Continued Cupboard Purging, with Knitting

Muffins should always be eaten quite calmly, as it is the only way to eat them! --Oscar Wilde

The heat wave broke earlier in the week, and I'm happy to report that we have been able to sleep without air conditioning and fans. I guess I must have been finding the hot weather difficult because I reached the weekend feeling quite tired. I napped for a long time yesterday afternoon. This after yapping on about how much more energetic I was feeling these days. I guess I jinxed myself.

Today, it was cool enough to have the oven on, so I went on another cupboard purge and made a batch of Lemon Semolina Muffins. I really can't remember why I had a bag of semolina in the cupboard, but it's been a good challenge to try to use it up before we move. I reduced the sugar by a third and didn't bother with the syrup or the glaze, and I used some of the lemon balm from my garden instead of using lemon zest. This is my second batch of these, and neither batch rose all that much, but I hereby declare them perfectly delicious: buttery, with a nice texture that comes from the semolina. It's a bit of a misnomer to call them a muffin. I'd call them more of a cupcake myself.... but they're so good that I might have to call them "finished" soon:

I also decided to try to make something with these enormous radishes I got the other day. I've never seen such big radishes. A lady at the local grocery store told me once that they were delicious quartered, steamed, and then pan-roasted in butter, and you know, she was right. I cooked them along with some quartered new potatoes, some onions, the radish greens and a couple of eggs to make a sort of hash. They were so delicious, but I'm not sure when I'll be making it again because these came from the United States and I'm not sure how much us Canadians will be able to get from that country anymore. I'll have to wait for the local ones to be ready... or I'll just have to grow my own.

And that's about as political as I'm going to get on this blog.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to report that our blueberries are about to ripen. Good ol' local blueberries:

I also decided today was a good day to make some rice pudding... at least a version of it. This is a dessert I feel like I should have grown up with, and I sorta did, except the Filipino iteration would have had corn in it. I did keep up the tradition of using evaporated milk, not for tradition's sake but to use up one more thing out of the cupboard. Traditionally, it would have also have been cooked on a small fire in a huge wok and would have been tended to by the youngest child (me) who would have had to have stirred it constantly so it wouldn't burn. That job was still mine. I'm still pretty good at it.

I decided at the last moment to add some lemon extract and a touch of sugar, and MAN it was good. I've still got more rice to use up, so I guess I'll have the hardship of making it again. Poor me:

And of course, the knitting continues. My top is coming along pretty well. I was so sure I'd be at the point where I could separate for the sleeves by now, but I haven't worked on it nearly as much as I thought I would this week. I am also somewhat mystified by the instructions in the pattern, which, had I followed them, would have made my top about six inches long under the armpit. I've read and re-read and re-re-read it, and I just don't get it. I've decided I'm just going to knit it until I deem it long enough, which experience tells me is at LEAST 15 inches from the armpit. So there.

I feel somewhat discouraged by the world these days. News of people who advocate for hate and separation and people who act in revenge and for pride have made my heart and mind really heavy.  I look at my parents and I feel bad that this is the world they are growing old in. I feel kind of lonely these days for folks who are happy to laugh and smile and to look out for the people around them. You're out there, right? I hope so. Do me a favour and try to bring a bit of sunshine to someone's day. We'll all be better for it.

Have a good week.