Chicken massaman curry with coconut rice

The greatest disaster of the past week, as far as mum is concerned, is that her subscription copy of the Radio Times wasn’t delivered. Such was the wailing and gnashing of teeth that I sent a message to one of mum’s friends to ask if she could pick us up a copy on her way home from church.

(Mum was feeling too unwell to go to church, which she was very upset about. One of these days I will get some of mum’s church friends to come to us, but not today.)

The friend didn’t see my message until mid-afternoon, just as she was about to take the dog for a walk, so she brought the dog with her and all three went out to acquire a replacement for the missing magazine.

When they got back, mum and her friend settled down to chat, while the dog (a darling border collie, with all the intelligence of that breed) wandered around sniffing every single thing in the house. I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water, and the dog followed me.

She gave my glass of water a hopeful sort of look, and licked her lips. I said “it’s just water. Do you want some?” and I swear she nodded. So I got out a bowl, filled it with water and put it on the floor, and she plunged her nose in for a good, long drink.

I know collies are a smart breed of dog, but I remain astounded that she was able to work out how to ask me for a drink of water!

For dinner I made a chicken massaman curry (using Simply Cook spices). I thought it was really nice: spiced but not spicy, with a gorgeous coconut sauce / broth. Mum, of course, found it too hot and ate her portion slowly and reluctantly. But she did eat it, so I’ll count it as a win.

Then I had some Ben & Jerry’s vegan cookie dough ice cream, which doesn’t really taste like ‘proper’, dairy ice cream, but is delicious enough that I don’t care. The lack of resulting stomach upset is a definite secondary benefit.

Soon it will be time to sleep, then tomorrow I will make phone calls, including one (or more, depending how it goes) to arrange a taxi to an afternoon GP appointment. The rest of the day will doubtless be spent convincing mum that I’m not going to be abducted by aliens if I leave the house (or whatever it is that she imagines will be befall me), and finalising our grocery order. Vegan ice cream may be included. 😋