Beef stew, swede, mashed potatoes; fruit and yoghurt

The thing I find most frustrating about the food in this home is not that it isn’t good, but that it IS good and I want more of it. Honestly, one of the things I’m most looking forward to about getting home is finishing a meal and not thinking “that was good – wish I could eat it again”.

(Anyone new to this and thinking “that’s not a bad portion for lunch”, please bear in mind that this is my main meal of the day – the evening meal is a mug of soup and three quarters of sandwich (maybe a couple of extra sandwiches if I ask nicely and the other residents aren’t also feeling hungry) – and I’m doing a lot of physio to rebuild muscle from practically nothing, which requires fuel from food.)

Today’s lunch was slow-cooked beef and veg stew and, as expected, it was very good: rich and tomato-y, with beef cooked until it was just holding together. The swede – one of my favourite veggies, as much because it was my sister’s favourite as on its own merits – was a bit firm in some pieces but perfect in others: once smothered in butter and black pepper (not pictured, sorry) I was totally reminded why my sister loved it.

The mash wasn’t fantastic this time, but was still very good, particularly when used to mop up the last of the stew and some stray traces of melted butter that were soon all that remained of my lunch.

Dessert today was lemon roulade with cream, which sounds really good. Sadly I will never know as, being citrus, I can’t eat it. I mentioned this to the HCA taking the food orders, just in a “please remind the kitchen” kinda way, and she reacted with surprising shock and horror: “but… what will you eat for dessert?” 😨

I said I had fruit, she countered with ice cream, and we compromised on yoghurt, which I poured on top of the contents of two pots of peaches in juice to make a sort of dessert / drink.

That was lunch done, and I was still hungry. (Cake.)

Luckily I have lots of options that are both healthy and tasty, thanks to the Pineapple Squad (cake): protein snacks, fresh fruit, (cake), oat cakes, cheese and crackers (CAKE)…

And cake, as the sweet-loving part of my brain has been reminding me at regular intervals since it was delivered. I gave in, had a slice of cake (caramel latte cake from Coolmore Bakery in Ireland, and it’s DELICIOUS), and that really was lunch done.

And now, review written, I can get on with the afternoon nap my OT recommended. LOL, not really: I’ve got to sort out a medical appointment next week where all the details are “in the letter we sent you”, but unfortunately they sent it to my old address, finish my PIP claim so the DWP stop sending me reminders, send my list of missing clothes to the home’s laundry¹, probably answer a dozen more phone calls from mum, and at some point avoid eye contact with someone from the physio team asking if I’ve been doing my exercises. 😬

1. The list now comprises pretty much everything I brought here with me except what I have on. I don’t know what they’re doing with my stuff – feeding it to the washing machines?! ↩︎