Spring, Fall, Recipe

When sinus mayhem means nuts and raw vegetables seem like too much, raw becomes less appealing. I'm a big fan of listening to my body. So I made matzoh ball soup. And it was perfect. When that had me feeling better, I snacked on large quantities of fresh coconut, dreaming of its antiviral properties all the while. A friend brought over home grown grapefruits. And I made the best papaya lime custard on the planet.

True story.

Okay, I'll give it to you. But first let me say this has been both a trying illness, hot on the heels of the last hacking cough, and also a productive one. Not it the gross way. Well that, too, actually. But I mean in the positive, productivity way.

We cooked the plug for the food processor by dropping it behind the toaster oven. It was fried. So my marvelous husband traipsed off to the HD and picked up a handy little new plug. I griped about no time, and fussed, and made annoyed sounds. He patiently held his ground. And his quiet faith in me (when I lacked my own), paid off. I, personally, replaced the dead plug with the shiny new plug, and then I made manna bread.

The manna bread is like hard tack. But we can't have everything. Maybe it will serve in some future raw bread pudding recipe.

This was after rearranging the kitchen counters a bit, and moving tons of extraneous kitchen items into the middle of the room.

The next day I got up to teach the kids at church finger knitting. They were remarkably tolerant of my red nose. I think it's because I kept them busy with their yarn. Then we went to the park. I was not well at all, and no doubt scared strange children with my pale, cold flesh and alarming cough. Tim biked with the littles, and Kali and I drove with Stella. They all ran around, while I read The 80/20 Principle, using the 80/20 principle. So I skipped around a bit, and then read chapters 9 and 10. The how chapter, and the time chapter. Blew my mind. I must become this 80/20 thinker. That's all.

Then tennis balls had to be hit at the wall. It was preposterously cute to watch my gang hitting balls, running around, working at it. But Stella was a little difficult and barky, and finally Durga began to melt down. We decided to leave.

At this point everyone was carrying bike and tennis gear, I had the dog, and Durga was walking with me, holding two helmets. Everyone else headed for the van, with Baird trying unsuccessfully to ripstick while guiding his bike. Durga wanted to get on the dragon sculpture, so I took the helmets and waited. When done, she desperately wanted to be carried. Being the uber mama, I told her to get on my back.

Never mind I've been sick for three weeks, fine one, and sick with fever and cough for four days now. Utterly weak, and as toned as a jelly fish, I am. And I was in little shoesies. Because, sick or not, I was going to make the most of my relative youth and the presence of my husband.

I did make it half way to the van. Then my ankle did this funny, twisty thing, and I thought, "Oh no, my shoe will be scraped!" Because I'm big on clear thinking when feverish.

Kali later described it as a "Spectacular Fall".

She grabbed Durga. Tim shouted, "Oh my God!!!" Which he does. And Baird came over to rub my shoulders. Durga was not impressed at having her leg a little twisted, but was fine.

My back doesn't feel "out", but I'm being super careful. My elbow hurts. That's fine. I can't do much anyway. All the kitchen stuff is still in the middle of the kitchen. Durga gave me a Hello Kitty bandaid for my elbow. All is on it's way to well.

Papaya Lime Custard Smoothie

1 small/medium carrot
1/2 zucchini or summer squash
1/2 Hass avocado
8 stems parsley
1 1/2 c. fresh papaya
8-10 fresh strawberries
8-16 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
2 dates
1/4 c. walnuts, preferably soaked
juice 1/2 lime

Blend until utterly smooth. If the some of the fruit is frozen it's pretty amazing. I like it with less orange juice and served with a spoon. Oh, Betty.

(Ooops! Forgot to post this at the time, what with being sick and all...here it is anyway!)