Essentials...kind of

 Green Monster,  fruit basket

On Saturday I went shopping. That is not a phrase I use very often, because a) I am becoming more and more averse to the acquisition/accumulation of stuff, and b) Saturdays in town give me panic attacks, and since I only work part-time I can easily go shopping during the week, when it's quieter. But I was shopping for things I actually needed - though that's always debatable -, and I reckon the occasional Saturday trip into town is a good exercise to help me overcome my fear of the world.

I finally bought a new dressing gown. It looks like a sheep, which is good. I make a point of always getting dressed properly, even if I am going to spend the whole day at home (especially if I have work to do, I feel I am more productive that way), but in the evening I like to change into nice pyjamas and my dressing gown, so I had been feeling the absence of a gown acutely after my last one disintegrated. I have a lovely summer kimono, too, but Ireland isn't really the country that allows for lounging in a flimsy kimono.

I also bought a hand blender. Catherine commented that hers changed her life, and after only two days of being the owner of a blender I can agree. Because I made a Green Monster, something I had wanted to do for so long. And I have a feeling I will keep making these for the rest of my life. I love spinach and kale, and this means one more way of consuming them. I made mine with goat's milk, spinach, bee pollen, almond butter, sunflower seeds and half a banana, but there are countless possibilities. A friend of mine gave me a recipe for a more savoury super-healthy green smoothie that involves garlic and the like, but I haven't tried that yet.
I also made the soup that's in the photo in the last post (that was the unpuréed version from two weeks ago), and it was even nicer than the first time around, although I like chunky soups, too.

Matt found me a food flask, which I am every excited about, as in highlight-of-the-week-excited (together with the blender...I am very domestic...). I can now have warm homemade lunches at work. That's good news because I am trying to eat less bread, so sandwiches are not an option, or at least not every day, and in the winter my salads or cold leftovers aren't as enticing.

As you can see in the photo, I also bought figs, a rare treat. I love my fruit basket still life.

Apart from buying stuff, I also made a fool of myself in front of the camera for a group exhibition (I was not prepared), got soaked (it's been a bit wet), had lots of cups of tea with friends, knitted and unravelled the result and started again several times, and drove in the dark for the first time in months with my car mix-tape on (apparently I rarely drove at night in the summer).