Housework

My cleaning lady, Sue Ng, has had to take time off to help her sister in Toronto care for their aged father (he's nearly 100, and objects to being put in a 'home' for the elderly). As I'm going out tomorrow evening, I decided not only to do the weekly washing today as usual, but also to stuff and roast the chicken I got at the supermarket yesterday. On the whole I coped with the double load of housework on the same day, and there's enough left over for me to have cold chicken and stuffing for several more meals over the next few days. However, the stuffing wasn't up to its usual delicious best, and when David Skype-phoned me this evening, he explained why: Wendy would have bought the spices before she fell ill, so they are probably over 3 years old. I noticed an absence of aroma when I added the spices to the breadcrumbs, chopped onion, etc, and that explains why my stuffing tasted so bland. Ah well... I've been reading more of Wendy's diaries lately, and although remarks about what she regarded as culinary disasters occur less often then they did in earlier years, she occasionally still found grounds for self criticism even when we had been married over 25 years - but I'm happy to report that she more often had reason to be gratified with her successes. No matter how hard I try I'll never achieve her excellence, but it's good to try from time to time, and it makes a pleasant change from prepared meals zapped in the microwave, and from grilled steak or chops, which are about my usual level of culinary artistry.