Melancholy

That about sums up how I’m feeling today. And it has pretty much nothing to do with Valentine’s Day. I’m on Reading Break, and had a great weekend away in Victoria, only to come home and find out my mom is now in the hospital with massive nose bleeds that they are having trouble controlling. They aren’t exactly sure what’s causing the problems, and she will be spending a second night there. It doesn’t sound like it’s super serious, but it’s still troubling.

It didn’t help that it was a grey and rainy day today. The kind of day where it would be easy to stay in your pyjamas and hide under a blanket all day. I did get out though, and go for a walk in the park in the rain, enjoying the sounds of the rain in the trees. I may have even taken to skipping over increasingly bigger puddles, just to see how far I could jump. It was definitely good for the soul to get out and just be.

Since my dad has been back and forth to the hospital all day, I ended up on my own for dinner. I wasn’t looking for anything complicated, just something filling and nourishing and simple to prepare. Fortunately, I have a standby meal that fits that bill.

There’s no real recipe. I simply cook up a pot of whole wheat pasta (in this case, rotini), then steam whatever vegetables I have on hand. I went with carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower, throwing in a handful of frozen corn kernels at the last minute for an extra pop of colour.

When both are cooked, toss them together with some butter, olive oil, lots of fresh cracked black pepper, garlic powder, and a bit of salt. The key here is the black pepper and garlic powder – don’t skimp.

Then I just top the bowl with a sprinkle of cheese. Parmesan is preferred, but today I went with sheep’s milk feta. Whatever floats your boat.

A cute penguin bowl makes it taste just a little bit better.

 

It might not be an amazing culinary creation, but sometimes that’s not what you’re looking for. Some things in life are more important.

Keep your fingers crossed that my mom gets well soon.