Eating and Reading

It is very hot and humid in a Florida July and when housebound you try not to venture out except near sunrise and sunset. Cooking simple foods that don't require much energy or heat is my goal at this time of year. I have an alternating breakfast menu of oatmeal cooked with fruit and nuts, hard boiled eggs rolled in black pepper and crushed kettle chips with a side of kimchi, and vanilla or lemon Noosa yogurt swirled into a 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, sometimes with cinnamon. During this time of little to do, I have been watching some cooking shows with my stepdad, who is much better and stronger every day. I'm sure that his earlier conditioning has helped him recover, even though he smokes on the porch with Sandy every day. He was a truly gifted athlete most of his life --an excellent golfer, former professional bowler, and played multiple sports well in high school. He is also a good cook, and it surprised me when he said he mainly watched cooking shows because of the competition. He just likes to see people compete. That cracked me up. I'm watching with the hope of learning adjustable recipes, and find the competition annoying: "You're chopped." "I am going to crush Bobby Flay." Anyway, eating and reading is about all that's going on around here. Today, I am sharing a very relaxing cooking video by Letha Hadady, whom I admire as both an elegant human and a wise woman. I loved her book about Asian medicine, part memoir. She has some lovely makeup tutorials on youtube as well, I could listen to her talk about anything. She is unfailingly gracious. Here she shows us how to cook medicinal mushrooms:

Letha cooks

Reading, besides the time trap book of faces, hasn't been as productive as I'd hoped for this summer. It's sometimes hard to be comfortable. The best chair for reading is upstairs where my stepdad is usually watching tv, and that is too distracting. Lounging on the sofa bed with a pile of pillows is cool and quiet but I worry about the side effects of so much lying down... I haven't researched that but I have an instinct it isn't good for me. So, for as long as I can have pain free reading I indulge. I have these two in my stack: The Woman in the Dunes, by Kobo Abe (I've never seen the film), and Meeting the English, by poet Kate Clanchy (while I wait for her other book, Some Kids I Taught and What They taught Me). Hopefully, I will soon have a road trip where I can listen to Lost, by Gregory Maguire on audiobook-- I find his stories usually very engrossing. I am so happy he continues to use Douglas Smith as his illustrator, see below... On reserve, Rita Coolidge's memoir, Delta Lady,  and The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich. I doubt I will finish these before school starts, whatever form that may take.  Hoping you stay cool and well-fed. ~Oldgirl