It's reflection/resolution time again!

I've just had a look at what I wrote about resolutions and reflection last year. It was interesting. I had resolved to find out what to do about my blood pressure and how to lower it. Somewhat ironic, I suppose, since this year I ended up with elevated cholesterol and diabetes as well! So, just to recap, I'm recovering from cancer, I have slightly elevated blood pressure and cholesterol and, in September, I found out I was diabetic. On the plus side, my cholesterol is only .1 above normal, my blood sugar level is now under control and I have lost 11 kg since October.

Right, so my new resolution is to find out how to lower my blood pressure and how to keep all my other health issues under control. Let's hope that there aren't any more! I am resolved to keep eating properly (how does one define that!) and to exercise as much and more than I do already. I am also resolved (since I'm now a department head) to work hard at not getting stressed out at work!

Moving on from work and health, I am also resolved to continue to write. I had a look at what I had written about that and I have managed to do some of what I intended to do. I have started the book Emma and I were planning together. I have started to re-write my murder mystery and I have also started two other stories. Not bad but I still haven't finished anything! That is my resolution for this year. To finish some of these!

The Chair in my garden

Is does look lovely in the garden, doesn't it? I've always wanted to have an Adirondack chair (in Canada they call them Muskoka chairs) but I've never had the money or been in the right place to get one. Last spring I saw some at RHS Wisley but they wanted £450 per chair. Admittedly they are made from cedar which doesn't need that much upkeep. However, I couldn't afford even one. So, when I went into the Futon Store in Staines yesterday and saw one and it was only £79, I bought two. I know it was extravagant even at that price, but it was now or never (at least that's how I felt). I am now the proud owner of two Adirondack chairs made in China of ash. It's not cedar and they weren't made in Canada but they will remind me of being at the cottage whenever I sit in them.

This summer our living room furniture is moving to Washington D.C. with the owners of our house. At that point, the chairs may come indoors to give us somewhere to sit until we decide what we want to buy. I'm looking forward to having them there as well.

The weather has been glorious today in our part of southern England. It might almost be Ontario in the summer (but not has hot!).

Dumplings

Naomi says that I didn't share the recipe for dumplings. I didn't actually make the dumpling recipe that went along with the beef and ale stew. It was a bit convoluted. Instead, I used the Edna Staebler recipe for fluffy dumplings and it is as follows:

Featherweight Dumplings

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
milk to make a thick dough

Sift the dry ingredients and add only enough milk to make a stiff dough - not at all runny. Drop tablespoons of the thick batter into boiling broth, cover tightly, cook gently, and don't lift the lid for 10 minutes. Then lift the lid and sigh with relief. The dumplings will be snowy white puffs.

Edna Staebler from Food that Really Schmecks

Food, Writing and the erotic

Of late, my favorite detective fiction writer is Donna Leon. Her detective lives in Venice and when he's not chasing criminals, he is eating the most wonderful meals cooked by his wife. And of course there are wines to go with these meals. Here is a quote from Suffer The Little Children:

Brunetti usually disliked eating the same thing for lunch and dinner, but the tuna steaks Paola had simmered in a sauce of capers, olives and tomatoes could hardly be said to have originated on the same planet as the tuna tramezzini he had eaten fro lunch. Tact and good sense prevented his making any reference to the latter, since comparison even with such paltry opposition might offend. He and his son Raffi shared the last piece of fish, and Brunetti spooned the remainder of the sauce on to his own second helping of rice.

"Dessert?" Chiara asked her mother, and Brunetti realized that he had managed to save space for something sweet.

"There's fig ice-cream," Paola said, filling Brunetti with a flush of anticipation....

Sensational it was, and after the four of them had managed to knock off an entire kilo, Brunetti and Paola repaired to the living room, each with a small glass of grappa, just what Brunett's Uncle Ludovico had always prescribed to counteract the effects of heavy meal.

I can't but wonder how it would be possible to do the same with a British detective. How could steak and kidney pie or a hamburger ever be as sensual as some of the dishes Brunetti describes. Moveover, he goes home for lunch! What detective does that! I love it!

I've been a bit preoccupied by the sensuality of food and drink in the last week. I'm not sure why. Reading another Donna Leon novel probably did it. So,when I went into a book shop yesterday looking for a book on Chinese cooking, I couldn't resist a book by Isabel Allende, Aphrodite: the love of food and the food of love.
This from the introduction:

The fiftieth year of our life is like
the last hour of dusk,
when the sun has set and one turns
naturally towards reflection.
In my case, however, dusk incites me to sin,
and perhaps for that reason,
in my fiftieth year I find myself reflecting
on my relationship
with food and eroticism: the weaknesses
of the flesh that most tempt
me are not, alas,
those I have practiced most.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Just a coincidence, I must add.