An exercise of walking barefoot in the backyard:
The experience of walking barefoot in grass is kinda strange...I don't recall the last time I've done such a thing. There's a slight cushion to each step as the blades of grass buckle under my feet. The ground feels cool, and consequentially damp, whereas the wooden deck still feels warm from being in the sun the whole day. When there is a breeze, I can smell the honeysuckle. It's pretty nice.
29 July 2017
25 July 2017
24 July 2017
greens
Here I present evidence that I have indeed been cooking lots of vegetables.
Exhibit A: one preparation that dandelion greens taste good in
I somewhat regret being spontaneous and buying a bunch of dandelion greens. Usually I'm proud of the fact that I like bitter greens, but this is a whole other level. It was good chopped up small in congee with some ground chicken, but dandelions are pretty nasty in soup or stir-fried. This was my last attempt at using up what I bought, and it's really good with pasta in peppery olive oil, loads of black pepper, and even more pecorino romano.
Exhibit B: first harvest from Sky Garden and mom's backyard
Chicken pasta (you're seeing all pasta dishes because we recently ran out of rice and are not feeling up to lugging a bag home in this heat) featuring oregano from mom's yard, and kale and lemon basil from Sky Garden...and lots of butter and peppery olive oil.
Exhibit A: one preparation that dandelion greens taste good in
I somewhat regret being spontaneous and buying a bunch of dandelion greens. Usually I'm proud of the fact that I like bitter greens, but this is a whole other level. It was good chopped up small in congee with some ground chicken, but dandelions are pretty nasty in soup or stir-fried. This was my last attempt at using up what I bought, and it's really good with pasta in peppery olive oil, loads of black pepper, and even more pecorino romano.
Exhibit B: first harvest from Sky Garden and mom's backyard
Chicken pasta (you're seeing all pasta dishes because we recently ran out of rice and are not feeling up to lugging a bag home in this heat) featuring oregano from mom's yard, and kale and lemon basil from Sky Garden...and lots of butter and peppery olive oil.
22 July 2017
crisps
I'm posting photos of restaurant meals but have actually been cooking a lot since Jeff and I decided to go on a diet (farewell ice cream :( ). No complaints about cooking more and eating more veggie tho.
20 July 2017
gazebo
The good thing about being home is having a whole large table to myself to drink tea on. My latest tea order is the trice roasted (at this point I'm already sold) dongding from Floating Leaves. It came with such a cute note from the owner that I plan to order all my future taiwanese tea from there.
I chose to have another tea, an mid-age xiaguan sheng that I opened long ago, because my tea cabinet is truly full and I need to be concentrating on drinking teas that I've already opened...and all my samples from YS.
The wet leaves are still quite green (I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise?) but the aftertaste was strong in the initial steeps. I think I still have an identical cake of this, might leave that alone for some more years and see how it changes. Though with a not hot and humid climate, aging more might be doing more harm than good. I really need to set up a legit storage soon.
I chose to have another tea, an mid-age xiaguan sheng that I opened long ago, because my tea cabinet is truly full and I need to be concentrating on drinking teas that I've already opened...and all my samples from YS.
The wet leaves are still quite green (I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise?) but the aftertaste was strong in the initial steeps. I think I still have an identical cake of this, might leave that alone for some more years and see how it changes. Though with a not hot and humid climate, aging more might be doing more harm than good. I really need to set up a legit storage soon.
19 July 2017
dehydrate
Still busy playing Stardew Valley, I've finally filled the cellar with casks aging starfruit wine. I'm hoping that the great distillation expansion suggestions from the subreddit gets implemented eventually.
But the actual reason why I haven't been home recently is crickets. We've finally performed our first experiment with crickets (they smell less bad than expected, but still not pleasant to work with) because the past couple of weeks have threatened to rain everyday.
Since I haven't been home, I've missed the bulk of the fragrant flowers :(
But the actual reason why I haven't been home recently is crickets. We've finally performed our first experiment with crickets (they smell less bad than expected, but still not pleasant to work with) because the past couple of weeks have threatened to rain everyday.
Since I haven't been home, I've missed the bulk of the fragrant flowers :(
12 July 2017
08 July 2017
buttercups
My west coast friends are right about how much better having mountains and water in close proximity is.
More shots from up Cadillac Mountain, it's a very interesting location since it has small sections of rock poking through the trees.
Cliff walk in Newport, RI. It's supposedly one of the most scenic walks in the US(?). Better to walk here not on a sunny day, there was pretty much no shade.
On our way to the border crossing:
Rangely, ME: where we were recommended to drive up Quill Hill, but that path is really pushing the limit of drivability. We ended up hiking maybe ⅓ of the way up.
More shots from up Cadillac Mountain, it's a very interesting location since it has small sections of rock poking through the trees.
Cliff walk in Newport, RI. It's supposedly one of the most scenic walks in the US(?). Better to walk here not on a sunny day, there was pretty much no shade.
On our way to the border crossing:
Rangely, ME: where we were recommended to drive up Quill Hill, but that path is really pushing the limit of drivability. We ended up hiking maybe ⅓ of the way up.
06 July 2017
lobster rolls
So ends perhaps the least pleasant trip (though perhaps Gritaly is a contender but I was sufficiently distracted by the places themselves) I've been on. It wasn't downright awful (although the Xi An Famous Foods location we went to tasted worse than ones I've been to before and that July 4th ruined my Long Island City exploration plans), but it is why I avoid travelling with other people generally. There was amazing landscape in Maine, which will get its own post tomorrow.
Meanwhile, two recent instances of sort of matching outfits:
Meanwhile, two recent instances of sort of matching outfits:
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