How to make soup when you're sick

I am a snotfest.  This is not enjoyable.  Yesterday I slept all morning and surfaced requiring sustenance.  We have been struggling yet again with using all of our vegetables, so I decided that some Nourishing Soup was in order.  And at least some chilli was required for its decongestant properties.

Here are the things I put in it, in roughly the order and quantities I used:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 small onions, chopped into strips
8 inches of celery, chopped into strips
2 roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped into strips
half a head of cabbage, chopped into ribbons
4 heaping teaspoons of thai green curry paste
1 chicken stock cube, made up in 1.5 litres of boiling water
a third of a tin of coconut milk

And here's how I did it:
Sickness-specific preparations 1:  Haul a chair into the kitchen
Sickness-specific preparations 2:  Stuff nose with tissue
Step 1:  Chop  onions and celery, cook on a low heat with the oil

Feebleness-specific interlude 1:  Fail to open large jar of red peppers
Feebleness-specific interlude 2:  Boil kettle
Feebleness-specific interlude 3:  Pour boiling water over lid of jar
Feebleness-specific interlude 4:  Wrestle with jar and teatowel until openness is achieved
Step 2:  Fish two peppers out of jar and chop

Optional prequel to step 2:  Rinse some of the vinegar off the peppers.  I didn't bother as the mild tang works nicely enough in this soup
Step 3:  Add the peppers to the pan

Step 4: Chop the cabbage

Step 5:  Add cabbage to pan and let everything cook until fairly tender
Interlude of forgetfulness:  Realise that cabbage goes better in soup if it's not in really long ribbons and attempt to bash it with your spatula so that some of the long ones break up.  Fail

Step 6:  Use the remaining hot water from the Feebleness episode to make up a chicken stock cube.  Add stock to pan, pop the lid on and leave for 10 minutes to really soften the cabbage
Step 7:  Stir through coconut milk, faff about fetching a bowl and serve

Step 8:  Feel accomplished and like your efforts are doing you good.  Have another little sleep.

Experimental Neep Cake

Last week it was my turn to provide cake at work.  Usually I make two recipes as previously we have had a chocoholic faction and an anti-chocolate faction, or nut allergies but this time there weren't going to be many of us and I was away at a conference for a long day on Tuesday (cake happens on Thursdays).  So I only had time to make one cake.  And it had been a busy weekend, so I didn't get to practice.

I made a neep cake.  The principle is that the carrot in a carrot cake recipe can be replaced weight-for-weight with neep.  I used this recipe, although I used lemon juice rather than orange and made it in a loaf tin.  And with trepidation I took it into the office to impose it on my workmates.

At the meeting I confessed immediately that I had brought Experimental Neep Cake and everyone agreed to give it a shot.  The general consensus was that even though it tasted a bit neepy at first, it was indeed cake and not untasty.

There was hardly any left at the end of the meeting, so I'll take that as a good sign:

The last piece was taken home, where it was declared a bit too neepy to be allowed.

Now I hear you can do the same with other root vegetables...

Lent 2014 - Day 37

Flat Discipline

Last night we ate baked potatoes with salad, tuna mayonnaise and cheese.  Tasty stuff.  Tonight friends who moved out of the country are in town so we are meeting them in the pub for tea.  Never mind, eh?

Lone discipline

Out of practice at this malarkey.

Wearing

Khaki skirt (item 29) - it's a practical, comfortable workhorse with jeans-styling, which means POCKETS!  This makes me happy.  The generously cut flared A-line does hang strangely though, doesn't it?
Floral shirt (item 16) - Still not my favourite colours or a pattern that feels particularly 'me' and now that I see the lumpy silhouette it gives I don't know if I can put up with those things in the name of comfort (which it has).  We shall have to see if I will ever actually enact my regular threat to take this to a charity shop.

Footwear:  Purple not-leather mary-janes.  I liked these shoes, with their sturdy mary-jane styling and tiny little heel so much in brown that I bought them in purple too!  My tan and red mary-janes were supposed to replace them but I can't quite give them up yet.  Sometimes you just need a purple shoe that's easy on the feet but respectable looking.  Even if they now look decidedly shoddy.
Hosiery: All my nude tights are in the wash.  It's only the white and purple flowers that are saving this from not feeling like a spring outfit.

Ho hum, off to the pub.

Lent 2014 - Day 17

Flat discipline

Mmm, more roast veggies!  This time with this week's meat in the form of pork loin steaks grilled with homemade applesauce and cheese.  This week's vegbox contained another neep and a white turnip.  I have no idea what to do with a white turnip, after a friend got confused and tried to mash it like a neep, ending up with a strange gloopy mush.  Ho hum, there's bound to be an answer, and it might well be roasting.

Tonight there will be a birthday-celebrating trip to Pizza Express.

Lone discipline

Wearing

Brown linen skirt (item 23):  This was a gift from a much skinnier friend so it sits rather high.  But that means that the stitched down pleats fill out at about the right point on my hips and the length isn't awkward.  It's a comfortable casual skirt and although it's faded has given years of use to me and its previous owner.
Peasant T-shirt (item 9):  It's simple and less fitted than much of my usual fayre, but the neckline gathering and button detailing (when it's not sitting annoyingly squint) do add a certain something.
Pinkstripe blazer (item 24):  Wow!  This blazer is nothing like as eye-watering in real life.  This one makes me happy and is a great springtime outer layer.  It does have the inevitable sleeve-length issue, but I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to unpick the cuffs and see if it's possible.  The lapel piping means that the outer could be finished with piping too, allowing the sleeves to gain an inch each, which I think would be about right in this case.

Footwear:  Due to a combination of not having any thin tights clean and it being a lovely sunny day, I needed footwear that would hide socks and turned yet again to these trusty boots.  If I'm cycling for errands later, I may switch to tights and then decide whether to change or not change to different shoes.
Accessories:  Stone cross necklace - picked up at a clothes swap.  Mirrors the tone of the boots.
Tribal mask earrings - brought back from South Africa for me by family.  Don't get out much.

It's only the second day of Spring, but I'm barelegged!  I don't know if this will last the day.  It's fine in the office, but the walk in was a bit brisk.  I should have worn earmuffs because it really  only was my ears that were uncomfortable, having my feet covered meant that although it was chilly around my knees it wasn't too cold.

Lent 2014 - Days 11-15

Summary time!

Flat discipline

The eating's been good.  Lots of veggies, such that when the new box arrived yesterday we only had a handful of potatoes and half a neep left to go on the last one (although we did give away a neep to keep on top of everything).  There was leftover chicken curry with roast vegetables on Monday night and Tuesday night included a creamy-leeky-cheesy-cabbage thing, more roasted vegetables and some fried mushrooms.  We can't get enough of mushrooms in our house.  Wednesday night there was an AGM to attend with free pizza, so the minimal meat thing went out the window in deference to the real vegetarians present.  And tonight there will be Pork with further roast vegetables.

Lone Discipline

It's strange how difficult I find it to remember to photograph myself when I'm not at work.  And I was dashing up and down the country this weekend so in my tired state since I've also failed to take photographs.  Therefore, hereafter follows a handy list to record what I was wearing, although I do not claim 100% accuracy for Tuesday.

• Saturday:  Patterned leggings, floral skater dress, cabled hoodie (items 20, 7 and 8)
• Saturday evening bonus outfit:  Hawaiian sundress (item 22)
• Sunday:  Green cords, orange vest, longsleeve checked shirt (items 17, 18 and 19)
• Monday:  Patterned leggings, floral skater dress, cabled hoodie (items 20, 7 and 8)
• Tuesday:  Brown linen skirt, floral shirt, striped jersey blazer (items 23, 16 and 13)
• Wednesday:  Plum pocket skirt, orange vest, striped jersey blazer (items 2, 18, and 13)

So there you are.  Some of these might have been odd combinations - not achieving laundry over a weekend will do that for you.  Perhaps they'll see the light again, especially as I get nearer the end of Lent and get bored of my usual outfits.  I am starting to try and mix my outfits around so I don't get restricted by the 30-item limit.  We shall see how this pans out.

Lent 2014 - Day 10

Friday!  It's been a busy week of extra-curricular activities and a new job, so I'm a bit frazzled and looking forward to a day off on Monday.

Flat discipline

Chicken and root vegetable curry last night.  Very tasty, used up a fair amount of vegbox veggies and there are enough leftovers for Sunday tea once we get back from this weekend's jaunt.

Lone discipline

Different work bathroom for variety.  Also !Spiderhands.

Wearing

Green corduroy trousers (item 17):  A truly wonderful pair of cords.  Nice and long in the rise, just the right length to wear with slight heels (36", in case you were wondering, from Long Tall Sally) and soft and comfortable.  They are that fairly recent slim bootcut and I generally like a bit more flare, but there's no denying they work nicely with today's boots.  These are my go-to trousers for casual but not mucky days.
Orange vest (item 18):  A basic vest that's on the big side of just right.  That's all I can really say about it.  I rediscovered it in my wardrobe last night and thought it was a good springtime option for today's outfit, where otherwise I would have worn white and been very nearly monochrome.  It's not as strong an orange as I usually gravitate towards, but I'm prepared to take on most shades of orange.
Checked longsleeve shirt (item 19):  Another item from that tall-specialist clothing company, bought at the same time as the cords and often paired with them.  Being brushed cotton it is nice and warm as a cold-weather under layer but also serves well as a warm-weather outer layer.

Footwear:  It's those boots again.  Still not polished though.
Accessories:  Ampersand necklace - I do like an ampersand.
I can't remember if I was wearing earrings.  Probably not.

This outfit was on the cusp of being too warm for a lovely sunny day, especially as I was cycling about rather than walking.  The uphill on the way to work was a bit of a struggle and it took me a while to cool down once I arrived, but the remainder of my journeys I took nice and slowly and they were not unpleasant.  I do need to get on my bicycle more, but I am wary of becoming a fair-weather cyclist.  Being a car part-owner has made me much more likely to cram activities into days rather than take the time to get to them on two wheels.  And I walk to work, because it takes about the same length of time, once you factor in the bicycle faffing at either end.  If I lived further I would cycle more often.

Lent 2014 - Days 6 & 7

Started a new job yesterday, so I cheated a bit by (mostly) repeating my outfit for today.

Flat discipline

We had folks round for tea before a committee meeting yesterday and ate baked potatoes with various toppings.  I had tuna, so there goes my fish for this week (exercising an interesting definition of week to my own sneaky ends, but was healthier than the alternative cheese/baked beans options).  we served this up with the remaining diced vegetables roasted up for the occasion, so it was a win on the vegbox front to the tune of 5 potatoes (including the one I wound up with for lunch today) and several other vegetables.  There's a little bit of time this evening, so perhaps dicing and parboiling further veggies is in order.

Lone discipline

Complete with concentrating face and last weekend's festival wristband.

Wearing

Smocked jersey dress (item 12):  Soft and comfortable with an empire-line cut that I find really flattering (comes of being short-waisted and long in the rise).  This dress totally points out one of my proportional quirks though - it's two sizes smaller than I usually wear from this retailer, because I have a relatively narrow ribcage, especially when you consider the width of my shoulders and my hips.
Striped jersey blazer (item 3):  Yet more gentle jersey comfort.  And another under-a-tenner bargain.  From a cheap retailer so the shoulder pads (which I could probably take out due to the afore-mentioned broad shoulders) and facings require a bit of care to lay properly.  In the photograph above I've cuffed the sleeves as the manufacturer intended and that exposes a bit more wrist than I like all day.  These sleeves usually end up folded down and nearly long-enough or cuffed and then pushed up nearer my elbows so I look like I meant to show off my wrists/forearms rather than having great long gorilla arms.  The tricks height encourages us to...

Footwear:  Red heeled Mary Janes - another pair of shoes in need of a polish, I'm afraid.  I've written about my love of red shoes already and they really are a very close match for the colour of this dress
Accessories:  Giant pearls - yet another bargain.  Added to an online order to make it cross the free delivery threshold.  Really handy when I need a neutral statement piece, but strangely, they prevent airflow round my neck so I can't wear them to dance in for any length of time.
Celtic cross with garnet - the necklace I wore yesterday, a bit less flashy than today's and given to me by my paternal grandparents when I was baptised (aged 13 or so).  A surprisingly perfect choice when I consider that my grandmother usually had tastes so different from mine at that age.
Hosiery:  Sainsbury's Medium Support tights.  I love these tights.  They're comfortable, tend to hold up to repeated washings and wearings and really do give me a nice silhouette.  Yesterday's tights were more opaque and grayer.  Today's are better, but I was really after the slightly pale fleshtone that the Sainsbury's tights come in.  It feels like spring is arriving and it's time to return to lighter tights.  But I put my thumb through a pair yesterday, so I'm stuck until I shop.

This is all about the holy grail of being comfortable while looking put-together.  In those stakes dresses are absolutely the way forward.  I'm also nearly halfway through my allotted number of clothing items for the season, so more care may be required with my picks for the next week or so, I need to ensure I have suitable items for a couple of dances at the end of this week as well as enough dancing clothes and things to get me through my work-weeks.

Lent 2014 - Days 4 & 5

Quick round-up for the weekend, because for some reason it's harder to take full-length pictures of oneself while out and about.

Flat discipline

Friday's tea was a big bowl of stir-fried vegetables as planned.  In fact, I made so much that I didn't even bother adding noodles.

Saturday wound up being dinner out before a cinema date, so I had a prawn salad to constitute my weekly seafood but remain fairly simple.

Sunday, while officially a rest-day was an absolute win!  We had Thai fishcakes (which had been intended for Saturday tea, so I feel they still ought to count for something) and I cubed some of the vegetables from the vegbox - turnip, carrot, parsnip and potato - parboiled them and then roasted about a third (because I'd managed to over-estimate vegetable volume again).  I also flung together some stir-fried baby sweetcorn (supplementary vegetable) with a head of kale in sweet chilli sauce.  Mmm-mm!  I think I may have solved the distressing issue of receiving a whole turnip every fortnight - roast it!  We still gave away last week's turnip as I've only just broken into the one from three weeks ago, but I feel like we might have a chance of getting through this one under the right circumstances.  Those circumstances probably don't include being away for the weekend this weekend, but never mind.

Lone discipline

Saturday:  I wore Flared Jeans (item 6) again, with a Floral Skater dress (item 7) and a Cabled hoodie (Item 8) and hiking trainers for pootling about in town

Sunday:  I wore my Flared denim skirt (item 10) with a white Peasant T-shirt (item 9, also exchanged for the lambswool jumper on Thursday to allow me to go dancing on Thursday night) and a pink striped sweatshirt (item 11) for church followed by a jaunt to a castle and a tower.  I also had on cream tights and my brown leather boots.  I accessorised with a stone cross necklace but nowt else.

I may add thoughts on these items when they get out again, now they're in the magic 30 they doubtless will.

Lent 2014 - Day 2

Flat discipline

So, day 1's tea was leftover veggie risotto with roasted beetroot (the only vegbox item, unfortunately) and it was very tasty.  Tonight the plan is to eat proscuttio tortelloni with vegbox veg and red pesto.  New veggies arrived last night, including a HUGE turnip.  We might be blessing a neep-loving friend with that one this week!

 

Lone discipline



Oh yes, by Easter I shall be a master of the work-bathroom-mirror selfie.

Wearing:

Lambswool jumper (item 1):  I can't remember whether this was a charity shop or clothing swap find, but either way it's a cool-weather staple.  The fit is good, the length is good, I like the interaction between the neckline and my collarbones.  Only slight downside is that the sleeves don't quite come to my wrists, but that's what I get for being broad-shouldered and long-armed.  It doesn't bother me in this jumper because the sleeves are fairly close-fitting.
Plum skirt (item 2):  This is fairly new but it went straight into rotation for work because POCKETS!  Also it's drapey and soft and being a midi-length does a nice 'just below the knee' on my great long legs.  It is mostly polyester, has a weird faux-leather waistband and was very cheap (reduced to £5 IIRC) so we shall see how it stands up to regular use.

Footwear:  Brown leather boots.  These cost me £40, which is bonkers for leather, so I suspect they may turn out to be poorly made.  They're very comfortable with enough room in the foot for my sizeable feet and snug in the calf (ah, the calves of a Scottish dancer) due to elastic inserts.  They are, unfortunately, really too short.  Having a 34"-35" inseam I have long legs.  Visually (I've never measured) I think proportionally more of this extra length is in my lower legs.  So my legs are still going out when boot shafts start to come in.  The shafts on these boots measure about 14" and I feel like the proportions would be better on me with a 15" or 16" shaft.  It's still not enough to make me buy custom boots though.
Accessories:  Just a necklace today.  A silver enamel powder compact that I inherited from my great aunt, strung on a leather cord.  As it ties in a bow behind my neck I've been trying and failing all morning to make it sit just below the neckline of the jumper and sure enough, post photo-taking I have finally managed that!

I feel good about this outfit.  I am comfortable and the right temperature for the office.  Nothing needs messing with or tweaking when I stand up.  I will need to change out of at least the jumper in order to go dancing this evening, but that's par for the course.

Lent 2014

So, last thing on Tuesday night, as I was leaving work to head for pancakes after tea, someone asked me what, if anything, I was doing for Lent this year.  Now, I grew up in an independent church environment where having liturgical seasons or a church calendar was somewhat frowned upon as being legalistic, so I didn't observe Lent as a child.  I was also a bit wary of the way people would give up chocolate or tea as it seemed rather tokenistic and about their achievement rather than discipline and contemplation (of course, this view might have been coloured by my love of chocolate).

But my colleague was talking about giving up plastic.  About being more aware of her footprint on the earth.  And we got into a discussion about how ubiquitous plastic is and how a Lenten discipline shouldn't inconvenience others if at all possible.  I like the idea of giving up disposables but wasn't in time to get my head around it for Lent this year, so I had to keep thinking.  And now I think I have a couple of Lenten disciplines that I will be engaging in.

In concert with my flatmate

We will eat more simply.  This will involve endeavouring to make use of all the produce in our fortnightly organic vegetable delivery (without too much moaning about the sheer quantity of cabbage and turnip/swede this involves) and try to eat meat only once a week, likewise fish.

Sundays are traditionally feast days when you get a day off your discipline and in the spirit of not inconveniencing others, we won't make a fuss when we are visiting our friends as is our habit of a Sunday.  Midweek dinners are usually made and eaten at home, so there's no issue there and we can have our meat/fish nights on the days when we expect company.

Lone discipline

I want to think about my consumption and have decided to do this specifically in regard to my wardrobe.  So I won't be buying any new clothes/shoes/accessories until Easter.  And I am going to keep a log of what I wear, attempting to keep myself to 30 items of clothing but trying not to just cycle the same outfits round and around.

Exclusions

Underwear and hosiery - nuff said
Costumes/uniforms - if someone else decides what I am wearing (or I decide for a group what we will be wearing) those items don't count
Activity-specific items - swimwear, dance shoes

Undecided categories

Footwear - I don't think there are that many pairs of footwear in my regular rotation, but there's something about not being strict enough with my guidelines that worries me, like this should be a real challenge or sacrifice.  However, for the sake of my feet (which, after all, didn't sign up for this) I think I will observe but not restrict my footwear choices.
Outerwear - I think this is mostly determined by the weather so shouldn't be counted.  I'll observe but not restrict as above.

Happy Birthday Mr Burns!

I attended my habitual Burns' Supper this weekend.  As ever the Address to the Haggis, Toast to the Lassies and Response to the Toast to the Lassies were superb.  But this year our contribution to the desert table was a triumph.  Mr Burns' got a birthday cake:

Shiny chocolate ganache with an artistically sprinkled thistle (in case you were wondering what that was).

And, because Sunderland are in the Cup Final (or so people tell me who know about such things), there was a surprise inside...

Stripey Cake!