It's never going to end. One year and 3 months after the first lockdown, we are still in a pandemic. We still wear masks, we still social distance. We don't hug, we don't shake hands, we use hand sanitizers as if there are germs spreading on every surface. We stare nastily at people who don't wear masks in shops, on public transport. We shake our heads in disbelief at those who tell us they don't want to take the vaccine, they don't trust the system, it's too soon, it's Bill Gates, it's the 5G network, it's the dark side of the moon. It's the incredible stupidity of people who'd much rather believe that obscure video that showed up in their Facebook feed than the national health services. And this is true in every country. It's true in rich countries, in poor countries. Stupidity knows no boundaries. I'm tired of it. I often wish the covid could just attack stupid people. Those who scream that their liberties are being suppressed because they're being told to wear a flimsy piece of cloth in front of their ugly faces. Yes. I'm fed up. I'm angry. Please stupid idiots, will you give us a fucking break?
Anyhow. I'd have thought that by now we would have been back to normal. And I would have been entertaining. But no sir, let us continue with this new way of doing things. No more than two households and blah blah blah. To be honest, there was nothing stopping me from making my alpha dinners. Just the fact that it's so nice having Eric making dinner. It's not like I have been twiddling my fingers in the last year. I've done quite a bit of volunteering. To the point that I now feel that I am kind of in employment. I just don't get paid. Also, I'm out of Facebook. I still use Instagram (but don't post much), read Tweeter and tweet when I have something to complain about and I spend a little time laughing my head off watching tik tok videos. I love Casper, the sweetest talking dog. And the married guy who makes a parody of his wife in a very hilarious way. And even the Planet Money tik tok videos are funny and entertaining. And the excel guru. Wow, he's something. But since I'm no longer in Facebook and I've been thinking about (and failing to) keeping a journal, I think this blog could become some sort of summary of what I've been up to. N'est pas?
Plus if I don't expect that I'll have much traffic on it, I can say what I like. Not that it's ever stopped me before, mind. I do tend to talk a lot about a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with my cooking. Like politics. Although now the UK politic is more entertaining than the US since Trump lost and we're all rejoicing in the boring years of the Biden administration. The guy is cool and I'm happy with boring. I am a bit disappointed about what he's doing in Afghanistan and how badly he handled the latest Israel/Palestine saga (sorry, probably a bad choice of word given how many people died). I do think that it would make for the longest Netflix series. Or even longer than Coronation Street. Promised Land. Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break. I'm so tired of religion generally. I'm tired of all sides. I'm tired of people doing bad things in the name of a non-existing and, frankly, mean and egocentric God. Just sit down already. And Shut. The. Fuck. Up.
Right. Got that out of the way.
So, I was saying. I have been volunteering a lot. I've been doing shopping for three old ladies: Judy, 74, visually impaired from New Zealand, very nice and clever. Loves books. Pauline, 87 very funny, always buys me stuff from Marks and Sparks and loves shopping at Zara. I've given her my old Iphone 5 - or 6 - and she can't figure it out but want to stick with it. She can't make calls. Or answer them. Or read texts. But she want to stick to trying. OK. Molly, recently turned 90, she shared her birthday cake with me. She's smart and sassy. Very English. But super sweet and makes me tea with chocolate chip biscuits every week when I drop off her shopping. We've been having some really good conversations in the last year. About everything. She loves gardening.
I've been volunteering at the Royal Trinity Hospice warehouse and have been having a blast. Hard labour, at the end of the day I'm beat and I doubt I could do it for more than a day but it's so much fun to go through the corporate donations. I've been buying a lot of stuff too. And we get some great donations. But I do think that Hugo Boss may be going bust... Huge donations. I have suggested we re-brand the shops to Hugo Boss Outlet Store. Lovely people working/volunteering there too. We have a party next week, just a few hours. But there's going to be prosecco.
Also, I'm now the treasurer on the Board of trustees of three London based charities (using my hard earned accounting skills):
1. The Volunteer Centre for Kensington and Chelsea. They basically organize volunteering activities for the less affluent residents of the borough. I've learned that despite being one of the richest borough in the UK, there are poor parts (and I've also learned that the Grenfell Tower where a fire killed a lot of people in 2018 is in North Kensington and the VCKC is still very involved with activities to help the residents). It's nice to be on their board. I really like the people and get along great with the Chair and the CEO.
2. The Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) international institute. It took me a while to figure out what the I stood for. I thought it was institute but then it wouldn't make sense that there was institute coming after. It's not clear on the website. Anyhow. Lots to do and lots to learn. Lots of drama too. But I really like the board (almost everyone) and the staff (almost everyone) and I feel like I'm making a difference.
3. The Spire Centre. This is in Streatham and they help with homelessness and sex work (among other things). Again, it's a great cause, a great board and lovely people. I've only joined in January so I don't feel I've made a difference but the CEO is so appreciative that perhaps I have done more than I think...?
Last summer I was also busy with making calls on behalf of Democrats Abroad to make sure people voted in the US election. You're welcome.
I've also been able to donate blood again. Since I must have contracted mad cow disease in the UK, this is the only country that would take my blood. Or so I thought... turns out that after my first donation I've developed a bit of shortness of iron so the subsequent times I've been told I need the blood more than the people I'd be giving it to. Must be all the dieting and exercise.
I started running again. It turns out I had an irritated MCL and after a few months of online physiotherapy, I was able to slowly start running again in late December 2020. I'm now back to running every three days (I'm afraid my knee can't handle more than that) but back to 10K per session and not too slow either! I signed up for a 10K race with Odile in central London in late July. Pandemic permitting, it'll happen for real (not virtually!).
I think that's all I can think of.
I've had a million zoom/WhatsApp/MS teams/google hangout meetings and calls. It means I've been able to keep up with friends. Even though I've only been able to see Kristiane for the most part. Very occasionally Simonetta. And once or twice Odile. Who's now cancer free. Thank goodness for that.
Kristiane was/is in my bubble so we've pretty much seen each other a lot. And sent a million WhatsApp messages. She's been coming to dinner and even has made us dinner (once - most of the time she'll have us over and we'll get take away). We celebrated her 49th birthday here and I made her a peanut butter/chocolate/Reese’s pieces cake from scratch. It was delicious. We celebrated my 50th year old birthday together too. She bought me a delicious chocolate cake from a bakery. We have lost 1000lbs on weight watchers. Put on 1010. We are still looking good.
I've been making home made bread. All the time. I no longer buy it. I am becoming really good at it. But perhaps eating too much bread. Hence the 10lbs net weight gain. Although that could also be due to the snacking on biscuits after dinner in front of the TV. Eric and I have watched millions of Netflix/amazon/bbc/channel 4 series. That's what happens when you can't go out. We spend the evening watching tv. It could be worse. We could have been in the 90s and the choices would have been EastEnders, Coronation Street and the Bill. And potentially Big Brother (big yawn).
What else? Well, I co-started a book club. There's only six of us and we're all girls but really only three of us consistently read the book. We names it Reading between the vines. Odile suggested the name, cool isn't it? We've been at it for almost a year but in a couple of weeks it's the first time we will meet in person. Zoom meetings have been ok but in person is a lot better! I also look forward to opening the club to others. Would be great to have a man in it. Also, my international book club with Giovanna and Cecilia has also been extended to the other friends in Italy. So now we have a real circolo letterario! It's fun.
All of the above has nothing to do with Kuwait, I know. Or food. But I wanted to write it down.
Anyway, guess who came to my Kuwait dinner? Yes, Kristiane of course. We were still in lockdown. Although the shops were open and we were allowed to eat at restaurants outside. And we did a couple of times. But the weather in April and May wasn't good (it is after all England and I'm proud that I've written a lot already and the weather has only just come up. Must be a first. Most definitely a last).
Dinner was not great. It wasn't bad but it could have been better. I didn't spend enough time reading the recipes and so there were a few surprises with the ingredients (or the instructions or both, it's a month ago can't recall properly).
I started with Warak Enab (stuffed grape leaves). I'm not typically a fan but it was probably one of the nicest dish of the evening. Kristiane thought they were a bit bland and Eric felt they were a bit scorched (that's the problem when you slow cook with a crappy electric stove) but he thought they were tasty and well made.
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