One thing having a visitor (namely Brother Andrew) here has done is that it's ignited my cooking bug. I love to cook, but I often get into lazy ruts of way-too-simple foods when living alone and cooking only for myself. Having someone here, I start getting creative.
Yesterday I made a really tasty tuna salad for lunch, with chopped almonds and an aging nectarine, and ginger and mayo and blackberry vinegar and some leftover curry spice. We slathered it onto Russian rye bread (bought in Russiatown on Wednesday), sliced and toasted. It was hard for me to eat (the toast too crumbly = tongue steering crisis) but very good.
Then for dinner last night I made wilted spinach – in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil, I fried up some onion and chopped almonds (yes I'm getting rid of too many almonds) and lots of garlic and some spices, then added the spinach and turned off the heat. The spinach wilts in the garlicky juices but doesn't "cook." I boiled some tricolor rotini pasta and chopped in some tomato and added a cup of store-bought alfredo sauce from a jar and ground nutmeg.
It was highly delicious – my best cooking since leaving the hospital.