I lay on the couch last night and watched tv until there wasn't any more tv, and then got Kevin to put on a movie for me, Much Ado About Nothing, which was rather perfectly distracting -- it was light and fluffy, but I also had to pay enough attention to the fast-paced witty Shakespeare dialogue that it distracted me nicely from my achy body. Kev pulled a big cushion into the room and leaned against the couch and read while I watched, so I could lean my head against his shoulder, which seemed to help. Good boy. By 2 a.m. or so I was feeling better, and I slept pretty solidly last night, so even though I woke up with a hacking cough this morning, I feel like I'm on the mend.
I am not happy with my hoppers recipe for the cookbook. I made it last night, and it was okay, but definitely not great. I'm going to try fiddling with it this morning and see if I do any better. I don't want to include any inferior recipes in this thing -- I want them all to actually be dishes I can stand behind and say yes, you might not like it, but I think it's great! And I would just leave the hoppers out, but they're such classic Sri Lankan food that that seems like it would be a shame. So, we fiddle. Yesterday I tried a half and half rice flour and all-purpose flour mixture; today I'm going to try 1:2 and see if that makes it less grainy. I want a smoother batter. More warm water will probably help too.
The real question is, how much will I party today? Unless I get really sick again, I'll definitely drive up to Evanston to Jennifer Stevenson's pig roast; I'd like to meet her mixed theater / sf / romance novel crowd. That's an afternoon shindig, so not too taxing. There's this cool party in Indiana that really sounds appealing, but Kevin doesn't want to go, and I just don't think I'm up to driving to Indiana on my own, especially since I'd have to drive back tonight, which means no drinking at the party either. More appealing is Roshani's 3rd birthday party for Zoe, which undoubtedly will be far less cool, but a) is closer, b) lets me see Roshani and Zoe, c) is in a house where if I suddenly get sick I know there are many lovely mystery novels that I can curl up with and ignore the party, and d) I can definitely just plan to stay over and drive back tomorrow. That's clearly the smarter party to go to. We'll see.
There's always the possibility that I'll start feeling worse and will just stay home instead of all that. I'm in my grey fleece pj's right now, curled up on the couch with a dark red chenille throw wrapped tightly around me. I have my computer, the tv, and many books just a step away. There's tea in the kitchen, chicken soup if I want it, curry in the fridge. And if I start feeling really bad, I can always go wake up Kevin. Who needs parties?
You know how strange it is for me to read you talking about going to a really cool party in Indiana? Strange mix of nostalgia and discombobulation 🙂