It's almost 3:30 pm on a sunny and hot (but not boiling) day… I tried to eek every last minute that I could outside until the storms hit us, but as it turns out, I could have delayed much longer. Oh well, a quick check in the mirror shows that I'm already a certain shade of pink even though I've mostly been in the shade, except for a few dashes to the pool which then meant stretching out on my new chair to dry off!
I wrote a little blurb for June's father's celebration on life next week which has left me feeling a bit drained and emotional - Mr. Jenkins hired me for my first serious job which then turned into an almost 30 year career in IT. It was a major turning point in my life - who knows how things would have turned out if I'd just carried on with my summer job at the boarding kennel. I never would have chosen computing as my life's work but having been given the opportunity, I ran with it! I was luckily blessed with a brain that loved the logic and organization of my field.
Carm survived golf on that blistering hot day almost 2 weeks ago and has enjoyed a few more rounds in more moderate temperatures since - he's not getting 3 rounds in a week this year - hopefully as the summer goes on, he'll be able to add another round or two to his week.
It's been a week & a half since I last wrote but nothing exciting has happened! Well, maybe that's wrong! Last week Trudie & Leo came for supper one night, we went to the trailer for 2 nights on the weekend, then Pat came for supper on Monday night and Mom on Tuesday night. So I guess it's been busier than I thought!
I've been trying to get fully back to my workout routine but honestly, some days it takes a hurculean effort to get myself up off the sofa… yesterday I made it downstairs to my little gym for 5 minutes on the bike but only managed a few minutes of resistance exercise before I gave up - I was like a limp dish rag! I did force myself to walk on the treadmill for an hour which felt like an incredible achievement!
Today was much the same… Carm was out golfing early which should have been motivation for getting going, but I needed to trick myself. I told myself I'd only do 5 minutes on the bike (which is my normal routine) and then give myself a break with just 30 minutes of walking… once I got going I managed the bike and then over 20 minutes of resistance exercises. Then I managed to walk for the full hour - I just needed some mental tricks to get myself going!
Some days I can hardly get through my coffee before I run downstairs, but these last few weeks have been brutal!
I made sandwiches for supper on Monday when Pat came, which sounds like a cheat sort of dinner EXCEPT the damn things took me over TWO HOURS to make! I'd seen a recipe for a vegan reuban sandwich which inspired me to create my own version… first I used the mandolin to thinly slice ribbons of Japanese Yam (purple sweet potato) which I brushed with oil and sprinkled spices on. I roasted those in the air fryer, 5 at a time… each batch took 8 minutes and there were at least 4 of them… maybe 5. Then I did the same with a giant zucchini from the garden (already!)... Same time consuming process for cooking them… Once that was going, I made a zucchini radish slaw to chill in the fridge… then I thinly sliced some firm tofu and mixed it with BBQ sauce. This got air fried till it was starting to crisp up a bit on the corners. And then I made a white bean garlic spread to use in place of butter…
All of this got piled onto toasted pumpernickel bread along with lettuce from our garden for incredible sandwiches! Was it worth all the work? I'm not sure, but Pat and Carm raved about them so perhaps I'll do it again with a few tweaks to make the process a bit faster…
The other thing I've been making is sort of a 'Tuscan' white bean dish with cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers, onion, garlic, scapes, fresh basil and a bit of kale. It comes together quickly in the pan and tastes delicious 😋 I've been throwing white beans into everything these days!
Last night for Mom I just made egg salad on a cardamom bun along with roasted zucchini with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red pepper, fresh basil, and a bit of feta cheese. I'll be making buckets of this salad over the summer ☀️ And honestly, an egg salad sandwich is 'da bomb!' and always a favorite, not to mention a whole heck of a lot less work! I need to make a scale of effort and effect to rate the two sandwiches! I think the egg salad would rate way way higher!
I started doing Bulgarian split squats yesterday… 3 sets of 5 on each leg (yes, just 5)... They were hard but not impossible. Well, my glutes are getting more and more sore even though it was over 30 hours ago!!! Obviously there is a lot more muscle needed! 💪 I wonder if strengthening these muscles will make it easier to walk at an incline when I'm on the treadmill?
Awesome!
"remembering old times"
"sandwiches"
