Ah, I wish I wasn’t writing this post.  Note: if you don’t want to read it, skip to the last paragraph for the link to a great recipe.  I am writing while sitting in my bed after 3 days and nights of illness.  I am still not allowed or eat with, little less cook for, my family.  I don’t want any of them to catch this from me. I finally have some energy and was able to get outside to walk the dog.  But mostly I am confined to my room and am bored and frustrated.

I am frustrated since I checked my garden while I was outside today.  The soil is so wet, I am worried for the root vegetables that have overwintered. And with more rain expected, tilling will not happen any time soon.  I would normally have tilled last weekend but the garden was buried in snow.  I would normally have either planted my early vegetables then or be doing it this weekend.  If I can’t get them sown by the end of the month, I may have to forgo the truly cold weather crops like peas and snap peas.  I guess I could try planting them as a fall crop, but I have not had luck with that in the past.  One hopeful possibility is that I may be able to find another place to plant them outside the garden where I may be able to get them in sooner; they are some of our favorites and I would hate to miss them.

I am bored because my head is not ready for reading and there is only so much TV and so many movies I can watch without getting headaches.  But I have caught up on every series I like and even watched Foxcatcher (Steve Carrell was incredible, but since it took place near here, I remember the event. I found the move really disturbing – because it was very well done).

I must say I have been well taken care of.  Between my husband and our daughter, Lauren, who is home on Spring Break, I have been kept hydrated and fed as much BRAT food, chicken soup and eggs as my body would take.  Tonight, I was finally ready for a real meal. I had some nice organic kale that was sitting in my fridge waiting to be used.  I also had a very simple Daphne Oz pasta recipe that had plain enough ingredients that I could eat it.  I emailed it to my husband, who emailed it to Lauren. Her first time making dinner for us.  I did some coaching via text, but she was basically on her own, I was to stay in the bedroom so as not to contaminate the house.  About 1/2 hour later, my dinner appeared – it smelled perfect, looked great and tasted delicious!  The only problem was that they gave me a generous portion and, since I hadn’t eaten much food at one time, I had to force myself to in it in increments when what I really wanted to do was wolf it all down.  Great job, Lauren!