Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Ice and illness


Ice storm yesterday, a mix of snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, rain and wind. Overnight the temperature rose and then fell so it was below zero in the evening and the morning but apparently quite warm in between. Now there is a thick layer of ice on the ground everywhere. I get around okay with my Icers but Hapi has some difficulty with it. I spread sand on the driveway but I still need to sand the steps she uses to get into the back yard. Also the front steps. I don't use them much in the winter time but I try to keep them clear just in case.

I was late to the Reservoir this morning, I met some of the dog walkers as they were just leaving. I recently gave a whole bunch of back issues of The New Yorker magazine to A, a dog walker in her 90s, now every time I see her she thanks me for them, she is really enjoying them. The nice thing about that magazine is that it doesn't have to be current to be enjoyable reading. I used to take my magazines to the library when I was finished with them but the library stopped accepting them when the pandemic started. A told me she used to go to the library to read The New Yorker and then with the pandemic they stopped having them. She was reading my magazines. Meanwhile I was stockpiling them in hopes of finding someone who would enjoy them since I hated to just throw them in the recycling. So we are both happy.

I had a doctor appointment yesterday morning but there was no way I was driving in freezing rain, so I was able to get the appointment changed from an in-person to a phone appointment. Yay Covid; never could have done that before. Last week I had an MRI brain scan and yesterday the doctor told me that my brain was old but normal, no signs of any abnormalities. I wasn't really surprised, I've been moving away from that idea anyway. She also offered referrals to a neurologist and to a clinic that specializes in complex chronic diseases and I accepted both. She cautioned me that the neurology referral will take two years to come about; yay Nova Scotia. I hope the other referral will be quicker but I am not holding my breath. She thinks I should try a tricyclic antidepressant for neuropathic pain. I am very wary of antidepressants in general, I will try it but I am pretty fed up with drugs that cause unpleasant side effects. My illness is just one giant unpleasant side effect, I don't need any more thank you very much.

Sometimes I think that Hapi's health and mine are somehow linked, that we have the same problems at the same time. I wonder if it's something in the water we both drink? Or if it's some kind of woo-woo psychic link? Or I am just projecting? I am fed up with not being well, not being able to skate or ski. I can still walk but I pay a price for that in fatigue. In the midst of the storm yesterday there was a brief period when no precipitation was falling from the sky and the road was not too icy. I had run out of milk so I walked down town to buy some. I wanted it to be a quick trip so I did not wake Hapi. It was quick, but the walk back up the hill was completely debilitating. I am so tired of this.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Malt Bread II


I baked the Malt Bread last night, had a toasted slice this morning. Needs a bit more sugar, as my brother's partner had written in the margin of the recipe.

Yesterday we got two (!!) Emergency Alerts from the RCMP, warning us of another shooting incident and then telling us it was over. As it turned out there were actually 4 incidents around Halifax that they had to investigate, 3 were false alarms and the 4th ended with a couple of arrests but no injuries or deaths. But at least they seemed to have learned something from last weekend. I'll definitely put up with Emergency Alerts even if they are false alarms. Hapi's afternoon walk got postponed as a result but that's okay, for me at any rate. Hapi wasn't so happy about it.

There was a virtual vigil last night, I listened to part of it. There's only so many speeches and so much sad music that I can deal with. When I did take Hapi for her walk around the neighbourhood I wore a red bandanna face mask in honour of mourning and saw many red hearts and flags hanging from or displayed in windows. Several people hung out Nova Scotia tartan scarves by their doors.

Last week I was so happy to be well again and able to get out of the house and enjoy the beginnings of Spring, this week it's been shock, anger and grief. I don't know what next week will bring.

I've been listening to a lot of John Prine lately, sad loss to Covid-19. Here's one of my favourites:

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Malt bread

Memories of malt
It's been a week of birthdays, starting with mine and going on to a brother, a friend, a daughter-in-law and a son.

On my brother's birthday I phoned him and he mentioned that his partner had just made some malt bread remarkably similar to the malt bread our mother used to buy on weekends. I asked for the recipe and a few days later he sent me a photo of the recipe, marked up with his partner's adjustments and comments. I have all but one of the ingredients in stock, I will have to go on a bit of a hunt to find the missing ingredient, to wit, the malt for which the bread is named. Strictly speaking the bread should be baked in an empty apple juice can but it will work in any old bread pan.

Locally we have a malt house where they actually make malted barley which they then sell to craft breweries; they also sell to customers at their small brewpub (now closed). But their malt is a dry powder and the recipe calls for a liquid extract. I could probably find out the equivalency, but first I'll look for the liquid version. Apparently you can buy it at wine and beer kit stores, but in much larger quantities than I really want. And I don't even know if any of them are open for business now, it seems unlikely. My brother suggested a natural food store, I'll try that first.

I can't wait to try it out.

Later: I called the local natural food store. They didn't have malt extract but they did have barley malt syrup. Dr. Google says, 'same-same'.