When Julia returned home today one of the jobs I told her I had done was “blogging”. I’m not sure it’s actually a job, or that there’s much effort involved. However, on viewing eBay I realised that I hadn’t blogged. I’d sat down at the computer with the intention of blogging but I’d drifted off, checked a few auction results, looked up “cruciverbalism” (another word my spellchecker doesn’t like) (you will have to ask Derrick what it means) and cooked a pan of Italian-style sauce to go with the meatballs tonight.
I’m hoping they are going to be better than last night’s meatballs, which I managed to overcook and douse in quite a dangerous sauce. It was honey, soy and chilli but it became quite clingy after cooking, coated my tongue in burning sugar and then set on the plates. In culinary terms, I have had better nights. It tasted good, but Health and Safety probably wouldn’t have been keen. The meatballs, having been browned, left, then reheated, had a tough coating a and fought back when I tried biting them.
Tonight’s sauce won’t be quite as clingy and will be divided into two parts – one for tonight, one for tomorrow. I will cook the meatballs when we need them.
The other “job” of the day, which I accomplished successfully, was sitting in the back room of a shop drinking tea and talking about the old days. It may not be particularly hard, but you do need certain skills, such as a functioning memory, and broad knowledge of deceased dealers and an infinite capacity for depression and dullness. I score highly on all subjects.
Mainly, however, I must confess to researching bartitsu for a project I am starting. And I ate lentil soup. It was quite good but needs some work. However, it was cheap and, by grating the carrot as advised by Helen (Growing out of Chaos) it became easier, quicker and less dangerous, as my dwindling knife skills are not called into use.
The start of an Italian-style sauce.
I expected to find that bartitsu was an obscure mode of Japanese poetry, so I was surprised when I looked it up. I look forward to your project with great interest. Will it involve slicing your soup vegetables by hand?
Most things involve slicing my hand. This one involves typing, so I should emerge with all my fingers, and all the same length as when I started.
Thank you very much for the nod, Quercus. Have you asked to befriend me on Face book? I need to know it’s you
Yes, I have asked. It’s not important if you have reservations – I won’t take it personally! 🙂
I’d love to. It’s just that I have been caught before by someone hacking a friend’s account. I’m going straight over to confirm
Yes, I once had an email from a friend asking me to send money as they had been robbed in Spain. I thought it unlikely as I saw them most weekends, so rang to find it was a scam.
I looked up cruciverbalism, and remembered Derrick went by the moniker “Mordred” when he was designing crossword puzzles.
Correct. All this information comes in useful somewhere. 🙂
How easy it is to spoil something healthy with the wrong accompaniment. But I do think sitting in back rooms and chatting with people is a very valuable way of spending time