Fear & Parathas in Las Vegas

My carefree spin through life was abruptly tripped up last week when a sharp, chest-constricting panic attack forced me off the coach to work and back onto the pavement, pleading nausea to the driver so he’d stop halfway down a busy road in rush-hour.  Since then I’ve not been able to get back on a bus.  Taxis are hardly bearable either.  I can just about manage car lifts from my family (who will pull over and let me out for air if I need it).  Elevators I can and will cope with, as I live on the 5th floor and I’m damned if I’m walking up and down that four times a day (it’s seven deep breaths from the 5th to the ground floor, or a count of 10.  Seven deep breaths, or a count of 10).

I wrangled gently with the on-duty GP (via phone) about how to deal with this.  Back on the amitriptyline (oh joy of joooyyys), having spent the best part of three years getting off the sodding stuff.  Follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks.  But so far I can still make it to work (albeit by walking there), make it round the supermarket, go to the gym, sit down and eat a meal with my loved ones, and generally keep some sort of handle on life.  So currently we’re at Anxiety Attack Status: Fucking Annoying, rather than Anxiety Attack Status: Utterly Debilitating, which is something I guess.

Consoled myself with the remains of Sunday night’s family curry extravaganza (quorn chicken korma, moong dhal, vegetable curry) and some home-made parathas (Indian flatbreads)…….

Original version from http://indiaphile.info/how-to-make-parathas/

Pancakarama

Sorry about the gap in posts.  Busy at work, plus a stinking cold, plus the run-up to the one-year anniversary of my mother’s passing, has left me reaching for the tried-and-trusted rather than the new-and-shiny.  I’ve developed an ongoing throat issue as well which I’m trying to manage by cutting out alcohol, spicy and acidic foods for a couple of weeks (argghh) and as much caffeine as I can remove without becoming an active danger to other people (HULK NEED LATTE. HULK SMASH).  Which has narrowed my options a little.  But what’s the point of having a cookery blog if it doesn’t give you a ready-made and handy back-catalogue of tasty dishes?  So I took another shot at this herby mushroom pancake, this time with feta, spinach and potato as the stuffing….

https://theanxiouscook.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/herb-pancakes/

Vegvegvegvegvegvegvegvegvegveg

Sorry, been busy. Lots of overtime at work, and when that happens it’s easier to revert to a tried-and-tested recipe (or Tesco’s new frozen Nut Roast*), rather than trying out something new and special. But I now have a couple of days off work! And therefore expect the experimentation to come thick and fast.

So stick Reef’s “Place Your Hands” on at high volume, and have chopping boards to the ready.  We’re doing oven-roast vegetables, courgette & potato & feta rosti, plus a simple yogurt dressing.

Originals courtesy of the ever-lovely Nigel Slater:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/14/late-summer-vegetable-recipes-nigel-slater

*falls into the “tastes a bit like paxo stuffing but okay with some gravy slung over it” category.  Rather than the “tastes like sawdust” category which is generally the other option for ready-made nutroasts.  Hint: buy some chestnut puree and peanuts and make your own……

Let all the children boogie….

It’s Friday night, and with my mighty Anxious Powers I have combined a portion of defrosted dhal from https://theanxiouscook.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/yellow/ and the pancakes from

https://theanxiouscook.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/rice-flour-pancakes-with-coconut-and-spring-onion/#more-876, plus some tomato chutney, and a couple of vodkas with coke, to create the ultimate “Friday night Lentil Dhal Wrapped In A Coconut-Flavoured Rice Flour Pancake With A Dab of Chutney Dining Experience”.

Right, I’m off to watch Iron Man 3 and drink a couple more vodkas.

HAAPY WEEKEND!!!

 

Basil & Coriander Tofu Pancakes

A light lunch, and a break from the traditional Xmas diet at this time of chocolate, more chocolate, roast potatoes, sprouts, extra sprouts, more sprouts just-in-case and rich fruit puddings with custard.

And it’s about time that the happily re-potted Steve (my basil plant), earned his living again.

Hold back the River

So it’s Friday and I’ve survived another week at work, and I’ve been to the supermarket (Russian Standard Vodka! Tenner a Bottle! Cockles and Mussels Alive-O!) and then to the gym and I will be sensible and have an early night, which is why I’m up typing this at 01.40am of course.

Friday night dinners lack the urgency of week-night meals. You can stick some defrosted bean chilli in a baking tray and then into the oven, as per usual, but it’s possible then to kick back, relax, refill your drink, and experiment with home-made pancakes, flat breads or crepes as an accompaniment. Tonight’s show was originally going to come courtesy of the rice-flour pancakes I’ve touted here a couple of times before. Except I appear to have lost the knack of making these delicate crepes; what I ended up with after an hour of repeated stirring, pouring and frying would have made an excellent coconut-flavoured wallpaper paste, but was sod-all use otherwise.

Undaunted (and bloody starving) I moved onto these gram flour pancakes, also from 101cookbooks http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/silverdollar-socca-recipe.html. Fortunately these were a little more robust, and with a dash of tomato chutney, (I’d eaten the bean chilli long before), made a fine supper.

Rice-flour pancakes with coconut and spring onion

Cadged this from the ever-lovely http://www.101cookbooks.com/, which was originally a chive and rice-flour pancake recipe. Rolled through the Anxiouscook Random Stuff In The Refrigerator Blender it came out as a spring-onion and rice-flour pancake. This parchment-thin tortilla strikes me as suitable for endless artistic experimentation though – am already rifling through the spice rack for inspiration. Have fun! 🙂