[food] culinary notes

Item the first: I've been having some frustration getting the buttermilk culture to go at room temperature given, well, current ambient room temperature (of about 20°C); in theory it wants ~25°C to do its thing. The Warm Plant Box... is not currently full, and runs between 26°C and 28°C. The jar spent the morning in the Warm Plant Box (while I spent it in bed); when I emerged at lunchtime it had thickened up Correctly. This is Good Knowledge and I shall continue repurposing my tools.

Item the second: oh my goodness I'd gotten out of the habit of putting caraway in things while getting the hang of sourdough but sourdough with caraway is so good. Next loaf: little bit of rye in the with the white flour, which will hopefully usefully recreate The Correct Bread for eating with asparagus. Fingers crossed.

Item the third: partway through dinner prep this evening -- after toasting the cashews and slicing the tofu, before chopping the broccoli -- I remembered that we had (1) aubergine and (2) black bean paste, and abruptly course-corrected to sea-spicy aubergine (approximately). This worked enough better than any of my previous attempts that I'm writing it down.

( Sea-spicy aubergine, approximately. )