All Afternoon with Food

Wet, wet, wet. It wasn’t raining yesterday morning, but it had rained heavily through the night so everything was soaking wet. It was slosh, squish, ooze as we walked through the trails of the 707 park early yesterday morning. We walked early so that I could leave Her Highness in the house when I went into the village to meet Kelly for breakfast.

Being with Kelly was thoroughly healing. Of course, there were plenty of tears but we were both able to experience our grief without putting on a show. We sat removed from the crowd and we were very often holding hands as we talked. She beat me to the punch, saying how great it was for her to be with someone else who loved Jay.

She’s going to be on the island until Wednesday, working on Jay’s house. There’s a lot of incomplete renovation to be done on the place before she puts it on the market. Plus, there’s all Jay’s stuff to remove. We’re going to have dinner together on Tuesday and I’m going to help her when it comes time to bundle, label and remove all Jay’s stuff.

Coming home, the sky brightened and as always happens, my spirits lifted. It’s a wonderful thing. I vacuumed and dusted and then, once we’d all had lunch, I baked my umpteenth meringue roll cake. It is very well received whenever I make it, but soon I must find another equally as easy and tasty a cake to bake. The meringue roll cake will always be part of my repertoire of cakes, but it’s time to move on.

At 13:00, radiant sunshine filled my kitchen. I was immediately drawn outside. It felt so, so good to feel the sunshine on my face. I stayed outside while my cake cooked, but after twenty glorious minutes, the sky was clouded over with thick clouds again.

While I was out there, I was spectacularly entertained by birds. They are in a frenzy at my feeders, and they are washing and drinking in the fountain. They fill my yard with beauty and lots of chatter. There were scores and scores of them; they thrill me. And it was particularly lovely to watch them flying about my Virginia Creeper that is moving into a beautiful wall of colour.

Once the cake was cooled, layered with lemon curd, rolled up and decorated, I started working on the tian. I decided to prepare it but to leave the baking until today. I enjoyed a good rest while the cake baked. Then it was on to peeling and slicing an awful lot of root veggies. However, I had a mandolin with which to do all the slicing. I loved seeing all the slices of beet root, yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes pile up. Instead of oil, I roasted garlic and a few pepper flakes in ghee, then I started layering the sliced veggies into the pan. When all the slices were in place, I sprinkled the surface with some herbs de Provence, salt and pepper, and a good healthy sprinkling of parmesan.

The tian, prior to adding parmesan to the top.

I worked like mad all day from 11:00 to 16:00. By then, I was totally pooped, but there were things to do. I took Her Highness to the 707 for a walk, and then we went into the village for some supplies. I could hardly wait to get into the spa when I got home and then onto the chaise for dinner and a movie. What a f’ing busy day!

Dianne and Bev are cooking the turkey and making stuffing, and gravy. I am drooling. I really love having a traditional thanksgiving meal with friends. I am really looking forward to meeting Beverly. New blood. She’s a cousin of Dianne. She likes pets. I’ll have a fire going and I live in a fucking log cabin! I love this house.

Each day begins and ends with Jay; I hear his voice through the days.