#209 - Prawns and Procrastination

Up at eight thirty to get ready to leave the house and meet friends for breakfast.

We’d decided upon a restaurant chain called Stacked. The have really delicious bacon and jars of homemade jam you can buy to take home. Tastes just like grandma used to make.

I could have gladly stayed in bed. I didn’t sleep all that well and and my back was sore during the night. I stayed sleeping on the floor until about five AM and then snuck into bed until it was time to get up.

Breakfast was great. Some friends we haven’t seen much of lately were able to join, and it was great to catch up and spend some time with them.

The hour passed quickly and the next thing we were saying our goodbyes and parting ways. Robyn had a movie date with her oldest friend. They went to go see the Michael Jackson movie and returned to say it was well done, mostly because they left out all the questionable stuff.

I returned home with a plan to relax for a couple of hours and then get started on my assignment, giving me plenty of time to complete it. But I as I sat and watched YouTube video after YouTube video I began to realize how tired I was. Between the soreness of my back, the commuting and the stress of work I was completely shattered. Life just hasn’t let up lately, and the wear is showing.

When Robyn returned, I had full intentions to start my work. But again, I didn’t.

Instead, I took the car to an East Indian grocery store and bought some fresh curry leaves, black mustard seeds, black lentils, and a few other odds and ends. I had wanted to make another recipe from the Dishoom cookbook. This one was called Prawn Moillee and the picture looked delicious. Robyn loves her shrimp, so it seemed like a win-win.

The recipe was significantly easier to prepare than the Chicken Ruby and took about half as long. The result reminded me of a Thai recipe I make. One of the key ingredients in this recipe is coconut milk and coconut cream, so a comparison to Tahi food was inevitable.

I have never used real curry leaves in the cooking process before, so that was interesting to try. The resulting flavour was creamy, coconutty and zesty with a hint of spice. I added in some mushrooms to add more vegetables to the dish. The shrimp went really well, and Robyn was adamant that I add this to the “Make it Again,” recipe list I keep in a folder in the kitchen.

When I love a recipe, I laminate a copy, so the cookbook doesn’t get destroyed by my cooking prowess. Robyn declared this recipe to be worthy of lamination.

High praise.

After dinner, we watched an episode of Bill Maher and then one of Daredevil. I took a hot spa bubble bath after that to help the old back. It had felt better as the day went on, and I avoided sitting in uncomfortable chairs to aid its recovery even more.

Robyn went downstairs to work on a painting, and I finally booted up my laptop to ease myself into doing some writing. I started here with this blog to get some easy momentum with the idea of then getting my story started before calling it quits for the day.

I like doing it this way because my brain starts working things out about the characters and plot subconsciously while I sleep or lie awake staring at the ceiling.

I can’t remember who said, “Ask your brain for an answer, go do something else to distract yourself and in time the answer while appear in your thoughts.”

It seems to work that way sometimes.

I ordered some more of those Perrier Pina Colada sparkling waters as well as one called Peach Sprtizer. I liked to Pina Colada one, so I thought I’d give the peach one a try as well.

I also ordered some name cards that are used for buffets, as we are hosting an early Mother’s Day celebration at our house next weekend. I thought I might make some of the Dishoom recipes and put them out buffet-style. And therefore, the labelling.

And as I was soaking in the spa bubbles, I thought it might be nice to know what the temperature of the water is, so I don’t overheat myself. I like the water hot.

Looking on Amazon, I could easily find them, but at forty dollars or more it seemed a bit too pricey. The noticed one for kids that was in the shape of a rubber ducky. Do I care what the thing looks like, no. Did I want a rubber ducky anyways. Yes.

Two birds, one stone. Or one duck, two desires.

And that brings us to the here and now. It’s about ten thirty in the evening, and I need to start my assignment. It's due tomorrow and there is no minimum length requirement, but again I do not know what the story is about or what will happen in the plot. The only thing I know, is that it must be First Person, and take place in the time I went to high school and in the same town. Queue up the eighties and early nineties music references.

Good night all, and wish me luck!