During a sparring session at Karate last week I failed to block and my opponent failed to pull his punch. The blow winded me, but the session was almost over, so I rested a few minutes then hit the showers. An hour later it was still sore and I was short of breath, so I decide I should get it checked out and take myself down to the hospital. There was actually very little wait before I was seen, which impressed me. A nurse checked my blood-pressure, then a nurse-practitioner came to examine me, pronounced my breath sounds even and diagnosed a probable cracked rib. The treatment is the same for cracked or bruised ribs, so they don't do chest x-rays unless there's indications of other complications. I get issued with Diclofenac, a anti-inflammatory and painkiller to take after meals and co-codamol, a codine/paracetamol painkiller to take as needed - it's good stuff, but when I took two at work Thursday morning it fairly knocked me for six.

It's still painful, but at a managable level, it's also tiring,  like doing everything at a light jog... hopefully it shouldn't take too long to recover though.

My mother e-mailed me this recipe:


I tried it tonight; not the best chocolate cake I've ever had, a little on the heavy side, but for less than five minutes start to finish it was pretty good!

Rather less belated than my 2007 list, here are the books I read last year. This year's list is underway, but I don't see me finishing Anathem soon...

( Read more... )

Snow in Canterbury this morning, I think I might grab my boots and stick and walk to work instead of driving...

I had planned to make a tiramisu to take round to friend's for new year. Unfortunately having gone round every supermarket in the area I couldn't find any marscapone anywhere, so gave in and got shop bought at my last stop. Of course, I'd already bought everything else I need, so will probably be producing home made for friends in the near future.

I bumped a curb when driving home from my mother's yesterday. When I went out to the car this morning, I discovered that the front passenger wheel was now very flat :( Fortunately the dealership provided one year's breakdown assistance when I got it, so a quick phonecall later and I'm waiting for a very nice man to come by and help me fit the spare, but replacing the spare will probably cost a bit, and I'm not going to count on finding the missing hubcap (though it will probably be worth retracing the journey from where I had the bump just in case). Ho-hum, there goes the Christmas money.

A very late post! I posted a list in 2006 and in 2005 and given that I have made the list it seems silly not to post it, particularly given that the 2008 list is almost ready.

( List below the cut... )

Feeling rather tired now... I'm going to collapse in front of the TV for a little while and get some sleep. Tomorrow I need to get to the Doctors for a new prescription, meet friends for coffee/lunch/whatever, wrap presents, and pack ready to go to my Mother's for Christmas.

Every year I make my own mince pies for Christmas; I am a big fan, but don't like shop bought ones. This year I'd been so busy early in December that I didn't have the chance to do so until today. I made five trays of pies today - 60 in total, but I've already eaten three or four. They should last until after Christmas (I'll take them with me to my mother's over the holiday), and I might make some more after. Normally I start baking them much sooner in the year; I've managed around 200 in my best year.

OK, my birthday was yesterday, but yesterday I was late home from work and rushed out to a game... today I treated myself to something nice:



Sirloin steak from my mothers farm, potatoes, corn and tomatoes all out of my garden. It was exceedingly good.