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Last night’s cheeseburger-with-condiments-from-my-estates was delicious, though I probably should have had something with it on the side since I woke up with a grumbling stomach again in the wee hours. It’s definitely “I didn’t eat enough” grumbling and I’m pretty sure I’m doing the stress-undereating thing. I should probably throw some rice in the rice cooker so I have filler on hand without much work. Today I was poking around in the freezer (the regular below-the fridge-freezer) and found one last bag from my last batch of wild mushroom risotto, so that’s tonight settled.

When I got the frozen pumpernickel out for the cheeseburger (I keep wanting to type “cheezburger” LOL) there was only the heel of the bread left, so that got flagged for today's breakfast and a recipe I often use for semi-stale ends of bread: savory bread pudding. Tear or cut the bread into small pieces. Mince a rasher of bacon, mince half an onion, saute the onion while cooking the bacon. Because I needed to add something from The Estate, I picked a dozen leaves of sorrel and chopped them and added them to the pan. When everything’s cooked, add some broth (I had the end of a box of chicken broth needing to be used) and any additional seasonings (I added some tamarind soup base powder) and heat to boiling. Shred a bit of cheese over the bread and toss to mix well. Pour the hot mixture over it all. Top with a bit of plain yogurt and stir together. The sorrel really works as an additive! My sorrel is very energetic and generous (I have two clusters) as long as it gets enough water. I love making sorrel sauce for fish and other mild meats.

The tree guys arrived a little before 8am this morning (poor neighbors!) so I was able to get them sorted out before “going to the office.” I’d already been planning to see if I could use the WFH time to get some contractor projects done, though with the official lock-down I think I would have let it pass except for my neighbor consulting me about the possibility of removing the messy tree on our property line. Since I was doing that tree anyway, I had the tree guys do all the other annual jobs that often get skipped. (Safety-trimming the large walnut, pollarding the mulberry, tidying up the palm trees.) Plus, they hauled away the rotted picket fence that's been sitting in the side yard since I took it out last summer.

The tree guys were still at it during my lunch break, so no bike ride the, but I did make a bike excursion after I "left the office" to play lemon-fairy for Denise.

Tonight's dinner is the mushroom risotto with a sauce made of the last of the package of hamburger, sauted up with half an onion and more of the Seville orange peel cut into tiny strips. When the onions were limp, I added some water, a bit of beef bouillion, and a dash of flour to thicken. I suppose I could have grabbed some herbs instead of the orange peel, but I felt like experimenting. Of course, I could have just picked a lemon and sliced it into a gin and tonic, but I haven't decided if I'm having a drink tonight.

I already posted about my story, "All is Silence" being published today as part of the Decameron Project. It's kind of daunting to have my work sandwiched between Max Gladstone and Robert Silverberg. The Decameron Project patron has over a hundred subscribers now. It'll be interesting to see how much it grows by the end. We're all assuming there will *be* an end...