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A Veggie Conundrum
I went to pick up our veggie box last night from Michael at the Sustainable House. He let me swap a few things (I know from experience the two of us can’t get through a whole cos lettuce in a week) and he even gave me an extra jar of this week’s special treat, a hot Sri Lankan eggplant pickle. Anyway, I got the box home and started unpacking… and HOLY CRAP, we have a lot of vegetables! I put a list on the whiteboard so we would be reminded to work our way through them. It reads: red cabbage, pumpkin, zucchini, mushrooms, broccolini, beetroot, fennel, sweet potato, sweet corn, rhubarb, choy sum, capsicum, onions, and potatoes. Note: For most of these items, we just receive a small amount suitable for two people. (Personally I like this, while the Snook feels he’d rather have more of a few things and less variety.) Anyway, here’s the kicker – our oven is broken! Friday night I was pre-heating it for a pizza when it tripped the circuit breaker. We flipped it back on, and nothing. No fan, no heating element. Thank God the stove still works. So we’re ovenless until we can get it repaired, which makes using up all this veg that much harder. Any suggestions?

I used half a dozen potatoes, a quarter of the red cabbage, and a carrot from the fridge in last night’s dinner: Veal Schnitzel with Coleslaw and Rösti.

It was fantastic! That was the first time I’d ever made rosti (using this recipe) and it turned out really great. Who needs Una’s when you can whip this up at home?

They’re back! Iron Chefs Sakai and Chen are cooking up a dinner in Sydney again. We went last year but I somehow doubt we’re going to get another unexpected tax windfall… (Link courtesy of Eva.)

Chippendale Food Box Blog. Fun! We get to pick up our next box tonight. We’ve got a nice selection of stuff in there – sweet corn, fennel, potatoes, zucchini, eggs – along with a few things we don’t normally eat, like button mushrooms and rhubarb. It’s going to be a challenge!

I discovered this morning that Vogue UK recently featured a Roald Dahl-inspired photo shoot. WHAT THE–? Dude, only about three of those photos have any connection to Dahl’s work at all. See, I knew this is what would happen when Tim Burton remade Charlie. People who haven’t read any of Dahl’s stories now associate him with some generic Burton vibe of KOOKY and DARK and WEIRD, as if that sums up everything. (In my opinion, none of them are especially Burton-esque as written.) The only photos I really liked – and felt an actual connection to Dahl’s work – were the Red Riding Hood one, the one with the giant peach, and the Glass Elevator at the end.

Congratulations to Anna and her new husband Clem! The Snook and I went to their wedding yesterday at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in the city. I have to say, walking into a beautiful cathedral and hearing a band playing U2 behind the altar is a unique experience! It was a beautiful ceremony and I was happy to be able to share it with them. (Did I mention their great taste in music? Even the hymns were rockin’.) And even though the wedding was very different from my own, I can still respect that it was exactly right for them. Anna is honestly one of the nicest people I know, and I hope she and Clem have a wonderful life together.

How does your garden grow? Very well, thank you!
Check it out… We got a path! Ma and Pa Snook were in town this weekend so they came over today to help us with a few projects. After Snookums and his Pa made the necessary trip to Bunnings, they got down to work. We now have a shiny new tap halfway along the side of the house, which will make it much easier to keep all the plants watered. They also brought us loads of plant cuttings from the Snook homestead, including four elkhorns which they wired to trees. (Evidently we’re supposed to stuff banana skins behind them for food? This Midwesterner sometimes finds rainforest plants a little scary.) After the in-laws headed home, Snookums and I headed out to do some hard labour. He finished digging out our path while I hauled rocks and bags of sand. We lined the path with a fabric weed mat, then covered that with river sand. Then we laid down pavers reclaimed from the back garden. A couple bags of white gravel were added to fill in the gaps. I think it looks nice! Much better than the old tree trunk discs rotting in the grass.

My veggie patch is going gangbusters. I took some photos…
Wow! Check out how far my veggies have come since I planted last month. Last weekend I staked the tomatoes and the peas. Everything is flowering and getting ready to fruit!

My eggplant has a couple beautiful purple flowers on it.

A pea pod! An actual baby pea pod!

Beans! I have very slender baby green beans!

My two pumpkin plants. No flowers yet, but they’ve grown a LOT in the past couple weeks. It can’t be long now.

Barack Roll. Okay, so I know the whole meme is really played out… but that made me laugh and laugh and laugh. (Link courtesy of the Snook.)

Mmmm, compost. This morning as I headed out for my run I stopped by the Peace Park to chuck my rotting jack-o-lantern into our community compost bin. When I lifted the lid, a visible cloud of steam rose into the air. I could feel the warmth from inside. I knew they were supposed to get warm, but I’d never seen it in action before!

Obama Victory Cartoons from today’s newspapers. There are a couple negative ones in there… but they’re drowned out by all the AWESOME. (Link courtesy of PCJM.)

I’m plugging GoGet car share over on the Life in Chippendale blog. It’s just such a great idea, and I’d like to see it succeed and spread to other neighborhoods.