When my Oli wants to draw your attention to something that he thinks that you ought to have done but he doesn’t want to outright ask and appear rude, he starts a sentence with “Do you remember…..”. So at lunch for Ma’s birthday last year, he started with “Aunty Nic, do you remember that the last time we were here, you made lovely garlic bread?” (I did, I hadn’t made it that time, I will make sure there’s some for Mother’s Day lunch in a couple of weeks!)
Anyway in the spirit of that, I’m going to re-start this post with a question. Do you remember that I finished January feeling that I was in a really good place (despite the mouse and the Januaryness of January? That I’d achieved things and was ready to move into a positive February?
And I’m going to tell you that I feel nothing like that about February, which frankly felt like a struggle. I’m not sure why but if I had to pin it on anything, I’d blame the ‘back to the grindstone’ feeling of this February. At the end of last year, I had a new nephew to coo over, six weeks off work and therefore not being terribly SAD because I could sleep in more, I also saw more of my friends, then there were reduced hours at work and the need to be really careful of my foot, the excitement of Christmas and then thinking about what I wanted to do in 2016 and challenge of making it through January with my brain intact.
This February has been much more dreary by comparison. My foot is better more or less but I can’t do everything I used to, I’m back to the grindstone of work and home and laundry and sleep. It is getting lighter in the morning but it’s still too damn dark for my liking. You know you can make all the plans, dream all the dreams but eventually, you just have to buckle down and do what you’d said you’d do or wouldn’t do. And it’s boring.
Until I sat down to write this post I was pretty sure that February had been an abject failure but that isn’t entirely the case. My focus on the goals for the year has been strong, I’m on track financially, the house is clean and under control, I’m gradually increasing my walking.
But the little goals, I have almost completely flunked them. I remembered to stretch, but the exercise and the yoga, nope, nada, zilch. I have cut down on my drinking and been under my 14 unit limit every week but one, when I went right up to it but not over. The cupboard did not get sorted nor the freezer defrosted.
I managed to get to the Grace big service but so far none of the weekday evening stuff and I managed the first seven days of daily reflection on 40 Temptations (one of which aptly was called ‘You will fail’)
It doesn’t feel like February was a successful month at all. However, Monday is the last day of February and therefore I have a couple of days to re-frame my perspective, February was not a disaster, I’m still on track and I have two days in which I can finish strong and ready for the challenges of March!
This actually didn’t matter that much because I like oranges so it was no work to eat them. However because this month I am working on things I can drink that taste nice but are not booze, I decided to make a syrup with them. If you google ‘blood orange syrup’ or ‘soda’ there are lots of options. I took the juice and zest of 4 blood oranges, a cup of sugar and a cup of water and them all in a pan. I brought it to the boil to dissolve the sugar and let it simmer for 15 minutes. After leaving it cool, I strained out the zest and there it is blood orange syrup.
COOKING AND EATING
There is no way to make that mixture look good. Ok there probably is but I lack the requisite skills or patience! Anyway, I wrapped the mixture into the tortillas.
Wrapped in foil and stored in the fridge. At work in the morning, I took them out of the foil, wrapped in kitchen roll and heated in the microwave.
On Saturday, I cooked this 
I was going to freeze the remaining two portions of orzo but because I spent most of Sunday afternoon doing food prep I just reheated a portion of the orzo and called it done.
On Wednesday I had pasta with onions and capers 
February is a difficult month and this week ended with Valentine’s Day which is not terribly fun if you’re single. Actually, whether I’ve been single or coupled up, I’ve always pretty much ignored Valentine’s Day, I know that some people try to say that it’s just about love and that should be celebrated but essentially it’s a day were couples celebrate being couples and people who get flowers are smug. I’m fine with that but it’s not a holiday for me because I’ll buy my own damn flowers (when I can afford them!) and I’m not in a couple nor would I be inclined to being smug about it because….well it’s not really something you should be smug about, just go enjoy being with the person you love but go lightly on the PDA’s. All that to say, I just ignored it, which wasn’t hard, just stay off social media and don’t go out in the evening, and it was a Sunday so I wasn’t going anywhere (not that this is unusual!).
I wanted to have Saturday as a productive day and Sunday as quieter more resting day. So after breakfast, I ‘leapt’ into action, did food shopping and various other assorted housework. I also went to Grace. It was a good day..
On Sunday, after I made sure that I was all ready for the week, I read and napped and ate onion soup….which was lovely.
Hall
