Thursday 13 June 2013

Salad Days - Warm Potato Salad

What a day! The after-effects of my mini-op caught up with me today. The bruising is coming out, my neck is tender and stiff and I had a niggling headache, probably from sleeping with my head in a strange position in an effort not to lie on the sore bits. I had scheduled the day to catch up on my assignments, but couldn't concentrate or find the resources I needed online.

Just to add insult to injury, I had a frustrating time with the delivery of a swing seat, when it turned out I had been sent a different style to the one I ordered. By the time I had checked this out, I had signed for the package and the delivery men were long gone.  I then had a bit of a time convincing the girl on the helpline that just because the swing seat which I bought and one available through their partner company had the same name, they were not necessarily the same product. If I had wanted the squarer, lighter looking seat offered by the partner company, I would not have ordered the curvier, sturdier-looking one they were selling for £60 more than the other one. The pictures on the two websites were different, so the products should be different. The one I was sent was not the one I ordered! Having explained all this, it seemed another could be sent out and the first taken away, providing all the bits were boxed up.  The earliest they could do the delivery was in just under a fortnight, so for the next 12 days I would have a massive box adding to my usual level of clutter.  In hauling the 30-something kilo box around to repack everything and tape the box shut again, I hurt my left knee.  After sitting down for a bit with a cup of tea, I knew that my low level knee osteoarthritis pain had changed into a full-on flare. Damn and blast it, I don't have time for this.  I should be cleaning and decorating, and gardening too except that it's raining!

Feeling well sorry for myself, I staggered out to pick some mint and chives. I cut up some new potatoes, threw them in a pan to boil with a sprig of mint, and chopped up the chives.  Much as I don't like raw onion, a few chopped up chives are okay as I don't find the flavour too strong. And the little green rings look so pretty, like beads.
Once the potatoes were cooked, I drained them, picked out the mint, and mixed them and the chives with a tablespoon of light mayonnaise to make a warm potato salad.  I was in too much pain to stand and make anything else, so I ate it just as it was, taking painkillers and hoping that I would be able to get through that night's class. Which, it turned out, had to be cancelled anyway. I'm not sure if that was a blessing or not. It would have improved my bad mood. Grumbling to myself, I went out and treated myself to a cream cake and ice cream.
Yes, so much for the diet, but I can take only so much provocation before I comfort eat, and the chocolate mint ice cream certainly helped me to chill out a little!

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