Revamped Oysters and Ridiculousness...

Oh. One out of
two aint bad.

Last week I did a ridiculous thing. The good news is, it led to discovering a not-ridiculous thing. That's why I'm sharing. 

I'd been back home from my holiday for a couple of days and I was having Canadian FOMO. It was Friday night, I was on my own, and I'd opened a bottle of wine. As I sat there, scrolling through photos, I knew exactly what I had to do. Yes, you've guessed it! I had to create a twenty-minute YouTube video of my pics and vids from the trip, along with captions, locations, and background music. It's OBVIOUS when you think about it. 

Yes, you! Noah Reid
as the lovely Patrick.

Look, I know I've painted a fairly desperate picture of myself there. But it was actually lovely. Because while I sipped my wine, and searched for place names for the train photos I'd taken, I was also searching for the right music to soundtrack the thing. It didn't take long. Remember Patrick from Schitt's Creek? Remember when he sang Simply the Best to David and it was everything? Well the actor, Noah Reid, is also a singer/songwriter. His music is beautiful. Mellow and melodic. His lyrics also reference Canada, Montreal, and Toronto, so he was the obvious choice. Even though the video was boxed off that weekend*, I've kept listening to Noah Reid. In the car, in the bath, and as I go about my day. So there. That's my ridiculous thing (a twenty minute holiday compilation video) that led to my not-ridiculous thing. Noah Reid. Look him up. His music is lovely.

Writing News

The manuscript has been sent out to family! This means I'll get a tonne of grammar and spelling edits from my mum, and a load of thematic and plot-related queries from my dad. This is all good. Every little helps, a tapestry has many threads etc, etc.

From the film version of
Everybody's Talking About Jamie. 

Culture

So much culture! Last weekend I saw one of my not-favourite-but-still-very-good musicals, Everybody's Talking About Jamie. (I love some of the music but not all of it, so I always feel I should explain that.) Anyway, it was great. The Jamie I saw this time - Ivano Turco - was fantastic, and the song He's My Boy is always worth hearing live. Then, if that wasn't enough, I saw Deacon Blue on Friday. Yep, I've realised I love a greatest hits tour. (It went OFF for Real Gone Kid and Dignity.) Keep your new music to yourself, and play the hits from my youth! Happily, they did.

 

Smoked salmon with
all the accoutrements

Food and Drink

I don't like oysters, but I like the theatre of them. You know, you get an oyster, but then you get a load of options to drizzle on top? It happened in Canada where, along with soy sauce, horseradish, lemon butter, and tabasco, my dining partner was provided with two little pipette-lidded bottles. One held tequila, the other whisky. The smoky kind like laphroaig. Of course, all this pizzazz had to be replicated as soon as I got home, but with what? I'll say it again, I don't like oysters. But then it came to me. Smoked salmon'll do! As long as you include the pipettes of booze, it'll be exactly the same. So that's what I did. You take a round of crusty bread, dip it in coriander mayo or sour cream, add a piece of salmon, add capers and pickled red onion, then pipette the booze of your choice on top. (I had no tequila so I used vodka along with the whisky.) Then, shove the whole thing in your mouth and enjoy smoky seaside perfection. You're welcome.

Out and About

Because my daily step count was upped considerably while I was away, I'm trying to keep it buoyant now I'm home. That's meant a walk in the park, a walk around the docks, and parking as far away from the supermarket door as I can, in order to get the steps in. Once again, every little helps.

So there we have it. I'm still not quite at the jumper stage yet, but long-sleeved t shirts are a daily occurrence. I couldn't have dreamt of that, this time last week. Baby steps, gang. We're getting there.

Have a lovely week, folks.

*Don't bother searching. I've very much kept my self-indulgent video private.