Living Some Life

Today I spent a little more time living than usual. I knocked off work about twenty minutes early and used that time to get a start on some much over do life stuff. My lawn was getting pretty shaggy and there is a lot of rain coming in the forecast. The afternoon was wonderful today. It was around room temperature in the sun and slightly cooler in the shade. It was definitely jeans and a tee shirt weather out. I hadn’t fired up the mower since 2019 and for the first time it was stored in the shed. Which was the first significant use of that shed in the seven years I’ve owned this home. I was nervous that it would have some difficulty starting, even with the minor precautions I took before storing it. Basically I cleaned it off well and put some fuel stabilizer in the tank then ran it for five minutes or so. Probably all I could do. In the end, it was enough. I put in a splash of fresh gas and checked the oil level before I started it. Some liberal choking and allowing it to warm up and I was off. Most of the lawn was not in need of a cut but the dandelions were in a need of a taste of my wrath. I will be disposing of them later this spring by other means but it was nice to chop their stupid, obnoxious faces off this round. I also have a plethora of thistle that you can’t make out in the below photo that I will have to find a way to deal with as well. For now it looks okay, just the giant divets caused by the rabbits that have been feasting on the grass.

Speaking of feasting, I was so energized by my efforts outside, that I decided to get crackin’ on some cookin’. I will mention that I did not just cut my small lawn but also pulled some weeds by hand, trimmed all the long grass the mower cannot get, fixed a board on the neighbour’s side of the fence, and fluffed up all the flower beds. That amount of effort is wont to give a man some appetite. So I set about preparing some food. I was going to make a mixture of seasoned ground beef and fragrant jasmine rice but when I got to the cupboard and saw the lentils staring back at me I decided it was time for round two. The last time there were quite mushy, which I liked but I thought my liquid to dry ration was off. I made the adjustment and fired them into the Instant Pot, following the online recipe I’d written out. Meanwhile, in the frying pan, I browned off two rounds of beef. That was the end of the beef from the previous meat order that Ron and I shared from the Chef. I figured since I was this far in, I would cook up some bacon as well. The pan was hot after all. I prepared fifteen to seventeen slices or three pan fulls and put most of them into the fridge from future use.

Using what I had prepared, I combined the three elements into a bowl. To my tired eyes, it appeared to be a very savoury sundae. The red lentils are playing the part of the actual iced cream. The bacon and beef are standing in for traditional toppings. You can use your imagination as to what. I see the beef as a chocolate or caramel sauce and the bacon representing something like jam or bananas. Either way it was a tasty and filling meal. My regret is that I didn’t mix it all together before starting. It was more difficult to get bites with all the elements, or just not pure lentil. The lentils weren’t as creamy in this new ratio and I was glad that I dumped some red pepper flakes in at the end when I was stirring it up in preparation for removal from the Instant Pot. I’ve secured some more room in the fridge and freezer for the incoming meat order of more bacon and beef that was submitted today. These are interesting times we’re living in, that’s for sure.