Meaningful Activities #WotW

Posted on by Astrid

Hi all! No Weekend Coffee Share (at least, Natalie isn’t hosting) this week again. I love Anne’s Word of the Week linky for summarizing my week too. Maybe when Natalie hosts her coffee share again, I’ll do a combination of the two. That is, if I can figure out a word or phrase to sum up my week. This week’s phrase is “meaningful activities”.

This week was truly a good one overall. I’ll start with my spontaneous baking activity on Saturday. My staff and I had gone on a walk, but we didn’t want to stare at the wall for the rest of my long activity time slot, so she proposed we do a baking activity. I proposed to make caramel blondies, for which I’d bought the ingredients a few weeks ago already to use with another staff, who however wouldn’t say when we could make them. The blondies were extremely filling but good. Next time, I’m going to cut down on sugar a bit and add some white chocolate on top. I served the blondies to my fellow residents in the evening. One of them asked for days after that, when she learned that I had some left over, for more “Astrid cookies”.


On Monday, my staff and I went to the institution townhouse for coffee. We didn’t have our wallets with us, so we couldn’t buy any of the treats they offered (the coffee is free). However, one of the people behind the counter offered us a brownie that wasn’t good enough to be sold to share. My staff had only a small piece and I had most of it. It was delicious! I had planned to eat the last of the blondies that day, but had two and besides, I was completely stuffed already. I decided to offer them to the two fellow residents who aren’t at the day center during the day either.

On Tuesday, the same staff was supporting me in the afternoon again and, of course, we reasoned we had to go back to the townhouse with our wallets to buy something this time. We didn’t fancy another brownie, but we did have a look at some of the handmade items on sale. My staff bought some tea and I bought a bag of rocky road chocolates. No photo in the townhouse, but I did take an interesting photo of the bag on my nightstand.

Then on Wednesday, like I shared that day already, I crafted a polymer clay dice for a staff who was leaving. Today, I also have been claying, because one of the staff who’s been here forever but with whom I’ve never done a clay project, wanted to learn. It felt good being able to do this activity even though it was in the morning and I was a little cranky.

On Thursday, the staff and I rode the side-by-side bike to Twello to buy some things. I bought raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and corn waffles. We also needed a new mixing bowl, since I’d found out earlier that the one we used to have had a large tear in it. The staff offered to pay for it with the home’s debit card, which sounded reasonable, since it was the home’s bowl that tore. Not that I have a mixing bowl, but well.

Yesterday saw another trip to Twello to go to the market. When we were at the townhouse on Tuesday, one of the institution managers was telling us that he’s going to campaign for the upcoming local election at the market on Friday. I didn’t see him at the market, but I did get to talk to two other parties’ campaigners, both of who gave me some seeds to plant. I’m having to think on where to plant them, as my little yard has no flowerbeds.

Overall, this week was truly filled with meaningful activities. Since my new day schedule will (hopefully) take effect on April 1 and I’ll then be having two weekly cooking or baking activities, I’ve been looking at things to make then too. My wife inspired me to look into vegetarian dinners. Not that I’m a vegetarian or ever plan to be, given that meal delivery service meals suck even more without the meat than they do when it’s included. However, when I prepare the meals myself, I’d love to look at ways of adding flavor without meat or poultry. The idea is that usually I won’t have to cook for the entire home, so I can experiment without considering my fellow residents’ preferences.

February 2026 In Review

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m joining Natalie’s monthly wrap-up again, as it’s the last day of the month. Honestly, this month was a real mixed bag.

It was, of course, the month it finally dawned onto me that I’m actually declining. I have had this belief for years, but it’s hard having it confirmed by a doctor. Not knowing for sure what the diagnosis or prognosis is, besides it not getting any better, is quite frustrating. I still can’t fully wrap my head around what my physician actually said. I mean, yes, of course literally everyone gets older every single day, but old age, besides the fact that this obviously doesn’t apply to me yet at 39, isn’t a medical diagnosis.

The realization that I’m not getting any better and the thought that I may not even see 2034, has caused me an increased sense of urgency about getting out of life all that I can. Sometimes, this has led me to actually do things I enjoy more than I used to.

I did craft a few things. I also finally hopped onto the cottage cheese bandwagon and baked some goodies. No pictures, sorry. The first time I tried baking with cottage cheese, I added too much almond flour, so the bake became too hearty. I also added garlic powder and suffered heartburn from it all night. The second time, yesterday, I made a breakfast bake with blueberries. I actually enjoyed this.

I also cooked one main meal for my side of the home, another chicken curry. I’m still hoping to cook or bake more often in March, even if it’s just for myself, but I’m less optimistic about it than I was before.


I also, like I shared yesterday, had some days on which I was quite active physically. Early in the month, I struggled to get in any movement at all, so no perfect month for me on my Apple Watch.

I did manage to journal each day (except for today so far, but I’m going to do that after I finish this post). Most days, it was just a quick daily wrap using a template and I’m not so sure it actually helps me, but it doesn’t hurt me either. I only published eight blog posts including this one. That feels a bit disappointing to me.

Some days, and there are more of those than I’d like, my knowing that I’m declining leads to increased inertia. I hope that will get better as the days grow longer and the weather improves.

One last positive: I finally bought a Warmies stuffed unicorn. I have shared a few times about my microwave-safe stuffies that give off a lavender scent when heated. I used to have several, but the last one I had got damaged in the washing machine a few weeks ago. The Warmies ones though have a removable lavender filling. Now that I’ve got the unicorn, I want a few of the others too. By the way, I took the picture of this unicorn myself. I tried a dozen times to snap a better picture, but all of my other attempts were even worse than this one.

#WeekendCoffeeShare (February 6, 2026)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m joining #WeekendCoffeeShare again. No more coffee for me today, as it’s nearly 8PM. Please grab yourself a cup of your favorite beverage though and let’s chat.

If we were having coffee, first I’d talk about the weather. It’s been all over the place. We’ve had rain, sunshine, temperatures around 9°C and freezing nights. In the province of Groningen, there was a code red weather warning for ice.

If we were having coffee, then I’d share that I haven’t been very physically active again this past week. That is, I did go for walks almost each day, but I didn’t do any other exercise.

If we were having coffee, I would share that I however was quite crafty over the week. I made a bracelet and tried making another one. I also tried to work with a texture mat on polymer clay for the first time today. The result was interesting.

If we were having coffee, then I’d tell you that the homemade granola I baked last week was a great success. I made another batch on Wednesday, this time adding instant coffee. This one didn’t turn out as awesome as the previous one and I’m not sure whether it’s the nuts maybe having gotten slightly burned or it’s the coffee flavor not matching well with the other flavors. I gave some to a fellow resident who likes trying homemade food, but he didn’t like it.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I finally heard from the Center for Consultation and Expertise (CCE) consultant. I received a short note describing recommendations she’d make to my care team. She’s going to provide continuing education to the care team on these things.

I don’t know how to feel about the whole thing. On the one hand, I’d like to see her saying she’s going to educate the team as a sign that I don’t need to change but the team’s approach to me does. On the other hand, it still stings that she hardly spoke to me and not at all without the staff being present. I still have quite a lot of questions, but her work with me has ended with this letter.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that the occupational therapist came by here this week to shed some light on ways to help me cope with my hand tremors. She hoped a weighted wristband would help. I was initially quite optimistic, but on the first try when my hand was trembling, I noticed it not only made no difference in that respect, but the thing was in the way when I tried to operate my iPhone.

I from noticing that got rather frustrated once again about the doctor not being clear about what causes these tremors. She claims it’s aging, stress and maybe medication, yet refuses to taper my meds more quickly. I’m kind of worried that, like the CCE consultant and practically everyone involved in my care, she’s not giving me the full story. I know I have a right to information regarding my medical care, but there are exceptions to this when the clinician believes this information would significantly harm the patient. If this is the reason I keep getting only vague comments about my medical situation, I want to tell my physician I’ve already envisioned the worst and the uncertainty is more harmful to me than it would be knowing I have, like, a neurodegenerative disease.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d share that my ears are blocked and I hardly hear a thing out of my right ear. I will get them syringed on Sunday.

January 2026 in Review

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone on this last day of the month. I’m joining Natalie for her monthly wrap-up. I started the month with optimism, but as I write this post at nearly 10PM on the 31st, I’m struggling to remain hopeful that anything will ever get better. And is it is, life is a battle.

I fully intended to experience more in the creative and culinary departments in 2026. This was not a total failure in January, but I didn’t start off the year with the bang I’d secretly hoped for.

I did create a few things out of polymer clay this past month. I also crafted a few new bracelets and a necklace. My last crafty project, however, was over a week ago. I created a crocodile out of polymer clay. No picture, as I haven’t even baked it yet. I did make plans with one of my staff to finally create the standing unicorn sculpture I have been meaning to create forever. Let’s hope it doesn’t just remain a plan.

I also didn’t cook a main dish even once. That’s sad, but on the other hand, I did manage to bake a few things. Most recently, yesterday, I baked granola. I ate it this morning with my quark and it was delicious!

In the blogging and general writing departments, the beginning of the month was also a lot more successful than the last couple of weeks. I once again gave up on #JusJoJan pretty early on and only managed to do my Morning Pages for a few days. I do however still have a streak going on in Day One, my preferred journaling app. Granted, I only write some snippets in response to a daily template, but oh well. I still like the Gratitude app, but don’t use it as faithfully as I’d intended. Then again, I realize that pressuring myself to write everyday, isn’t helping my joy.

In other news, none of my staff nor me have heard from the Center for Consultation and Expertise (CCE) yet. On top of that, the behavior specialist went on maternity leave a few weeks ago. She has someone subbing for her, but I doubt this has been communicated clearly to the CCE. Even if it has been, I sort of believe the consultant gave up on me when she got the impression my quality of life is okay.

I realize my support coordinator and assigned staff are well-meaning and really want to help me improve, but I get the impression part of the team doesn’t believe that I deserve or need anything to change. I’m still haunted by the words of my intensive support home assigned staff. She believed that, because of my attitude, there was no way I would ever be happy anywhere. This might be partly true, though it’s not because of my attitude but because living in a neurotypical world as an autistic person is hard. However, just because I’ll never be perfectly happy, doesn’t mean no-one should try to improve my situation. Then again, maybe I’m just one giant nagger of a person.

#WeekendCoffeeShare (January 10, 2026)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi all on this freezing cold January Saturday! I’m joining #WeekendCoffeeShare again. It’s past 10:30PM, so no more coffee or any other beverage for me. This evening, I thankfully did have my favorite soft drink, an apple and peach-flavored, slightly carbonated soda called Dubbelfrisss, again. Yesterday the staff offered me the raspberry and cranberry-flavored one, which I don’t like, and I thought the apple and peach one was out of stock at the online grocery store we use. Thankfully not. Oh my, I’ve already started to ramble.

If we were having coffee, first I’d talk about the weather. It’s freakin’ cold! The entire week except for yesterday, it was snowy. Yesterday, we had rain. The daytime high was 4°C yesterday and that was the least cold it’s gotten. Tonight, we’re supposed to get temps as low as -9°C. Next week though is supposed to be rainy with daytime highs of 8°C.

If we were having coffee, then I’d share a few photos I took in my yard on Tuesday. I don’t care for making snowmen, though now I wish I’d taken pictures of the ones my fellow clients had been making. After all, I do like photographing.


If we were having coffee, next I’d tell you that my assigned staff finally plans to discuss a new day schedule with my support coordinator (the one who’s now my support coordinator anyway, as my assigned staff will be taking over from her eventually) next week. I’ll discuss my ideas with her tomorrow.

If we were having coffee, I’d share that, like i mentioned yesterday, I’ve been quite crafty again. This week, I made a necklace, a bracelet and several polymer clay things. I also photographed the unicorn I’d made last week. Did I mention that? I can’t remember. Anyway, I used seed beads for its eyes.

If we were having coffee, I’d also share that the idea of a possible new day schedule has me looking into cooking more again. I really hope that will be part of the schedule too. I’ve been obsessing over buying some new gadgets, such as a food processor.

Today, I planned on making flatbread again. I badly want to make it for all my fellow residents, not just the ones who stay at the home during day activities. Unfortunately, I was too tired and the living room was too overwhelming.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d share that I’m sort of frustrated with my blog. I mean, the AI training robots seem to have left the building, but now I’m getting tons of E-mails through the contact form that look to be spam. I’m also struggling to comprehend the numbers of likes and comments on my posts. On some, I get tons of likes and a decent number of comments, but on others, hardly any. I tell myself this is a thing each January as people adjust to the new year and new ways of doing link-ups such as this one.

December 2025 In My Kitchen

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. As I type this, I’m going half-crazy from all the fireworks sounds. I love New Year’s, but mostly for the ability to reflect back on the past year (which, of course, I could do anytime). Today, I’m joining Sherry’s In My Kitchen linky. I only cooked dinner for myself and my fellow residents once, but did enjoy several other kitchen-based activities.

First, like I think I shared last month, I had planned on cooking another chicken curry but two consecutive staff who would be doing the cooking with me, called in sick. When, in late November, I found out that a staff who used to work here until the summer, would be working a shift again on December 16, I asked her whether we could cook the curry then. She was fine with this as long as I made sure the ingredients were ordered on time. And so I did. We used a recipe from one of my favorite Dutch cooking websites. It called for a teaspoon of curry powder per serving, which I thought was over the top, but it turned out to be good. We even added some chili flakes for some extra spice.

Over the rest of the month, like I said, I didn’t cook dinner. However, I did do several baking activities. This started on December 5 with a spontaneous attempt at baking St. Nicholas cookies. St. Nicholas is celebrated here on December 5, although we’d celebrated it at my home a few weeks earlier. I had gotten a package of cookie mixture with St. Nick and Pete (his servant) cookie cutters. Unfortunately, my staff and I had forgotten to get the butter for the dough at room temperature. We decided to add some melted butter to make the dough stickier, but that made it too sticky for the detailed cutters to work. We decided to go for Christmas-themed cutters, which were less detailed, then.

Unfortunately, my staff did comment that the cookies weren’t all that good-looking. I don’t care.

I had also found a recipe for flatbread made from scratch and really wanted to give it a try. I mentioned this to one of the staff on December 8 and she offered to help me make it the next day. It was delicious! I realize I shouldn’t have taken a picture with my phone of the pan while the flatbread was still baking, as it could’ve damaged my phone, but so far so good.

I decided to top the flatbreads with cheese, bell pepper slices and chili flakes.

Another baking activity took place on December 17, so the day after I made the chicken curry. I made a custard cake. I liked the flavor, but the look wasn’t what I’d expected.



In addition to these longer activities, I did make overnight oats and smoothies a few times. One of those times, I’d been frustrated at a staff refusing to do some tasks with/for me because of how time-consuming she thought they’d be. This time factor is a never-ending source of frurstration for me. However, another staff offered to help me make overnight oats after a walk, when we had only ten minutes left in my activity time slot. Guess what? It was a success!

Of course, like I shared earlier, I helped my wife make our Bastogne cookie dessert on Christmas. No picture of that one. I’m determined to make it for my fellow residents sometime soon.

Overall, the month of December was a pretty good month kitchen-wise. Here’s hoping for even more cooking and baking and other kitchen-based activities in the new year.

#WeekendCoffeeShare (December 20, 2025)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m joining #WeekendCoffeeShare once again. It’s 7:30PM, so no more coffee for me today. If you’d like to grab a cup of your favorite beverage though, feel free to. Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.

If we were having coffee, first I’d talk about the weather. It’s still been warm for this time of year. Today, the daytime high was 7°C and that’s the lowest daytime temp we’ve had all week but it’s still considered above normal. We had some rain, but not too much and none is in the forecast for the next ten days.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I’m still meeting my movement goal each day, but I’m not nearly as physically active as I was over the summer. Not that I care. My cardio fitness level according to my Apple Watch is back in the below-average rather than low range. I doubt that’s correct. My sleep scores are also amazing most days. That makes me wonder why I wake up tired almost everyday.

If we were having coffee, then I’d share that I’ve had quite a productive week this past week. On Tuesday, I decided to put up a little Christmas decoration in my room after all. These are all my own polymer clay creations, though only the gingerbread figure is new.

Today, I finally created another cheer up frog. In case you don’t know, when several staff were on sick leave last spring, I created polymer clay frogs to cheer them up, the frog being a pun on the Dutch word for “cheer up” (“opkikker”), which has the word for frog (“kikker”) in it. One of the staff who’d gotten one last spring, asked for another one last September, but then we had an argument causing her to withdraw from my care. This staff is retiring in a few weeks, so when we had talked things over, I told her she’d get her “opkikker” after all.

However, by that time I was out of the right color of green polymer clay. I finally ordered new clay three weeks ago, but it took the store two weeks to get it delivered to me. By this time, I’d just ordered from another store. Now I have three packages of tropical green Fimo. This is alright, since I’ve since promised several more staff an “opkikker”.

If we were having coffee, I’d share that I also did quite a bit of cooking and baking over the past week. I cooked another chicken curry last Tuesday and baked a custard cake on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the same staff who went to the market with me last week, worked my afternoon activity. He had said last week that he didn’t particularly like the market, so I hadn’t asked him to go with me again, but he came up with it himself yesterday. This time, I bought olives again, but also peppersweets. I had no idea what these are and they tasted quite different than I’d expected, but they were delicious. I also bought fried chicken and mixed salad greens. Later in the afternoon, I prepared a salad using the olives, peppersweets, salad greens and also some onion and bell pepper I’d grabbed out of the care home fridge. It was absolutely delish.

If we were having coffee, I’d share that, yesterday, I attended the town’s annual Christmas lights walk. Two years ago, the staff were being difficult about me attending because it doesn’t end until 7:45PM and my activity time slot ends at 7:15. I made it very clear that I’m willing to think of ways I can cope without one-on-one, but my day schedule shouldn’t be an excuse not to include me. On Thursday, when the staff asked me whether I wanted to attend, i once again made sure they understood this. It was quite an enjoyable walk, though it’d been more enjoyable in previous years.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d ask for positive thoughts regarding the changes to staffing that will take effect next month. My assigned staff (who is also in training to become a support coordinator), today did reassure me that my day schedule isn’t at risk. I hope she’s right.

#WeekendCoffeeShare (December 6, 2025)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. Yesterday, I had tons of ideas on my mind on what to blog about but no motivation to actually write. Today, it’s the opposite. I’m joining in with #WeekendCoffeeShare even though I think I don’t have a lot to share today. I, as usual, had my last cup of coffee for the day about half an hour ago and am going to take a break from writing this post to have my soft drink and chips. Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.

If we were having coffee, first I’d talk about the weather. For most of the week, it was chilly but not rainy with daytime temps around 7°C. Today, the daytime high was 10°C but it’s been raining all day.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I was pretty active for most of the week, both by walking and one time by cycling to the next town just to have a purpose for cycling. I didn’t need any groceries and we only ended up having a snack, but at least we weren’t aimlessly cycling around.

Today though, I spent the entire day indoors and still need to dance or whatever to reach my movement goal on my Apple Watch. My streak for whatever reason is still stuck on 33 days even though I’m moving each day and it’s been stuck on 33 days for a month or so.

If we were having coffee, then I’d tell you that I had many plans over the past week but haven’t accomplished a lot. On Monday and Tuesday, I did create some Christmas decorations out of polymer clay. Yesterday, I attempted to bake cookies. They turned out okay but not great and the process was frustrating. Nonetheless, it was better than lying in bed or staring into space, which is what I’ve been doing a lot lately.

If we were having coffee, I’d cheat a little with the coffee share being about the past week, since there was none last week. I’d share about the meeting I had with the behavior specialist early last week. It went well. First of all, like I said, the “one chance” rule about orienting new staff got ditched. My assigned staff, who is in training to become my side of the home’s support coordinator now too, E-mailed me the new orienting plan yesterday and it looks pretty good.

We also discussed my day schedule. In the future, I’ll hopefully get more set activities. In preparation for this, my assigned staff created instruction cards for some of my activities, so that I can hopefully do more activities regardless of which staff is assigned to me. She E-mailed these to me too and I gave some feedback.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d share that I’ve been having lots of memories lately. And by “memories” I don’t mean good ones. Yesterday, for example, I remembered the team meeting for my current home I attended in the summer of 2023. One of the staff, when I told them that I can’t prepare my own lunch, replied: “But you lived independently, right?”. I immediately got defensive, because yes, I technically lived independently, but I shouldn’t have. Yesterday when I was talking about this with my wife, whom I’d first met when living on my own in 2007, she told me more about how bad it actually was. Until a few years ago, I believed that, while I couldn’t cope, this was mostly a mental thing. In other words, I was falling apart mentally but could really care for myself if I hadn’t been so scared. Well, no.

It is sad to realize that part of the reason why I need so much care is lack of training in childhood, adolescence and to a lesser degree early adulthood. I’m still struggling with my parents’ reasoning that they couldn’t have taught me because I was too strong-willed and just didn’t want to learn. It may’ve been true that I didn’t understand why I had to learn something that caused me frustration, but then isn’t it the parents’ job to guide the child through their frustration? I’m honestly still struggling with this.

November 2025 In My Kitchen

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m joining In My Kitchen once again. I wasn’t too active in the kitchen this past month, but would love to share the things I did regardless. I keep hoping the next month will be better. I may’ve finally convinced the behavior specialist that I need a more activity-based day schedule, so that I can do a cooking or baking activity more regularly.

First, let me share the one dinner I cooked for myself and my fellow residents this month, cooked on November 17. It was a curry with chicken, broccoli, onions, rice and topped with cashews. I loved it.

I had planned to cook another rice and chicken dish with the same staff last Monday, but she’s on sick leave. I found out a few days in advance, so planned to cook the dish with another staff, but she ended up calling in sick too and I didn’t find out until half an hour before her shift was supposed to start. She was supposed to bring the groceries, so it wasn’t like I could cook the meal with the staff who ended up doing my activity. This is one more reason for set activities: that way I can order or buy the needed groceries on time.

I did, thankfully, do a few baking activities. First, on November 1, I made Bastogne brulée. This is like crème brulée but with crumbled Bastogne biscuits mixed in. The recipe didn’t call for a brulée burner, instead instructing me to put the dessert under the grill of the oven for a few minutes. I think the dessert wasn’t a total fail and it looked similar to the photos in the recipe, but I wouldn’t make it again. At least not like this.

I ran the photos I post here through my screen reader’s image description component to make sure I have them posted correctly and guess what? It claims the dessert looks moldy. Yuck!

On November 16, my staff spontaneously offered to help me bake a sponge cake. We did use a store-bought mixture. When my wife saw it, she wondered what made it look green. She looked it up and it was simply blue and yellow food colorant. Not green food colorant, which made me wonder whether green colorants are even food-safe. At least, when I still made my own lip balms, I knew that all colors of mica that I could buy at the soaping supplies site were safe except for the green ones.



Unfortunately, the staff baking the sponge cake with me, did break my hand mixer by inserting the wrong tools into it. She said she’s going to buy me a new one.

Those were the main cooking and baking activities I did in November. I also created overnight oats a few times. Last Thursday, I also decided to whip up a vegetable smoothie. This was the first time for me creating a smoothie that mainly includes vegetables rather than fruits. I used broccoli, spinach, carrots and lime. The recipe called for a green pepper, but I misread it and got a green bell pepper. Since those are rather bitter and the recipe was supposed to be blazing, I decided to add some chili flakes. And blazing it was! I’m not sure what I think of the smoothie. I did give some to my fellow residents too. I did feel obligated to explain to one of them, who is quite a picky eater but loves smoothies, that this one is a little different. Thankfully, he liked it though.

We had our annual St. Nicholas celebration at the home last week. I hadn’t asked for a gift from the staff (since you actually pay for it yourself), but my sister sent me some gifts. She sent me cookie cutters and several cookie mixes too.

Today, my wife and I were at Hema in Apeldoorn and I got myself a potato peeler (since somehow the last one I had got lost) and a wooden rolling pin for the cookies. The rolling pin has a Nijntje pattern engraved into it. I hope that doesn’t make the rolling pin hard to clean. I took this picture myself just yet, so apologies if it’s misaligned or unclear.

Looking back over this post, I see that, even though I cooked dinner only once, I did engage in various foodie activities over the past month.

October 2025 In My Kitchen

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. This past month has been quite stressful. I have been struggling to get some meaningful activities in, of which cooking is one. I had hoped that cooking would be a more regularly-returning activity, but then again I’ve been hoping this for a year already… I doubt it’s ever going to happen…

I cooked two meals during October. The first, a chicken stew, I cooked for myself as well as my fellow clients. I followed the recipe, which instructed me to let the stew simmer for 10-15 minutes. That, my wife said, is not nearly long enough for a stew. She was in fact surprised that I’d included zucchini, as, if that’s simmered as long as a stew should simmer, would be pretty soggy. I do agree with her: the veg was too crunchy for a stew and too soggy for a stir-fry. My fellow residents liked it though.

The other meal, I cooked for just myself and my staff. I, after all, wanted to make a gnocchi dish. Gnocchi can be both cooked and fried, but my wife said it tastes better when fried yet then it’s pretty hard to do in large amounts without burning some gnocchi. Since the staff carelessly canceled meal delivery for five days starting yesterday because the freezer was full of meals, but I did not have enough meals in the freezer to get me through, I decided to prepare the gnocchi yesterday just for myself and my staff. The recipe was vegetarian and included lentils. I don’t care for those so decided to leave those out and use minced meat instead. The recipe included lots of vegetables, including bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant and onions. I’m not a huge fan of eggplant, but included it anyway and it turned out to be quite tasty.

When I ran this picture through Be My Eyes, it recognized the gnocchi as such. I hadn’t expected this.

In addition to cooking these two meals, I did bake a cake once. It was a pretty spontaneous decision to bake the cake. Unfortunately, we didn’t have eggs at the time, so we had to go to another home to get one. This and some other things led to me experiencing mild distress. Unfortunately, the staff who baked the cake with me interpreted this as the activity not having been a success. This made me feel rather off, as it gave me the impression that I’m only allowed to do activities in which I don’t experience distress. The cake was from a store-bought mixture and it wasn’t as good as the Biscoff blondies I’d baked last month, but it was still delicious.

Finally, I made a few smoothies and a bowl of overnight oats. No pictures of these, but to the oats, I added apple, cinnamon, cardamom and clove. That was really good!

Linking this post up with Sherry’s In My Kitchen.