Friday and an early morning coffee in bed while I check my emails and messages. Once that I feel I am up to speed with my socials I get dressed adn go down stairs for breakfast. Today I am a man with a mission, there are dishes to be prepared for our guests tomorrow so that I can go to the poetry stanza meeting tomorrow afternoon. I have already got the ingredients in it should just be a matter of making the dishes. Of course everyone else in the house choose that moment to make toast and protein drinks so I retreat to the TV until I’ve got free reign in the kitchen.
Nigella is providing the courses that I am preparing this morning. A splendid Baileys infused Tiramisu and a warming pea and pesto soup. So for the vast majority of the morning I juggle ingredients adn perform cooking skills I did not know I have. There are moments of panic when the instructions say “fold in to a mousse like consistence” and what sits in the bowl refuses to “fold in” and forces the executive decision to use a whisk. Just how long do you soak Savoiardi in the coffee and Baileys mixture? Clearly when it disintegrates into an unmanageable pulp the dunking has gone on too long. One other thing I learnt was that my square dish is slightly narrower at the bottom than the top, which led me to discover that you can cut the ends off Savoiardi with a pair of scissors. I admit I am a very organised by bloody grumpy cook. I am one of those people that lays all the ingredients out and then gets to work. My problem is opening the kitchen cupboards and finding chaos which means hunting around stuff to find what I actually need. However I do eventually get to where I need to be, or rather the food does. Once I have one dish chilling in the fridge waiting only for its final dusting before serving I clear the decks and then prepare for the next one.
The next dish is simple in itself but the amounts need to be scaled up to feed all of the diners. So there is some sums to do and some careful weighing out to be done before I can get things going. Once underway it does not take long to prepare, I just have to juggle the final blending. Mission successful, after a suitable cooling period everything goes into the fridge to chill. Again I clear the decks and then indulge in a lunchtime dish of chicken soup.
It is raining, it has rained all morning, I hate it when it does this as I cannot get out into the garden. I do some on line shopping and then chat to a friend who has just come out of hospital after falling off her horse. We chat for a while about how we are and plans for the future. She faces a period of enforced rest and no driving while her back heals encased in a brace. I find I am cold and decide to train. I always find it more difficult to motivate myself when I am cold so getting myself upstairs to change in to my kit is a real effort but I do it. I decide that today I will row for just 30 minutes but will increase the resistance. I strap in and set off and immediately feel the the difference in the pull required. It turns out to be a good session as I manage more than 6 kilometres and more than 400 calories.
I record the session in my training and food journal and then change into some evening closes and return to the sofa. I eat tea and start to draft the blog while the TV provides wallpaper. I shall watch a rugby match and then the new series of Have I Got News for You. Night meds and bed.
