Saturday, May 18, 2013

Update on Goals

It's hard to believe that we're already so far through the year. It barely seems a few short weeks ago that snow was falling and winter was in full swing.

Oh, wait...

Anyway, it's time for an update on the goals I set at the start of the year. So, here we go...

  • Health: Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the underlying cause of most of my health issues has been explained. The other good news is that I have an appointment to see a physio on Thursday, so there should be some movement on my neck. The bad news, sadly, is that the underlying issue isn't going away; I'll just have to manage it. Which is less than ideal, but it could be worse.
  • Weight: No movement.
  • Work: This has been another case of good news and bad news. Three weeks ago, things were pretty much awful, but this week has been much better. I'm monitoring the situation.
  • Books: I've read 19 books so far, putting me quite some way behind target. That said, I'm on track with most of the 'series' I set, and am gradually catching up, so it may not be impossible to reach the goal. Maybe.
  • Debt: So far, so good. The last payment for the bathroom should be made a month from now. It will be good to be free of that.
  • Games: This has been going well. "The Eberron Code" campaign is now two sessions from completion. In addition, I have run two of the five one-shots I hope to get through. "Firefly: Furiously Fast" was well received, while "Star Wars: Imperial Fist" was the second-best game I have run in about a decade. So that's good.

Experimental Cookery 2013: Carrot & Coriander Soup

Last one of these for a while, I promise!

This was the second soup taken from "A Soup for Every Day". It was a quick and easy soup to put together, and was nice and tasty. One thing I found surprising was the way that the nutmeg in the recipe came through in the end result. All in all, it was very much a success, and I expect to be doing this again.

Experimental Cookery 2013: Perfect New Potatoes

Purely for completeness...

These were taken from "Jamie's Ministry of Food", we had them with some piri piri chicken and a nice salad. They were fine.

And that's about all there is to say about that!

Experimental Cookery 2013: Butternut Squash, Orange & Ginger Soup

For our anniversary, LC got me a new cookbook: "A Soup for Every Day" from the New Covent Garden Food Co. (I got her two tickets to go see "Sleeping Beauty on Ice", and a bundle of all the newspapers from our wedding day (as I alluded to in my post about the wedding)) This was the first soup taken from the book.

It did not go well.

I gathered the ingredients, chopped them up, started the cooking, and got to the simmer stage. So far, so good. I then made the mistake of leaving it alone to simmer. And when I returned after the appropriate time, it had boiled dry and burnt on to the pan. Oops.

At this point, LC noted that she married me for my cooking, and declared she was leaving. Oh no!

Needless to say, I begged for another chance. I was sure I could do better.

Fortunately, the second attempt was much more successful. I cut the simmer stage down, and watched it like a hawk... and it all came out very well.

The resulting soup was really quite nice, with the stronger flavours of the ginger and the orange giving a nice complement to the otherwise rather bland squash. So that was good.

So, that was good.

#17: "The Surgeon's Mate", by Patrick O'Brien
#18: "Pathfinder: Maiden, Mother, and Crone", by Tim Hitchcock
#19: "Nightglass", by Liane Merciel