Two quick veggie options

I've been spending a lot of lockdown-and-aftermath (or whatever we're calling this bit) listening to podcasts. Which is to say, I've been spending a lot of time walking (8.5 miles a week for parental shopping runs; 7.5 miles yesterday for my souped up Sunday-get-out-of-the-house canter; a less glamorous and much more routine 2-3 mile round trip to any supermarket, market, hairdresser I may need, now that buses are not a thing). And also, that spending 174 consecutive days alone (parental doorstep visits notwithstanding, and the 6 days since June that I've cautiously and distantly met up with friends ditto) really makes you keen on hearing other people talking. Weird, that.

This isn't a podcast rec blog, of course (though hon mentions to Drunk Women Solving Crime; Waldy and Bendy's Adventures in Art [despite the title]; The Stubborn Light of Things; Sentimental Garbage; Emperors of Rome; Shedunnit and many, many more). However, this is not a tenuous link, because the first podcast I ever subscribed to is about eating - Hoovering - and as I am a Patron at the princely $2pm tier it sends me informal recipes from podcast guests occasionally. One of which was the transformative idea of doing avocado toast... with basil and feta. 

I don't know why it had never occurred to me. I do avo toast with lemon and cumin, with dill or tarragon and lime. And I certainly have avocado and basil in other mixes. But, for whatever reason, I'd never thought of this. The feta is all the salt you need - about a quarter of a regular block per avocado is plenty. Loads of lime too, and it's delicious. A bit late in the summer, but here we go:

I'd usually recommend Hoovering to anyone who loves to eat but sometimes feels bad about it - it's a lovely raucous talk-through of all manner of weird things we do about food. But at the moment the host is *so* angry about the government's anti-obesity campaign and its impact on disordered eating that it's basically been the same rant three weeks running, so you may want to browse the back catalogue instead. I've gone back to podcasts from very early in lockdown which I'd missed due to my leisure brain having taken the month off to panic, and it's so weird - so vividly remembered, but so far from where we are now. You can tell host and guest are freaking out, but also that they think the situation is temporary. Which it was. And also isn't. Oof. 

Anyway. I also struggle with obesity campaigns because I love to cook and eat and I can't walk and yoga it all off, despite all the goddamn time I've spent on both in lockdown and all the #BoredBaking I have avoided doing. And because some days, I like pasta with cream sauce. Specifically, Nigel Slater's pasta with dill and parmesan melted into a bit of creme fraiche, served on tagliatelle, with mushrooms.

More specifically, because autumn does have some upsides, with girolles. Thank you, Waitrose, for stocking stuff from Natoora without the dodgy-app jeopardy that Patricia reported early in lockdown. Love a girolle (or ten), quickly fried for a few minutes, and nothing more.

 I mean, that'd be lovely on toast, but with dill and cream and parmesan and pepper, it's a glorious feast. 

And meat-free Monday. So, clearly virtuous.