random thoughts – Day 1,467 – (Saturday) – cooking and canvases

I had heard a weather report that there could be some snow, and when I woke up there was a coating on the cars and lawns and steps, but not much on the street. It changed to rain and the best part of that was that shoveling wasn’t required.

After a cheese and mushroom omelet made with fresh eggs from a friend's chickens, the idea struck to make a banana bread with the three remaining bananas from the bunch of four bought last week and ignored after eating one. Recipes were searched online and compared to the known pantry items on hand. The winner was a recipe that used brown sugar, which was taking up space in the freezer.  

Unnecessary security.

The new bag of flour had to be opened which became an ordeal. Normally, a small amount of light adhesive seals the bag and it’s easy enough to unroll the top and have a clean edge for pouring. Not this bag of Gold Medal flour. The glue was some industrial strength stuff that was not budging on its adhesive duties. The bag ended up tearing where the glue was, and flour dusted the counter and my sweater. There was swearing. Even after putting some of the flour into a jar, it was hard rolling the bag down with the big rip.

The bread took an hour to bake and then needed ten minutes to cool in the pan before being removed to the cooling rack. While the timer ticked down the ten minutes in-pan rest, the car warmed up outside because I had to hotfoot it out to make it to an event. With all the recipe reading and comparing and hunting for mixing bowls that don’t get chewed up by hand mixer beaters, I had really cut the baking project timeline to the wire.

The event, 4X4 for Education, was good. My initial task was greeting people and directing them to the check-in table. After that, I got to control the pace of people choosing their pieces. 

After buying a ticket, the person’s name goes into a jar. The lottery part of the event is the drawing of names to determine the lineup. When it’s your turn, there is about 30 to 60 seconds to make a selection from the 4-inch by 4-inch works in the event. 

This year's 4x4 prizes.

I was drawn as number 15, so lots of my favorites were still available. Too many, actually, so I was in a semi-sweat choosing between a couple that I really liked. I chose a duck done in pointillism style, created by our graphic designer at work, but it was a tough decision because I also liked the image of pears done by a friend, plus several others.

There were still tickets left, and I was able to get another canvas in a second round, done in blues and cool tones and very textural. The size of the works means they are easy to tuck into smaller spaces.

Back at home, Kiki napped on the chair and barely acknowledged my presence. Later, she slipped behind the couch, out of my reach. It was okay. Weeks of my feeling a bit “off” continue, and seem to be worsening. A couple hours after arriving home, the familiar discomfort known from years of sore throats and earaches quietly slipped into awareness.

Comfort food was required, and luckily there was a stock of ramen, mixed frozen vegetables, queso, and Korean hot pepper paste. Nothing else held any appeal. After that, it was time to recline on the couch like a sickly character in a Victorian novel while counting the minutes until darkness fell and I could retire to bed with a book. A headache is trying to settle in around the edges, so the idea of reading may be abandoned.