Los Vegetatbles

(No, I didn't learn Spanish)

Hello everyone!
I am, as you may have picked up, no longer in Belize, but rather in Reading, Berkshire, UK, being a styowdent again and trying to make sure that
t(working) > t(coxing)+t(climbing)+t(singing)+t(at church)+t(other assorted activities)
Generally the thought is that one of the times on the left hand side needs to vanish to zero, probably coxing or climbing or singing, but it's all too fun. So more anon.

Meanwhile, I am settling into my house and in an attempt to budget I am determined to Never Buy Food Out. And also to Be Healthy. So on Monday, I trundled off to Morrison's (I would shop at the little fruit and veg stall next door, but it's not the best stuff and very overpriced so I thought I'd try the supermarket.) Sadly, I hadn't really made a list, so I did the Vegetarian version of shopping-when-you're-hungry (I'm not vegetarian by the way, I just had a bit of a veggie fit).
So, when I arrived home from Morrison's (a good mile's walk by the way), I had, among other things:-
2.5 kg of potatoes
1 aubergine
1 butternut squash
1 courgette
750g of mushrooms (I still have mushroom withdrawal symptoms for six months without them)
celery (Who BUYS that. Like, seriously? CELERY)
three tomatoes
one onion (clearly insufficient onion)
broccoli (remind self: I DO NOT REALLY LIKE BROCCOLI)
spinach

also, four (rubbish will not ripen) kiwis, five (fairly traded but entirely inedible) oranges, and six (UK, but also not remotely ripe) plums.

Therefore, the past week, when I have not had too much studying to do, I have been mostly trying to cook all these vegetables into freezable form (because that's a LOT of vegetables and vegetables tend to go sad). They are nearly gone, except some spinach, the celery (obviously), two tomatoes, half the aubergine, and NEARLY ALL THE POTATOES. And I LOVE the potatoes. I was actually quite proud of some of the food I produced, including mushroom carbonara, vegetable curry (with help from patak's), tuna and tomato pasta, and roast vegetables with goat's cheese. I should add that another small motivation to this epic cooking spree was that one of my housemates is from Mauritius and she and her friends cook up delicious meals like chick pea curries every night, and then offer me some, and I feel quite a bit self conscious if I then whip out the Fish Fingers and Potato Waffles courtesy of Captain Bird's Eye.

I should also add a small note about Take That. This week I have been listening to the radio again, and find myself both singing along to 'Robbie and Gary' (oh DEAR, they rhyme bus with toys 'r' us), and, after only ONE LISTEN, humming The Flood ALL DAY. The Flood has the added bonus of being accompanied by a video featuring Take That 'rowing'. Sadly, however
1) they are not in lycra, but old fashioned stuff
2) (which supercedes 1), they all look rather old, and not terribly fetching in rowing kit...
3) (which supercedes both the above) THEY CANNOT ROW. Anyone who's ever done a fair bit of rowing will identify with being a little bit dead on the inside when they witness Awful Rowing Technique, but the video cheats a little, in that you see a nice Zoom In View of Howard's left wrist (a few metres above his right wrist, because that's how you row, clearly), or of Mark's Face (who looked particularly pained), or of Gary (who's just preoccupied singing, which probably doesn't help his technique, although it might keep him Loose And Relaxed I suppose) or whatever, and it all looks painful and you're surprised the boat is upright, and then it zooms out and you see a 5X (a non-existent boat prior to now, I should point out) rowing perfectly down the Thames. I'm not entirely convinced that all of Take That were actually in a boat at the same time...

However, despite all this, I am still rather happy that Take That decided to make a video with rowing in. Although it would have been better if they'd just stood round the boat house (mine, preferably) singing and paid some national (preferably attractive) champions to do the rowing properly.

Anyway. Take That rant over.

Time to go and forecast the weather...

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