Ad libitum

You'll have noticed that I sent out my update quite late this morning, and that's entirely due to my having had a lovely sleep! I I took almost an hour to fall asleep, but once I did, I was out like a wet candle! Jerry was lying across my feet until I moved a bit, and he crawled up alongside me and moved my hand to pet his tummy. We lay there for a while, then I had to get up. He waited until I was settled in my chair and jumped into my lap where he spent a cozy couple of hours. He's now curled in a ball next to my feet. Spoiled puppy!

I rested again today, because I had very limited energy. However, because I woke up so late, the day seemed to just slip past. I didn't do a lot, but I feel better than when I woke up this morning. I'm not crazy about missing so much time, but I'm so low on energy that taking these breaks are beneficial.

I was craving Thai basil, garlic and chili stir fry for a couple of weeks now. I'd pull up menus for various places, planning to order it. But then when I'd selected it, I saw the total, and I'd cancel the order. I understand that the restaurants are trying to stay afloat, and it's a difficult time for everyone. Then the delivery apps have to make money, so there are fees that add to the total. I realized that some places have different prices for delivery, pickup or in person ordering, with delivery being the most expensive. Then, after adding a delivery fee, a processing fee (really?), there's another prompt for a tip for the driver. What, then, does the delivery fee cover? After adding in the fees, a $12 meal becomes almost $20. That's one issue. The second is that the $12 meal was $8 about 6 months ago. I understand inflation, but a 50% increase that quickly? Our "set" Chinese meal went from $25 last year  to $87 this year. That’s before the fees and taxes. So, as you can guess, we've stopped ordering it. Deliveryis convenient, but the prices are becoming too exorbitant for my liking.

As far as possible, I've been cooking instead of ordering. Some items I can make quickly. and in a few cases, my preparation is better. in my opinion. Other items are more challenging, either because they require specialist equipment or ingredients (like pomegranate molasses) which I don't have. Where the ingredients are concerned, I've got to assess how much I'd use them before I rush out to get the smallest 20-gallon size! (kidding! But some items seem only available in giant sizes) Every so often, I go on a jag of doing recipes of a particular region-like a few years ago I was doing a lot of Arabic recipes, so I got a small container of tahini- which hasn't dropped even a centimetre! I'm again looking for recipes with tahini to try and use up the bottle.

Since  Samantha chopped up vegetables for me, I've been doing some cooking to maximize them. I did some eggplant and chicken-it was a meal that I enjoyed since I was a child. I remember in school, my BFF Joanne's mom would do that sometimes, and Joanne didn't like it, so we'd swap lunches. I also did some stewed chicken and cabbage and pumpkin with salted. cod. All old favourites, all delicious, and mostly stored in the freezer to cover my meals for the next few weeks while I'm in radiation therapy. I did some online searches for a Thai basil, chili and garlic mix.. After a few searches and reading almost 2 dozen recipes, I tried tonight, and I was able to do a fairly decent dish. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself for that! I hope that I can hold some energy tomorrow-I'd like to make some cookies and maybe some muffins.

Thankfully, radiation is generally easy on me, so I am optimistic that J'll have an appetite! I may have some temporary pain as the tumor is treated, but they are good with monitoring and corroding my symptoms. I don't anticipate too many problems. I'll probably do a bit of light cooking tomorrow to use. up the rest of my cut Vegetables, and rest. I expect my personal support worker tomorrow to wash my hair, so that should make things easier. I'm off to bed early tonight; I need some sleep! Good  night!

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