Dinner Day

I was fine with the rain. It is so wonderfully warm, I don’t care about anything else. And I desperately hope that this mild weather lasts and that we get no snow this year. My daffodils are about six inches tall, my fuchsias are still blooming from last season, and my hellebores are exploding with blooms.

Thankfully, the rain was light enough that we could walk at our regular hour. Although I had a lot to do yesterday, I was not pressed. I had lots of time to do all that I wanted to do before my guests arrived at 17:00, and I was looking forward to my dinner because I couldn’t wish for finer friends than Eoin and François. They are wonderful fellows, and now I’m used to being with them without Jay (but I still cry every time I think of him). 

We went for our walk and then to the store because I decided to make another curried rice salad. I’ve never eaten so well as I have since August when I changed my diet. I could live on nothing but these wonderful cold and very flavourful salads. They are chock full of veggies and fruit, and low on carbs. I use brown rice in the curried rice salad, so I get good carbs.

The curried salad is just for me. I didn’t serve it last night. I am so fond of it, I made a batch so that I could have it for lunch yesterday and it will serve me well for lunch and dinner today as today is a serious day of rest. It’s been a very busy week for this person with a vulnerable nervous system. I’m very happy that I have today, all weekend and most of next week all to myself.

At 13:00, I took Sheba for our second walk so that she’d be content while I vacuumed and set the table, and then once back home, I toasted baguette slices for the appies and got all my ingredients ready for cooking. Then I vacuumed and did the last of the tidying up. When I was finished, it was 16:00 and so I had about forty minutes to chill before cooking the mushrooms for our appies.

Dinner was well received. I served sole encrusted with a panko/crushed pistachio mixture infused with olive oil, honey and parsley, and plated it over the green sauce I love. It’s made my thoroughly mixing corn, basil and jalapeno in a blender, then putting the blended mixture into cheesecloth to extract all the juice that is then mixed with a little coconut milk, olive oil, shredded shallot, lime juice and honey. Yum.

I served the fish with Brussel sprout leaves that I sautéed in lemon juice and with lots of pistachios, and the corn salsa that was my choice over salad. It contains halved grape tomatoes, avocado, diced red onion and basil. And for the salsa, I made a sauce of olive oil, lime juice, garlic, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. And for the appies we ate before dinner, I fried a mixture of mushrooms with shallots, garlic, lots of butter, a little white wine and pine nuts. I toasted some baguette slices so that we could put the shrooms on the bread. (I won’t be making the mushroom dish again. I was disappointed in the results.)e

Just before they arrived, I opened the front and back doors to cool the house down a little. Now that it is so mild, the fire can make the house too warm. (Not a bad thing!) It was a far more comfortable temperature by the time they arrived—with dessert. I loved that I was going to have a surprise at the end of the meal. (They usually bring delicious appies.)

We had a great evening, and François made a fabulous dessert which I ate with semi-pleasure. I truly am over my obsession with sugar. I truly had an addiction and now I just don’t get excited about sweets anymore.

They arrived at 17:00 and left at 20:30 and I enjoyed an hour on the chaise watching Law and Order before I went to bed. I slept deeply until Fred’s howling had me rise almost exactly at 5:00. It’s as though my pets have a cock inside them. They know when it’s time for me to get up, and they know when it is mealtime.

I’m going to enjoy today. I have lots of wonderful food to eat, a good book to read, and little else to do. Sheba goes to the groomer at 9:00, and at 10:00, I’m Zooming with John and Bunny, but all the rest of the day is mine to play in.

In the forest with my fellow dog walkers.

Gary Oak bark.

More Gary Oak bark. This tree had bark like the
tree in the photo above this one, but time made
it evolve into very rough pieces of white bark.

A series of shots of hair ice taken during our
sunny cold spell.

This is true mid-latitude rain forest. This is in the Elder Cedar grove.

This is my rise curry mixture that is full of fruit and
vegetables. I love these cold salads for my meals now
as much as I once loved sweets.

Another favourite, corn salsa.