On bread, Chia Pudding, Hunt Press & General Laments
I've tried to spend the weekend so far recuperating. I have a lot of housework to catch up on from the last few weeks, need to get back into my daily cleaning routines. I had a 3-hr nap Saturday. I've worked a lot of late nights and am done with it. We're in a slightly better position work-wise than we were the beginning of the week but aren't out of the woods yet & I managed to not get my old stuff cleared or my files separated. Oh well, at least I’ve been able to get a bit of it done. We've got new people starting and one of the newer people in the team we moved into has his access now so we'll be able to train them to help us. Which is going to be fun. I hate being in the position where you have to train people to help, especially when we're as busy as we have been, but there isn't anyone else really who can but the 2 of us doing the work. So we'll see how it goes. End of this month is end of the financial year, it goes insane so we'll see how the next few weeks go. I think hammering out the issues from the transition this week and the next will help, and if we can get through this time we'll know we've got it all in place for the busiest times.
I made a really good bread tonight. I used the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes" recipe, used about a cup or 2 of stoneground rye, the same of stoneground whole wheat and the rest in fine unbleached wheat. I brushed it with a pohutakawa-hot water mix and sprinkled some chia seeds over the top. YUM. The chia added a roasted nut taste to the top.
I didn't realise there are a lot of dietary benefits to them. I think I read it's gluten free, a bonus for some of you on my flists. And I found a really interesting chia seed pudding recipe. I'm giving it a try but with my own tweaks of course: apx 1/2 to 1 TLBS honey in milk (with a touch of water to top it off to 1 cup), a sprinkle of cardomom, a couple sprinkles of cinnamon and a slight pinch of nutmeg with a 1/2 cap of vanilla and about 1/3-1/2 cup mix of dried cranberries & blueberries all added to the ¼ c chia. It's sitting in the fridge gelling. I'll serve it to C for breakfast. She’s not big on “strange food” but hopefully will be ok with it. (ETA: Turned out pretty well, but the cranberries are a bit bitter at times so perhaps either not as many or just stick with other dried fruit; C thinks it’s ok but wasn’t into it for breakfast).
HuntPress at LJ is a small time publisher (very small right now) and want to grow. They’re trying to raise funds for a new computer. Check it out and support a small group of people trying to bring quality writing to the world. Here’s their website for you to check out their catalogue.
I picked up a book at the library that looked interesting: No Time to Garden: The Half Hour Gardener by Anne Swithinbank. I’ve only had time for a quick glance through it and it’s already due back. Try No Time To Read Everything. It looks promising so I’ll pick it up again in the near future as it looks like it’s got some good ideas, lists for the seasons and that kind of thing.
I feel bad because I haven’t been around my flists as often as I would like to be. I feel like I’ve abandoned people and that hasn’t been my intention. I know some of you aren’t in good places. I hope things get better for you.
I’m going to cut the OT and try to rest. I’m fighting a cold and don’t need the extra push on my body when it’s at its lowest reserves. My doing OT puts a heavy burden on C. She’s picking up more stuff around the house because I’m so tired when I get home, and because I’m on the train when I work OT, I’m not getting home until about 8 or 8:30. Leave the house at 7am, back at 8pm makes for a long day. With her back getting worse it’s harder for her to drive in rush hour traffic. All the stops-starts put more stress on her back. I’ve been driving more to help, but not when I work late.
Speaking of, did I ever do the post about going to the pain clinic? She actually got a diagnosis this time around. Her pain isn’t skeletal but is a problem with her nerves mis-firing and being hyper-sensitive. Unfortunately, nothing can be done for it but at least she’s got a diagnosis.
Oh well, I’ve been up for about 20 minutes, just took a walk out into the garden. It’s definitely autumn. There’s a heavy dew on everything. The tomatoes fizzled out, my fault for not feeding them. Harvested the last of the potatoes last week, got just about 1 kg of the Urenika. I think it was only 2 or 3 plants in that bag. Roses didn’t bloom as much as in past years. I am going to get serious about autumn tasks. I’ll pull the tomatoes out, remove a bit of the soil & put some compost in. I’ve got some beans I planted in a couple of the ex-potato bags so will either put more beans into the tomatoes or look at ordering a cover crop from Koanga. Undecided on that one. Those of you gardeners on my list, any thoughts on your favourite cover crop?We picked up a couple hibiscus plants at the garden centre the other day too. One is going out front to replace a plant that is dying, the other is going to sit out back somewhere. We also got 3 Balloon Flowers to put out under the camellia that is planted.
Lots to do still outside but I’ll tackle the housework this morning, maybe the garden this afternoon or I might concentrate on the house this weekend and through the week then do the garden next weekend. The front is a jungle! The grass in the back is a jungle! Tons of huge projects as well as small ones but I like the idea of breaking them all down into 30 minute jobs. I’ve got ideas for the tomatoes next year and how to better prop the beans and dahlias. It will require work through the winter so I’ll need to make the most of the decent winter days.
Ok, going to end this, otherwise I’m babbling. There’s stuff I’ve wanted to say but keep forgetting and getting distracted. I’ll get there. Thank you for sticking around for the journey.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
I made a really good bread tonight. I used the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes" recipe, used about a cup or 2 of stoneground rye, the same of stoneground whole wheat and the rest in fine unbleached wheat. I brushed it with a pohutakawa-hot water mix and sprinkled some chia seeds over the top. YUM. The chia added a roasted nut taste to the top.
I didn't realise there are a lot of dietary benefits to them. I think I read it's gluten free, a bonus for some of you on my flists. And I found a really interesting chia seed pudding recipe. I'm giving it a try but with my own tweaks of course: apx 1/2 to 1 TLBS honey in milk (with a touch of water to top it off to 1 cup), a sprinkle of cardomom, a couple sprinkles of cinnamon and a slight pinch of nutmeg with a 1/2 cap of vanilla and about 1/3-1/2 cup mix of dried cranberries & blueberries all added to the ¼ c chia. It's sitting in the fridge gelling. I'll serve it to C for breakfast. She’s not big on “strange food” but hopefully will be ok with it. (ETA: Turned out pretty well, but the cranberries are a bit bitter at times so perhaps either not as many or just stick with other dried fruit; C thinks it’s ok but wasn’t into it for breakfast).
HuntPress at LJ is a small time publisher (very small right now) and want to grow. They’re trying to raise funds for a new computer. Check it out and support a small group of people trying to bring quality writing to the world. Here’s their website for you to check out their catalogue.
I picked up a book at the library that looked interesting: No Time to Garden: The Half Hour Gardener by Anne Swithinbank. I’ve only had time for a quick glance through it and it’s already due back. Try No Time To Read Everything. It looks promising so I’ll pick it up again in the near future as it looks like it’s got some good ideas, lists for the seasons and that kind of thing.
I feel bad because I haven’t been around my flists as often as I would like to be. I feel like I’ve abandoned people and that hasn’t been my intention. I know some of you aren’t in good places. I hope things get better for you.
I’m going to cut the OT and try to rest. I’m fighting a cold and don’t need the extra push on my body when it’s at its lowest reserves. My doing OT puts a heavy burden on C. She’s picking up more stuff around the house because I’m so tired when I get home, and because I’m on the train when I work OT, I’m not getting home until about 8 or 8:30. Leave the house at 7am, back at 8pm makes for a long day. With her back getting worse it’s harder for her to drive in rush hour traffic. All the stops-starts put more stress on her back. I’ve been driving more to help, but not when I work late.
Speaking of, did I ever do the post about going to the pain clinic? She actually got a diagnosis this time around. Her pain isn’t skeletal but is a problem with her nerves mis-firing and being hyper-sensitive. Unfortunately, nothing can be done for it but at least she’s got a diagnosis.
Oh well, I’ve been up for about 20 minutes, just took a walk out into the garden. It’s definitely autumn. There’s a heavy dew on everything. The tomatoes fizzled out, my fault for not feeding them. Harvested the last of the potatoes last week, got just about 1 kg of the Urenika. I think it was only 2 or 3 plants in that bag. Roses didn’t bloom as much as in past years. I am going to get serious about autumn tasks. I’ll pull the tomatoes out, remove a bit of the soil & put some compost in. I’ve got some beans I planted in a couple of the ex-potato bags so will either put more beans into the tomatoes or look at ordering a cover crop from Koanga. Undecided on that one. Those of you gardeners on my list, any thoughts on your favourite cover crop?We picked up a couple hibiscus plants at the garden centre the other day too. One is going out front to replace a plant that is dying, the other is going to sit out back somewhere. We also got 3 Balloon Flowers to put out under the camellia that is planted.
Lots to do still outside but I’ll tackle the housework this morning, maybe the garden this afternoon or I might concentrate on the house this weekend and through the week then do the garden next weekend. The front is a jungle! The grass in the back is a jungle! Tons of huge projects as well as small ones but I like the idea of breaking them all down into 30 minute jobs. I’ve got ideas for the tomatoes next year and how to better prop the beans and dahlias. It will require work through the winter so I’ll need to make the most of the decent winter days.
Ok, going to end this, otherwise I’m babbling. There’s stuff I’ve wanted to say but keep forgetting and getting distracted. I’ll get there. Thank you for sticking around for the journey.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.