Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A liquid lunch (and breakfast, and dinner...)

With my jaw and gums still recovering from a wisdom tooth removal, meals in the where's the beef? household have been less diverse than usual. Michael has been doing a stellar job at catering to my whims and fancies where possible. Here's what I've been enjoying, as best my mouth allows me....

HIT: Michael's pumpkin and shallot soup. Nourishing and slightly sweet.

MISS: Michael's pumpkin and shallot soup, unstrained.

HIT: King Island yoghurt. I requested any lump/seed-free yoghurt and Michael pampered me with the best. The cinnamon and honey one is particularly soothing.

MISS: Attempting to eat rice pudding on day two. It fared better at breakfast on day four.

HIT: Chocolate ice-cream. It's years since I've shopped for ice-cream at a supermarket and it proved difficult to find one without nuts, cookie chunks or other hazards in it. Sara Lee's Ultimate Chocolate has a strange grey-brown colour but is otherwise just what the oral surgeon ordered.

MISS: Porridge on day three. Made with loving care by Michael, it turns out that home-made porridge is a lot more toothsome than the gruel I was eating at Freycinet Lodge. Ordinarily I'd be delighted, but this week it has meant guiltily relegating Michael's labours to the back of the fridge.

HIT: Mashed potato with gravy on day four. Flavoured with garlic and a bit of grated parmesan, this was a much-appreciated savoury treat.

MISS: Attempting to eat a water cracker on day five. After days of craving vegemite crackers and potato chips followed by a pain-free morning, I tempted fate and gingerly nibbled a quarter of a water cracker. What followed was reminiscent of Patsy Stone's first ingestion of food since 1973.

HIT: Lunar eclipse soup. Pictured above, this was my own invention, faithfully carried out by Michael. It consists of home-made pesto, a large can of crushed tomatoes and some vege stock, simply heated together in a large saucepan. Lots of flavour and a bit of texture, but all able to be swallowed without too much jaw stress.

HIT OR MISS? Michael and I have a special meal booked for Sunday but will I be equipped to enjoy it? Please send a little prayer to the food gods for me, that I'll be fit for play on the weekend, or that the restaurant will allow us to postpone our booking in spite of some recent attention.

8 comments:

  1. how strange the foods that we eat when we are not well - hope you have a nice meal on the weekend

    ReplyDelete
  2. Remember all too well that wisdom-tooth pain. Had six teeth out all at once and bloody hell...Amazing though how quickly the body heals itself. Good luck with your dinner plans!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Johanna, it's strange the foods we eat, and also the foods we can't eat but crave!

    Lucy, it sounds like your tooth experience was one of the worse ones! It is amazing that a quiet week at home and some over-the-counter painkillers are all the remedy required... well, that and some extra attention from Michael. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. hey cindy hope your wisdom teeth troubles ease soon for you. i too remember the (prolonged!) agony of trying to eat something decent during the recovery. for someone who really savours the crunch factor in food it was most certainly not a fun time :P
    hope you enjoy the weekend dinner plans!

    ReplyDelete
  5. hope soon u can start to enjoy again everything that u wanna eat.whenever i was sick(eg flu), i was allowed to eat porridge and plain bread only.tts partly the reason y these 2 r not something i will probabaly eat normally if given a choice, of course unless they are too good to resist! =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for your well wishes, SL and IronEaters! I comfortably ate noodles for lunch today, so I'm on the way to some more interesting food. :-D

    However, we decided to postpone the special lunch booking for a couple of weeks - I really want to enjoy it fully so will wait 'til I'm all healed up.

    IronEaters, it's interesting what people eat when they're sick! My mum always used to feed me vegemite toast and flat lemonade - I've had big cravings for vegemite toast and crackers but they are completely wrong for this particular problem. :-P

    ReplyDelete
  7. Having a wisdom tooth removed is awful. I remember the pain I was in, bled all night and couldn't sleep at all. Panedeine forte was my best friend that night.

    You should eat congee as that goes down really easily and you can match it with a million different condiments.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanh, that's awful! I think I experienced a bit less blood and pain than you - though I was thankful for those Panadiene Forte's for the first day or two as well. :-D

    Congee's a good tip - I actually cooked up a cold Indian rice pudding, but didn't venture into savoury rice territory.

    ReplyDelete