Inertia

"Nothing happens until something moves." Albert Einstein

"Inertia: a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force." Oxford Languages

"the tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes its speed or direction to change." Wikipedia

It's such a dreary day today, and a dreary day after what seems like weeks of dreary days. So dreary in fact that when I woke this morning and thought about what I might cook for dinner, I just could not think of anything. Almost didn't want to think of anything. I needed help like Winnie-the Pooh - an external force. But of course it wasn't just dinner it was everything else as well - even getting out of bed.

Getting out of bed was relatively easy - a semi-compulsory visit to the shops for the Saturday newspaper and the worry because of the world-wide computer problem that there would be no newspapers or no shops open. Which was, of course, a stupid notion. Commerce carries on, even if it's only with actual cash as it was in Coles. It was a tiny reminder akin to the much larger one of COVID, of human adaptation.

Dinner, however was another matter. As I had lain in bed I even considered the notion of going out for dinner - one of the strategies suggested by those advising on how to get over the 'what's for dinner?' block. But I knew I would have to persuade David to that and besides it was so miserable weather-wise that even going out was not tempting. Much better to curl up on the couch in front of the fire and watch something trashy on the television.

As to cooking I really couldn't think of anything I fancied - the most I could come up with was sausages, baked beans and a baked potato - or even bread and cheese.

As we wandered around the shops I considered fish. Fish is simple and we really should eat more, but the offerings in Coles - today's chosen supermarket - were either horrendously expensive, or all from overseas. Or bony - there were some trout but David who is not keen on fish anyway, really doesn't like whole fish with bones. I briefly considered smoked salmon risotto, but just couldn't whip up the enthusiasm. Maybe tomorrow.

Normally after a visit to the shops I would walk home, and the walk would often provoke a bit of inspiration as well as lifting the mild depression. I had told myself to do this, but as we exited the shops, down came the rain, rather more heavily than my mini umbrella would cope with and so I didn't, even though I knew deep down that I should have persisted. One should never allow the weather to rule our minds like that.

So when we got home I returned to the initial thought of sausages and baked beans - having just bought a tin of baked beans - at a horrific price I might say because I'm stuck on the Heinz English variety. I found the sausages in the freezer and gave myself a small pat on the back for removing something from the freezer and then moved a step further towards dinner because I then remembered the red capsicum I had bought a few days ago because they were relatively cheap. A tray bake I thought. And that's where I left the whole thing for ages. I just wasn't in the mood to think about it.

So after lunch and dealing with the daily emails, I sat down to write a blog. Once again inertia and lack of inspiration struck. Should I do a bits and pieces post? No, not enough of interest written in my little book for that. Continue with the food curriculum project? Art or sport was next I think. No that required rather too much thought and investigation for the lack of energy that I was experiencing. A lucky dip or a first recipe? Also not in the mood. That's the thing though isn't it? If you're not in the mood you invent reasons for rejection. Really you should just start something and before you know where you are you've done something.

Return to the trip around the world? - which meant Greenland. So I started looking at Greenland but other than finding this wonderful picture of musk oxen who roam in parts of Greenland I just couldn't whip any enthusiasm. It was all rather Scandinavian grim.

Inertia had set in, so inertia would be my topic I decided. Inertia is Newton's first law of motion so it's important. Is there a law that decrees how humans are influenced emotionally by the weather I wonder? I think I was hoping that actually beginning a blog post would boot me out of my inertia. So I began - with inertia definitions and began browsing for an appropriate illustration which ranged from complicated scientific diagrams and those balls that knock each other around in perpetual motion on office desks, until I tried 'stuck' instead of inertia as my search term and found Winnie-the-Pooh. And suddenly the world kind of brightened. Very appropriate I thought, and also very comforting. When feeling down one should always turn to Winnie-the-Pooh and a world in which everybody helps everybody else.

Then I found Einstein's very pithy but accurate summation of that first law of motion and began. However, a little way in I came across this: "Quotes are nothing but inspiration for the uninspired." from Richard Kemp, whoever he is. Which was so depressing, and patronising that I went to bed for an hour or so, completely defeated.

The semi-sleep helped, as did the cup of coffee and a small piece of fruit cake - and here I am - finished with explaining my inertia, half a post written and ready to contemplate what to do with those sausages.

Normally this contemplation of possibilities is almost exciting. It's a challenge which I relish, particularly if I have to make do with things I have to use up or rescue. Today, however, it's more of a chore. I am trying to remind myself of Bee Wilson's remark that:

“We spend so long in the modern world talking about the stress of cooking that we can miss the ways in which cooking itself can be the greatest of all remedies for stress.” 

However, even though I would not go as far as to say that my lack of inspiration today is a stress, I still cannot whip up any enthusiasm about the task ahead. Maybe I will when I actually get down to it.

I'm guessing that what I come up with will look something like this. Maybe my pieces of capsicum will be a bit chunkier and I will sneak in some potatoes somewhere, because I always need some kind of carbs. When I browsed the various sites suggesting ways of getting over the 'What's for dinner?' problem I saw that somebody suggested taking a recipe that you made all the time and tweaking it a bit. Not that this is a recipe that I make all the time, even if I do resort to the traybake concept fairly frequently.

The traybake concept is, after all, a brilliant one. One that I have discovered fairly late in life - as a concept that is, although I suppose I have made things in the past that were really tray bakes - Lamb boulangère springs to mind. It was one of the first things I introduced in my COVID cooking lessons with the grandkids. Throw a whole bunch of things in a tray and put them in the oven to cook. Easy and endlessly variable according to what you have and what you feel like.

So what do I feel like, and what do I have? How inventive am I feeling? Not very I have to confess. The obvious accompaniments are onions, tomatoes, garlic. Oil goes without saying. But that's a bit boring isn't it even if it would have been wildly different in my childhood. What else do I have? Well all sorts of things in jars and bottles - maybe the remains of a jar of my persimmon chutney would give a different tang to proceedings. Balsamic vinegar, honey, maple syrup, soy sauce ... or would they clash with the chutney? Beans? Brussels sprouts? Pumpkin? Cauliflower? All of these I have but perhaps I should just choose one or I will do my usual thing and overdo it so that it will just taste the same as everything I cook and moreover I shall have more leftovers to use up. We'll see.

Rechel Cooke, wrote a lovely piece during COVID lockdowns, which is relevant and on which I shall finish - with hope.

"The latest neuroscience tells us that rituals and small celebrations really do soothe us, easing the bells in our heads that toll, over and over: The End is Nigh. Light a candle, fold a napkin, pour wine into a glass. Even before the food is on the table, you’ll start to feel better: a convivial, hopeful, outward-looking person rather than a grunting, Lycra-wearing troglodyte who hasn’t been further than the park in six months.

Oh, and one other thing. There’s no shame in fish fingers, supermarket chicken kiev and frozen Yorkshire puddings. There is no shame in anything, if you ask me. In the right light, on the right plate, at the right moment, such things are more delicious than ever: quite literally, life savers." Rachel Cooke

Thank you Rachel and Winnie-the-Pooh too. As always.

David has already partly laid the table. There will be wine - it's Friday. Maybe I should make a dessert as well - just some sliced baked apples perhaps, and get out the 'real' napkins. I might even find a sprig of bright wattle in the garden in between the rain showers. And candles. Too much?

Inertia broken by the sheer need of something to eat for dinner. Sausages and something in a tray.

POSTSCRIPT

July 20th in times gone by:

2023 - Bee or fly? Real or fake? All about Laguiole knives

2022 - The Bordelaise challenge

2021 - Treacle tart

2020 - So much ham - from the computer archives of deleted posts

2019 - Success or success - it's all relative

2018 - Taste Le Tour - Gabriel Gaté - I'll have that

2017 - Renewal in the bleak midwinter - it must have been a miserable day then as well - but we were just back from sunny France, so no wonder it seemed bleak.

2016 - Fasting