Bacon and mushroom supreme with pasta

Thankfully (and I mentally gave a great deal of thanks, believe me), mum was feeling much better today. There was still a bit of panic, not least when I attempted to soothe her headache with reassurance that everything was in hand for tomorrow for the hospital visit tomorrow (“it’s tomorrow? I didn’t know that, why didn’t you tell me?!”)

On the most part, though, she was calmer and happier, and much easier to live with. Thank goodness.

Our broken freezer has mysteriously moved outside, to shed its icy coating onto the gravel path, not in any way aided (or indeed single-handedly moved) by our substitute cleaner, as she doesn’t have permission to do that sort of heavy lifting. I am therefore absolutely not sending her a major “thank you!” for solving an issue that has been nagging at me for several weeks now.

Obstacle removed, I went (online) shopping, and rapidly discovered that the existing appliances are on the slim side, and getting a new fridge and freezer that will fit in the available space is a challenge. With a bit of help from my phone’s AI, which is much better than me at adding figures together, I got there in the end, and our new appliances will be arriving on Friday.

I also took the opportunity to order a new kettle, as mum’s one loves to taunt me by pouring water all over the counter instead of into the mug I’m aiming it at. For mum, of course, it behaves perfectly, and I’m not sure she believes that I almost always end up with an indoor lake when I use it.

That done, it was pretty much time for dinner, which was added to the plan in an attempt to find a use for our milk lake. (Did I mention that? On Friday, mum and Lady Friday went out for a walk and, on their way back, popped into Tesco to get the milk I forgot to order. They came back with a bottle big enough that I had trouble finding room for it in the fridge, and have been trying to work out what to do with it all ever since.)

The recipe is one I may have shared before: it’s just bacon and mushrooms in a flavoured white sauce. It’s something my dad used to make, and the first bite gave me an instant flashback to sitting in a semi-detached house in Surrey, many years ago. (No, I’m not telling you how many!) Dad made it with bacon ‘offcuts’ from the butcher – the odd bits the butcher couldn’t sell full-price, so were more affordable for a cash-strapped young family.

I didn’t realise until I was much older how many family favourite meals were designed to stretch expensive ingredients like meat and cheese by using them as flavours for cheaper, tinned or (in season) homegrown produce. Even now, mum generally prefers vegetarian meals, so something like this, with generous quantities of bacon, is rare.

(The way my dad made it, the bacon was greatly out-massed by mushrooms and onions, but mum is ambivalent about mushrooms, and the onions are still part of the iceberg in the freezer, so we had more bacon than veg.)

Now we wait for the Tabby Terrorist, Destroyer of Sofas¹, to make her appearance for the daily Adoration of the Cat session. Tomorrow, of course, is the hospital appointment, so I’ll let you know what happens. If, in the meantime, you hear about flooding on the Isle of Wight, please don’t worry: it’s just the freezer defrosting.

1. In the dark hours of this morning, Suki wanted my attention and, when I failed to provide it (being asleep), she started sharpening her claws on the sofa, looking me in the eye the moment I rolled over to tell her to stop. ↩︎