bits and bobs on a Tuesday

[tielan]

I shouldn't find it amusing that someone used the phrase "best Chinese Restaurant in Sydney" when what they meant is "my favourite Chinese Restaurant in Sydney", but dear Suburban White Lady, you are not even close to qualified to define 'best Chinese food' in this city of 4.5mil when around 3% of the population have Chinese ancestry one generation back and you are not one of them.

Your favourite Chinese Restaurant? Sure. But "best"? Not even close.

--

You know it's Yuletide season when everyone's journals suddenly come alive with YT letters.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to request, but I'm making a list. (And checking it twice.)

Oh, and a query about previous YT requests: you can fill any previous YT request during NYR, right?

--

I am trying to develop the energy to cook some Sichuan style braised eggplant. But I also have to roast some carrots, roast some capsicum, and boil some rhubarb leaves for aphid spray. There's salmon which B1 unhelpfully brought down from the freezer which she'll leave until it's right on the verge of edible. There's BBQ smoked beef which she won't touch because I mixed a chilli sausage in and now it's "too hot". *sigh*

One of the problems with living with B1 is that she only eats what she's brought down or what she's bought or what she recognises from the garden. And if something doesn't look like what she expects it to look like (picture perfect broccoli, fr inst) then she won't eat it either.

I mean, the issue with picture-perfect food is one that's common enough: that's why supermarkets throw out SO MUCH FOOD - because so much of it isn't saleable if it's not physically perfect.

Anyway; I'm trying to get her into new things - also, to recognise plants so she doesn't have to call me all the time. *sigh*

--

Garden is going pretty well - overheating in the spring heat - we had a hot, windy day of 36C on Friday and heaps of the garden just died because their roots weren't deep enough to stick. Big sigh.

It's going to be like this all summer.

Meanwhile, groceries and supermarkets throw out perfectly good food that's dented or bruised. My local grocery isn't even allowed to give me squished fruit/veg for the chickens. Lettuce and cabbage leaves and that's it. Honestly, guys, just mash it all into a dirty box, I'll come pick it up overnight and the next morning my chooks will feast!

Ugh.

And I need to talk to the neighbours about their lawn clippings and maybe their kitchen wastes.


--

Two thoughts on house and garden:

1. It's amazing how much difference bed structures in the garden makes

2. Then:
And now:

--

Finally, Halloween curtains:

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Stories written for this collection can be of any length and for any past Yuletide prompt. Thank you for writing for these prompts!

However, If you are writing a NYR story to allow you to sign up to Yuletide again, then there are stricter rules.

[tielan]

Tah.

[eggsbenedict]

Ahhhh I feel your pain, my sister is like that too... I asked her to housesit once and told her she could help herself to herbs from the garden, and she said she couldn't tell what was parsley so she wouldn't touch anything (the parsley was half the bed at the time, so double LOL). I had to find a recent photo I'd taken of the patch, label it and email it to her.

HOW CAN YOU TELL ME YOU COOK FOR YOURSELF AND NOT KNOW WHAT PARSLEY LOOKS LIKE.

That said, I did try one of those plant ID apps last year to identify all of the ornamentals in my garden, and it was pretty smart! Using machine learning-based apps is always a bit risky though.

ETA: Oh, and I do love a good before and after garden shot, yours are great. Makes all that hard work even more worth it!

[booksarelife]

What’s NYR?

[tielan]

"New Year's Resolutions" - the Yuletide 'amnesty' that runs all year from the date of reveals until a couple of weeks before the next Yuletide.

[jenab]

I love how green and alive your land looks in the after picture.

[tielan]

In all honesty, the 'before' picture was in the middle of winter - start of July. The after picture is just recently - mid-October. But there's certainly a lot more growing now, and the garden looks far less neat...

[amilyn]

I LOVE the Halloween curtains!!

[novel_machinist]

oh my goodness those curtains are LOVELY. And that's sucky about the grocery! I usually get ugly produce from ours and the farmer's markets when I need/want it.