What a day!

I couldn’t believe it. After several days of “practicing”, of trying to get to bed earlier, of setting my alarm earlier, of successfully getting up earlier, I woke up yesterday morning pleased that I hadn’t needed either of the alarms I’d set only to discover I’d slept through both and was going to be late for the first Ladies Lunch Club. 

Up, dress, wash face, brush teeth, slurp a few sips of coffee and off I go, arriving half an hour after the start. Sigh. (Just to rub it in, this morning I woke up an hour before the alarm was due to go off.)

So, the lunch club. Six Thursdays of a group of women meeting, chatting, and together preparing and eating lunch. When I saw it posted on Facebook it sounded like fun, so I signed up despite my (well-founded it turned out) trepidation about it starting at 10:30am when I quite frequently do not surface before 11.

And it was fun. Three women I’ve at least met before, five whom I haven’t. A laughter-filled late (for some) morning of chopping and chatting. On yesterday’s menu: red lentil soup with nettles instead of spinach. (One of the group members is a nettle aficionado.)

That’s me on the onions, looking on as others manage impressively small dicing of carrots and celery.

In go the nettles.

Tasted just fine in the finished soup.

Pro tips of the day:

1. Heat pot before adding oil. (I should know this.)
2. Chop your garlic and put it into a pestle with however much salt the recipe requires to draw out the juice before squashing it into a paste with the mortar. 
3. Wash your lemons with soap and water and always zest them before juicing as “that stuff is gold, so use a zester or the small side of your grater to get the goodness off (without the white pith), put it in a little container, and pop it in the freezer for later addition to dishes. Super lemony!”

Also, fascinating rundown of the basic aromatic building blocks of different cultures. Link to same later provided.

As I’d done my fair share of washing-up-as-you-go-along I felt less guilty, after arriving late, about bolting before the bowls and spoons were washed and dried in order to dash off to second agenda item of the day.

First meeting of the three directors and the stage manager for the One-Act Play Festival in June. Rehearsal schedule more or less sorted, agreement to provide full list of set and prop needs. The basics. Still took longer than I thought, so I was a bit late (as I’d warned I might be) for item three: running lines with Ray. Amongst other things I pointed out to him that there was a sight gag in the script that no one seemed to have noticed.

Home to bolt down some food before heading off to prompt yesterday evening’s rehearsal.

In addition to co-starring, Ray also created the BART train set panels, which look great.

Four separate things in one day! Usually I’m lucky if I manage one.