Veg in cheese sauce with crispy potato slices

I’m sitting on my bed, finishing a few bits of life admin, when mum suddenly says “they’re not going to kill me, are they? You won’t let the doctors kill me?”

Mum had been pretty ‘normal’ for the rest of the day – in pain, but chatting and acting perfectly sensibly, so that dark bit of paranoia came absolutely out of nowhere. That could be why I was less than sympathetic in telling her “don’t be silly”.

Thankfully, mum forgot the topic, and my dismissal, very quickly. I have been slower to forget, as mum’s behaviour can be so unpredictable. I was hoping that the dementia training I started would help, but of course the trainer told me she had never known of anyone whose Alzheimer’s presented like mum’s, so I’m still at a loss.

The reason I had time to do some admin was that both the phone call and the carer visit are actually next week. I obviously got my dates muddled up. 🤷‍♂️

So I paid the window cleaner – before he sent a reminder this time! – messaged a handyman about getting some jobs done, ordered some storage solutions to fill the shelf-less gap in the new fridge, and ordered some noise cancelling headphones for days when mum has someone else with her and I don’t want to hear about mum’s many health concerns all over again.

For dinner I stirfried a bag of sliced cabbage and leeks

then made a white sauce around them¹ which I flavoured with dijon mustard and mature cheddar. I piled it into an oven-proof dish, topped with grated cheese, and put it in the oven with the crispy potato slices mum so loves.

Mum said it was “really lovely”, so that’s two compliments in two days. Now she’s having stewed raspberries and pear (the slightly suspicious red stuff in the raw veg photo) with tiramisu, cream, and squares of dark chocolate. I might have some of the fruit myself in a minute, although I’ll have mine with plain yoghurt. 😇

(Then I can have some of my own chocolate later, without feeling too guilty.)

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1. Stir a generous knob of butter into the hot veg, sprinkle over flour and fold in until no white flour remains visible. Add milk, a splash at a time, and heat until the sauce thickens. ↩︎