THE BIG DEAL ABOUT DAISY

Chronicle: Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 19, 2024

Six weeks and one titanium hip later, I’m back!

What have I cooked?

Not much. Turns out…getting a new hip is a big deal…a way bigger deal than I expected it to be.

Before the surgery, the pain of bone jammed against bone made walking excruciating. All I thought about was the relief surgery would provide, even though anxiety went on the rampage every time I even thought about the surgery.  

I am usually not a particularly anxious person, I don’t have high blood pressure, nor do I have heart problems.

On the morning of surgery, my blood pressure was 192/118. The anesthesiologist took one look at me and said, “I have just the thing for you.”

No anxiety here. Breakfast beginnings.

Now that the anxiety has eased and twice weekly physical therapy sessions are making me stronger, I’m finally getting back into a routine. I say finally (with a bit of an eye roll) because the old arthritic hip was years in the making, gradually grinding away until it no longer supported me, kept me from doing the things I enjoy, and caused constant pain. That original hip lasted sixty-four years, got me through countless tennis matches, walks in cobblestoned foreign cities, strolls along sandy beaches, and hikes up mountain trails.

To think that just a mere six (almost seven) weeks ago a new hip was inserted into my body, that I’m pain free…is not only a miracle but evidence of how quickly I’m healing.

Now I can easily imagine, in the very near future, five mile walks, hiking in Zion National Park (one of my favorite places) or just going grocery shopping without pain.

This imagining is so stinkin’ joyful; I can literally kick up my heels! Something I couldn’t do just six weeks ago.

When I was three weeks post-surgery, I began making a sourdough starter. During week four, post-surgery, I began to see similarities between me and my sourdough starter.

I call my sourdough starter Daisy.

Meet Daisy.

Daisy and I both need feeding and care. Daisy requires equal amounts of organic whole wheat and bread flour, room temperature filtered water, and some time to let the microorganisms in her system ferment. You know, get gassy. Basically, over the course of about ten days I fed Daisy a steady diet of flour and water after removing a bit (10 grams) of the previous day’s sludgy mixture. One day, as bubbles began to appear on her surface, when I thought she could handle it, I fed her about 10 grams of organic plain yogurt. She LOVED it.

By this time, Daisy had developed a telltale sour, tangy smell, she was bubbly, growing day by day. It was official. Daisy was ready to leaven bread.

I freely admit, I may not be as bubbly or effervescent as Daisy, but I’m doing a darn good job of feeding and caring for myself these days.

Instead of flour and water, I’m giving myself equal amounts of rest and focused exercise. I pay close attention to when my body feels good from the physical therapy exercises and when I need to rest, drink some water, snack on cool, green grapes. Sometimes, a few grams of plain organic yogurt do wonders for me too.

For anyone new to LKC (welcome!) or if you’re a returning reader (thanks!) and have forgotten, I am a morning toast eater along with being an ardent breakfast eater. Toast is one of the main components of my breakfast. It’s best buttered, slicked with raspberry jam. I go to bed anticipating morning toast.

Seriously.

Daisy and I have made two loaves of sourdough bread in the past two weeks. The first loaf was…I’ll be honest. It was sort of meh, disappointing, not Daisy’s fault in the least. I’m pretty sure I let the dough rise or retard for too long so that when it went into the oven it didn’t have enough oomph left to spring up in the oven. I also didn’t set my oven at a high enough temperature. Sourdough is best baked at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes before turning the oven down to 450. But sometimes when my oven is set that high it triggers the smoke alarm. I hate when that happens. 

The second sourdough.

And I’ll never make that mistake again.

But practice makes…I was going to say perfect and changed my mind. I’m going with better.

Repeat after me; Practice makes better.

If I’ve learned anything in these recent post-surgical weeks, it’s that progress, not perfection is the goal. My physical therapist is GREAT at reminding me of the progress I’ve already made and how much stronger I’ll be if I keep working hard, paying attention to what I need.

The same is true for Daisy. I’m keeping a close eye on her, watching her progress, feeding her with consistent care.

In my last post from May 1, I alluded to some changes I wanted to make here at Lonely Kitchen Chronicles. There’re still some things I need to figure out, but here’s what I know for now:

• Lonely Kitchen Chronicles will now be posted every 2 weeks.

• Since breakfast is my favorite meal, I’m going to focus on breakfast recipes, breakfast baking, and dinner for breakfast.

• There will be a paywall coming in the next couple of months. Don’t worry. The details will be announced well beforehand.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back to writing Lonely Kitchen Chronicles and that you’re here with me.

Until next time-

Suzanne