pepper update, Monday 1/9/17

As with last week, there isn't much to report. I was able to confirm that the Lazarus pepper does still have one unopened (and really tiny and undeveloped) bud, but I'm not sure that means anything at this point. The decapitated pepper continues to ripen, and will probably be ready to pick sometime next week.

In other pepper news, today I am going to try buying new seeds at the grocery store, so as to be ready to start the next batch by March 1st. :D

(ETA: The spinner rack of seeds was not set up yet; apparently January is too early for gardening supplies. *sigh* I will try again around the start of February.)



1) two peppers, Monday, 7 January 2017


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2) the Lazarus pepper (it DOES still have one bud... which you can't see, because it's so tiny)
3) the decapitated pepper, probably ready to pick next week


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narcissus update, Monday 1/9/17

1) six narcissus (plus two peppers and a spider plant), Monday, 9 January 2017


All six of them are doing nicely. Four are now blooming -- in fact, both of narcissus A's flower clusters are open -- and I think even C and F will get in on the act over the next couple days.

(For reference, and because I don't believe I've ever mentioned this before, the 'saucers' I use with my terracotta pots are actually the lids of old takeout containers, courtesy of my long and delicious relationship with Jade Garden, a local Chinese restaurant. This is what 'reduce, reuse, recycle' look like in action, folks. *wry*)


( six individual photos under the cut )

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experiments with cook-a-meal delivery services

One of the tenants of the rental company I work at forgot to cancel their HelloFresh subscription over winter break, and when contacted said the office staff should just make use of the meals instead. So on Saturday, Miss Cactus and I split the three items from that week's box: she took two (zucchini flatbread with stuff on, freekeh soup with sweet potatoes) and I took one (winter veggies and brown rice).

All ingredients except salt, black pepper, and cooking oil are provided. The instructions are basically clear, but this particular recipe really needed one additional line saying something to the effect of, "Start the pan sauce immediately after you put the vegetables in the oven to roast," because as it was, I got the rice and the vegetables to turn out at approximately the same time (the rice ran a little long), but finishing the sauce took me an extra twenty minutes. *headdesk*

As I am not a vegetarian, and wasn't entirely sure how the meal would come out, I also sliced up one chicken thigh and baked it with a balsamic dressing marinade while I was cleaning and prepping the vegetables -- I wanted to make sure I'd have at least one thing I'd enjoy eating. This proved helpful, since chicken tastes fine even cold but the rest of this meal really needs to be hot or the flavors get noticeably unappetizing; I kind of forced myself through the last few bites as it cooled off. (It was definitely tasty when hot, though!)

Other thoughts: 1) This supposedly serves two people; I think it serves three, and portioned accordingly. 2) I do not need to work with fresh herbs ever again. Yeah, they bring more intense flavor, but they are just way too much work to be worth the reward. 3) I totally cheated and did not bother cutting up an entire lemon for two squeezes of lemon juice; this is why I keep a bottle of lemon juice concentrate in my fridge. :D


( pictures and some more details under the cut )

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