Saturday 18th January - a foodie, cooking, remembering, making day

It's been a real pleasure to make it possible for BB (my husband, Best Beloved, in case you were wondering) to have some proper down time after the past few years. Yes, years! 

He hascbeen taking on more of the load of running this house, as I became less able, and more of the load looking after my father as he became less able. One really wonderful consequence of going onto full time oxygen support for me is that I have become more able than before. Tasks that were beyond me are now back in my grasp.

These past few days have given me a chance to start cooking again. All through my working life it always felt as though I was cooking against the clock; getting a meal on the table before scouts brownies violin lessons committee meetings piano teaching - you name it, I always seemed to be peeling and chopping and stirring and dishing up and eating at break neck speed,  racing round the supermarket in between other commitments....

Slow Stitching has been a 'thing' for several years now; setting the stitches into the fabric with time and space to relax, rather than roaring along the seams with a sewing machine. In other words, the complete opposite of The Great British Sewing Bee!

I'm rediscovering the pleasures of Slow Cooking, not necessarily in a slow cooker.

Yesterday I roasted a chicken, peeling and chopped and cooked the vegetables in a slow and relaxed manner, while a beef stew simmered gently in the slow cooker.

Today we had some of the stew with the last of the baking potatoes. While I was in the kitchen I prepped all the green beans and all the remaining Christmas sprouts. In the case of the sprouts it was fun! It's not worth using the food processor unless you've got a decent amount. I was reminded of the day I bought the food processor, and promptly grated or shredded every vegetable and hunk of cheese in the house for the joy of watching the machine do its stuff!

After lunch I prepped the piece of lamb for tomorrow. It is going to be slow roasted with garlic, herbs, onions, carrots, red wine and chicken stock.

I keep remembering how my mother would sit at the kitchen table while pots of potatoes and vegetables simmered on the stove and sonething delicious roasted in the oven. She would sit near the window, reading a magazine or her book, enjoying the peace and quiet. How I wish our kitchen was big enough for a table! 

All the while BB carried on with the model he has been building without all the necesary but frustrating interruptions to get lunch ready. Here's where he has got to; a sweet little cafe scene.

It's one of those miniature scenes, complete with battery operated lighting, that fits inside a pretend book. This sort of thing;

(Although this is a different scene)

.....

Today's section of Psalm 23;

 yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me 

through, take note. In one end, and out the other. It's not a dead-end canyon... plus I am not walking alone...