My friend took me rock-climbing the other day.  Outdoors.  I’d had visions of hiking for hours in the pouring rain and then climbing a gruelling and terrifying multi-pitch route.

But in fact – contrary to the weather forecast – it didn’t rain.  Neilston quarry turned out to be the perfect height for scaredy-cats and there was no need for any multi-pitch stuff.    I had two moments where I was picturing my own death but I think that was more due to an overactive imagination than any actual danger.

And then, just when it was getting to the point where I was thinking it would be nice if quarries came equipped with coffee-shops, the guys next to us asked if we wanted a cup of tea!  Tea?  Out in a quarry?  Oh yes.  They had a little stove.  It was good, it was fast.  And they gave us sweet black tea and a slice of madeira cake.

Nice.

Raspberry jam is a Good Thing.

Especially when it contains 45g of fruit per hundred grams and nothing else but sugar.

Pure genius, and good on toast.

Pancakes are a Good Thing.  Today’s pancakes came in several varieties:

• savoury: served with mince and grated cheese

• sweet: served with bacon and maple syrup and subdivided into:
  • normal
  • wheat and lactose-free
  • with blueberries
  • with chocolate

Verdict: delicious.

Its nice to go out mid-week and hang out with friends, and was nice that it was a slightly different mix than my usual suspects.  And food cooked my someone other than me is ALWAYS well appreciated.

Yum.

On Sunday afternoon I suddenly took it into my head that I really wanted some Battenberg cake. So I popped out to the supermarket to get some. But alas there was none!

Then, because I was really tired, I went to bed for half an hour. And as I was dozing off, I prayed for Battenberg cake, hoping that my visitors would bring some. The chances of them bringing cake or biscuits were quite high, but the chances of it being exactly what I wanted were slim; they’re somehow not really Battenberg types… And frankly, praying for cake just seems weird.

And so, it came to pass, my visitors did not bring Battenberg cake.  We had a good time together and I didn’t think much more about ill-fated cake.

On Monday I spent the day in an alternate universe.  An exciting and colourful universe but not the sort of place where I’d want to spend more than a day or two.  (It involved hairspray, make-up, trapezes, glitter, celebrites and lots and lots and lots of waiting.)

Then on Tuesday it was back to the realities of office life. What I hadn’t realised is that it was my team leader’s birthday, and he’d brought in 3 different sorts of cakes including – you’ve guessed it! – Battenberg cake!

So my prayer was answered! There was something else I also prayed for on Sunday, I’m now slightly more hopeful about that one being answered too, even though its a much bigger request than Battenberg cake and involves something not generally available in supermarkets…

Well it was Friday. I was tired. My flat was a tip. I was hungry. I was looking forward to seeing my friend S who was coming to visit, but had a huge list of things to do before she arrived:

- tidy away the clothes that had been drying

- eat something

- make some space for S (its a very small flat, and to use the spare bed requires some forward planning)

- put the bins out

- take the food I’d bought from its poly bag and put it in the fridge.

This last item should have been very straightforward, BUT the milk had leaked. Argh. And my great plan of trying to use the minimal amount of poly bags had backfired, in that now EVERYTHING had milk on it. The last thing I needed.

So I found myself with the bizarre job of washing vegetables and stacking them to dry as if they were plates and bowls. And I like bizarre things, so that cheered me up. Then I noticed how good the vegetables looked and that made me happy too. Great colours. I’d never have noticed them like that if I’d just put them straight in the fridge.

Vegetables are a good invention. If all goes according to plan, they may well become ratatouille before the weekend is out.

It happened again! Last time I thought it must just be my imagination, or the effects of sunshine and blue skies. But then it happened again.

Chicken fajita. In a soft wrap, just flexible enough to be a reliable fajita-enclosing device when eating and walking. Containing lettuce (crunchy), chicken (wholesome), something spicy (just a little bit), something smooth (mmm).

And as I walked and ate I got this inexplicable feeling of elation. Not over-the-top, just a warm glow of happiness. And not the kind of happiness that could be increased by repeating the chicken fajita experience and having TWO. Nope, I don’t think it’ll make me an addict.

I do wonder what is special about the chicken fajita. I tried the sticky pork something and then the cajun chicken wrap, and both were passable but nothing special. Or maybe it has to be the combination of chicken fajita (in all its smooth and spicy beauty) with sunshine, clear blue skies and fresh air.

Ahhhhhhhh.

Ah yes dear reader, another GoodStuffHappens culinary disaster. Also involving fresh pasta, but this time the fresh pasta was innocent, merely watching from the sidelines looking amused.

I was frying some onions, and noticed that there were appropriate sizzling noises coming from the frying pan, but no sizzly visuals to go with them. Why was the frying pan sizzling and yet the onions not responding?

Ah. Because of a melted blue pastic lid. I seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

And the good thing that happened? Unexpected beauty. Who’d have though melted plastic would look so good? And the other good thing that happened is that the plastic was quite easily removed from the base of the frying pan when it had cooled.

AND the stir-fry was excellent. Another a work of art.

On Friday I went round see my friend J. We were going to watch a DVD, eat together, and drink some wine. I hadn’t seen her one-to-one for a while and we had SO much to talk about that we ditched the DVD.

So the world has now been put to rights. And we have sussed out men ENTIRELY. Nice to have everything sorted.

Tonight for tea I had fresh pasta, filled with goats cheese and pesto drizzled with ecologically friendly washing-up liquid.

The pasta was very nice, and I couldn’t quite understand why I had a lingering nasty taste in my mouth, that didn’t just go away when I took the next mouthful.  You see, I’d intended to drizzle the pasta with olive oil.  Which is a fairly normal thing to do with fresh pasta I reckon. .

But unbeknownst to myself (?!), I had finished the olive oil months ago, and thought it would be good to recycle the glass bottle.  Then I thought I should clean the glass bottle first, which was difficult because it has a complicated opening, and because oil doesn’t go away easily.  So I took the easy option and put washing-up liquid in the bottle and left it for a while.  And left it for a bit longer.  And left it till I’d pretty much forgotten that there was washing-up liquid in the bottle.  Then tidied a little bit and moved the bottle back next to the sunflower oil. Then drizzled it over my pasta. 

In the end I ate the whole plateful because I was hungry and didn’t really believe that the weird taste was actually the taste of the food.  Since when does pasta taste like bitter lemons anyway? I clearly rate the accuracy of my eyesight higher than the accuracy of my tastebuds.  It looked fine, so therefore obviously couldn’t really taste like washing-up liquid.

eugh.

So, emm, the good thing that happened is that I had bought ecologically friendly washing-up liquid which I’m sure is a lot less poisonous than mainstream brands.  I even check the packaging and no-where does it say “do not drizzle this product over fresh pasta”, or even “do not eat”.

So today’s happy thought is that in spite of taking my own stupidity to new extremes, I’ll probably live to see another day.

Had a friend round for tea tonight, was lovely to catch up again.  And has some cheesecake.  Mmm, cheesecake is good.  When short of friends, use cheesecake.  No-one can refuse!

Then went out later on to meet another friend for a lovely glass of red wine.  That was in the Ubiquitous Chip.  Don’t usually go there for drinks but it was nice. Mmm wine is good.

And friends are fabulous.