the making of a new to me recipe and reflections on today

Step one: halve large garlic clove.  

Reality: perhaps my garlic clove was too small? Regardless the first one. I used the wrong knife and it didn't halve and some of it was already dried out and useless. The second clove worked better. I put the good part of the first and then the second clove half in the tablespoons of olive oil. By this point I was already thinking that the olive oil I have with garlic would have been sufficient and that I didn't have to go to this much work. However, it is baking now in my toaster oven. Covered in foil 375 F for 35 minutes. 

Step 2 boil pasta, save a cup of pasta water.

Reality 2. I was reading a book and I got distracted, was busy thinking, and forgot to cook the noodles. So the garlic is done and the noodles are not at all ready. I am so out of practice in terms of cooking and timing. 

My Husband had to help me with the can of sardines. (I am adding to the recipe, it's a fish day). 

The garlic was admittedly fun to fish out from the baked garlic clove husk. 

I used frozen spinach that I thawed with water in a colander. I used an immersion blender to blend the garlic and spinach. I had to add about half a cup of pasta water for it to work. 

So it didn't look anything like the picture of this meal that I was basing this on. 

Well I didn't manage to keep my bowl of pasta hot. It needed salt and pepper. But when I focused on the taste it was actually all right. It had a tang to it. 

The noodles I used were not the smallest that were advised. I actually like small noodles. I had made half a jar of tomato sauce with a handful of thin noodles and sardines over our before Christmas family reunion. It was actually pretty good. 

I'm very out of practice for cooking. It's something I want to work on again.  

It snowed overnight and I helped my husband shovel. I did the steps and railing while my husband did the actual driveway. It's a very small driveway. We live in the city. No winding driveways for us. Just enough for a car to sit on. Anyway, now I need to get ready to go on a walk. It's one of my goals to start walking again. 

My physical illness between October and December meant that a lot of things I was trying to do didn't happen. 

I'm thinking a lot about the need for Thanksgiving. The battle of one's thoughts never ends. But I'm reading a small book on prayer and it is encouraging.  However, there is a lot of life that is just a matter of discipline in a way. Something I'm not very good at. But I'm working on that too. Slowly. 

Life really is a lot of one step at a time. 

Just as I was getting ready to post this, my Grandma called! She hadn't realized that I tried to call yesterday until last night and so she called me this afternoon! Something worth telling you about from our conversation was how she loves that Christmas has to do with Jesus our Lord coming and changing our lives.  And that if you really understand the real meaning the rest of Christmas as in gifts etc is not as important.  She also commented however about how kids should have something to open. C.S. Lewis thought the same thing.  It's a blessing to give gifts to a child. 

And now I better take that walk!