear to have a working, fully connected new phone, and an old one which does everything except phone and text, as planned.  I did it all online, and after the old phone stopped working as a phone and the new one started, I added minutes to the new one.  Now to see if they applied the minutes (I do pay as you go, cheaper) to the correct phone.  My account has not caught up with all the changes yet.  But I kind of doubt they'd apply minutes to a discontinued device.  Anyway, I'll wait a day or two and check again.  I'm very pleased I managed it without the aid of a net.  Interestingly, the first text that told me the new phone had gone live, was my prescription service telling me they'd shipped me vital pills.

 

Meanwhile, the old phone

Looks exactly like the new one. Which it is, just more storage and some features which work better. And a battery that holds a charge.  The camera isn't wonderful on either, but at the price, I'm not fussing. Today, to be fair, it's gloomy and dark and rainy, so the camera didn't get much help with light.

The good thing is that the new phone, posing here, can wear all the purses I made for the old one. Several are the result of going mad making granny squares. I got on one of those tears you get on, where you are doing just one more, just one more. I folded them over and, amazingly, they work fine as purses, with a long strap, so that I can wear the phone all the time. This is vital to an older person living alone, especially in a house with stairs.

Here's one of many purses. I've given away a lot of these to people who kept on losing phones or who fell down at home where they couldn't reach the phone that flew out of their pocket on the way down.

Then, on a more peaceful and thoughtful note, I've started reading Sand County Almanac, written by a naturalist who was a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, a town I used to live in, though twenty years after his death, so I know some of the geographical references. He's a wonderful thinker, about history, and preserving the natural surroundings, and knows a lot about the progression in various misguided directions, of Wisconsin and its attempts to  dominate the land and farm, and unfortunate effect on the wildlife.

It's sad yet very instructive and he understands so much about the movements of wild creatures and why.  It's set up in three sections, and I just started on the first, arranged by month. I've read January and February.   Not the sort of book you plunge through in my usual fashion, but one you have to stop and think about.  His description of the lightning- struck oak on his farm and how they eventually felled it and what it had witnessed in its life since probably the Civil War era, is an education in itself.  I do recommend this.

It's illustrated by Charles Schwarz, whose signature you can just see in the bottom right of the cover

Then, this evening and maybe a couple more, will be passed under a blanket, with a cup of golden milk, watching

 I have finally got hold of the third season, only a few years behind the rest of the viewing world, who has now galloped past the next one,  and is waiting for the one after that. I'm hoping for good hats.
 

Dull soup and interesting Misfits

The Misfits box arrived two days late, but in good condition.  Holiday delay.  Meanwhile, I had made a soup that looked quite dull, but tasted excellent.  Red onion, pink bean, leek white, celery, garlic, chicken stock.  The little sprig of Thai basil I put on top because it's handy, grows right in the window next to the stove, and because just resting on the surface like that for a few minutes, gives a nice licoricy, subtle, flavor. 

This is the kind of soup that's better on Day Two, lovely deep flavor.  With a hot biscuit.

And finally, a thump at the front door, visiting Handsome Son went to retrieve two boxes, one containing my new phone, one the Misfits wanderers. Both arrived in the same van.

All present and in nice condition, the delay not having hurt anything, it seems. So now I can have carrot and cashew soup soon, and immediately a lovely salad. My onion supply is topped up again, and I even broke out and ordered a butternut squash, thinking it will probably go well with the pumpkin I have in the freezer, one way or another.  The lettuce is lovely, huge and very crisp.

I also added in two Meyer lemons, as well as the other lemons,but I don't know which they are, not being familiar with them, so I'll have to to a bit of spot testing I guess. They are unknown in our stores, as far as I've ever observed, but I hear such good things about them, that I thought I'd try them.  Tons of apples this time, several varieties. Various potatoes.

And here's the salad I've been waiting for, red cabbage, lettuce, cilantro, dressed with the walnut vinaigrette I was talking about.  And it went down very well.

The new phone is up and running with everything except the phone function, which I will get activated tomorrow at the Tracfone site. It looks very much like my old phone, except the case is smaller, but the screen is the same size.  Right now everything seems to be working fine, and it's doing okay.  I was able easily to transfer my contact list and virus protection, and passwords, no problem at all. These were the items I wondered about since in the past I've had to hand carry the contacts and deal again with the virus people.  Very handy that HS was here, since it shortened considerably the time needed to set up the new phone with two people, one at the new phone, one at the old, sending stuff back and forth.  He also picked out the most vital bits of print information that came in the box, ready for me to activate. 

So tomorrow I'll have the carrier transfer my old number to the new phone, activate the phone, and carry over the minutes I already have on the old one. All on line. This phone has an intact rocker switch, what a treat, I'll be able to adjust the volume.

And tomorrow if the ice storm doesn't materialize, I'll be picking up some interesting items at the library:  the Crown, Series Three! which they bought at my request.  This should be interesting, since the second series ended at the point where I left England, so it will be a new view of what's fictionally been happening there since then. I'm years behind on this one.

And there's the Half Baked Harvest cookbook for the next Bite Club selection. That might incorporate some of the produce from this week.  And Sand County Almanac, which was recommended by various naturalists, and I thought I'd like to see what they're all excited about.

I think Tartine has pretty much had its turn.  The shortbread was lovely, and I can't see much else calling to me. Even if it does have a ribbon bookmark. So it can return to its friends in the cookbook section.

Alert for two great art programs next Saturday.

 My Misfits box will arrive tomorrow, delayed because of the holiday.

But meanwhile, for information on a terrific couple of online programs about textiles, and I think they will be just great, judging from who's producing them, go to my art blog

https://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com

Tomorrow in this blog, Field and Fen, there will be food and other exciting things, but do see about checking into those programs.  Just register using the info in the Art the Beautiful Metaphor blogpost, free of charge, just a great public service.  You need to take into account that the first one is in Eastern Time Zone time, and the second is Pacific, so do the math to get your own calendar sorted for this.  

While you're over there, you might consider following that blog, too, if you don't already.

About Bite Club, cookbook book club

 A couple of people are interested in knowing more, and, since the club has gone virtual, you can sign up and take part no matter where you are.  I don't think library cards matter in this context! Now's the time before vaccination eventually takes everyone offline and back in person. I've mentioned Bite Club several times, but I think it might not have been clear that it's a book club, run from a local public library.

To see what the cookbook book club, Bite Club, is about, see Bite Club

Note that the next meeting is Monday, January 25th, so the link will give you enough time to locate the book(s) as best you can, ebook or actual, and try out a couple of recipes.  In fact, Dee doesn't mind if you just want to come and talk food, and hear other people's verdicts.  I'd encourage you to follow up, if you're interested, and Dee will give you a terrific welcome without putting you on the spot.  She's very good with groups.

This is she, below, doing one of her YouTube presentations.  It's Dee Whitman, by day a reference librarian at South Brunswick Public Library nj and by night a fully qualified chef and great enthusiast.  Full credit: when she started the club several years ago, I was one of the early members, and I learned such a lot about good food, and buying ingredients and tasting as you go, all sorts of things I didn't know a lot about.

My baking is a separate thing, not so much affected by Bite Club, which is about cooking.  Dee does teach baking separately, but I haven't taken classes from her in that. I hear great things about them, though.

 I found this recipe in the course of looking out information for you, and I definitely think I'll make this ahead of getting my Misfits box tomorrow, with the salad greens I ordered.

Her YouTube occasional videos are very well done indeed.  As you see she knows how to set up the worktop clearly and logically, and doesn't draw attention to herself.  She's a teacher. Definitely a pro on camera.

Anyone who thinks I'm a good cook now can freely attribute it to what I learned from observing and listening to Dee. I was okay before, but I definitely jumped in knowledge as a result of her selections for the club.  I'd never heard of half the people whose ideas and food I borrow from now all the time. And you'll see that it's been a great improvement to my life, anyway.

My baking is a separate thing, not so much affected by Bite Club, which is about cooking.  Dee does teach baking separately, at the library, but I haven't taken baking classes from her. I hear great things about them, though. 

She's a very nice woman, who used to applaud my endless ingredient substitutions in our meetings, and taste before deciding! She's not at all one of those doctrinaire cooks.  Nowadays I rarely get to the meetings, but she has kept me on the mailing list, so I can occasionally keep up with the books. And the follow up email always comes with recommended recipes that the group liked a lot.

Before curbside pickup returned, she had to choose Hoopla offerings, and I had usually used up my monthly Hoopla allotment before I got the announcement, so I was a month behind each time.  But it still worked for me.

So that's Bite Club, and I am so happy I decided to join it years ago.  It was after Handsome Partner died, and I had to force myself to venture out, exhausted after years of being basically in the house with full-on caregiving, to make new friends, who didn't know me only as a caregiver, and to learn interesting new things.

The other participants in Bite Club range over a whole lot of cultures and languages, and they're great to learn from, too.  Some of them never ever use recipes, they just know their own culture's food well enough not to need them.  And they're generous about explaining and giving samples. I used to bring in handfuls of fresh herbs I picked right before I left the house, which were very well received.

We used to bring cooked recipe samples into the in-person meetings.  I quickly learned, that when I was going to sample the offerings of up to 15 people, I'd better not have dinner before I came out.  Currently the physical sharing's not a thing, but the idea sharing goes on unabated.

How it works: Dee chooses a food type or chef, and recommends, and gets into the library, enough copies for everyone to have one.  You might be working from a different book by the same chef, or a different book in the same vein, it works out just fine. Everyone picks something to try out, and makes notes to share, and brings a sample. Or they may not like anything in the book and they'll say that, too. 

Or they may go on and on, as I did, about Ottolenghi's Jerusalem, about the historical and cultural wonders of the book and the authors, before ever getting to the food you've tried.  They've found I usually end up with spice mixes, no matter where I start! I more or less force people to make baharat, or berbere, or some such good mix. You may have noticed this tendency.

What you need, if you're hoping for a local version, is a librarian willing to do all the work Dee puts in, and knowledgeable enough to know what books to work from, also a good enough cook that she'll try them herself, too. If you're blessed with this, try out the idea on your own library and see if there's any response.  

And now I'm off to track down the current books so I can try out, too. I don't get a commission for doing this writing, heh, but I really think Dee should add me to her personal payroll for the great pr I do for her..

Happy New Year

Hoping for a good year for us all.  And thank you to everyone who's made this year a little better for us all.

And here's my latest fitness workout.

This is a mother and daughter team, daughter leading the walking workout, her mother working along.  I like this a lot, much better than young people issuing commands to older ones, without having any in the studio.  She watches how her mother is doing, and doesn't get her stressed out, though she's pretty fit, I must say.  It's ten minutes of perpetual motion, with a lot of variety in movement, which I thought I should try, out of a chair for this series. And if you read on, you'll see why this is important at this exact moment in time.

I made the Shortbread recipe from Tartine, seen here, dough pressed down into the pan

And here it is, cooling, scored for breaking, little fork marks.

At this point I had not tasted it, but it was cooling nicely, when friend from next door brought his two little grandchildren to the door to wish me Happy New Year.  Exquisite timing.  So they went home with a couple of pieces each, warm from the oven.  And they're all dark haired, so I counted them as my First Footers.

Scottish and north of England tradition, you need the first person to set foot in your house (here it was on the step, but who's counting), to be a dark haired man. Since nobody else will be in the house till (dark haired) son visits, I'm all taken care of.  And when the first footer comes in, they get things like this to eat, and adult ones get a strengthening tot of something, all in the name of having a healthy and wealthy New Year.

My dad was our first footer growing up, and he had to leave the house before midnight to join all the other first footers freezing out in the street until they were allowed in for the ceremony right after midnight, after they'd heard the ships in the river sounding their horns or whatever they call them.  Some guys used also to first-foot houses where there wasn't an available dark haired man, and I expect the glass of scotch was very welcome there, too.

Anyway, I tried a piece of the shortbread, and it literally did melt in the mouth.  Gosh it was good.  Posh, but good.

And then, since I need a bready something to go with breakfast, and just couldn't be bothered to bake bread, I made a recipe of hot biscuits with ap flour, no wholewheat this time, with sliced almonds and chopped walnuts.

So now you see why a walking indoor program in this soaking wet weather, is also on the menu.

I don't look back over the year, never have, and this one wasn't very thrilling to remember.  However, some good things came of it.

I got access to meetings, including my centering prayer group, because they went online.  I've developed more blog friends this year, thank you everyone who started reading back in March or thereabouts, you're treasured, as are your own blogposts, those who are bloggers themselves.  And thank you, long-time readers who are still faithfully checking in, after all these years.

And I've been able to take in concerts I'd never have made it to, if I'd had to get there in person. Last night Taiwanese Fusion Jazz, last week Indian Kathak dancing and music. And lectures from the Princeton art museum, The Rug Society, and Emily Dickinson's house. So I feel very enriched.

I hope we've all found some consolations for the anxiety and losses we've dealt with.

Happy New Year!  Hoping for a better one, as always.  And now I have to put the Christmas decorations back in the box for another year. If you were wondering why this is happening on New Year's Eve in the Northern Hemisphere, it's because we have readers in NZ and Australia, for whom it's well into January l, 2021. Being inclusive here! 

Happy New Year, and, in Scots fashion: Lang May Yer Lum Reek!  It means long may your chimney smoke, meaning long life to you.

Forthcoming attractions

This is a library borrow.  It's one of those cookbooks which look so beautiful it would be a shame to expose it to the thrills and spills of a kitchen.  But we'll see what's good in here.  I notice that right away she's using food processors and things I don't have. But my heart will go on.

 This is what I mean by posh.  A ribbon bookmark!  My cookbook book club chose this as last month's selection, and I'll see what I might be up for if ever I want baked goods again after the surfeit of the holidays.

Meanwhile, on an earthier plane, it's shredded red cabbage, steamed with chicken broth and berbere, buttered and maybe a bit of cheese grated over, for lunch, with slices of ham.  A lot of people on hearing cabbage say, ah, coleslaw.  I didn't grow up with it, and I am totally not a fan.

I think it's one of those things, like chatting on the phone and making meatloaf that if you didn't grow up in that culture you never really get it.  I know people who are devoted to both, but I've tried it, and oh well, not my speed.

I ordered a phone.  Here in two days, when the fun of transferring the number and the minutes begins.  But this is easier when the last phone is still working, which was not the case last time around.  They kept on asking me to call from the old phone to the new to establish something or other, and that was impossible.  Handsome Son came over and explained why he was calling from an unknown to them number, and we did eventually get it sorted.  But I'm hoping, famous last words, for an easier passage this time.

Anyway, it will be good to have a phone with all its buttons intact.  The rocker switch vanished at some point on my old one, probably through being dropped, and you can't operate the function, volume, by inserting even the cleverest ideas for tools into it.  Also the storage is small, and I kept bumping up against loud alerts telling me to remove stuff, quick. Including my virus protection.

Last time I did this, I had a funeral for the old phone. Not inclined to do that this year, since it's not actually dead, seems a bit heartless.

Fast food and the return of the light, oh, wait..

So I had a post thought up for today, peaceful, unaware that stuff might happen. Or not happen.  I went out for the morning start the car ritual, and it didn't.  Flat as a pancake. Oh.  So here was my chance to learn how to use the new portable charger.  I sound a lot calmer than I felt, literally dropped the cables once because my hands were shaking! such a great mechanic.

And studied the little book, remembered how to pop the hood, eventually got the power cable inserted into the unit, shaky hands not helping, and went to fiddle about trying to figure out, after red to red, black to black, exactly what I was supposed to attach the alligator clips to.

Eventually got it, not the bit I expected, much easier, and the green light went on, saying well done, thou good and faithful servant, go thou and start thy engine. 

See below!!

So I did and it started first try.  Yay me.  Then I had to study how to detach the unit safely.  Good thing, because you're supposed to separate the unit from the power cable before unclipping the ally clips.  Ah.  Done.  Now the unit's back in the house, charging, found out how to do that, too.  It had arrived 80 per cent charged, fortunately, because I hadn't had the chance to charge it fully anyway before I had to use it.  

Did I mention my phone's losing its charge faster and faster, meaning I may need a new one soon.  The proposed tablet is sliding down the list of priorities around here, I can see.

Meanwhile, nature knows what she's doing. As soon as the solstice was past, here come new blossoms on the primula, unfailing.

And yesterday I found to my surprise I was out of soup, right before I planned to heat some.  Needed fast food, soonest.  So a can of cannellini beans, mashed, with capers,  can of chicken, egg, potato flakes, and I had a set of fritter things ready to go, with steamed broccoli.

 Then I remembered scallions in the freezer, so added them into the remaining batter.  Scallions always make me think of Chinese food, I guess they come in there.

So here's yesterday's lunch, sans scallions but with pickled beets, remember those, they're still going. And above that, today's lunch, with scallions, and I'll add the beets again, I think.

Just as well I had a lunch already set up, considering the excitement earlier. There's a limit!

And now Blogger refuses to insert this pic where I asked, repeatedly. Bear with me, tech is not friendly today. But here's the operation in full swing.

I'm having a restful cup of tea now.  Then I'll go see about getting a mechanic's licence.