Aaaahh...So Good!!

Hi Readers,

This post is very light hearted. Or that is the intention. I remember beginning a previous post the same way but then got distracted and took off on a series of other ideas that came to me while I was writing. Hopefully not today!

But that's the beauty and attraction of writing, your mind wanders and there are no rules as to what to write. Not for me anyway. Beforehand I only have an idea in my mind to write about, often prompted by something I have heard, seen, read, experienced etc. The more I write about it the more other ideas come to mind. I don't write down a plan of things to write about, so everything you get is pretty impulsive.

Plus, I just enjoy writing, and if you don't really like it, then I can't help that.

So here we go.

Last night I ended up sleeping on the couch in a semi upright position as it became too painful laying down in bed. You see, I have another bloody body part prairie dogging (see previous post) for attention, a shoulder that I hurt playing footy back in the day, had surgery on it a few years ago, then hurt it again last year after crashing my bike.

I just can't get comfortable with it in bed, so sitting up slightly on the couch puts me in a position that's just a bit better. Not much, but I have been able to get a few hours sleep at least.

I grabbed a spare doona out of the cupboard in one of the other bedrooms, and boy do I wish I knew about this doona sooner!!

The doona on my bed is good, but it just lays over me. As it should.

This one on the couch is different. It just finds every nook and cranny in my body, keeping me toasty warm and very comfortable. It doesn't stop the shoulder from hurting, but is a lot more comfortable. I found it won't work as well on my bed due to the positioning.

The best way to describe it is that it feels like a big warm hug from someone special. It just makes me feel safe. It didn't feel like a doona, it felt like a long lost friend.

Ever had the same experience? Where you are not just warm and comfortable, but feeling like you are in a special place?

So this got me thinking.

What other totally simple things are just so basic, that they are so much better than so many other things? Nothing else beats them at that time.

As I'm pretty much housebound and couch bound at the moment as I have to stay off my leg, I need to find quick and easy alternatives to so many things that I have otherwise taken for granted. This involves what I eat, what I wear, how I keep myself occupied and what I watch on the tv.

First of all, food.

When we first started having kids, we quickly learnt to eat one handed, as the other hand would have been tending to a baby or toddler. That's what it feels like now. If I'm at the bench preparing something, I'm just so conscious of having the other hand steadying myself on the crutches or holding on to the bench. I've already had two tumbles, and I'm just so worried of buggering up the surgery if I put weight on my foot unexpectedly. I have another 3 weeks at least before I can start putting weight on it, and even then it will be so gradual.

A simple food that I had forgotten how good it can be....Soup!

Rather than opt for the tinned versions, I go for these soup sachets that are so simple, but so good. Throw in a few slices of toast or grain rolls and I'm set.

On the first few times I was doing soup I automatically found myself dunking the bread/toast/rolls into the soup just like I did when I was a kid. How's that for muscle memory more than 50 years later!! I Know I've had soup in public many times as an adult, but never would I dunk my bread !! Now when I'm "Souping", I'm dunking like there's no tomorrow, and it just brings back so many memories from growing up.

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Not just the dunking, but the flavours from my childhood came back too.

Soup was something we were always given when we were sick, but as I'm not sick at the moment, it's still such a comfort food.

My next dietary  sensation...

Yep. Baked beans!!! I have been told to ensure I eat lots of fibre as I'm sitting around all the time, but I need no encouragement to get into these bad boys!

Love them on toast, in pasta, in a toastie (more about that soon) but the absolute best way is straight out of the tin that has been in the fridge for a few days. 

I like my beer cold from the fridge, so the baked beans are the same. There's just something about eating them cold, and straight from the tin, as if it's breaking some culinary rule. I just love it!!! And while on the subject of baked beans, let me address the elephant in the room.

Yes, they do to your body what I know you are all thinking about!!! Just like spicy food makes me sweat ( ask my family about that!!) baked beans make me fart.

And I'm sure they do the same to you despite how much you might disagree with it!!

Not denying it, but the simple joy of enjoying them so much this way is well worth the resulting "bottom burps"!!

Toasties.

As I find it hard getting things from the stove/oven, and I'm paranoid about dropping them, I try to do as much as I can from the bench. That means using the toastie machine.

As there are no rules about what goes into a toastie, well not in this house at least, it's anything goes! Has there ever been a greater way to use leftovers?

Apart from the given minimum standards ( cheese, tomato and baked beans) anything that can be officially, partially or somewhat described as food has a place in a toastie.

And since all my spices are kept in the drawer just below where I use the toastie on the bench, that means minimal checking of which spice gets a guernsey. I just reach in, fang it and hope for the best. Sometimes I get it wrong, but more often than not I'm patting myself on the back for yet another culinary discovery!!

Have you ever experienced the joy of slurping up mashed potato and gravy in a toastie ? With many other additions of course.

I think much of my love for toasties was formed with my brothers at Colbinabbin after  nights on the sauce. The night would always end with us trying to come up with the best toasties ever, eating versions that we would never attempt if we were sober! I distinctly remember after our Dad's funeral how we put all the trays of leftover salad sandwiches through the toastie machine and loved them. I doubt if I would now.🤢

Wraps. Well Readers, rather than rewrite history, a wrap gets the same respect as a toastie. Just plonk in what you need and it's ready!! Just remember that they must contain one of, or all of the key ingredients of baked beans, cheese and tomato.

The beauty of wraps is that they can hold cold or hot fillings, or a mixture of both. Plus, they go well in the toastie maker.

Pasta. Whoever invented it, salute them now. Just use the same food selection skills employed when making wraps or toasties. The golden rule is that if it can be classified as food, in it goes. Our boys and Jen would often look at me in disgust when we had "scrap nights", where everyone just got whatever they wanted. My specialty would be "Pasta Surprise", where anything or everything would be thrown in, then often baked under a layer of cheese. One could never really identify what exactly was in one of these inventions, hence I never was asked to share!!! But I can still whip up a good one now even on one leg. Sometimes we just overthink things when making wraps, toasties or pasta, but I try not to!!

Cherry Tomatoes.

Just like I sometimes can't be bothered at the moment with cooking, I'll just grab a handful of something from the fridge, and lately I've been loving doing this with cherry tomatoes. I usually have them in the fridge but they are always used with other things ( wraps, toasties, pasta etc)

But now I just love eating them on their own, and I grab a handful of them just like someone else will grab a handful of lollies or nuts. It must be healthier for me, so that's a plus, and now I'm buying different types of them at the supermarket. I've also found that Coles sell different ones than Woolworths, and IGA have some different ones too. So if you ever open my fridge and see 3-4 punnets of different types of cherry tomatoes, now you know why.

 

Good old standard cherry tomatoes.                     But these Grape tomatoes are the                                                                            absolute best!!

Grilled Cheese on toast.

We lived on this as kids, and our boys loved it after school most nights as they filled their guts just before dinner!! As teens they just ate non stop, as any of you with kids would know. Now that I just need something quick and easy, grilled cheese often gets picked in my "Food Best Team". I've hardly had it over recent years as there has usually been an expectation to cook up something decent, but grilled cheese on toast is still very decent. Yet another childhood favourite that invokes so many memories of the happiest childhood that I experienced.

There is stuff in my pantry that that was probably purchased well before dinosaurs became extinct, I should get that all sorted I keep telling myself. One day.

Anyway, I found some cordial in there! I don't think I've had cordial since I last played football. The only other time I have it is when on school camps. I was wondering why I had a few bottles in the pantry, and then I remembered that it was one of the few things that Jen could keep down when she was sick, and even then it was only mouthfuls. So now I have been having a crack at it and I had forgotten how good it is. (Sorry nutritionists!!)

Just another random food that is just so easy to prepare, sometimes too easy, that we just don't bother with it at all. And once again, when I taste different flavours it takes me back to other times in my life.

Readers, I sincerely hope that you, like me, take your personal hygiene seriously.

When I have a shower I'm usually in and out without much of a thought. It is so mechanical and I probably wash myself the same way every time. I use the shampoo the same way, scrub myself the same way, use the body wash the same way etc. The same body parts get washed in the same order. And for those of you raising your eyebrows because I mentioned shampoo, I do still have some hair left!!!

But now, I have to sit on one of those shower chairs with my leg resting on another stool. Everything has changed, and over the past week I have just enjoyed the warmth of the water pouring over me, as I no longer need to use the hand nozzle. 

So good!!! I just appreciate the joy of a good shower so much now, especially as I need to be so conscious of not having a slip and fall, which I've been close to a few times.

Music.

Those who know me well would know that I practically have music playing most of the time wherever I am. Usually I'm doing something else, and don't pay a lot of attention to it, but I love the comfort it gives in the background.

However, over the past three weeks in particular while I'm just slothing about, I tend to pay more attention to what is playing, and what memories different songs invoke. Often I don't get a choice here, it just happens, and I let it happen.

Some songs I may hear a few times in a week and think nothing of it. Other times I'll hear a song I haven't heard in ages and it stops me in my tracks as It takes me back.

This happened just yesterday when I heard the song "The Year of The Cat" by Al Stewart. I've always liked this song without giving it much attention, but yesterday I took the time to really listen to it, and only then did I realise how good it actually was.

So good!

                                           

Then with Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys leaving the building last week, I was taken back to many of the Beach Boys songs that were so influential in my teen years.

Now before you all accuse me of not moving on from the 70's and 80's.....well, you could be right!!!!

Clothes.

I'm sure at the moment I'm just rotating through the same 2-3 pairs of tracky dacks ( Overseas readers, that means tracksuit pants) and one uggy 

Overseas readers, this is an Uggy, or Ugg Boot.

And a flanny (flanellete shirt)

Overseas Readers, another example of Australian casual home wear!

While these clothes are super comfy for home, and just sitting around, I draw the line at going out around town in them, so something more socially acceptable is chosen for these occasions.

These clothes must have gone to the same school as the doona I mentioned earlier. When I put them on I feel like I'm sinking into the arms of someone I love. 

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, think about a piece of your own clothing that makes you feel this way. When we wear them we feel good.

Imagine how happy we'd all be if we wore what makes us happy to work!! It might not conform to all the social norms we have to adhere to, but we wouldn't be stressing about "looking good" or dressing so uncomfortably or impractically for the work we do.

I'm sure many of you will disagree with me here, and maybe I disagree with myself to a point, but just imagine.........

So just stop and think about those very simple, forgettable things that in reality have helped us to become who we are today. Today has just been a ramble that hasn't required much deeper thinking at all.

What are some things that are just "So Good" to you? When did you last experience one/some of them?

If it has got you thinking, then go and do one of them now, you'll be surprised at how a domino effect starts!!

Another ramble, but at least it has given me something else to do today. 

So Good!!!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁