Thursday, July 27, 2017

Nascar, Light Opera and Tai Kwon Do

Are just three hobbies I don't pursue, never have, and probably never will.

But what do I do when I'm not writing? Well, at three books a year, I mostly eat, sleep and brush my teeth when not writing. But also - anytime I can I get onto a beach:


And there I don't kayak, snorkel, jet-ski or surf. Nope, I sit, read, listen to the waves and - when it's warm enough - swim.

What else? I've never knowingly passed a sign for a yard sale (or estate sale, or charity shop, or antiques mall or dumpster) and I've got the maximilist decor to prove it:



On a daily basis, I love cooking and baking (sometimes one-handed because I'm also reading):




And gardening.


One-handed gardening (because I'm reading) can lead to patchy courgette management that results in a lot more cooking. I've got a couple of great courgette-glut recipes ( courgette = zucchini, by the way), if anyone else has been doing distracted gardening and now has courgettes you could hollow out and live in.



Sometimes instead of gardening while reading, the dumpster-diving and cooking get combined. When the truck drivers fill the hoppers too full and/or take the tight rising corner on the road to the Campbell's plant too fast . . . roadkill tomatoes!  I was brought up berry-picking in hedgerows (flies, thorns, maggots) and coming home with a car full of ripe, red Roma toms for free still tickles me.




7 comments:

Paul D. Marks said...

Catriona, do you do one-handed driving too, cause the other hand is holding a book :-) ? I was sure I saw you doing that at Nascar.

Unknown said...

Courgettes is one thing I grow well, but who doesn't? Next time I decide to grow veg I will ask for your favourite recipes :) Those grilled ones look nice!

Cathy Ace said...

Courgette cake! Courgette soup! Courgette on a stick! LOVE 'em!! Enjoy one-handed everything :-)

James W. Ziskin said...

This post can double as a tribute to Scottish thrift.

Ann said...

Catriona, you always make me laugh. Thank you.

RJ Harlick said...

With three books a year, I'm surprised you even have time to breath let alone figure out what to do with all the zucchini.

Susan C Shea said...

Your baking skills are on display at your local book launches, but the zucchini is special. I got so tired of trying to unload them to family and neighbors I stopped growing them. Right now, I have at least 100 green tomatoes on my wildly out of control plants so I may resort to dropping some on the street to see if anyone picks up the roadkill. I remember seeing those big trucks near Davis when I went up there - massive.