Unsettled by Wind and Hospital Food Programme (no connection between the two!)

So much for wanting to rest, I am very unsettled and unable to rest. There are several reasons for this I am over tired and the weather which is very windy is very unsettling when things are blowing about all over the place and I am on my own in the house wondering if other people are ok.  We have lost the canopy outside the back door and our mini greenhouse tried to blow away even though it is screwed to the wall.  We usually lose roof tiles when its windy, not checked the roof yet.  Poor cat unsettled too he has just made a mad dash for outside whilst it is a bit calmer.  Got a text from school saying children had been kept in all day as debris blowing around playground, they will be more hyper than ever tonight! Emily has after school music so an extra hour confined to school.

Daft as it may seem I cannot stop thinking about James Martin's hospital food programme.  I know the food is bad, but it is such a battle to get things changed and get money spent on it.  Food is a basic human need, how can people be fed on such a small amount (less than £2 per meal).  I cannot believe that the stuff they pass off as food has been approved by dieticians and medical staff, I wouldn't feed it to a dog!  Having worked in hospitals before I became ill patient care is something close to my heart.  Also having had many relatives in hospital and seeing how they are fed or not fed as the case may be is heart breaking.  When you are ill, in hospital or anywhere else you need healthy and appetising food to want to eat it and to aid recovery.  I have many food intolerances and cannot imagine that I would find anything suitable on a hospital menu and I am sure that it would be practically impossible to get a special menu to order from even though they are supposed to exist.  Mass catering in any environment is difficult, but surely not impossible.  Other issues than the quality of the food is the transportation and long periods sitting around so food is cold and congealed so even less appetising and the fact that a huge number of patients are not able to feed themselves and the staff either have not got the time or the inclination to feed people so they go hungry and thirsty too.  It really, really upsets me.  It seems to me that health care is now all about amazing treatments and fancy equipment and basic care is ignored.  It makes being ill so frustrating too as I want to be out there helping people, I know I couldn't make a huge impact, but I feel so useless.

I have just found the soup recipes that have been used in the series they sound lovely and easy to make

Parsnip and Rosemary, Roast veg, Cauliflower and Apple, Butternut Squash and Lime.

It is great that James Martin is trying to tackle the issue, but not surprisingly many hospitals told him to go away, how mad is that. Apparently there is a new series starting in January, its good to know that he is still plugging away despite the lack of interest. good on you James.

Well on a slightly different tack now how cute are these

Pattern link

Just perfect for all those Chef's!