I don’t like it when plans change. While going for a spontaneous walk in the middle of making dinner felt good, other changing plans derailed me a bit. I was supposed to build a shelf, but instead got to remember how bad quality has become the norm. So, instead, I make some more food, and focus on other things.

The sun is out again, so Pepper and I are quickly going to check on a spot where we knew, there were morels last year. So we hope they will be back this year. It’s not that far, but it’s gonna take me about half an hour to check. So I’m gonna go for a quick walk.

I’m in the middle of making dinner, so I can’t take too long. But I still wanted to enjoy the sunshine, so I was spending the entire day inside. I spent most of the day editing the episodes for, well, I assume last week.

No mushrooms yet, but that’s okay. I didn’t really expect there to be any, because it’s very, very early in the season, and it has been fairly cold the last few days.

I mean, the sun is out, but it’s still freezing at night, and we often have single-digit temperatures here. So yeah, it’s pretty cold.

But the sun’s out, so I’m happy to go check the mushrooms, even if I don’t find any. It’s so beautiful outside. I really, really love it.

I was so excited to try some recipes with catkins, but we so miss the season. There are a few pretty much dead ones left on the tree, but most of them actually fell off already and are all over the canal.

It was getting late and it was time to continue the dinner I had interrupted for the walk.

First, I needed some mayonnaise for the potato salad that would go with my schnitzel. I am getting better at judging the process.I am proud to report another successful attempt at mayonnaise.

Though, I really, really can’t recommend this machine. The blender is pretty hard to clean–and already rusting. Oh, and mayonnaise pushes through the screw that holds the blades in. Great quality…

Before the walk interrupted me, I had prepared the meat for some Schnitzel. Luckily, they were already thin, and I didn’t have to noise-pollute the neighbors with the pounding.

I’d also prepared some potatoes and boiled them before leaving.

We get a local produce box, and there were some unexpected potatoes in the previous one. Otherwise, I’d have used canned potatoes for this. I still don’t really know what I’m doing but the recipe is in episode #069.

Now to the part I didn’t have much experience with at all: breading the meat. It’s been a while since I’ve breaded with egg. And I’d never used home-made bread crumbs before.

Hold on while I take bad footage of our local eagle. I was so excited to see the eagle again. They are so big–and so loud 😉 I guess there is a reason they are called “screaming eagles” in German.

I’d melted some lard to use as fat for the schnitzel, because these are going in the air fryer.

It worked great. I didn’t expect them to get that good in the air fryer. So, I got the potato salad out of the fridge and served dinner.

Since canning the previous batch of potatoes, I’ve been waiting for parts I’d ordered. They finally arrived. I have ten more boards for the wooden shelves I inherited from the former neighbors.

So, I’d ordered two tall side panels to be able to use them. And got to remember why I hate IKEA. Parts of my order were missing, and I’d have to wait for a very oversized package to get a tiny part.

So, I put the finished panels aside and waited. Unable to continue what I’d planned, I tackled a lot of other things. It clearly wasn’t my day.

The bell pepper I’d planned to use had a hole, and a snail had moved in. It was in bad shape on the inside. Luckily, I had other peppers in the fridge, and dinner didn’t require a plan change.

But success didn’t last long. I got very frustrated by a bad garlic press. I had finally accepted that I wouldn’t find ours and ordered a new one. The only thing that worked was the peeler. At least with my strength, it was impossible to get the garlic through the thing supposed to crush it.

Completely useless. So, I decided to return it–and chopped the garlic myself. I really don’t like that quality has suffered so much in recent years.

Logically, I know this is to be expected in late-stage capitalism. But I still hate that I am old enough to remember that things used to last a lot longer. I am 34. That’s too young.

But I was supposed to talk about dinner, wasn’t I?

I tried to make a quick cucumber salad while everything cooked, but got defeated by a jar. When even asking for help didn’t open the lid, I had to accept defeat–and damage it. I hate doing this, because it can no longer be reused now.

Now that I’d been able to add the cream to the sauce, I finished the salad. I added some of the remaining cream to the salad. Canned potatoes fried in the air fryer made another very easy dinner. I prefer my salad on the same plate. My husband prefers it in a bowl. So, I split the cucumber salad.

It didn’t matter that there were parts missing. I can do the shelf another day.

So, instead of getting distracted by building shelves, I focused on feeding us and studying for my exams.

I am slowly learning to accept that most of my plans don’t come to be. Slowly. I am a control freak and a perfectionist. For a chronically ill person, that’s an unfortunate combination.

I try my best to go with the flow. But it isn’t always easy to accept that my plans had to change. But I am getting better at it. Making things from scratch has helped. There is no perfect in this kitchen.

I’ve gotten really good at improvising. I just need to change the attitude toward having to do so.

I don’t get annoyed or anxious when I have a cracked pizza dough. I turn it into improvized pizza pockets. Don’t worry, there was still pizza ;)But the pizza pockets were no less good!

Next time, I’ll get to finish my shelf. So long, and thanks for being here.