saying hi
In conversation with someone yesterday evening, I said that while I'm basically doing fine, I feel scattered. There are a lot of reasons for this -- getting back from a fairly long trip; having a freaking ton of work that I actually got through much faster than I expected, which left me feeling as though I'd been pushing a boulder that suddenly disappeared; not getting enough exercise -- and one of the ways I realized it was manifesting was that I wasn't interested in cooking.
Usually I really like cooking! I enjoy planning meals, and I definitely enjoy grocery shopping. The person I was talking to and I agreed that buying groceries makes us feel grounded. I will make food! I will nourish myself and my partner! Plus it's fun to explore the unfamiliar possibilities. What is that? What could I make with this? So ending every day feeling like ugh, I don't want to cook, I have no idea what to cook, I barely want to eat, is very unusual and weird for me.
This hasn't been so bad, as Geoff and I have gone out a couple of times. For our eighteenth anniversary (of meeting, not marriage) we went to a Valentine's Day dinner buffet at our excellent neighborhood Indian place. Our relationship is now of age! And a couple days later Geoff discovered that a microbrewery has just opened in our town -- just opened, on Superbowl Sunday -- and they have a tap room offering their beers and free "soon-to-be-world-famous popcorn," though no actual food. So we walked up there on Saturday, the weather being stunningly lovely and reasonably warm; the walk was an hour, and although half of it was through a fairly unlovely industrial area, it was really nice to be out. (And the walk will be nicer when the trees are in leaf.) We got there just before they were scheduled to close, and were a little worried that they'd have shut up and gone home early, but in fact there were a half-dozen other people sitting talking over beers, and the staff -- young brewer, slightly older owner, older-still woman whose position I'm not sure of -- were clearly in no hurry to chase anyone out. Well, they're trying to build word of mouth, after all. We shared a flight of the three brews they've got so far, all of which were lovely (as was the popcorn), and talked with the young brewer as he gave us a tour of the brewing facilities. They were selling only in sixty-four-ounce growlers, which was a bit much for us to carry away (let alone drink), but we'll definitely keep an eye out to see if they get picked up by any local restaurants or depanneurs, convenience stores. And after that we went to a local pub and had another pint of not-so-microbrew each with dinner, after which we walked carefully home *g*
But, anyway, after yesterday's conversation I decided to get myself back into a cooking frame of mind. It helped that I knew by that time that I was just about done with one of the big chunks of work, which I finished off this morning. Geoff and I hit a grocery store a few days ago for "we need milk or we won't have breakfast tomorrow" purposes, and I impulse-bought a couple of avocadoes, which were beautifully ripe this morning, so tonight is nachos!
And I have done them up. I went shopping today and encouraged myself to impulse-buy, in order to kickstart my cooking mojo. So this afternoon I have
And now I'm feeling a bit less scattered, yay! Although another chunk of work just arrived this evening, and it's a rush job; I'm nonetheless ignoring it until tomorrow morning, so there. And I have some more things to cook as well (mmmm, buttercup squash), plus broccoli rabe going limp and slimy in the fridge that I had forgotten about while I was feeling scattered, whoops. But I've also arranged to have dinner with a friend tomorrow night, so it may end up being a sacrifice to my scatteredness. Oh, well.
I don't seem to be doing much fannish stuff lately, unless you count reading lots of fanfic. Geoff and I are watching The Expanse, which I found slow to grab me at first -- partly because I have trouble hearing what the characters are saying! I'm not sure if it's the sound design of the show, the quality of our TV, or my own hearing -- but which is definitely getting interesting as it continues, and it's also gorgeously produced. We were riveted by Westworld, but the second season won't drop until 2018, sigh. I'm still really enjoying Elementary. In the theater, I've recently seen Hidden Figures (wonderful) and Moonlight (stunningly wonderful). And Geoff, a friend, and I just snagged tickets to The Book of Mormon on stage in Montreal in April! I didn't think I'd ever get to see it, but now I will -- yay! (Now if only Avenue Q would come here...)
Escapade is in a couple of weeks, and I haven't even looked at the programming, but then I rarely do; I just see what looks interesting when I get there. I'll be volunteering for the art show, of course, and I expect I'll be auctioning, but I'm so glad not to be running it any more. Mostly I'm looking forward to seeing people!
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Usually I really like cooking! I enjoy planning meals, and I definitely enjoy grocery shopping. The person I was talking to and I agreed that buying groceries makes us feel grounded. I will make food! I will nourish myself and my partner! Plus it's fun to explore the unfamiliar possibilities. What is that? What could I make with this? So ending every day feeling like ugh, I don't want to cook, I have no idea what to cook, I barely want to eat, is very unusual and weird for me.
This hasn't been so bad, as Geoff and I have gone out a couple of times. For our eighteenth anniversary (of meeting, not marriage) we went to a Valentine's Day dinner buffet at our excellent neighborhood Indian place. Our relationship is now of age! And a couple days later Geoff discovered that a microbrewery has just opened in our town -- just opened, on Superbowl Sunday -- and they have a tap room offering their beers and free "soon-to-be-world-famous popcorn," though no actual food. So we walked up there on Saturday, the weather being stunningly lovely and reasonably warm; the walk was an hour, and although half of it was through a fairly unlovely industrial area, it was really nice to be out. (And the walk will be nicer when the trees are in leaf.) We got there just before they were scheduled to close, and were a little worried that they'd have shut up and gone home early, but in fact there were a half-dozen other people sitting talking over beers, and the staff -- young brewer, slightly older owner, older-still woman whose position I'm not sure of -- were clearly in no hurry to chase anyone out. Well, they're trying to build word of mouth, after all. We shared a flight of the three brews they've got so far, all of which were lovely (as was the popcorn), and talked with the young brewer as he gave us a tour of the brewing facilities. They were selling only in sixty-four-ounce growlers, which was a bit much for us to carry away (let alone drink), but we'll definitely keep an eye out to see if they get picked up by any local restaurants or depanneurs, convenience stores. And after that we went to a local pub and had another pint of not-so-microbrew each with dinner, after which we walked carefully home *g*
But, anyway, after yesterday's conversation I decided to get myself back into a cooking frame of mind. It helped that I knew by that time that I was just about done with one of the big chunks of work, which I finished off this morning. Geoff and I hit a grocery store a few days ago for "we need milk or we won't have breakfast tomorrow" purposes, and I impulse-bought a couple of avocadoes, which were beautifully ripe this morning, so tonight is nachos!
And I have done them up. I went shopping today and encouraged myself to impulse-buy, in order to kickstart my cooking mojo. So this afternoon I have
- made guacamole, with the aforesaid avocados and some of the cilantro I bought today
- made salsa fresca with more cilantro and some of the grape tomatoes I bought today
- minced and frozen the rest of the cilantro against future need
- made a green salad with, among other things, more of the tomatoes
- halved and dried in the oven most of the rest of the grape tomatoes, because it's almost impossible to find unsalted dried tomatoes around here so I've begun making my own
- made tortilla chips by toasting sprouted corn tortillas in the oven
- cooked up a bunch of nacho-meat-and-beans with smoked paprika, garlic, two kinds of chili powder (a friend gave me spices for the holidays), and an entire can of Guinness
- along the way, also washed, chopped, and frozen a bunch of mint and a bunch of parsley against future need
And now I'm feeling a bit less scattered, yay! Although another chunk of work just arrived this evening, and it's a rush job; I'm nonetheless ignoring it until tomorrow morning, so there. And I have some more things to cook as well (mmmm, buttercup squash), plus broccoli rabe going limp and slimy in the fridge that I had forgotten about while I was feeling scattered, whoops. But I've also arranged to have dinner with a friend tomorrow night, so it may end up being a sacrifice to my scatteredness. Oh, well.
I don't seem to be doing much fannish stuff lately, unless you count reading lots of fanfic. Geoff and I are watching The Expanse, which I found slow to grab me at first -- partly because I have trouble hearing what the characters are saying! I'm not sure if it's the sound design of the show, the quality of our TV, or my own hearing -- but which is definitely getting interesting as it continues, and it's also gorgeously produced. We were riveted by Westworld, but the second season won't drop until 2018, sigh. I'm still really enjoying Elementary. In the theater, I've recently seen Hidden Figures (wonderful) and Moonlight (stunningly wonderful). And Geoff, a friend, and I just snagged tickets to The Book of Mormon on stage in Montreal in April! I didn't think I'd ever get to see it, but now I will -- yay! (Now if only Avenue Q would come here...)
Escapade is in a couple of weeks, and I haven't even looked at the programming, but then I rarely do; I just see what looks interesting when I get there. I'll be volunteering for the art show, of course, and I expect I'll be auctioning, but I'm so glad not to be running it any more. Mostly I'm looking forward to seeing people!
read
comments | post a comment at Dreamwidth
How to use OpenID (optional unless you are commenting on a locked post)