Katie and her mental meanderings

I love asparagus and today when I picked up our weekly veg I mentioned how nice our small bunch was to the girl giving out the boxes.  Oh, great, she said, we have some day-old bunches there, help yourself.

So I did.

I thought about Parma ham and grilled asparagus but I’m not convinced you can get Parma ham here.

What’s your favourite thing to do with asparagus (apart from just eat it!)?

It’s not your screen – the carrots are really yellow – and although one beet is a normal red colour, the other one is white. The borscht I made still turned everything red.

We’ve also had sprouting broccoli – not purple, just green – but purple potatoes (from the supermarket, not the veg box), and this week, some tiny cauliflowers, about 3in across. Too small to be out wihout their mothers. I was very mean and put them in a curry, along with some radishes I couldn’t think what to do with.

The avocados are builing up – I have two ripe ones in the fridge and one huge one ripening in the fruit bowl. I think I’m going to make avocado ice cream – just cream, sugar, lemon juice and avocado flesh, freeze and stir when still a bit soft.

We also have two lots of rainbow chard. Normally I just make pasta or something but I looked up and found that cabbage rolls can be made with chard.  Cabbage rolls are a big fat pain to make (I have never tried, but it’s a bit like those round pasta rolls whose name escapes me, you have to steam the leaves first and then roll a meat/rice filling in the leaves), and this chard is quite small-leaved. However I have previously made a great layered mince/rice/tomato/cabbage casserole so I think that’s where the chard is headed.

We have entirely different seasons in Southern California to, well, England. But also different to the NE US which is where some “seasonal” cookery guides seem to be based. I heard Jamie Oliver extolling the virtues of seasonal cookery on the radio and thought, yes, but what do I do with radishes, pomegranates, and fresh dates?

Anyway I got several fresh chilis in our vegetable selection last week and the week before so, fearful of their heat, I only put 3 of them into 4 servings of chili yesterday. I should have put more in – they weren’t hot at all.

The radishes, plus lettuce and mini tomatoes from the veg box, and a cucumber and some grapes from the farmers’ market, went into a salad for a church brunch.

The pomegranates (from the farmers’ market) are probably going into a pomegranate pie at some stage.

The fresh dates I just eat.

Shiny new wiblog, and not only have I not written for ages, but I switch my design back to my old one!

Anyway, in case you are feeling jealous, it is still pretty warm here in the daytime but houses in Southern California, especially older ones, tend not to be insulated at all so we are bundling up, buying extra blankets for the bed, and putting on the (one, for three bedrooms) heater in the evenings.

I leave you with my Halloween costume:

Halloween Wings

I’m used to people in the US not understanding my English. This starts with my name. Either I have to pronounce it very carefully, or everyone thinks I’m called Casey. This was more awkward when I was a small child with very short hair as everyone thought I was a boy called Casey.

Today I decided to have sushi for lunch and ordered a rainbow roll. I am not a sushi expert, more of a sushi glutton, but the place at work is cheap, and fresh (they make it right at the counter). The cashier called out what I thought was “rainbow roll”. But his accent was quite strong (Japanese, I’m assuming!) and it was, in fact a dragon roll. It was very pretty though and very tasty. I may have that one again.

While I’m beavering away in the lab, The Spouse™ is taking the time to do some distance learning courses. He was looking at ones that are about to start, and what they might lead on to.

This morning he was heard to exclaim “Accounting, Finance and Computing! Ooh!”.

That is not a phrase I’d ever thought to hear said in excitement.

to the latest addition to our blogging stable, How did I get here?.

We’re both suffering culture shock – him I think a bit more than me but our temporary situation (we’re here till April) means some things are loads harder, like what to do about cars or cellphones, and sorting out health insurance is also harder now I’m older and sicker. But the weather is nice and our little house is very pretty and has a view of the ocean, and it’s quite relaxing to be in a little office with no students or colleagues wanting a piece of me…

Lovely. Which apparently British people say a lot – according to our Japanese waitress the other night.

I think I had vaguely heard of Elaine Stritch before but just listened to a fabulous interview with her on Radio 4’s Front Row. She is, as my grandparents would have said, a pistol.

Her voice and accent are incredibly similar to my grandmother’s – I may just think this because I have not known a lot of older ladies from the Northeast of the US – but it certainly brings her back. My grandmother would have been 100 this year.

Ten years ago today bomb blasts hit both Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

I had spent July 4th that year at the US Marine club in Dar, just round the corner from the embassy. Casualties were few in Dar, as the embassy was more isolated and had been a former Israeli embassy so was very well fortified. In Nairobi over 200 people died and thousands were injured, as the embassy was right down town and next to some office buildings. There was understandable resentment as ambulances were held up and people were prevented from moving around the area and the feeling is that casualties need not have been nearly as high, and that victims were badly treated later.

(see Cal’s blog…)

We thought we had a lovely little house lined up in a great location for our Overseas Adventures. Just after the owner sent us some swoony pictures she told us she’d found a renter for the whole year (we only want it for 8 months)…

We’ve been looking at other things on line and have found a couple of maybes. Both more expensive but we might be able to get away with a month less rent so would be not too bad overall. But I got some photos from one of them today and the place was advertised as 3 beds – but she says she wants to lock up one of the bedrooms! And it’s more expensive than the original 3 bedroom place! Cheeky or what!

In other news I went for a run this morning – my second in about a year (the first being last weekend). I’m happy to report I’m a lot fitter than when I started up running 18 months ago. Probably something to do with the minimum of 18 hilly miles I’m cycling each week.