Dear Friends and Family,
Thursday, Sonia made a bok choy recipe I had clipped from the NYT, which had the requisite simplicity (any more than 3 steps and it's too much). Laury had gotten the 4 baby bok choy heads that the recipe calls for and that only Whole Foods had, but Sonia says that the full-grown heads will do as well: you just would not be able to serve them whole to 4 people (cut 2 in half longitudinally). I liked it a lot and append the recipe above. It is really fast, probably no more than 10 minutes from start (washing the vegetable well) to finish (serving). We also made potato cubes the way we make the roasted cauliflower, but we will have to try it again without the potato skins: the flesh was soft but the skins were tough.
Sonia thinks I am getting stronger and better at the exercises we do together. When she came in, she urged me to come out with her for a walk before she took off her coat and boots. The street was completely clean, with huge snow piles all around. Merwin keeps on tackling the ice at the front door. And Sonia must be right about my improvement because I scheduled not one but two activities on Friday (yesterday). Ilona picked me up to go to the Jolly Fisherman for our First Friday lunch with friends from our synagogue. I love this activity, sitting and chatting with friends. I was able to stay until just before dessert (I took mine home) without having to get up and walk to ease the neuropathy in my feet (they don't like to hang down as they do when I sit) because, I guess, the neuropathy was helped by the pills (2 different ones, a one-time dose of each) that the neurologist prescribed. He had expected me to continue taking the pills, but my reaction was so negative after one each that I stopped. My memory is such that I do not recall the nature of the bad reactions. It is rather lovely to forget bad things.
On Thursday Sophie, who is a trustee or something grand for Tilles Center at C. W. Post College, offered us tickets to a Friday evening performance there, of Philobolus, and I was game to try. Sophie arranged for us to be in the sixth row (right in front of them), which faces a wide aisle. Merwin brought the little camp stool that Laury loaned us, and I was able to put up my feet when I needed to. [I get a lot of help from my friends! to say nothing of Merwin!] Close by parking courtesy of our handicapped permit also helped. The program was fabulous, 6 pieces for 6 acrobats/dancers—2 women and 4 men, all equally athletic. It was thrilling to be out and to be so charmed by their innovative moves: not dancing as we know it.
When we came home we were a little hungry, and so, on the fly, I invented a new dish for Merwin, basically pan-toasted bread with an egg on top and cheese on top of that, cooked, covered, until the cheese had melted, the white had solidified, and the yoke, as Merwin likes it, still liquid. I used our step-stool to sit at the stove and keep a eye on the progress of the egg and cheese. I am trying to find a more handsome stool of some sort that I can keep in the kitchen, because I can't stand in one place for long, again because of the neuropathy.
Now it is Saturday, and I feel none-the-worse for yesterday's wear, though happy to be sitting here and eager to get to my Shakespeare work. We love hearing from you.
We are, of course, fascinated by the events in Egypt, hoping for the best for the people of that country but worried too. What will this mean for Israel"
Love to all,
Bernice
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