Still no better – probably overdid it over the weekend and woke up feeling absolutely ghastly. I was home alone, so ended up spending the afternoon on the couch, alternating between watching episodes of Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers and working on the quintet.

The quintet’s in a frustrating place at the moment. I think I’ve solved a few problems today – pulled the end off and added a new chunk in before it. Had a significant amount of trouble reattaching the end, but I think it works. I’m not sure I’ll be able to go back to the opening material though – not literally at any rate – the slower tempo of the opening just doesn’t really work, I think, coming back at the end but I’ll review it tomorrow. At any rate, it feels very much like it’s wanting to move to the end now – which is a HUGE relief. It spent so long being stalled it’s just wonderful to know that it’s found where it wants to go. I think the new section I added today has helped a lot, so YAY!

I also inadvertently ended up cooking dinner tonight. Parents brought home chicken but then couldn’t decide what to do with it so I took over, and it turned out rather well: I boiled a bunch of Brussels sprouts, till they were only barely done, cut the chicken into small pieces and tossed it in plain flour seasoned with paprika, salt, pepper and a smidgen of saffron, then fried it off in olive oil and a little butter with some little bits of bacon. Once the chicken was cooked, I dropped in the double cream left over from the other night’s trifle, then the sprouts to warm them through, then folded through the cooked pasta. I think everyone went back for seconds, so I think I’d consider doing it again. The sprouts made a nice change 🙂