Starting from scratch
Apr. 19th, 2020 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacealien_vampI took my beagle in for his surgery as scheduled, and he got through it very well. He spent most of his time sleeping for about two days, but after that he regained his energy. By now he mostly seems like his usual self.
I've been getting a lot done with all my added free time. I'm going through my manga collection and purging hundreds of volumes. Hopefully by the time I am finished it will all fit in its proper storage again. I've been planting more out in the garden--I got the corn and beans done this weekend. I have some cabbage and a couple other things ready to transplant, but I need to make up some cages to protect them from critters first. I'm hoping to work on that tomorrow.
My food supply is still strong. I'm running a bit low on rolled oats, but I have enough for a couple more weeks of oat milk. My neighbor was able to get me 8 more pounds of sugar, so I'm good on that score. I've got a little over two dozen tortillas, and I can always make more if I run out. I'm down to my last can of refried beans, but I have plenty of dry beans.
Spring crops are starting to come in--I have fresh cauliflower, asparagus, and chili peppers--and I'm trying to think of creative meals to make with them. One of the problems that I run into when using Google to look up recipes is that most of them start with an ingredient list of processed products. For example, a while ago I went to a restaurant that served cauliflower baked in buffalo sauce, and I thought that would be great to try with what I have on hand. I tried to look up recipes for buffalo sauce, and they all start with "1 cup of Frank's Red Hot sauce"...um, no. I'm starting with actual fresh chili peppers. I looked up four or five different recipes, and not one of them used fresh chili peppers, just processed hot sauce. So, I have to take a step back and make myself a batch of hot sauce first.
I had a similar problem when I wanted to make a batch of massaman curry. (I have lots of canned coconut milk that I've been using for my non-dairy experiments.) Most of the recipes started by calling for a bottle of commercial curry paste. I don't have bottled curry paste. (If I did, why would I even need a recipe?) What I have is a cabinet full of jars of spices. I had to go through multiple sites before I found one that listed the actual spices to use to make the curry blend. It was quite a frustrating process, although I'm glad I did eventually find something useful.
Anyway, in addition to the garden vegetables, it is also currently loquat season. I picked a giant bowl of them (what the birds and squirrels haven't gotten yet) and spent several hours today removing all the seeds and straining them into fruit pulp. I'll turn it into jam tomorrow. There are still a lot of green ones out on the tree, so I may have to do another batch next week...or maybe I'll just juice them.
I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done, what with all the gardening and cooking, but I did finally finish the Christmas tree skirt that I started in December. (Yes, I kept my Christmas tree up until yesterday just so I could take a picture. I put everything away this morning.)
I've been getting a lot done with all my added free time. I'm going through my manga collection and purging hundreds of volumes. Hopefully by the time I am finished it will all fit in its proper storage again. I've been planting more out in the garden--I got the corn and beans done this weekend. I have some cabbage and a couple other things ready to transplant, but I need to make up some cages to protect them from critters first. I'm hoping to work on that tomorrow.
My food supply is still strong. I'm running a bit low on rolled oats, but I have enough for a couple more weeks of oat milk. My neighbor was able to get me 8 more pounds of sugar, so I'm good on that score. I've got a little over two dozen tortillas, and I can always make more if I run out. I'm down to my last can of refried beans, but I have plenty of dry beans.
Spring crops are starting to come in--I have fresh cauliflower, asparagus, and chili peppers--and I'm trying to think of creative meals to make with them. One of the problems that I run into when using Google to look up recipes is that most of them start with an ingredient list of processed products. For example, a while ago I went to a restaurant that served cauliflower baked in buffalo sauce, and I thought that would be great to try with what I have on hand. I tried to look up recipes for buffalo sauce, and they all start with "1 cup of Frank's Red Hot sauce"...um, no. I'm starting with actual fresh chili peppers. I looked up four or five different recipes, and not one of them used fresh chili peppers, just processed hot sauce. So, I have to take a step back and make myself a batch of hot sauce first.
I had a similar problem when I wanted to make a batch of massaman curry. (I have lots of canned coconut milk that I've been using for my non-dairy experiments.) Most of the recipes started by calling for a bottle of commercial curry paste. I don't have bottled curry paste. (If I did, why would I even need a recipe?) What I have is a cabinet full of jars of spices. I had to go through multiple sites before I found one that listed the actual spices to use to make the curry blend. It was quite a frustrating process, although I'm glad I did eventually find something useful.
Anyway, in addition to the garden vegetables, it is also currently loquat season. I picked a giant bowl of them (what the birds and squirrels haven't gotten yet) and spent several hours today removing all the seeds and straining them into fruit pulp. I'll turn it into jam tomorrow. There are still a lot of green ones out on the tree, so I may have to do another batch next week...or maybe I'll just juice them.
I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done, what with all the gardening and cooking, but I did finally finish the Christmas tree skirt that I started in December. (Yes, I kept my Christmas tree up until yesterday just so I could take a picture. I put everything away this morning.)
no subject
Date: 2020-04-20 03:10 am (UTC)Glad you and the puppers are hanging in there!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-20 02:58 pm (UTC)Oh, and you can let your brother know that I've been enjoying Path of Exile. I played it almost non-stop while my parents were here over the winter. I haven't had as much time recently since there's so much to do in the garden, but I hope to get back to it when I have all the plants settled in for the season.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-20 02:33 pm (UTC)I mixed roasted cauliflower into a dal the other day and it was delicious. Cauliflower stands up so beautifully in Indian food.
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Date: 2020-04-20 03:01 pm (UTC)Indian food sounds like a great idea. I have a freshly made batch of tofu I can fry up and use in place of paneer, plus lots of potatoes to add in as well.