Fruit and Pain

Ok, so the fresh fruit does become overwhelming this time of year. Peaches, several types of plums, three or four kinds of cherries, currents, gooseberries, blueberries, early apples, late strawberries, etc. What’s a single, childless guy to do? Turn to Mark Bittman. I made a peach sauce with peaches, a little sugar, and star anise. To be served with something diary. Then, to the fresh peaches; Bittman says the secret of chutneys is a mix of fresh and dried fruit, so I got dried apricots and dried plums from Sahadi to double-trouble a sweet/hot batch, shown above steaming with what we "umidity" around here. Speaking of Sahadi, they have these toffee pistachios that I’ve never noticed before. Insidious! Come to think of it, the cocoa almonds and honey-roasted cashews are also a threat to the national waistline.
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Interesting how we can’t remember pain very well. I mean physical pain. I’ve had an ear ache recently, some throatiness moving up into my sinuses, (and in this “umidity” too, oy!), and a couple of bad nights necessitating pain relief. Which, since I didn’t even have any aspirin in my medicine cabinet, meant I was hoofing it over to the deli at 2 am. Yes, there isn’t a pill or potion in my medicine cabinet. As in so many other ways, I am not an American. I mean, I buy some OTC painkillers once and a while, but by the next time I need them, it’s been a couple of years and the stuff is way out-of-date. Let's hear it for those opiate-like substances that the body produces...