I was looking through my photos from last week, trying to decide which ones to upload for the Week Three post, when I came upon this one.

And I wondered what people would think in years to come. What would our great grandchildren say about it?

”  I think that’s Dad’s grandfather.”  “I reckon that’s our Great  Aunty, you know the one who used to take Mum to Macdonalds when she was little and people were still allowed to eat takeaway.”  “What are they doing? Why is she out in the garden,  look’s like she’s being interrogated or something!” “What’s with the gloves?” But folks who were around in 2020 will know exactly what it’s about!

At the end of last week  my boss( me) and I had our now regular chat about my attendance at work and productivity.

I did point out to her  that the whole ‘area of concern’ in my breast didn’t help, she countered with an assertion that it was all resolved a week ago and there hasn’t been a rise in productivity. I thought she was actually going to produce a spreadsheet or chart but then I remembered that it is Papa Bear who is fond of a spreadsheet. Anyway, we did end up having a a fruitful conversation where I told her that it didn’t actually matter if the To Do dot points in my Bullet Journal didn’t get a cross through them today, tomorrow or next week, I’m not going anywhere and the world will not come to an end if I miss day of Spanish. She was a bit grumpy but ok with it.

I found an article in the New Yorker called Stop Trying to be Productive which was quite fascinating.

“Putting all this pressure and stress on myself, it’s incredibly counterproductive,” said Ms. Ulstrup. “I’m putting stress on myself during a time that’s already stressful.”

Now I totally get this, but the issue for me is  is getting the balance between scheduling every minute of the day with projects and spending every minute of the day playing Candy Crush Saga. Because believe me I could! And my blog would then consist of “I was stuck on level 723 for ages, but  I paid some money and got through it,  and would you believe I am now on level 756.”

 

And just as an aside, Papa Bear can spend quite a lot of time playing Free Cell!

Anyway, enough of all that! I have to say Week Three was fun. And I do feel some guilt in saying that but I won’t go into that this week. You know what I’m saying.

I didn’t walk as much this week, the seaweed was gross, it stunk and there were lots of tiny flies flying around. I still managed some walks and even with seaweed the beach still worked its magic.

I did lots of cooking, of course. Papa Bear requested a boiled fruit cake which I have never made, and never expected to make! His mum used to make one for him each term to take to boarding school. I couldn’t find any family recipes so looked online for anything called  Gran’s boiled fruit cake cos I figured a fruit cake is a fruit cake. He was pretty happy with the result.

 

Who remembers the 60’s or 70’s obsession with meals made with packet soups. Mum used to make something just like this with Chicken Noodle soup, I loved it. I found the recipe when I was googling mince and cabbage!

 

Yotam Ottolenghi provided a delicious recipe for Semolina Gnocchi

And for lunch we often had a scatter platter salad – grab a platter, scatter salad, protein like left over chicken or a tin of tuna or cheese, add something with bite like radish, and there you go, a different said each time!

There were some beautiful skies at night

I was obsessed for a couple of days with reflections

 

 

D1 popped around early before her drive back to work so I could wave goodbye from the balcony

 

We had our first Zoom Writers Group meeting which was fun and you pretty much forgot you weren’t all in the same room together

And the highlight of the week was a Saturday night virtual dinner party with D2 and D3

 

21 days down, how many to go ? I hope all is going well wherever you are, keep safe.

What better day than Easter Monday to try out the new pop-up restaurant in the neighbourhood, El Balcón? Word has it that it is pretty good but you don’t know how long these pop-up  places last. It turned out to be one of these places where you ‘cook your own.’  Much like those steakhouses  which were so popular in the 70’s where you chose and cooked your own steak, until people realised it was much cheaper to chuck a steak on the barbie at home.

The decor could be best described as ‘faux Bali’ but we were lucky enough to get the best table, overlooking the ocean.

The menu was limited, sourdough pancakes with berries and yoghurt. However the ingredients were mostly fresh, the sourdough starter  activated overnight, the yoghurt home made,  but I suspect the berries were frozen. However given the present difficulties in sourcing fresh food this can be forgiven.

The staff were friendly, the meal nicely presented, although the 1970’s crockery somewhat dated.  The chef and the barista worked well as a team to present a delicious meal accompanied by freshly made spinach and pineapple water and hot coffee.

Overall it was a pleasant way to spend Easter Monday morning. I would love to return but have found out since that El Balcón has closed its doors, no doubt another casualty of the time.