Anna N

Don’t do it! True friends will never be able to get enough of you!

Spam onigirazu with hot mango chutney. More breakfast than I usually want or need but I know what my day holds ahead and this is likely to be the only thing I’m able to eat until this evening.

I do not know. But I used a butane table-top burner for a long time for many things. It’s not as though it’s going to be running for hours on end. There’s nothing wrong with making sure that you’ve got some good ventilation though while you’re doing it. Used sensibly by sensible people I do not think it is much of a threat.

For the duration of our stay in Manitoulin we wanted some basil. There were no basil plants to be had. Yesterday @Kerry Bealbrought me a lovely, flourishing basil plant. I reheated two slices of frozen pizza and anointed them with an overly generous chiffonade.

Plain and simple. Corn on the cob with butter and salt.

A reasonable person has a very good friend who gives them a beautiful donabe that is induction compatible. Just saying.

I think you got the answer from @liuzhou but if I had answered you myself I would’ve simply said because I ate them with chopsticks. 😂

Chinese-style eggs with tomatoes.

Corn salad. I sautéed the corn to give it a bit of color, added some chopped onion, chopped tomato, cubes of cheddar cheese and slivers of a wood smoked salami that I had received as a gift. With something like this salami it makes sense that meat be used a condiment! Just a little is enough to season the whole dish and make everything nice and smoky. I still have not done a grocery shopping since I returned from Manitoulin! So not bad all things considered.

“Baby steps” as my son is wont to say when he is encouraging his mother for better or for worse. He paid a visit today and took care of a whole bunch of little jobs so I ordered in pizza. I have frozen what was left and will have lots of quick meals in my future.

Thank you. Yes I skipped the butter as I didn’t feel it necessary.

Ha ha. Thank you but you are giving me credit where I do not deserve it at the moment. I’m just using the same little dish over and over again so I don’t accumulate dishes that I have to deal with! Serve, eat, wash, repeat.

Hot toast. Hot coffee. It’s the little things that count. Toast is topped by cream cheese and chutney. (The wall-to-wall people will be horrified but you do what you can!)

Fresh corn with miso butter. Simple but good. I might do it again in a bit as I have another cob of corn.

On her way out to a luncheon date my daughter dropped off these amazing tomatoes that she had grown. I was eating them like candy and then decided perhaps I should incorporate them into my lunch. Toasted rye bread with cheddar cheese that I just barely melted and these lovely tomatoes. Life is good.

Just a quick follow up on the imported Albertan water on our meal trays. I did get a response and if anyone can fathom the logic in it I will be happy to listen. Basically we import water from Alberta because nowhere in Ontario can we get 4 ounces of water in little teeny plastic cups to put on the meal trays. I have responded with my shock and horror!

Onigirazu with egg and TJ’s umami seasoning.

I can’t bear to look at anyone’s meals just yet but I’ll be back soon looking at them. This was my first meal at at home after six days of institutional food here. Unbeknownst to me when @Kerry Beal picked up our lunches today she also grabbed me this pork rib bahn mi so I would not have to worry about dinner and still have something delicious. And it was delicious and spicy enough to awaken my deadened taste buds. I wish you all friends like Kerry.

But... but...I lost as much weight as I would’ve if I had paid to go to a luxury skinny ranch — 4.4 K. Woo hoo. But there must surely be easier ways!

Lunch. Yes, I know it’s shocking. Kerry and I shared the eggrolls and each had a bowl of the soup in the comfort of my home! I think either that all your good wishes must have got through to my medical people and they decided to let me go or all my criticism of the food got to somebody else and they decided I should be removed quickly before I did any more damage. I am happy to be home and I am eternally grateful that you spent those 5/6 days with me. It made it tolerable. No it made more than tolerable. I felt that I had hordes of visitors all day and all night long keeping me upbeat and optimistic. Thanks to everyone for contributing, commenting, joking etc. etc.

The great toast shortage has ended I am pleased to say. I was sure I would get some sweet, poorly baked something or other. The toast still had the merest hint of warmth. I had one slice with cream cheese and a little pepper and the other with Robertsons marmalade. I rescued the apple juice but that was about as much as I could do from this tray. A thought did occur to me that our restaurants are required to post calorie counts for their meals but apparently hospitals are not? Not that anyone could fear an abundance of calories here!

Yep. Another waste of a very precious resource. Well tonight I went down to check out what I thought was a fabulous food court. There is a fabulous amount of seating but there are only four vendors! Ouch. There is Thai Express, 16 mile Café, Fit for Life and Tim Hortons. I was so disappointed. I did not eat down there as I had already eaten but my daughter had a curry from Thai Express. The Ladies Who Lunch might want to rethink their venue for tomorrow! Then my daughter decided she would like to show me the Best Buy Express which I understand was nothing more than a vending machine offering electronic products. Best Buy has been replaced by this: Feeling quite silly without even a cocktail in either of us we decided to share one of these. The machine dispensed two spoons and would’ve continued to dispense spoons as long as we were prepared to take them. It wasn’t much of an improvement on hospital food to be truthful. It was junk food even if the word yoghurt was used. But It was cold and I enjoyed that part of it and the sharing of it. Did it once. Don’t need to do it ever again. Tomorrow I will post breakfast and lunch and then bring this little diversion to a close. My medical team are going to fill my last day and a half with non-food related activities and I doubt that I will have time to do any further posting.

OK you need to hold your nose for this one. Truly, truly you do. Only because you were such a great group could I bring myself to leave the lid off long enough to snap one quick photograph. One time I am so glad we don’t have smell o vision or I would not be able to show it to you. No I did not try it – – not the fish, not the potatoes, not peas. If I had allowed my nose to get that close I would never get the smell of old fish out of it. It probably is not rotten fish. What it is fish that is far from fresh. And that has been sitting under a cover for knows how long before being brought up to the rooms. So when you take that cover off smell is overpowering. Fortunately I am now at a stage where I was able to remove it immediately from my vicinity. I have to say from my point of view this is the worst meal yet. Fish is probably never a wise choice for institutional service. From the tray I rescued the social tees, the cranberry cocktail, and the pepper just in case I run out of the freshly ground that Kerry brought in. And then I enjoyed this Mexican corn salad that @Kerry Beal had made at home and brought in for me. She stashed it in the refrigerator which I know I have access to. She also brought in appropriate containers of salt and pepper and they will improve almost everything that I have to deal with.

I cannot bear to look at your meals at the moment. They only make this stuff so much worse. You inspire me! Good news. Unless something drastic happens and it better not I will be going home on Thursday!!!

The really sad part is that the omelet this morning would probably have been something to write home about for some of the patients. They have never tasted a probably made omelette. Even worse, if they are served a properly made omelette they wouldn’t like it because they are accustomed to the dreck that was on my plate. 😧