*tootles trumpet* Now We Are One

 Goodness. It's apparently been a year. I'm not sure I've had an M&S curry since that post, which just goes to show I had no idea how life would change. Not the big stuff - I knew about staying indoors, about the virus, even about social distancing a bit. But the stuff like how I just don't go into the shopping centre where M&S is any more, unless it's to the chemist for my folks. I don't mooch about public space killing time; I am walking or I am at home. These are the choices. It is, when you think about it, absolutely wild.

But. I now have a decent desk and chair. Work has gone on, friendship has gone on albeit weirdly. I am a lot less mad than I thought I would be, and a LOT less mad than I'd have guessed if I'd thought the Confined Kitchen would still be confined 366 days on. And that is in no small part to having this place to splurge some feelings, make some friends, and share a lot of common experiences, from supermarket terrors to the endless bloody difficulty of lunch. Thank you all, very, very much.

So today I put up some springish, Easter-but-not-really decorations. Because it is spring, and we are having a party on Saturday, sorta. And it is cheering.
 

I opened a last present from Anna and Anna, from a stash sent many months ago and much appreciated (seriously: it's a mushroom brush, I am SO HAPPY), and I rolled along with working from home. 

 

I'm also able to give you the link for Saturday evening's storytelling (I will tweet it that evening too, but will delete that after a bit as it's not a public video). If you can't watch it around Confined Cocktail hour, do feel free to beforehand or on Sunday, and invite others you know and love to share. Remember: if you want to join in completely, have to hand something strawberry, something vanilla, (optionally something cold) and finally something warm to drink. 

On Saturday, I am going full #HeritageKitchen for #ConfinedCookalong and making terrible/brilliant 1970s kids party food. But I think I'm also going to make a Carpathian apricot yoghurt cake, because there should be cake for a birthday.

And till then? I'm eating green with carbs. 

It might be parsley soup again, with lots of potato and white sauce. 

Or it might be walnut pesto (basil, parmesan, olive oil, lemon, walnuts)...

...with buckwheat noodles, more lemon, avocado, peas and randomly dill (it should be rocket and edamame, but #ConfinedSubstitutions are us, no?)

Whatever nutrients are in red food, I'm sure I'll get some eventually. 

We go onwards. And knowing we've made it this far is both daunting and just amazingly comforting.