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it's been a busy weekend. yesterday i spent all day hanging out with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
naomi_traveller, who took me out for the best dim sum i've ever had (pork bun! PORK BUN!) and showed me her pictures of Wales and Sweden. there can never be too much tea. we also stopped at the Berkeley farmer's market briefly as most of the vendors were closing up, but she was still able to pick up some little potatoes, and i bought a big bunch of sorrel. i've never had sorrel before, or even seen it, but i know it's supposed to be sort of lemony and good in salads and soups. the seller kindly gave me a xeroxed page of recipes. i'm dying to try the one for French sorrel soup, which contains nothing but sorrel, water, and three different kinds of fat -- butter, cream, and egg yolks! but that's a bit rich for a warm day like today, i think.
i met Branwen only very briefly today, even though i've been caring for her and Preia this weekend whilecyan_blue and emmett_the_sane are out of town. yesterday when i dropped by she was nowhere to be seen and i didn't have enough time to sit till she came out. today Branwen was hiding behind Preia when i arrived, but when i reached out my hand for her to sniff, she took off like a racecar. Preia was more in the mood for snuggling than playing, so i spent a while reading and petting her marvelously soft fur, but Branwen never did come out again. she sure is pretty, though. i'm sure i'll win her over eventually.
it's a glorious day in Pacifica, warm and breezy and perfect for balcony-sitting. the sky is clear and the ocean is so blue it can't be captured by my cheap camera. i did, however, take a picture of the single glorious blossom on my hibiscus, which is still clinging doggedly to life despite its obvious contempt for the local climate.
it's been happier since i set it on the side shelf of the gas grill, where it gets all the sun there is to be had. i love those showy orange blooms! perhaps it will even sprout some more leaves now.
in other botanical news, my phalaenopsis has finally started to produce a new shoot after i foolishly pruned it at the wrong place a few months ago, and both sorts of thyme are running utterly amok. tonight i'm going to make tomato, white bean, and sorrel soup -- another recipe from Fields of Greens -- which calls for some fresh thyme and marjoram (i'll substitute oregano) and some other ingredients i want to use up before my trip to Colorado. i was disappointed that the Food Town had no dandelion greens, despite the sign claiming they did -- i'd hoped to add some to my salad tonight. my mother used to have me go out and pick them from the yard for salads; also wild chives (which we called "onion grass") and sometimes even rose petals. my mother is deathly allergic to roses, and i've developed a mild rose allergy myself as an adult, but she's relentlessly creative in the kitchen and was always coming up with some new idea to use things that grew in the neighborhood. we also picked wild blackberries from the woods around the drainage creeks, and apples and crabapples and plums from our own yard. we even had a bitter almond tree but to my knowledge she never actually made cyanide.
i was sorry to see that the guitar has been removed from the garden in a house along Palmetto Blvd. there's a mound in the middle of the front yard, planted with assorted flowers and greenery, and there was a cheap electric guitar (sunburst finish) stuck headfirst into one side at a drunken angle. i've been meaning to take my camera and get a picture of it for months. it just goes to show that laziness doesn't pay.
i'm still feeling pretty depressed, but i must be doing better since i've been able to actually write more than a brief outline of the weekend. that's a good sign. i've been meaning to start actually using the 'Current Mood' field in my posts, because i realized it would be a useful tool for tracking my mood over time. and so it goes.
naomi_traveller, who took me out for the best dim sum i've ever had (pork bun! PORK BUN!) and showed me her pictures of Wales and Sweden. there can never be too much tea. we also stopped at the Berkeley farmer's market briefly as most of the vendors were closing up, but she was still able to pick up some little potatoes, and i bought a big bunch of sorrel. i've never had sorrel before, or even seen it, but i know it's supposed to be sort of lemony and good in salads and soups. the seller kindly gave me a xeroxed page of recipes. i'm dying to try the one for French sorrel soup, which contains nothing but sorrel, water, and three different kinds of fat -- butter, cream, and egg yolks! but that's a bit rich for a warm day like today, i think.i met Branwen only very briefly today, even though i've been caring for her and Preia this weekend while
cyan_blue and emmett_the_sane are out of town. yesterday when i dropped by she was nowhere to be seen and i didn't have enough time to sit till she came out. today Branwen was hiding behind Preia when i arrived, but when i reached out my hand for her to sniff, she took off like a racecar. Preia was more in the mood for snuggling than playing, so i spent a while reading and petting her marvelously soft fur, but Branwen never did come out again. she sure is pretty, though. i'm sure i'll win her over eventually.it's a glorious day in Pacifica, warm and breezy and perfect for balcony-sitting. the sky is clear and the ocean is so blue it can't be captured by my cheap camera. i did, however, take a picture of the single glorious blossom on my hibiscus, which is still clinging doggedly to life despite its obvious contempt for the local climate.
it's been happier since i set it on the side shelf of the gas grill, where it gets all the sun there is to be had. i love those showy orange blooms! perhaps it will even sprout some more leaves now.in other botanical news, my phalaenopsis has finally started to produce a new shoot after i foolishly pruned it at the wrong place a few months ago, and both sorts of thyme are running utterly amok. tonight i'm going to make tomato, white bean, and sorrel soup -- another recipe from Fields of Greens -- which calls for some fresh thyme and marjoram (i'll substitute oregano) and some other ingredients i want to use up before my trip to Colorado. i was disappointed that the Food Town had no dandelion greens, despite the sign claiming they did -- i'd hoped to add some to my salad tonight. my mother used to have me go out and pick them from the yard for salads; also wild chives (which we called "onion grass") and sometimes even rose petals. my mother is deathly allergic to roses, and i've developed a mild rose allergy myself as an adult, but she's relentlessly creative in the kitchen and was always coming up with some new idea to use things that grew in the neighborhood. we also picked wild blackberries from the woods around the drainage creeks, and apples and crabapples and plums from our own yard. we even had a bitter almond tree but to my knowledge she never actually made cyanide.
i was sorry to see that the guitar has been removed from the garden in a house along Palmetto Blvd. there's a mound in the middle of the front yard, planted with assorted flowers and greenery, and there was a cheap electric guitar (sunburst finish) stuck headfirst into one side at a drunken angle. i've been meaning to take my camera and get a picture of it for months. it just goes to show that laziness doesn't pay.
i'm still feeling pretty depressed, but i must be doing better since i've been able to actually write more than a brief outline of the weekend. that's a good sign. i've been meaning to start actually using the 'Current Mood' field in my posts, because i realized it would be a useful tool for tracking my mood over time. and so it goes.
