High Hopes for Cauliflower

My window!

Anyone else have snow last week? Yeah? No? It was stunningly beautiful for a whole evening. Not so much when I was scraping it off my car next morning, but that's life. Swings and roundabout, ups and downs, the rough with the smooth, and all that jazz. It's the same with Monday mornings. Another one's come round again. We're either fresh-faced and energetic, ready to attack the next seven days, or we've dragged ourselves out of bed, begrudgingly thrown on some clothes, and are forcing ourselves into whatever the Monday morning routine happens to be. Are you having an up or a down? Is January the worst, or do you thrive in the chill? Whatever way your particular cookie crumbles, I hope today is winning. Or as close to that as you can manage.

I can attest, it is not
that simple.

Writing News

Another week of editing has passed. It's still early days. I'm taking out waffle, rejigging cumbersome sentences, and getting rid of blatant errors. The fine tuning and polishing is months away. As any sculptor with a block of marble knows, you don't go diving in with the chisel. You start at the outside and work your way in. I'm still very much on the edges, and that's OK.

I avoided Happy Valley for years
because I thought it was depressing.
It is. It's also glorious. 

Culture

Oh, the power of social media! After watching five minutes of The Traitors when it aired last month and thinking, 'That looks shit!' I gave into peer pressure. The peers, in this case, were everyone on Twitter, Mastodon, and Insta banging on about how good it was. Last Sunday, I began episode one at lunch time. I finished the series just after midnight. Everyone was right. It was excellent. Give it a go if, like me, you thought you knew better. In only slightly less intense news, I finished series two of Happy Valley and caught up with series three as it aired last night. It's so bloody good, I'm counting the days until next Sunday evening. It also means I can listen to Shrine of Duty's weekly podcast about each episode. (If Shrine are podding about a show, you know it's exceptional.) And in other culture news (I'm not even sure it is) I'm back on the jigsaws. My current one is the picture of the Beatles on Abbey Road. It's SOLID. I hate every single crease of their trousers and shadow they make on the ground. *SHAKES FIST INTO SKY*

Disco Cauliflower
 - from this website.

Food and Drink

An evening at Maray and a plate of their fit Disco Cauliflower led me online to see how to make it. I don't have a deep fat fryer but I'm going to try a version of this at some point. Based on past attempts, I know I only ever balls up cauliflower. I can't make it without it tasting like actual cauliflower. Restaurants, on the other hand, avoid that and produce mouth-meltingly tasty, flavoured wonderment that defies logic. Hey ho, I won't be deterred, even though I should be. My cauliflower-based optimism wins out every time. One day, I'll crack it.

Out and About

Beers in the Albert Dock, food at Maray, and a day with the niece and nephew in Yorkshire. Remember when we couldn't eat out or see family members? What a crazy time to live through. And always good to remember when the urge to hibernate becomes debilitating.

Whether you're up or down, feeling rough or smooth, swinging or round-abouting, enjoy the week. Dig down into those energy reserves and pull some up to enjoy yourself. And if in doubt, remember at some point this week, I'll be eating a soggy, non-appetising cauliflower head, because I continued to believe I was capable of something I've never yet managed. Optimism's a strong driving force. May it be sprinkled liberally over your own week. 

Have a lovely week, folks.