Hoisin aubergine with vegetable gyoza

A busy day today, at least by my current, exhausted standards.

The day started with the arrival of an engineer here to give our boiler its annual service. Late last night mum read out a text ‘reminding’ us of the visit (which I knew nothing about), but my brain didn’t catch the date so it was a surprise when he knocked on the door.

He told us he wouldn’t expect any problems with the boiler as it’s only four years old and top of the range. I countered that we’ve had to have it repaired three times in the past two years. Luckily it’s currently working fine, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

Then I got Suki signed up with a vet, although not the closest one as I’ve tried calling them at least twice a week every week since we got Suki and not once has anyone answered the phone. That’s not something I want to risk if Suki was to get ill, so I went back to the one we’ve always used in the past.

Then I sorted out pet insurance, extending the four weeks’ free coverage we got from Cats Protection. I’ve never had pet insurance before so I had to concentrate on the details before agreeing to anything. I finally got it sorted, ended the call, and mum, who had been listening in, told me “I’m hurt you didn’t include me in that call”.

I set it up to be paid out of my account, I will be the one taking Suki to the vet if it comes to it, and mum wouldn’t (and didn’t) understand what I was doing anyway, so I’m not sure what she was hurt about. Thankfully, although it’s not something I would be grateful for, she forgot quickly that I had somehow hurt her feelings.

Then off to a committee meeting, to which I lugged my laptop only to discover that the café we were meeting in didn’t have public WiFi. I had to use my phone to take notes instead: whether they will make any sense when I come to write up the minutes remains to be seen.

We had some interesting discussions, although I failed to convince the others of the merits of apps and online books over (or at least in addition to) a hard-copy book. I did volunteer to create a logo and set up a website for our project, in addition to my committee secretary role, prompting one of the other members to comment that she had no idea I was good at so many things.

I still can’t decide if that’s flattering or mildly insulting. So – thanks, I think?

I came home and had about 45 minutes to crash while mum and Lady Friday watched television, then cooked dinner. It was a variation on a Jamie Oliver recipe for teriyaki aubergine, removing the chilli (which mum wouldn’t enjoy) and peanuts (too high in fat), using spray oil rather than the stated tablespoonful of oil, and hoisin sauce instead of teriyaki.

Perhaps (probably) because of all the changes, it turned out very ordinary, although it is a nice way to get a beautifully tender aubergine (undercooked aubergine being just nasty, imo). The aubergine tasted of unseasoned aubergine, but the spring onions took up the hoisin sauce flavour nicely so I’ll definitely do that part again.

Then I undid all my work on keeping dinner low-fat by having a huge wedge of date crumble slice (which I brought back from the café, along with a slice of lemon drizzle cake, as a peace offering to mum for abandoning her for an hour) with hazelnut yoghurt. I’m now braced for my gallbladder to forcibly remind me of its existence, although I’m really hoping it will behave itself after being left pretty much without work to do for the past week or so.

And so, once again, goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow if I don’t sleep through the whole day after another busy week. 😴