Puttering

A day of puttering involves a lot of little things, some routine, some not routine. Today, so far, this is what I’ve been up to.

An early morning walk started the day. Then it was time to make breakfast, my favourite meal of the day. I take my time, sometimes taking more than an hour to eat my breakfast. Daily there are the chocolate zucchini muffins (or apple in the winter months), Greek yogurt with cashews and dates, a cup of coffee, then raw vegetables and fruits, the mix depends on what is in season and what is on sale. In the winter the main fresh fruit consumed is apples, cheap and healthy.

A recent purchase generated a few hours of work. For freezing portions we had been using the plastic cups, recycled containers for single serving fruit cups bought on sale at the grocery store. The plastic cups are very handy, but not appropriate for freezing foods containing acids or fats due to leaching issues. Twenty four 4 ounce stainless steel containers arrived from Amazon. They were washed in hot soapy water and dried. Although they looked clean, wiping them with a white towel revealed a black residue. They were washed and dried a second time, still there was residue. They were washed in the dishwasher, still there was residue. Then a paste of baking soda and water was used to scrub them. The black residue is gone.

The stainless steel containers will be used to freeze portions of food that have been batch cooked. For example, they will be filled with a batch of refried beans, then frozen for future meals. It is easy to grab one out of the freezer for a quick lunch, a Molletes. Also batch cooked are hamburger buns, that are frozen in recycled milk bags, and can be grabbed out of the freezer for burgers, or for things like single serving Molletes.

We like jigsaw puzzles, and usually have one on the go. They take up a lot of room, but are important enough to us to warrant the inconvenience. Until recently aluminium foil disposable cake pans were used as trays to hold the loose pieces. They were very reflective which made it more difficult to see the detail on the pieces. At the dollar store Attila found more suitable trays, they are meant as drawer organizers. We like them, they are a better solution for us.

Our puzzles have been purchased used, over a period of many, many years. The images aren’t always our first choice, but they are nonetheless pleasant enough. We find them at online auctions, yard sales, charity shops, and even found one at the end of someone’s driveway, it was being given away.

Right now Attila is in the kitchen, as I’ve finally vacated after my stainless steel cup cleaning project. He is coring, blanching, peeling, chopping, and freezing garden tomatoes. Some of them are Romas, others are Sicilian Saucers, and there are Beefsteak. When tomato season is over, I will use all the frozen chopped tomatoes to make pizza sauce.

Of course, we eat fresh tomatoes every day right now; we are making hay while the sun shines.

Worldly

Weather

19°C
Date: 2:00 PM EDT Sunday 7 September 2025
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 19.4°C
Dew point: 4.8°C
Humidity: 38%
Wind: W 21 gusts 40 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Jealousy is all the fun you think they had.”
Erica Jong

This is something I must remember. What I imagine another person’s life to be, based on my observation (rather than their lived reality), is not a valid basis for any kind of emotional reaction.

A really good example of this occurred for me in the 1980s. I was a single Mom at that time. At a social event there was a couple who I envied, they seemed to have it all, an apparent loving relationship, an exciting social life, a seemingly carefree existence. My impressions were based on superficial observations, a carefully curated display. Within a short time that couple went through a messy break up. It taught me to distrust my emotional responses to presentations of perfection. Things are seldom what they seem, no display covers all the details.