It’s day ten after the last infusion and the sun is starting to shine again. Well, in terms of how I feel – it’s actually been nice and sunny here for ages. But it’s around this time of the chemo cycle that I can start drinking cool beverages again, take stuff out of the fridge without it hurting my fingers, and stop feeling so bloody weak and bleh. I could tell it was different when I woke up yesterday morning … can’t really explain it, just that things felt less “heavy and bleak” and somehow less “wrong”. What a relief!
So I had a lazy morning, coffee in bed, and did a bit of work on the computer (Shadow is now the laptop I take to bed with me). Then Nog and I went out around noon to the market, dropping off Restaurant English brochures at various places along the way. Got some lovely swordfish for dinner and some veggies, then Nog took us out for a tapa snack…
Back home and had a short nap, then more lazing around and a bit of reading. It just felt good not to feel so bad. And later on in the evening I made the swordfish with “hasselback potatoes” and some brocs – doesn’t it look wonderful?
So as you can see, my appetite is back! 🙂
Now I get to enjoy ten days of feeling progressively better, getting my energy back, feeling less emotionally askew … then I get blasted with chemo again. Hoping to get a lot of work done – got my lists all set up during my good ten days last cycle so maybe I’ll be able to make some progress with them now. And raincoaster has sent me a first lesson plan for teaching blogging online, so something may also come of that. Plus I’ve signed up for this internet marketing course (received first installment yesterday) so all this should keep me quite busy.
Anyhow, it’s back to the hospital today. This time not for me, but to visit my friend Becky who had a double mastectomy last Tuesday. I visited her on Wednesday when I was there for my appointment and she is doing great. Becky has a fabulous second hand bookshop across the street from my house and I’ve known her since I first moved to Sevilla. This is her second cancer battle (first one was about ten years ago) and she has been a real help to me this past year. The fact that she has “been there done that”, along with her very positive attitude, has comforted me on many a visit to her shop. So later on Nog and I will either walk over to the hospital or maybe ride the rental bikes … if I get too tired we’ll get the bus back. And maybe even stop for a COLD beer on the way home. Just cos I can.
Becky’s bookshop
casa azahar 
Send along my wishes to Becky. I don’t know her but I am sure she needs all the best wishes she can get.
Glad to hear that you are feeling bit better, yourself. And so glad you posted the link to the potatoes. Guess what we will have for supper, tonight?
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Oh! And the bookshop looks wonderful! I just love places like that!
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Wow, that dinner looks delicious!
And I love bookshops like that – you’d have to winkle me out kicking and screaming, I could spend hours – days even – somewhere like that. Best wishes to Becky from Australia (and to you, too, of course!)
🙂
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oh I remember that bookshop – it was fabulous. hope becky is back on her feet soon
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I didn’t know Hasselbackspotatis was an internationally recognised dish 🙂 It’s named after a rather famous restaurant in Stockhom called Hasselbacken (Hazel Hill)
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Well, it turned out that I didn’t make it to the hospital after all. I’d woken up with a very sore throat (which I probably picked up from my mute yoga teacher on Friday) which got worse as the day wore on, so I didn’t want to infect Becky too. Anyhow, we talked on the phone and she is actually being sent home today. So now I can visit her at her house, which is just around the corner from where Pip lives.
The sore throat also meant no COLD beer, but it was a pleasant day spent mostly at home with a nice evening walk just before sunset, when the sky turns that exquisite shade of blue.
Hasselbackspotatis are certainly becoming much more internationally renowned since I twittered it the other day, dq. My Scottish friend WeeRascal made them that very night, and now Mudhooks. They’re a bit fiddly to prepare but really worth the effort.
Most of the books in the shop are out of print Spanish books, woo, and Becky knows every title and exactly where they are. She has a small English section and sometimes lends me books, but to be honest it’s mostly best sellers that people drop off with her and I don’t usually find anything I’m interested in.
Yeah, I thought you’d remember the bookshop, nursemyra. 🙂
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Mine weren’t as crispy as they should have been. I ended up having to cover them in tin foil because the chicken took WAY longer to cook than it should have done. Still, they were yummy.
I might try a different potato than the ones I used last night. The Metro store near us only had a few varieties of taters and they were mostly really small. I would like to try a red potato. The Loblaws where my niece works had a huge variety of potatoes.
I might try slicing shallots and putting them in the potato instead of garlic. See how that tastes.
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The recipe doesn’t specify the type of potato. Then again, it also tells us to “scatter” the butter…
Yeah, mine could have been crispier too. I don’t know what kind of potatoes I used. Wee Rascal made his in a caravan while out fishing last weekend … he was so proud of them that he sent me a photo.
Not sure about shallots. I really liked how garlicky they were.
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Quite fiddly to make, but well worth the effort. I ended up using 3 full cloves of garlic with the Maris Bard potatoes I had with me. They’re quite waxy and they were perfect for the Hasselbacks. I think you really need very thin shaves of garlic otherwise you end up crunching little bits of it. I’m pretty sure shallots would work if you can slice them thin enough – not my cup of tea though, I have to say. Maybe a sprinkle of parmesan half way through cooking would be a nice addition?
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Bread crumbs. Don’t forget the bread crumbs, but add them when it’s like ten -fifteen minutes left after you’ve poured the butter on top.
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Shallots, parmesan and now bread crumbs. Thinking about it – maybe it’s best not to try and fix what isn’t broken. It’s a great simple dish and all of the extra stuff is probably going to make it something else – something that’s not Hasselback. 🙂
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The potatoes sound good. I may have to try them. Glad you are feeling better, too, even if you had a sore throat.
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Apparently the breadcrumbs are from the traditional recipe. The garlic is a new addition.
Next time I have to make my slices thinner, I think.
Yep, feeling almost normal, Silverstar. Just one nap required in the afternoon, after lunch.
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Use a wooden spoon when you cut the potatoes. It’s much easier to get thin slices without cutting all way through.
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to clearyfy:
put the peeled potato into the spoon and cut. The edges of the spoon prevent the knife to cut through.
hell, it’s hard to explain cooking in a foreign language!
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I would bet that a Sweet Potato would be wonderful, too. Of course, It would have to be par-boiled because it is nigh-on impossible to thinly slice a raw Sweet Potato almost-but-not-quite-through. However, par-boiled whole, then sliced with butter and brown sugar…
BTW. I found the easiest and safest way to slice the garlic thinly was to use a bread knife… It is a bit long but SOOOO much easier to shave the garlic.
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This entry brings back memories. Stage 3 Colon Cancer and 52 weeks of chemo following surgery. I was maybe at mid-point of chemo, walking to the grocery store one day, and suddenly realized I couldn’t remember what “well” felt like. I sat right down on the sidewalk and wept. But even after the darkest days and nights, the sun comes out eventually. Chemo and surgery are only half the treatment. The other half, and equally important, is attitude — and yours shines!
I’ve added links to you in the sidebar under “Visible Threads”. Hope you don’t mind.
“We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.” Herman Melville
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Found your comment in spam just now, Anne – not sure why it was misdirected there. Anyhow, sorry about that. I usually check it more often.
Wow, that’s a helluva lot of chemo! What was it – 18 rounds? I don’t know how you did it. My chemo treatment got all fucked up because of all the surgeries (one was open & shut) so I’ve had comparatively little chemo and have been wondering about that. Everyone else I know has had at least 8-12 rounds and at most I think they are just going to give me 6 rounds this time. I’m not sure what that’s all about but if I thought I had to go through a year of this I … honestly, I don’t know what I’d do.
Not sure about my attitude being shiny. When I’m feeling good then I’m strong like ten bears and I know I’ll get well again. But when I’m feeling low or get some bad news (like yesterday) it’s like everything collapses – including me – and it takes ages to drag myself out of the mire. Meh. I do always try though, with varying results.
I did see the “Visible Threads” link yesterday – thank you so much!
And welcome to casa az. Hope you’ll stop by often.
Nice quote. 🙂
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Glad to hear the cloud has lifted. Get to the lesson plan whenever you like, there’s no rush. But think about teaching via Skype, like a personal coach. The rates are the same, and you can do it whenever you like.
I’m thinking there MUST be a way to teach “restaurant blogging” because WHO is more qualified to be a food blogging teacher than you? And blogs are great practice for ESL students!
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Thing is, Rain, there isn’t as much interest in blogging, etc here as in other countries. I’ve created blogs for most of my English students and they hardly ever use them. So in terms of finding blogging students, well, we shall see.
I am trying to get moving on stuff but I feel a bit like I’m caught in the headlights or something. As if I’m immobilized by fear, sickness and uncertainty … and also the certainty of a long hot summer of unemployment looming. Seriously, everybody pisses off here during July and August. And I’m going to be sick most of that time anyhow … meh.
And I’ve had a goddamm cold/sore throat all week, haven’t been sleeping, blahblahblah. I actually amazed that I’m getting to yoga class, though it’s mostly the threat of bedsores that motivates me to get up these days. 😉
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not sitting around moping or even feeling particularly bad … I just can’t focus and don’t seem to have any energy. Things that would have bored me stupid a year ago are pleasantly distracting these days. Frankly, if I had enough money to get through the summer, I’d be quite happy to be gentle with myself and find ways to heal that I’m sure would be helpful. Not so easy to do when I wake up at 3am with a thunderbolt of fear in my belly wondering how I’m going to pay the rent, etc.
It’s like I said before … I can just about cope with the cancer and chemo stuff. OR I could deal with getting biz stuff happening and finding work. But I seriously cannot do both. I just can’t. So now what do I do? Chemo finishes the end of July and, if I’m lucky, I’ll be over the worst of the lingering side effects by Sept/Oct when things start picking up again here. But what am I going to do between now and then?
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