More lunching

It crossed my mind recently that we hadn't had any contact with our friend Pat recently.  I sent her a message asking how she was and did she feel like meeting up for lunch somewhere.

It turns out that she has had a new knee fitted since last we met and was just now able to start driving again and to get about.  Good timing me!

We arranged to meet for lunch on Wednesday at a cafe towards the Ballarat CBD which I have driven past many times but which I have never been into. And it's lovely. It has a small menu but what is on the menu is beautifully cooked.  My only issue was that my seafood linguine, which was full of lovely seafood, well cooked pasta and a silky sauce, was also full of chilli. I am emphatically not a fan of chilli. I can tolerate a tiny little bit but any more than that gives me indigestion, makes me feel slightly yucky and (as far as I am concerned) overpowers everything else on the plate. I hadn't expected there to be chilli in a seafood linguine so hadn't thought to ask. If I had, I would have had the flathead tails and chips, which Jim had and which was delicious.

However, ignoring the chilli, the cafe is well worth a visit.  The staff are lovely, the building is cute and easy to get to and park outside, the food is well cooked. And we had a lovely catch up with Pat

Lunch yesterday was also lovely, but we had it at home.  Jim had a pork pie (English style, which you can often get in Woolworths) with pineapple rings, pineapple chutney and pickled onions.  I had chicken wings with avocado, mango and tomatoes. I am not a big fan of pork pies and am definitely not a fan of pineapple. Jim finds chicken wings too fiddly and positively loathes avocado. So an at home lunch where we both got to eat things that we like and not eat things that we don't find palatable. 

Stella is still in the hospital. Her ankle is still not getting better but her breathing seems to have improved a bit. Because she has a (permanent) cough and was breathless (she always is) she had to go into isolation until two Covid tests came back negative. Fortunately they both did and now she can have one visitor a day plus the nursing staff and doctors can come into her room. And - she can have her door open.  She wasn't enjoying being shut up in a hospital room with the door shut and no visitors! I will go and inspect her tomorrow and see what's occurring.