My Mission for the Day

Is to completely clear out our refrigerator. We have not been consuming the food we have been buying, so there is a lot of old produce lurking in the bins. Out they go, and shopping will be done tomorrow to replace the bare necessities.  Nothing is more pointless  than eating old lettuce!

On the organizing front, I purchased four "FRIG BINZ" from Costco a while back, and are they ever good. There were two sizes in the package - shown above as the top and middle- one is perfect for Rick's puddings, and one is perfect for 2 1/2 dozen eggs. (Speaking of which, I have lost my taste for eggs. Really find them nauseating now. I think it is because we have only had them poached for the last two months. ICK.) The other two vary in their uses according to need. I also found some professional quality storage containers that are great for containing salad fixings. All I have to do is pull out the container and mix away. So, with all of them empty, I guess it is time to go shopping!

My grocery list is fairly simple these days. Milk. Butter. Bag of salad or head of lettuce. Couple of tomatoes and some spring onions. Apples. Oranges. Grapes. Bananas. Nature's fast foods!  Of course, chips and chocolate bars, the ultimate meal replacement items. No smell, no clean up...the perfect foods for caregivers!  My pantry is full though, from more active kitchen days. The supply of nuts, gluten free pastas, tinned fish, etc. is good for another flood. I do run out of coffee every couple of months, so I was thinking of buying some instant until the man is back on coffee detail.

Amazingly enough, my weight has dropped, so all that hype about junk food being fattening? I DON'T THINK SO!   It is just boring, easy, and to tell you the truth? Not all that appetizing. When the joy goes out of eating, it is not a pleasant thing.  But, there is a silver lining. My frig will be shining and contain nothing but an echo at the end of a busy afternoon!

Perch ALMOST Meunière

I discovered a little while ago, that you can use cornstarch to dredge things in before frying them in butter. It actually gives a crispier crust with much less effort, truth be told. Today, I bought a few fillets of perch from Gimli Fish Market, and wow. Was it ever good. Simple to do, and sooooo flavourful when prepared so simply.

I baked a fillet with full fat cream and tiny sweet peas and onions for the hubby. He ate the whole thing. Took him two sittings, but he did it.  This was the first meal he has had in months, and the beginning of some serious healing!  It didn't taste great to him, but he was able to 'choke it down'....some compliment to the chef, right?

At last!

Some semblance of food for the man!  I cooked a little bit of gluten free pasta - little tiny rings. They slid down really well!  As for flavours?  I tried sugar and cinnamon, cream and parm cheese plus I added an egg to a 1/4 cup of the pasta and scrambled them together. This was the closest he has come to eating in weeks. He managed to put away the egg and pasta, plus the pasta with sugar and cinnamon. Of course, all of the pasta was drowned in butter. What a difference it makes to try to add calories, rather than reduce them!

Almost two months...

later.  Rick is through his chemo and radiation, but he isn't able to eat. Not a mechanical problem as such, but the tastebuds and saliva glands took a kicking. He is existing on protein shakes, eggs, cream, tofu pudding  and home made tapioca pudding. Tiny amounts at that.  As you might know, this man was made to consume food with gusto, and this is killin' him! 

On the other hand, the effects of the chemo are subsiding and the burns are on their way to healing. He can not stand the smell of food, so you can imagine that it is just a tad difficult to live in the same house and eat. So I don't.  His sense of smell is very keen these days, and even going out to a grocery store is out of the question.  It is a hard time of life. Possibly harder than the plane crash, or the double knee replacement. At least then he could still take comfort from chocolate!  He is losing a lot of weight quickly, and we will have to go on a shopping spree as soon as he is able. There has to be a silver lining, right?

Missing in action....

This cancer thing is really time consuming, if nothing else.

Hubby's first chemo was last Monday and it was a relief to finally get started on the treatment. His treatments will really influence our food choices for the next few months. Basically, I have been spoiling him night and day, building him up for the onslaught to come. He has a good healthy appetite by nature, and isn't fussy, so it is easy to pack him full of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and protein that his body will require to fight the fine fight. He is resting more since his treatment on Monday, although he still stubbornly went out and cut the grass midday in bright sun. DUH. 

As the radiation treatments continue, they have warned us that his ability to swallow will be impaired as will be his sense of smell and taste. So, I will have to be quite creative in providing enough nutrients in small packages via the blender and food processor. It really helps that he isn't fussy at all, and loves milkshakes! You can hide all sorts of things in a bit of milk and ice!

A result of my treating him, has been a bit too much sampling by me. I plan to regain my loss over the remains of the summer, but this stress thing is very powerful. Hope springs eternal.