The street was wet this morning. The sky is still cloudy. I think it might be yesterday again.

I have a general malaise. I just don’t feel good. I didn’t even have coffee. I’m thinking lolling in bed and reading will be my only activities for the day.

I have many, many Cookbooks. Sometimes I grab a couple and read through the recipes. I plan meals which might never happen, but I figure I’ll be ready just in case I get the urge to spend the day in the kitchen. I have several African cookbooks. One is called Ghana Chop and was the cookbook I used when I was a volunteer. Chop is Food, and a chop bar is usually a hole in the wall which serves local foods. Along one edge of the lorry park in Bolga were several shacks, chop bars, selling t-zed, fufu and soup. We used to bring our own pot and buy dinner on Sundays.

When I travel, I eat cheaply. Sometimes I buy bread and cheese and munch on them or I make sandwiches. I buy food sold along the roadside and in railway stations. I carry mustard and mayonnaise in toothpaste type tubes and salt and pepper. Sometimes I had no idea what I was eating. I just know the dish looked tasty. Most times I was not disappointed.

I live alone so I make my own rules about eating, sleeping and even making my bed, which I don’t. My house is generally clean and downstairs is always suitable for company. I eat when I’m hungry. Sometimes I have a hot meal but most times I have a sandwich or cheese and crackers or hummus or guac. Once in a while I order delivery. That’s when I have a pizza or Thai food. My favorite pizza has caramelized onions and meatballs. My favorite Thai foods are coconut shrimp and some sort of noodles.

I still have a bag to bring downstairs. It has ornaments I left on one tree or the other and a few new ones I got this year. There is also some laundry in the drier. I’ll get to them when I do.