Human Contact

Actually contact with any living thing apart from flies and woodworm beetles (under strict instruction from Jussi to squish them on sight) would be welcome. Although there's the cats of course.

Jussi phoned from Hamburg yesterday - the only human contact. It's hot there - that kind of hot where everything grinds to a halt about noon. After a lunch of potatoes and green sauce followed by ice cream and red sauce - you go off and hide in cool shade at the bottom of the garden with the mosquitos and rotting plums. Around 4pm out comes the gin and you cool off with gin lime and ice. Nice. Happy Birthday Elizabeth (yesterday).

Those sauces don't translate so well. Green sauce is sour cream with all kinds of fresh summer herbs and chopped boiled eggs - it is amazing. And red sauce is basically summer fruit puree - equally fantastic (and not in the least basic - Elizabeth purees all the fruits by hand - it's a big job, but then she does go for industrial quantities).

I reckon yesterday was the hottest day we've had here. The mercury must have soared into the high teens - and it was coupled with a really balmy westerly which is what made the biggest difference. And I might not have those sauces but I'm cooking with celery (an ingredient banned by Jussi). Yesterday was celery simply braised with garlic, peppers, garlic, tomato, garlic, onion, garlic, potato, a pork chop and garlic and cabbage.

Today human contact will come in the shape of a phone call from Tom at Changeworks. Later I might go to the post office and refill our electricity stick (Scottish Hydro have given us a new meter - we don't have power cards anymore, we have a stick - doesn't sound like progress does it?). But I'd rather save the trip to the post office until tomorrow. Don't want to spoil myself.