#ConfinedAtoZChallenge - U (the Nancy Mitford post)

 

Pokes head over parapet and looks around sheepishly. Hi! How is everyone? Long time no see. I knew I hadn’t posted for a while but was shocked to see it was the end of May last year – wow!  Life has been hectic over the last six months. I hadn’t realised just how used to retirement I’d got until I got lured back to work on contract and all my free time disappeared. It made me wonder how the hell I had time for hobbies when I worked pre-retirement. Anyway, I have withdrawn from work again, although time is now being eaten up by getting our house in order before we put it on the market. After nearly three years living in a small, rural town we’re realised that we really are urbanites at heart, so are hoping to move back to the city this spring/summer. But first we have to sell this place so much tidying and streamlining of ‘stuff’ is going on, especially of boxes that have been across the Atlantic three times and have never been opened. Our local thrift store is doing well from us at the moment!

Anyway, enough wittering. I have an entry for the #ConfinedAtoZChallenge. It’s not something I actually cooked or an ingredient but I'm making it fit a little like a jigsaw piece being forced into a slot it doesn't want to go. 

U is for Unexpected gifts (see how I cheated...)

I have a good friend over on Prince Edward Island who has a 13-acre small holding and last time we chatted she asked if me and the husband liked garlic. Umm, yes, I said and thought nothing more of it.

A few days ago I was down at the local post office collecting my mail (because they don’t door deliver) and there was a card saying I had a parcel. I could smell what was in the parcel the minute it got handed over and I’m sure everyone else in the post office could as well. So from PEI on the east coast of Canada all the way to me on extreme west coast of the country on Vancouver Island I got sent garlic – 20 bulbs to be exact and 5 different varieties. Here’s the evidence to prove I’m not making this up.

 

So far, I’ve roasted a whole bulb to go with roast chicken and yesterday I made chicken soup with the carcass and added another whole bulb’s worth, thinly sliced to the soup – I sautéed them briefly for about 30 seconds just to release the aroma before adding them to the soup – thank you Samin Nosrat for that tip!

When I spoke to my friend to thank her, she told me they’d had a bumper crop and as she is also moving she has been distributing produce she couldn’t use, including sending care packages to all her friends so Canada Post must have wondered what the hell was going on with all these smelly packages being sent all over the place.

Anyway, that’s U taken care of, even if I did cheat a bit. V will be next, which is shocking I know, and I actually do have an entry sorted for that so I’m feeling relatively organized – kind of – sort of – may be…

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping healthy and happy. Sending good wishes from the west coast.