I recently hosted a particularly nasty guest, called virus.
For weeks.
Yes, (too many) weeks.
It seems half the city is currently hosting under similar circumstances and I can tell you, it hasn’t been pretty.
Walking (dragging) our feet to school and it’s like a conga line of Village of the Doomed. Cough, cough, cough, sneeze, and cough from every street corner. It’s not just any cough either. It’s a lung squeezing, lift your feet off the ground kind of cough that leaves you gasping for air and clinging on to the closest adequately secured devise around, (telegraph poles excellent, small rickety fences- not so much.)
We walk, and bleary eyes meet. A slow blink of understanding, and brief head tilt towards each other. We are understood. The healthy ones file past. Determined in their stride, they look joyously towards a hopeful horizon, they have their health, and anything is a possibility. Not us though, eyes are dark, sunken and averted in an effort not to talk to anyone that isn’t absolutely necessary.
Now once all the fluid had partially drained from my head, ears, eyes, lungs. I was left with a small urge to bake. Not a big one mind. It certainly wasn’t going to be a three course dinner extravaganza, with a conveyor belt of baked goods throughout the day in a lead up to dinner.
No. All I set out to do was bake some biscuits. Lunch box stuffing, hollow legs, hunger nags and after dinner top ups kind a biscuits, (cookies if you are in the land of stars and stripes.) They worked out, filled up bellies and I’m now counting on two hands how many times they’ve been made since.
Now during this time of compulsory hosting, it became terrifically clear that…
1/ I was really going to have to take some time out of the kitchen while getting better.
2/ Life would continue on. It seems I need these kind of health shake ups occasionally to remember these things. Those moments of not pushing yourself, instead just doing what I can and when I can.
Yep, pretty simple really.
Easy As Biscuits
200g melted butter
100g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
50g sunflower seeds
200g rolled oats
handful of sultanas
handful of chocolate buttons
150g wholemeal spelt flour
1 beaten egg
Add all ingredients together, mix it up and roll into balls with slightly dampened hands, (stops it sticking.) Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes.
Store in airtight container and eat with enthusiasm, (and try not to cough.)
cityhippyfarmgirl 