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Feeling better
May. 18th, 2005 12:06 pmI am almost my normal self today.
I've not taken any vicodin since Sunday night (when I stayed up an extra two hours, so I could take one more pill). I've not had any spasms since Sunday evening, around 5 p.m. (when I retired to the empty room because crawling around an empty floor, in privacy, seemed so much better than trying to negotiate the living room, or not flail into a snake tank).
I am drinking more (to Maia's eternal glee, she has been saying, for the better part of six years, that I don't drink enough). I have yet to have coffee again. Somehow the idea of a diuretic isn't appealing enough to make any. Happily I can take or leave it.
I have been drinking Nestle Milo. You can't get it in the states, it was brought back to me from China, because Ovaltine couldn't be found there. I know Ovaltine makes a Chinese version, because I've bought it, in Chinatown. Perhaps it's for the local market. When I was a kid Ovaltine was really malty. The powder was shiny from malt crystals. These days, it's funny tasting hot chocolate. Opening this present (from Christmas) to consume as comfort food has been a treat.
I still have a mild ache in the lower left of my belly. I am not feeling as weak as I did yesterday.
On the other hand, I wasn't going to let this keep me down too much, so we had the usual open invite to the Tues. Night Supper Club (if any y'all are gonna be in the area, drop me a line, we've got lots of napkins, and food to spare).
Pasta. An easy dish. Almost trivial. A couple of pounds of last weeks farmers' market tomatoes, sliced. Some oregeno, a few cans of diced tomatoes, a healthy dash of celery seed, some marjoram (fresh, it doesn't dry well, much like basil. This was the first cutting from this plant. It needed to be pruned anyway, in the interest of turning the spikes to bushes) some pulverised white pepper, and a couple sprigs of rosemary.
The oregeno (one of the few spices I think improves from being dried) was powdered in the mortar, some red onion was sauteed, a bit of fresh garlic was added and the whole lot put to simmer on the back burner for six or seven hours.
While that was doing I was playing with the sourdough starter. I'd fed it the night before and fed it some more. I wanted enough to make three loaves of bread (last week there wasn't enough bread for the borshch, but it did, much to my pleased surprise, work. Dense, and light, and tasty, if Maia like caraway it would have been well nigh perfect).
Added the vital wheat gluten and decided to really let these loaves rise. I have been getting a nice crumb, but it's denser than I want. I'm not getting the open eyes I've been hoping for. So longer rise, with more stretching.
Stretching is one of the tricks I got from my valentine's day present. Instead of punching the dough down after it doubles, one pulls the lump out to a rectangle, or square, and then folds it back on itself, in thirds. Turn it 90 degrees and then fold it again. The reccomended interval is about 20 minutes between turnings. It slows the doubling, and makes more pockets for the air to get trapped in, but layering the gluten sheets.
Adding more gluten helped, a lot.
I'm still not adding quite enough salt, but when turned into garlic bread, I'm pretty much the only one who notices.
About 5 o'clock I ran the tomatoes through the medium setting on the food mill: one needs toys, not many, but a few, to make some things. Maia want's more toys than I do. I think my list of essentials is.
Pots, pans and skillets
Bread stone
Food mill
Mortars and pestles
Whisks (Swedish and balloon)
Thermometers (meat, instant and candy)
Knives (small, medium and large. A chef, and a cleaver are nice but three knives you like is better than 10 you don't)
Vegetable peeler
Grater
Bowls
Measuring devices (this includes a scale)
Mixing devices (I am in love with my silicone spatula, it's what I make my loose dough with for bread, for some breads it does the kneading too).
The only other essential is heat diffusers for the stovetop. I have three, for a four burner stove. They are cast iron, and reduce the hot spots, so things are less likely to scorch. They do slow the start of things, and they mean one has to think of a gas range a bit more like an electric (if it's done, you have to take it off now).
Everything else, the Kitchen-aid, the mandoline, the ginger mincer. the rolling pin, the micro-plane, the the three part pasta pot/steamer etc. are tools of convenience. They don't make things possible, they just make them easier.
So, where was I before I got onto equipment...? Sauce.
Sauced the tomatoes, balanced the mix (a bit more oregeno, some olive oil, a pinch of salt), and set that on the burner again to reduce.
Set a large pot of water to simmer, and put the bread in the oven.
People came, tossed a pound of penne rigate in the pasta cradle (this is my three level pot/pasta cooker/steamer... I could make a dish doing all three. If Maia like shrimps, crawdads, clams, mussels or scallops, I would, but she doesn't, so I don't), and plunged it. While that was cooking I sliced some zucchini, and chopped some broccoli, while the garlic bread Maia had prepped was under the broiler.
Pasta, sauce, and salas on the table, veggies in the steamer, over the water from the pasta, and, voila, dinner is served.
We kept the water at a simmer, and Maia made another pound of pasta a little later.
I retired early.
I've not taken any vicodin since Sunday night (when I stayed up an extra two hours, so I could take one more pill). I've not had any spasms since Sunday evening, around 5 p.m. (when I retired to the empty room because crawling around an empty floor, in privacy, seemed so much better than trying to negotiate the living room, or not flail into a snake tank).
I am drinking more (to Maia's eternal glee, she has been saying, for the better part of six years, that I don't drink enough). I have yet to have coffee again. Somehow the idea of a diuretic isn't appealing enough to make any. Happily I can take or leave it.
I have been drinking Nestle Milo. You can't get it in the states, it was brought back to me from China, because Ovaltine couldn't be found there. I know Ovaltine makes a Chinese version, because I've bought it, in Chinatown. Perhaps it's for the local market. When I was a kid Ovaltine was really malty. The powder was shiny from malt crystals. These days, it's funny tasting hot chocolate. Opening this present (from Christmas) to consume as comfort food has been a treat.
I still have a mild ache in the lower left of my belly. I am not feeling as weak as I did yesterday.
On the other hand, I wasn't going to let this keep me down too much, so we had the usual open invite to the Tues. Night Supper Club (if any y'all are gonna be in the area, drop me a line, we've got lots of napkins, and food to spare).
Pasta. An easy dish. Almost trivial. A couple of pounds of last weeks farmers' market tomatoes, sliced. Some oregeno, a few cans of diced tomatoes, a healthy dash of celery seed, some marjoram (fresh, it doesn't dry well, much like basil. This was the first cutting from this plant. It needed to be pruned anyway, in the interest of turning the spikes to bushes) some pulverised white pepper, and a couple sprigs of rosemary.
The oregeno (one of the few spices I think improves from being dried) was powdered in the mortar, some red onion was sauteed, a bit of fresh garlic was added and the whole lot put to simmer on the back burner for six or seven hours.
While that was doing I was playing with the sourdough starter. I'd fed it the night before and fed it some more. I wanted enough to make three loaves of bread (last week there wasn't enough bread for the borshch, but it did, much to my pleased surprise, work. Dense, and light, and tasty, if Maia like caraway it would have been well nigh perfect).
Added the vital wheat gluten and decided to really let these loaves rise. I have been getting a nice crumb, but it's denser than I want. I'm not getting the open eyes I've been hoping for. So longer rise, with more stretching.
Stretching is one of the tricks I got from my valentine's day present. Instead of punching the dough down after it doubles, one pulls the lump out to a rectangle, or square, and then folds it back on itself, in thirds. Turn it 90 degrees and then fold it again. The reccomended interval is about 20 minutes between turnings. It slows the doubling, and makes more pockets for the air to get trapped in, but layering the gluten sheets.
Adding more gluten helped, a lot.
I'm still not adding quite enough salt, but when turned into garlic bread, I'm pretty much the only one who notices.
About 5 o'clock I ran the tomatoes through the medium setting on the food mill: one needs toys, not many, but a few, to make some things. Maia want's more toys than I do. I think my list of essentials is.
Pots, pans and skillets
Bread stone
Food mill
Mortars and pestles
Whisks (Swedish and balloon)
Thermometers (meat, instant and candy)
Knives (small, medium and large. A chef, and a cleaver are nice but three knives you like is better than 10 you don't)
Vegetable peeler
Grater
Bowls
Measuring devices (this includes a scale)
Mixing devices (I am in love with my silicone spatula, it's what I make my loose dough with for bread, for some breads it does the kneading too).
The only other essential is heat diffusers for the stovetop. I have three, for a four burner stove. They are cast iron, and reduce the hot spots, so things are less likely to scorch. They do slow the start of things, and they mean one has to think of a gas range a bit more like an electric (if it's done, you have to take it off now).
Everything else, the Kitchen-aid, the mandoline, the ginger mincer. the rolling pin, the micro-plane, the the three part pasta pot/steamer etc. are tools of convenience. They don't make things possible, they just make them easier.
So, where was I before I got onto equipment...? Sauce.
Sauced the tomatoes, balanced the mix (a bit more oregeno, some olive oil, a pinch of salt), and set that on the burner again to reduce.
Set a large pot of water to simmer, and put the bread in the oven.
People came, tossed a pound of penne rigate in the pasta cradle (this is my three level pot/pasta cooker/steamer... I could make a dish doing all three. If Maia like shrimps, crawdads, clams, mussels or scallops, I would, but she doesn't, so I don't), and plunged it. While that was cooking I sliced some zucchini, and chopped some broccoli, while the garlic bread Maia had prepped was under the broiler.
Pasta, sauce, and salas on the table, veggies in the steamer, over the water from the pasta, and, voila, dinner is served.
We kept the water at a simmer, and Maia made another pound of pasta a little later.
I retired early.
