Greetings from cyberspace

It's been forever, I know. Don't know how that happens, other than birthdays and visitors and presentations and a trip to Chicago in the winter - of course - and then there's the matter of my neighbor. He's learned to cook, you see, and so he's always inviting me to join them for dinner. "Hey, I just made some Chinese style spare ribs!" Or "I'm making a chicken stir fry - wanna join us when you get back from work?" And then the next thing I know I look up and it's March.

Truth is, I've been taking lots of walks, and sometimes even taking my camera. I love to traverse Balboa Park and check out what's blooming in the canyons.

There are these wonderful flowers which look like they're in the pea family...

And, of course, there are the beautiful grasses...........

As well as the man-made structures.........

And yes, I've even been eating. Nothing fancy these days, though I did make some amazing French Toast with a dash of orange oil and some grated orange peel mixed in with the eggs...

And one night I concocted an Israeli couscous dish with some sweet potato, cranberries, onions, some cinnamon and slivered almonds. Very Moroccan, I thought. Very tasty.

And this evening I had friends over for dinner. I've been on a chicken craze recently, perhaps because I haven't eaten any in a while. So this evening I made some chicken coconut soup, or tom kha gai. I've made this before and I've always loved it. I made my own stock using both water as well as organic chicken broth, so it was rich. After removing the chicken and saving the meat, I added coconut milk, a chunk of galangal, some kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce, as well as some lemon grass, which I scored from my neighbor who had bought some frozen from our local Vietnamese supermarket. When the whole thing came to a boil, I turned it down, simmered it and added some sugar and crushed about 3 of those tiny green chilis you get in Asian supermarkets. Always a crowd pleaser, even with one of my friends who doesn't ordinarily like soup.

Also made some chicken curry, and because my friends brought their 5 year old son, I made some spaghetti with a red sauce.

But did I have time to photograph our food before we ate it? No. And that has been part of my problem of late. Either I'm eating at the neighbors house or I don't have time to photograph what I just made. Which is why I've dragged my heals on this blog. But somehow, with the time shift, I feel that I can pack more into a day, including some photography at the end of the day. It's no longer dark when I leave my clinic. Renewal is in the air........