24.07.2022 Cooking in Ernest[o?]

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 Sunday 24th 48F Bright start, but cloud expected. Up at 5am after waking at 4am. No escape from the bad memories. 

 I must tidy up the residue from the latest clear out. An estate agent is coming on Tuesday to value the house. There are a lot of boxes and papers to be rid of again. The local recycling yard is not open until Wednesday. When I am a volunteer at the museum. Not helpful. 

 I shall just have to take a trailer full to a more distant recycling yard tomorrow. [Monday] Which means some serious sorting today. I keep taking the rockwool, for the balcony, in and out of the trailer. It is a handy and weatherproof [and invisible] means of storage of the four bulky bags under its fitted tarpaulin. 

 06.30. Time for a walk. I have hung out the towels from last night's wash. The rotary drier hasn't fallen over yet. A wren keeps singing from the ridge at the west end of the house. It can make quite a racket despite it diminutive size!

 A longer walk to the far woods. Looping back along the pretty lanes. Almost continuous sunshine and feeling too warm in my thin cotton jacket. I have taken 167 pictures so far. Returned in exactly an hour. I saw a lady jogger. A rare event on my usual routes.

 10.00. 65F. Bright overcast. I have completed 95% of clearing the upstairs clutter. The cardboard, polythene and paper have all been segregated and taken outside. Ready to load the trailer when the rockwool has found yet another new home. The weather looks a bit doubtful. So I'll have to monitor carefully for rain. I have done the washing up and cleaned the hob. 

 Late morning nap to catch up. I was nodding at the computer again.

 13.20 Lunch over. Still tidying. 

14.00 71F. Overcast, warm and windy. The rockwool is now housed in the unfinished dome.

 I have filled the trailer with paper, polythene and cardboard waste. Tidied the airing cupboard. Removed the tubs which were hindering access to the clean towels. Replaced the mug with a nice glass. For my toothbrush and paste. On the chromed basket-wall shelf in the bathroom.

 Then I went outside to continue clearing "the patio." I use the term as loosely as the shattered cement and rubble. From which it is/was badly formed. It didn't matter too much in the past. Not when it was covered in countless plant pots and shelving units for more plants. Once cleared and exposed [by me] it is pitiful and truly ugly by any standard you care to imagine. 

 My navvy's pick handle has rotted away over the years. Nobody stocks a sturdy enough handle to fit the head of a British pick. So I am limited to using my gloved hands and a garden rake. Once it is excavated and levelled I shall bring in some self-compacting gravel. This will stabilise the area. Then I can lay paving slabs on sand or gravel. As a walking surface to reach the main [back] door. 

 The front door is inaccessible in the lean-to greenhouse. The parking area is at the back. So the back door offers the only sensible access to the house. 

 I need to make another door. The one I made from sturdy floorboards, many years ago, has weathered and shrunk. An insulated door would make better sense. The present one can have white frost on the inside in winter. Letting more light into the back hall would be good too. Provided it was secure and insulated.

 This is weird. I was searching in the kitchen cupboards for a glass. When I found yet another frying pan. A larger one. Which is exactly what I need. Stainless steel and unused. Still in the cardboard, sales-display packaging. With a ceramic, non-stick coating.

  It will be much more useful than the smaller one. [On the right] Which I have been struggling with so far. Though its non-stick coating is fine. Even under the torture I have been putting it through.      

 "Ernesto" is a Lidl brand. How could I have missed it? I had already found the plain, stainless steel one and quickly abandoned it. A lack of non-stick coating made it into a "glue pot" with my immature, cooking skills.

 17.20 Raining. 

 18.45 67F/19C. I found an online, C to F,  temperature conversion table. With a bit of cropping I was able to print in a decent size for easy reading. I had misplaced my hand written conversion table.

 20.15 64F. Dinner was salad with Tuna and poached eggs. I am still experimenting with the degree of boiling in the pan. Logic suggests a higher temperature will solidify the whites sooner. Logic also suggests that water cannot exceed 100C once it is boiling. So a more gentle boiling won't disrupt the whites.

 

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