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vital functions
Aug. 9th, 2020 08:07 pmReading. ( Becky Chambers, Gail Carriger, Erin Morgenstern, Yoon Ha Lee, Mary Robinette Kowal )
Writing. Okay no I'm going to squash the urge to gloss over it: it is a very short talk on ROCKS: how old are they?
Watching. All seven episodes of American Hedgehog Warrior in one sitting, good grief. Particularly appreciated the shoutout to hedgehog rescue services and responsible adoption, and the announcement-style "vets approve this kind of enrichment activity provided xyz conditions are met".
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, S01E03: I put a loaf of bread in at the start of the episode on the grounds that I could definitely get up for a couple of minutes to get it out when the bread was done and then... was utterly absorbed. ( Read more... )
The Old Guard, as a rewatch, with a group chat, for LOTS OF YELLING. ( Read more... )
Cooking. OKAY LET'S SEE. sweet potato and chickpea salad; quiche, with onions from the allotment and new potatoes from my mother's garden; salads, with lots of garden tomatoes; and tonight I've roasted 'lotment cherry tomatoes and some onion-potato-sweet potato-'lotment squash to go with some of the rest of the quiche. (I'm sure there were more dinners, because I repeatedly went "ugh what even is food" and considered Making The Internet Bring It To Us but didn't, but I don't recall... what.)
But: I'm particularly proud of the blackberry jelly: 2kg of berries and one allotment lemon and 400g of sugar converted to 1.25l of jam, approx. I think this is probably the most successful jam I have made thus far: I tend to panic about how RUNNY it is and want to keep cooking it until it's become viscous while hot, which is always an error, but on this occasion I took a deep breath and trusted the beginning-of-wrinkles-forming (rather than holding) and then panicked while it sat there being Runny in its jars while it cooled down and actually we tried some of the first jar this morning and it's perfect and I am super proud of myself.
This left me, naturally, with a significant volume of blackberry pulp, which we have more-or-less decided is... still... food? So that's (AS I TYPE) in the oven turning into Experimental Crumble with some Bonus Pears, and we'll see if it... works.
Earlier in the week we did another batch of blackberry clafoutis, also, because good grief it is Blackberry Season (I think I'm up to ~1.5kg in the freezer and I'm managing to sort of trip and pick another ~750g every time I go to the plot without really... having to think about it).
Growing. we are hitting tomato season. yesterday I brought home one Feo de Rio Gordo, five Purple Ukraine, and ten Chadwick Cherry. The Cosse Violette beans are also coming along well, and turn out to be delicious to the point that I'm actually seriously contemplating growing them again next year, despite thinking of myself as someone who Doesn't Really Like That Form Factor Of Bean. I've also been harvesting SQUASH and ONION.
Elsewise: the Chaenomeles japonica from my mother is not dead yet. The cucumbers are being very slow about producing fruit but we are about to get another one. The luffa have produced flowers but not yet set fruit; the same continues true of the Pattison Blanc. Peas continue, to my delight, to pea; Greek Gigantes are starting to set pods I think. Maize has visible tassles! Who knows if we'll get fruit! And there's another courgette about ready for eating, too.
Writing. Okay no I'm going to squash the urge to gloss over it: it is a very short talk on ROCKS: how old are they?
Watching. All seven episodes of American Hedgehog Warrior in one sitting, good grief. Particularly appreciated the shoutout to hedgehog rescue services and responsible adoption, and the announcement-style "vets approve this kind of enrichment activity provided xyz conditions are met".
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, S01E03: I put a loaf of bread in at the start of the episode on the grounds that I could definitely get up for a couple of minutes to get it out when the bread was done and then... was utterly absorbed. ( Read more... )
The Old Guard, as a rewatch, with a group chat, for LOTS OF YELLING. ( Read more... )
Cooking. OKAY LET'S SEE. sweet potato and chickpea salad; quiche, with onions from the allotment and new potatoes from my mother's garden; salads, with lots of garden tomatoes; and tonight I've roasted 'lotment cherry tomatoes and some onion-potato-sweet potato-'lotment squash to go with some of the rest of the quiche. (I'm sure there were more dinners, because I repeatedly went "ugh what even is food" and considered Making The Internet Bring It To Us but didn't, but I don't recall... what.)
But: I'm particularly proud of the blackberry jelly: 2kg of berries and one allotment lemon and 400g of sugar converted to 1.25l of jam, approx. I think this is probably the most successful jam I have made thus far: I tend to panic about how RUNNY it is and want to keep cooking it until it's become viscous while hot, which is always an error, but on this occasion I took a deep breath and trusted the beginning-of-wrinkles-forming (rather than holding) and then panicked while it sat there being Runny in its jars while it cooled down and actually we tried some of the first jar this morning and it's perfect and I am super proud of myself.
This left me, naturally, with a significant volume of blackberry pulp, which we have more-or-less decided is... still... food? So that's (AS I TYPE) in the oven turning into Experimental Crumble with some Bonus Pears, and we'll see if it... works.
Earlier in the week we did another batch of blackberry clafoutis, also, because good grief it is Blackberry Season (I think I'm up to ~1.5kg in the freezer and I'm managing to sort of trip and pick another ~750g every time I go to the plot without really... having to think about it).
Growing. we are hitting tomato season. yesterday I brought home one Feo de Rio Gordo, five Purple Ukraine, and ten Chadwick Cherry. The Cosse Violette beans are also coming along well, and turn out to be delicious to the point that I'm actually seriously contemplating growing them again next year, despite thinking of myself as someone who Doesn't Really Like That Form Factor Of Bean. I've also been harvesting SQUASH and ONION.
Elsewise: the Chaenomeles japonica from my mother is not dead yet. The cucumbers are being very slow about producing fruit but we are about to get another one. The luffa have produced flowers but not yet set fruit; the same continues true of the Pattison Blanc. Peas continue, to my delight, to pea; Greek Gigantes are starting to set pods I think. Maize has visible tassles! Who knows if we'll get fruit! And there's another courgette about ready for eating, too.