What’s the best way to de-stress?

Sunday morning (oh, that’s a song) I decided the best way to de-stress was to NOT try to walk or go out & exercise before brunch. Carl & Susan are coming over – oldsters like us, and fully vaxed – and I’m making a pretty simple menu** that gets done à la mi​nute, except for the coffee cake that I made last night, so I was thinking I’d go walk or something before. But when I woke up this morning I realized it’d be a lot more relaxing to just putter around, and not try to go anyplace beforehand, so that’s what I’m doing.

** Bacon, tomato, & arugula bennies, with blender Hollandaise; rhubarb coffee cake; Susan’s bringing OJ; and I decided to add some salad, too. We got a bag of mixed lettuces at the Westside market yesterday, and looks like it should be eaten soon. And I made a nice scallion vinaigrette, with some of the scallions we also bought, so again easy.

After brunch I went for a bike ride, and seems like they’re boarding up more of State St, in anticipation of unrest after the Derek Chauvin trial.

Speaking of less stress, as above we did the little Westside Farmers Market this week. It was much less crazy than the big one last Saturday, and a lovely day – sunny and cold. When we were about three-fourths of the way home, I was thinking this was about as good a pandemic market as you can get. Besides the bag of lettuce and the scallions, we got daffodils.

After we got back from the market, the cat supervised while I did my virtual yoga class. I think she might’ve thought I said yogurt, her favorite, but she adapted just fine to yoga.

What else … Wednesday I had to go get a mammogram. NOT less stress. They bruised me; I took pics to show my doctor, but I don’t think I’ll share them here.

The cleaners were coming so we were going to drive out to the county park and walk. It’s pandemic so Mark was going to wait in the car while I went in and got squeezed. It was kind of chilly, so I left the keys in the ignition so he could turn on the heat if he got cold. And, of course, the car wouldn’t start when I came out. After we had ordered coffees to pick up using the online app. I thought about calling Al, I have jumper cables in the car, and he’d probably have been happy to come give us a jump. But, we dug out the 800 number for Subaru roadside assistance, and that turned into a bunch of texts and recalcitrant and nonsensical apps – I mean once I put in the VIN, why do I have to put in the make & model, too? Shouldn’t that be in the VIN? Anyways, they finally said 45-50 mins., and after we’d been sitting for close to 40, I thought I should try to start the car again, and this time it started. New battery, new car, regenerated itself. I texted that we were cancelling the service, and re-ordered the coffees – the coffee place had kindly refunded – and we got the hell out of the clinic parking lot.

We got on the highway to the park, and my phone rang and it was the roadside service saying, “are you still stuck?” By now their 45-50 minutes had been an hour and 10. I told them no, and I thought I’d cancelled.

When we got to the park they were doing a prairie burn. I didn’t take any pictures, not my thing, although I do have some from a burn off the side of the soccer field a few years ago, and one of the photographers in my photography discussion group did a whole book of fire pics. We sat in the car and finished our coffees and did our normal walk.

I’d taken a furlough day, so when we got home, I didn’t work – I sat on the couch and read with the cat. I think she’s decided my living room is OK if there’re people around – she watched This Is Us with me on Tuesday, but now we don’t get another new episode until May 11.

What about dinners? Let’s see, Tuesday we ordered a pizza, and I put gas in the car and bought water softener salt on the way to pick it up. Wednesday we had stir fry vegetables and rice cooked in coconut milk and ground turkey curry, also with coconut milk. I didn’t make the salted cabbage this time – there was a bunch of cabbage in the stir fry – but it’s really good, and you can use green cabbage as well as Napa. Thursday we had the last of the potato, leek, and bacon quiche that was made from the pasty fill. It made 3 meals, we had it for dinner two Thursdays, first time here, brunch once, see below, and it still took a 2nd Thursday dinner to finish it.

Thursday morning I biked to Metcalfes before work and did some of the grocery shopping – scored a gallon bucket of Schoeps vanilla, which has been increasingly hard to get. I did the rest of the shopping at the co-op by car later on between meetings, because I had to go back to the clinic where the car’d died the day before to get a bunch of shots. Tetanus vaccine, and the pneumonia one they want us over-60’s to have, and I could’ve gotten the one for shingles, too, but the nurse and I agreed that was a lot for one day, and I could get the anti-shingles one when I come back in July for my yearly dermatologist full body scan. Whew, lots of doctoring for a week.

Friday we had sourdough discard biscuits with ham salad, and oven fries, wedges of some small local yellow potatoes, and a salad. The fries came out really good. I think I usually try to make make too many at once and they don’t crisp, so cooking for two worked the charm in this case.

Saturday we had pizza, and that crust had sourdough discard, too.

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And oh yea, last Sunday we had quiche and yogurt parfaits and and cimmy buns.

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And somewhere in there – Thursday, maybe? I made peanut butter cookies. Pandemic panic shopping lead to an abundance of peanut butter, so cookies. And I made the linzer thumbprints with dough that had been in freezer since Christmas, and I thought it made a pretty picture – PB&J.

So we’re back around to this week – Monday. When I took a walk in the morning and admired the magnolias. On the news they said we had to go to the Arboretum to see the magnolias, but they’re pretty nice on the neighborhood streets, too.

And the crazy plaid flowers.

I made bread and the loaves aren’t as high as last time, but I didn’t burn it either.