#365DaysOfHabits Day 22; A Million Miles An Hour (28 January 2015)
I searched how to cook chops in the oven tonight, on some Jamie Oliver website — it just feels like there are so many. It was a long day, you know, as it goes when you are about four weeks into the new year and everything has not only shifted into gear, but shot into overdrive. I never make anything in the oven other than something that comes out of a box that I found in the frozen food section. I actually marinated the meat — in a gravy and rosemary flavour sauce — and left it in the fridge for a while. Now, even though I know this process is meant to happen overnight — the only thing I ever plan to do overnight is sleep. I actually did grocery shopping after work, something which I hate doing — walking around people watching is fun, but it is honestly more an exercise of simply tossing items into my trolly without checking prices or really exactly what it is I am buying. I need a variety of meats — beaf, fish, chicken — same old same.
I played Betty over AirPlay, all that was missing from this picture was a glass of red wine. I haven’t been able to find the brand I like in my local supermarket, and have simply been too lazy to actually go out and look for it somewhere else, or to just choose another brand. Some people obsess about the brands they wear, it has to be right and heaven forbid you are caught in some no name brand. Well, I like to have a good brand of wine. You can skimp on many things in life — red wine…not one of them. The other thing I am still sorely lacking in my life is the perfect wine glasses — I am talking Scandal caliber wine glasses! While Cape Town was greeting the day outside and a light breeze was pulling through the apartment, I took a deep breathe and just enjoyed the calmness. See, between five in the afternoon, until seven the next morning, I switch off — this is my time. My time to spend with myself, friends, family — whatever the case my be. I have done well today, that’s what I like to do — make the impossible, possible — stare into the face of disorder, and then compartmentalising. There’s nothing better than seeing chaos bow down to me as I rearrange the craziness and demand it to work out — one way or another.
We fall into a rhythm, one that simply never stops going at the speed of light. Marshmallow Easter eggs are already in stores — it’s January! I of course have no objection, since these eggs are simply my absolute favourite. I’m not a big fan of Christmas, it’s The Grinch 101. I am a firm disbeliever of Valentines Day, and I stomach New Years — barely. Easter, Easter I am somehow okay with, purely because of all the chocolate eggs. I bought my first, of what I am sure will be many, boxes of marshmallow Easter eggs.
I boiled some potatoes, to make blue cheese flavoured pomme purée. I chopped carrots to add some sweet orange goodness. Then I popped the chops into the oven, and listened to the boiling and sizzling going on around me — it sounded good. The draft was still blowing through the front door and Betty was still singing.
I have very mixed feelings about Easter. Some are amazing — those fond memories of being a boy and having to find all the eggs my parents had hidden in the garden. My dad use to hide mine in one part of the garden, and my brothers’ in another. Couldn’t have us end up with one having more than the other. Then there are those not so fond memories — where I worked on Easter weekend and when I got home there was a burglar hiding in my bathroom, an entire different story! My birthday is in March, so not very far from Easter. My friends know by now that I cannot get enough of these Beacon eggs, so they usually buy me boxes for my birthday — very healthy, I know.
My dinner was good — not scrumptious, but we’ll get there. I enjoyed it, it tasted like home…well, a little.
