The Lyorn's Den

I finished my tax return yesterday and invited myself to the ice cream parlour as a reward. I might just have ordered the largest item on the menu. The (conical) ice cream cup, when put on the table, reached up to my nose. The whipped cream and candied walnuts topped that. I got the cup and the small tray very carefully down to my knees and managed to eat all of it without getting whipped cream, amaretto, Nutella sauce or ice cream on my trousers.

That was one impressive ice cream cup.

Earlier that day I met one of the squirrels that regularly check my balcony for the nuts I hide between the flowerpots for them to find. And "met" in this case, means "it nearly flew into my face". I was in a hurry to water some wilted plants before I left, did not check the balcony before stepping out and must have scared the squirrel (a big red one with a very bushy tail) a lot. It passed about thirty centimetres from my nose, got hold of the cat net, rushed down and disappeared through the narrow gap between the wall and the railing. I heard it running down the wall.

I was a bit worried that it would not come back, but today it was sitting on its haunches right before the door, looking inside. When it had gone, I replaced the nuts.

Today is... It's past midnight.

Yesterday was my birthday, I have a cold. According to the test I did (because I'm taking part in a study) it's not one of the most common respiratory viruses, whatever else it is.
Ceridwen took me out for Schäufele for dinner.

Tomorrow is the election.

I don't know what to say. I'll just go to bed now.

I can't seem to unsubscribe using the "Manage Circle" page.
Anyone else having this problem?

With regard to health and my peace of mind the past four or five months were a giant heap of shit, and I am not sure when (and in my darker moments, if) I can put it behind me.

( Cut for health issue, I'll try not to go into too much detail )

Edit: fixed typos

Made it some weeks ago for a brunch.

For 4 people (though not on its own). Note that there's a lot of tolerance for the exact weight of the ingredients. Carrots should make up about half of the total veggies.

Clean and dice 300 grams carrots, one not-to-small (about 150 grams) starchy potato, one parsley root (about 100 grams), and one medium-sized onion (maybe 70 grams). Put 1 tablespoon (about 15 grams) of sugar into a pot large enough for the soup (4 litres should do it), and caramelise slightly. Throw in the onion and a tablespoon of butter (about 20 grams), fry on medium heat without browning, then add the veggies and enough water to barely cover it all. Mix it with a cooking spoon.

Keep it barely boiling for about 30 minutes, stir occasionally. When the veggies are soft, mash or purée it. Add some water if it turns out too thick.

In the meantime, put about 2 tablespoons of salted peanuts and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup in a small pan, bring it to boil and wonder when it might caramelise. I suggest you go by smell. Prepare a sheet of oiled greaseproof paper and pour the hot mass on it, spread it a bit (it's sticky) and let it cool. Then chop not too fine with a large knife. It might be a good idea to a) to oil the knife, b) get the mass on a cutting board so you do not chop the paper.

I am not quite sure if I did that thing right, but putting it on a plate in the fridge to cool made it OK to handle, if still a bit sticky.

Season the soup to taste with a splash of orange juice (roughly 50 millilitres?), salt, and black pepper.

When serving, pour the soup in bowls, add a splash of cream, and put the peanuts in the middle.

--

To preapare the day before: Put the caramelized peanuts on a plate in the fridge. Do not add water to the soup if the consistency after mashing/pureeing is too solid. Heat the soup the next day, add hot water as needed, and then the orange juice and spices.

Make it simpler:
- skip the parsley root
- put the peanuts uncaramelised at the bottom of the soup bowls and use the maple syrup to season the soup.

Try it out: Caramelising the peanuts in sugar or part-sugar might make them crunchier and less sticky. However, maple syrup fits the soup well, and you do not want to over-sweeten the dish.

I know I meant to complain less. And things are not shitty all over. Basically there is exactly one personal (as opposed to state-of-the-world) thing with is extremely shitty and so annoying and omnipresent that I cannot write about the state of the Lyorn without complaining.

I had time off work the past week, and did, dunno, things. Went bouldering with R---, booked ferry, hotel, and night train for August, decluttered the wardrobe, got a new chest of drawers set up in the bedroom (much prettier), and applied for a choir workshop.

Yesterday I decided to drive over to the city to buy a Sudoku puzzle book. The things you do on a Deutschlandticket, when for less than 50 Euros a month you can use all public transport except for fast trains and long distance busses. But as the same day the train drivers were on strike again (feels like third time this winter, and I have Opinions about that), I bicycled 10 kilometres to the start of the tram line, and took the tram the rest of the way.

I got my Sudoku books, and bought some more books, and a shirt, and sweets, had lunch, and walked about 5K steps which made me worry about the next day, because my joints are mess and that much walking (Much. Hah. Six years ago this would have been barely worth putting on shoes for) usually means lots of pain for the next one or two days. But what the hell should I do? If I sit all day on the f***ing sofa, I will still be in pain. So I just do it and hope for the best while expecting the worst.

Bicycling back was nearly too much for my arm strength. This does not bode well for my plan to bicycle to work at least once a week when the weather is OK. I am extremely annoyed with myself and with every self-help book and article about joint pain, which advises, a) go to a doc early (they will tell you that they cannot do anything), b) move more (how the fuck should I if I cannot move because I am in pain and working through the pain makes it worse?) c) lose weight (yeah, sure. I'm underweight for my age), d) take NSAIDs (I'd love to, but I should not because other health issues - I limit myself to one every three days). "Nothing to be done" is bad enough. Every publication and know-it-all shouting idiotic useless advice really gets my goat.

Today, however, was not as bad as feared once I made it out of bed. I took the car into town, got plants for the balcony, and even managed to plant them. Two of the pots have been taken over by plants that really want to be there: In one case, young poplars! Now I have added one pot with horned violets and daisies, one with blue and white bellflowers and an errant horned violet, and one with Asian ranunculus, which are poisonous, but they are out of reach for Tully the Tabby, and he prefers grass anyway.

Tully is still alive and active and a very sweet cat. He wants his food, and his playtime, and his cuddles. He has also lost a bit of weight, but nothing alarming yet.

( Thoughts on work and money )

I had the past week off on comp time, and absolutely crammed the week with everything I wanted/needed/had to do.

I would write about it, but Tully the Tabby is lying on the keyboard and i'm keeping him from rolling all over it with one-and-a-half hand, and am typing two-fingered...

First day of my vacation, and I managed to close about 10 things on my to-do list. Yeah me.
I got a shock seeing myself in the elevator mirror because I looked like a zombie.
This evening, I was in a rotten mood. Don't know why.

But: The new washing machine got delived and set up today! And it's quite imposing with 40cm (~16 inch) drawer under it, which will probably fit all the cleaning stuff which currently clutters up the junk room. So that's one thing actually off my plate (I hope!) without drawing on and on and on and on.

One of the annoying things: I saw a short note in a financial magazine that I'll have to exchange my pink paper driver's license against a EU one which is another plastic card.... by mid-January. Oops. So, another appointment booked. I'm starting to understand why everything is so stressful (so many appointments for stuff I never had to bother wit before.) Unfortunately I cannot do anything about it. Probably that's the reason for the rotten mood. I fail to imagine a modern Sisyphos happy.

Ooookay. One damned thing after another. Tomorrow, I might go bouldering, and I might meet R___ there and that would be nice.

I have been browsing my archives, and I used to talk about books so much and now I ... don't, mostly.

It's not that I am not reading, although I have trouble sitting still, it seems that during my illness I had developed the tendency to regard "running around in circles, screaming" as a productive activity, and reading, not so much.

But as I'm trying to recover the parts of myself that I actually like (as far as my body will allow me): Talking about books.

Note re: Spoilers: I try not to, except in very general ways (i.e. "happy ending", or not), but if you really dislike spoilers, you might not want to read my reviews. Alas, I lost my spoiler masking code along with my LJ and am too lazy to re-create it.

Today I finished ( Travis Baldree: Bookshops and Bonedust )