I’m back!

I know, I know, I’ve said that before, and it’s been a minute.

But life has a habit of getting in the way. Medical bills and insurance snafus. Medical appointments. Doofus doctors.

You think I’m being harsh? I’m talking wrong diagnoses, telling me not to take B12 even though I’m a vegan, ordering panels of blood tests only to “forget” to order the specific lab we were concerned about. Fun stuff like that.

It all takes a lot of time – in addition to physical, mental, and emotional energy.

ALSO

I used to LOVE cooking, but now I hate to cook.

It takes so much longer now, and standing can be so painful.

Because I’ve had a NSAID bleed, I can’t take Celebrex and other painkillers like the average person.

The pain starts in my left hip area, where I sustained multiple pelvic fractures in an accident. My body subconsciously adjusts by shifting my weight and balance to my right leg, which irritates the bone-on-bone osteoarthritis in my knee. (I attribute that to years of running track in cheap shoes as a teenager.) To ease my knee, my body then shifts to my left ankle, where I tore a ligament ice skating what seems like several lifetimes ago.

And so the dance of pain begins.

A cane helps keep everything in balance (and me standing upright).

But it’s hard to do serious cooking whilst holding a cane.

So I go cane free and wind up doing a lurching choreography in my kitchen. Three limps to the right, to the right, to the right … shuffle to the left, to the left, to the left …

Romeo comes in for crumb control, to watch and, I suspect, to laugh.

Luigi lightly jumps on the countertop and delicately, disbelievingly sniffs my mocktail. Just for that, I do jazz hands at him.

I take breaks while cooking. Measure out all the spices. Rest. Wash and chop all the vegetables and aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger). Rest. Saute. Rest. Throw everything into a pot or in the oven and hope for the best. Rest.

After an hour or so, dinner is ready – but I’m too tired to eat.

HOWEVER

Maybe that’s reassuring to some people in similar situations.

Maybe it helps for home cooks to know that even a good cook, who used to give cooking lessons, can hate cooking at times.

I do have a few quick, easy recipes to share.

And a number of AF drinks I need to review, as many are seasonal or limited editions.

With spring around the corner, there’s many exciting events about to bloom! Including the sixth birthday party for Soul Miner’s Garden, one of Charlotte’s most loved vegan restaurants. VegFest Jr! Pizza parties!

So I have subjects to write about. I don’t feel much like myself when I’m not writing. Of course, I haven’t felt much like myself anyway the past several years.

Anywayz – I’m back!