Tuesday was exceptionally stressful. I worked from home because my Mom had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon, and I needed to take her there.
First, I decided to cut a piece of stale bread to soften it in the microwave, and for some reason started with holding it in my hand instead of the cutting board. There was no good reason for it, I was not at any rush, and if I were in a rush, there would be even less reason. The expected result was that I cut myself. I cut myself with a very sharp Japanese knife, which Vlad gave me for Christmas several years ago. It’s an excellent knife, even when I do not sharpen it as regularly as I should, so I ended up with a cut across four fingers on my left hand plus the nail on my pinky. There was lots of blood, which took me some time to stop.
When I took my Mom to her doctor, he was an hour behind, and we ended up sitting there for an hour and a half. What was worse – for some reason, my hotspot was not functioning in this building, so I could not even do my work while we waited. And when I finally came home, turned out that my work password had expired (I’ve received a warning but forgot to react), and thanks goodness I was able to sign up to my work email from my iPad and emailed our Help Desk/DevOps. She called me right back and was able to restore my access for the time being, although I was still missing lots of functionality, at least I could do work.
And then I was doing work until quite late.
I think it’s only natural that after a day like this I wanted to treat myself. I like everything made of pumpkin, and none of my family shares this love, so making something with pumpkin is always a special treat for me.
Last summer was not especially great for Illinois agriculture, and I ended up having lots of winter squashes in my CSA deliveries. I baked them and froze the puree in small containers so that I could defrost them as needed. There were so many that I had some left till now. And since the new winter squashes will start to arrive soon, I made an effort to consume whatever was left :). The inspiration for the soup came from this recipe, but it has indeed just an inspiration.
One small container of acorn squash puree, dissolved in the same amount of water, plus half of Honeycrisp apple sliced finely. Add some salt, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Mix and boil together for a little bit. Add a tablespoon of sour cream or plain yogurt, and some pumpkin seeds on top. And life is beautiful:)
The next morning breakfast: oatmeal with flaxseed, mixed with pumpkin puree, ginger, and cinnamon. Cold frothed milk and pumpkin seeds on top.
Hettie's Reflections 