Is It Really Almost A Fortnight Since My Last Entry?

Yes, I guess that it is.

Oh much has happened in the world over that time. We have a world wide economic recession going on and many other stories that are serious and affecting many but you can find all that you need to know in your media and access to various sites on the Internet.

That's probably why my blog is not controversial and sticks to my interests and hobbies.

So what has been going on in the last 10-14 days since I last posted on here?

Very little...so don't expect some Earth shattering thoughts here...

I had another appointment with my Consultant and treatment is much as before(with another attempt to reduce my steroids still further)this has to be gradual and slow and though they play an important part in my care, the medical professionals prefer to get you off these very strong drugs as soon as possible but they have to weigh up the positives and negatives, the wrong decision could see you having to take them again.

Grumpy and moody I am not, it's not my nature but Prednisone is know to have the side effect of mood swings. With me it can(occasionally)cause me to lose my temper(and be "over the top" but it lasts seconds, I know I am doing it and it stops as quickly as it starts)As the treatment reduces this does become less of a problem. I have to be on the drugs for many months before this side effect shows itself.

I have noticed this past few weeks things have improved on this score. Don't think it happens all the time and often. You can go days or weeks before it happens and after such an incident, you can go as long again.

To be honest, after my trip to the hospital I was more concerned to get back to some normality and that means popping into the hospital's restaurant where I had my usual lunch of baked beans and chips(French Fries)half a bread bun and followed by a mug of tea.

Now, usually, I'd book a taxi and come straight home but with Mum's support we decided whilst there, very close to the hospital are two supermarkets. My fridge/freezer and cupboards are well stocked but a couple of years ago we purchased a mop that you can attach sponge heads to and you pop in a bottle of liquid cleaner. By squeezing a button on the handle it spurts out the liquid and you can clean the kitchen vinyl tiles and/or the porch area at the front of the house.

Unfortunately, the supermarket in my own town stopped stocking the mops, liquid refills and mop heads so making the mop obsolete. I got into my head that just possibly one of these supermarkets might have supplies in stock.

Lucky for me the one I chose to look inside had everything and that included the mop. So I bought double the amount of supplies that I usually do so that should keep us going. I did read in the local free sheet of my town that another customer of the supermarket in my town has found that he can no longer get replacement parts for a mop that he had purchased and his solution was to buy a new mop altogether and get rid of his original system. Makes you wonder how many others have been let down. It's not as if it's an unknown brand.

My attempts and continued interest in cooking continues and mostly it's successful but I did try what I hoped would be an interesting and new meal last Sunday and I followed a recipe that looked promising and was disappointed. It was a casserole type dish. Using a variety of vegetables. Chicken Breasts coated in flour and fried in Olive Oil and then placed in the oven where I added a chicken stock cube and stout ale(in particular Guinness)something I have never drunk in my life.

Unfortunately, the liquid measurements given were too much and all I did was swamp the meal so the vegetable were soggy and absorbed the Guinness so much that they tasted of beer and it dominated the meal altogether and did not taste very good at all.

Later on thanks to a very good friend(I was advised)where I had gone wrong and it would appear I had done most of the recipe correctly and it was the amount of liquid to blame as much as anything. So I may give it another try sometime but at least you learn from your mistakes along the way. So if I have posted the recipe on my blog, proceed with caution and reduce how much liquid you put into this recipe. You probably could get away with using less of both or drop one or the other. I also proved to myself that I can make a kind of home made batter so another skill learnt.

Of late, getting around has been more of a trouble again, thanks to painful knee joints and one in particular slipping and you can sometimes hear it clunk as you attempt to rise when getting out of a chair so it's quite loud. Also, it is making sleeping difficult as you cannot manage to get into a comfortable position in bed. The only answer being painkillers or remarkably getting out of bed. But when you want to sleep and are tired that is not the solution you want. My eyes are giving me some trouble which could again be part of the condition or the treatment I am on.

Moving on to today. It's horrible out there with the likelihood of rain but there is a strong wind possibly increasing to gale force and whipping the leaves off the trees as we head for Autumn/fall. It seemed strong enough battling against it already and we did get blown about a fair bit. You can see the town's retail centre from the Dr's surgery so we're talking a few hundred yards and we like to try a little exercise but we took the option of phoning for a taxi(which I reckon when we actually were driven from the surgery to town took no more than 30 seconds)and cost £2.50(US $4.01902/Eur 3.13763)That may seem extravagant but it makes all the difference when mobility is impaired. I have been known to have a bag full of shopping, be at the bottom of the street where I live and order a taxi home rather than struggle.

For all that the gardener arrived and tidied everything up this afternoon(that sounds terribly grand)it's not but I can no longer do this task that I used to enjoy. Perhaps this is the last time for this year. It cannot be for much longer as this weekend we really start to head towards Winter and the cold dark nights as we put the clocks back.

Earlier, I accompanied Mum to her appointment at the Dr's for her regular check up and she is a little unsteady on her feet so there's me supporting myself on my walking cane but then both of us supporting each other. The good thing was that her blood pressure was correct this time.

Whilst waiting for the prescription to be made up at the pharmacy, I managed to get a little shopping in(bread, my computer magazine)and to save some time I managed to buy for lunch a baked bean and sausage melt and from the fish shop a portion of "proper" chips. I say proper in that when we cook chips at home as good as they are we tend to use oven chips and there is still something about the taste traditionally prepared chips.

We found one taxi waiting so we could avoid phoning for one or having to wait and managed to get home safely.

Upon getting home we found that the refuse collection had been completed(Both recycled and normal household collection)

After warming the chips and melt in the oven followed by a mug of coffee we felt that everything had gone well and smoothly. It's great when it all comes together. Even the mail arrived after getting home.

And now I am trying to take the rest of the day easy...

How the simple things of life can mean so much and how happy I am to be pleased by so little.

I'm away to plan my evening meal in my mind...

Again, simple and easy I think. Unusually, though we tend to eat fish on Tuesdays and Fridays...tonight it will be fish...cod, I think, and for the first time for me I am thinking of making a parsley sauce for the fish, mashed potato and I have some spinach to use up. The other night I added some cheese sauce to broccoli and cauliflower florets(the fish was haddock)

It's not that I am always looking for complicated dishes to cook but variety as much as anything.

Update:I did a very simple meal as promised but though cod is usually a nice fish...and this same food manufacturer does a lovely haddock fillet, the cod was a disappointment and I will not be buying it again. It was cooked as per the directions and the dates were fine but the fish was not.

I have some interesting stories I have found across the Internet(food and science based in the past fortnight)that I think are worth posting links to so watch out for them soon. I hope that you'll agree.

Some of my friends have already been pointed in their direction. They are interesting but if you think about what they are saying it's common sense and in many cases stating the obvious. Only because research has been carried out just maybe they will carry some weight.