a series of firsts and other pleasantries
In the nearly two weeks I've been at home in London, many firsts occurred for my love and I. Some documented with photos below, some only listed. Enjoy the paraphernalia of our daily life!
1. Our dendrobium has new buds growing. The first time an orchid does not die on us.
2. I cooked a variety of things for the first time: beef casserole (a sort of stew, for the non-British), cod in beer, mashed sweet potatoes, etc.
3. We saw, bought, and ate our first ever giant puffball. It was only the previous night that I'd learned about it from The Complete Mushroom Book my love has from Amy.
4. I've had my first passion fruits—the red/ purple type, not maracuya. The first taste is overly flavoured, while the second—overly sour (comparable to a lemon). Better in a drink than by themselves, if you ask me, like this morning's orange-mango-passion fruit-lime juice.
5. I paid GBP 10 on ten black arum lilies (callas), for the first time splashing so much on a single bouquet; they do last long, though, elegant and erect for weeks at times.
6. I've had my first Okinomi-yaki dish at Abeno Too (thank you, Rachel).
7. We mailed ourselves some capers from Stromboli, then I wondered what to do with them. Reading Jekka's Complete Herb Book that my love received from Catherine and Ben, to check whether rosemary is an evergreen (yes, it is), I happened upon capers and learned that ours needed the sea salt washed, some fennel seeds added, and plenty of white wine vinegar covering them in a jar. Said and done, only a month after leaving the island behind—a blink, really, in my lifetime series of signature chronically late arrivals.
Update, November 15th 2007: My love lets me know that I managed to miscommunicate the needed vinegar so badly that he purposely looked for a non wine version which, come to think (and after a quick check, too) is precisely what I used. Oh well, can't be that bad, can it?
8. The first sloe berries to have in this apartment joined some 12 liters of Plymouth gin to create this year's collection of sloe gin. You can see the sloes melting below, after my love chiseled them out of our tiny, tiny freezer. The freezing made a lot of sense for me; before seeing that I didn't understand how my friends were picking sloes before the first frost of the winter.
9. We decided we need a new type of coffee and tapped into the Monmouth varieties and knowledge—a lovely experience altogether. As a result, we drink better coffee, which we brew differently (closer to the Turkish/ Greek way than coffee press/ filter/ espresso machine), which in turn is possible only in a properly sized ceramic pot/ jug, finally found at Cargo.
10. I didn't buy a single Christmas item, can you begin to imagine such strangeness?
11. We followed Spooks religiously (my first real time British TV series), it's OK.
12. We've seen a Tate premiere every week, at Modern and at Britain. I thus learned that young people go to Modern and old people go to Britain; frankly, the youth should incorporate/ revisit the old art and the elders should be tired with it already and check the new stuff out there.
13. I learned a lot about olive trees (they can live 500 years!) and olives, especially curing the latter. One of our trees has a fine production of maybe ten olives (!) that I want to cure as a curiosity. In olive oil. Tomorrow. One day legendary.
Update, November 15th 2007: Done. Our crop consists of some ten cute but small olives.
14. I read Northern Lights/ The Golden Compass (thank you, Catherine!) and can't wait to buy the next two in the trilogy. It's my first meeting with Philip Pullman and a good one, if not gripping.
15. Because of the great previous experience with GTD, I've started reading David Allen's new book, Ready for Anything. It makes you think as you read it, so I'll go on and report back.
16. I've had the first 5th of November party and fireworks experience (thank you, Steve!), even if on November 3rd. I can never have too many fireworks. Oh, no bonfires, though.
17. We've discovered that 2 Days in Paris can be found online for free, though only (a) without English subtitles and (b) with Spanish/ Korean/ Norwegian subtitles. While I see how buying the DVD makes sense sometimes (though this time I get that French and can't wait to see the film for months now), I must also marvel at the correctness of the British and American viewers, who seemingly so far did not rip the good version to put it online. No worry, the rest of the world will.
18. We counted an alarming number of couples we know that do not live together though they've been together for years. Right after we tried to guess how many of them will make it, we heard about one breaking up and, as usual, don't know what to say to either party.
19. I didn't buy any item that could pass as frivolous, though I'm not cured yet, just patient.
20. I've had both live dinosaur rock and weird fruit beers on the same evening.
1. Our dendrobium has new buds growing. The first time an orchid does not die on us.
2. I cooked a variety of things for the first time: beef casserole (a sort of stew, for the non-British), cod in beer, mashed sweet potatoes, etc.
3. We saw, bought, and ate our first ever giant puffball. It was only the previous night that I'd learned about it from The Complete Mushroom Book my love has from Amy.
4. I've had my first passion fruits—the red/ purple type, not maracuya. The first taste is overly flavoured, while the second—overly sour (comparable to a lemon). Better in a drink than by themselves, if you ask me, like this morning's orange-mango-passion fruit-lime juice.
5. I paid GBP 10 on ten black arum lilies (callas), for the first time splashing so much on a single bouquet; they do last long, though, elegant and erect for weeks at times.
6. I've had my first Okinomi-yaki dish at Abeno Too (thank you, Rachel).
7. We mailed ourselves some capers from Stromboli, then I wondered what to do with them. Reading Jekka's Complete Herb Book that my love received from Catherine and Ben, to check whether rosemary is an evergreen (yes, it is), I happened upon capers and learned that ours needed the sea salt washed, some fennel seeds added, and plenty of white wine vinegar covering them in a jar. Said and done, only a month after leaving the island behind—a blink, really, in my lifetime series of signature chronically late arrivals.
Update, November 15th 2007: My love lets me know that I managed to miscommunicate the needed vinegar so badly that he purposely looked for a non wine version which, come to think (and after a quick check, too) is precisely what I used. Oh well, can't be that bad, can it?
8. The first sloe berries to have in this apartment joined some 12 liters of Plymouth gin to create this year's collection of sloe gin. You can see the sloes melting below, after my love chiseled them out of our tiny, tiny freezer. The freezing made a lot of sense for me; before seeing that I didn't understand how my friends were picking sloes before the first frost of the winter.
9. We decided we need a new type of coffee and tapped into the Monmouth varieties and knowledge—a lovely experience altogether. As a result, we drink better coffee, which we brew differently (closer to the Turkish/ Greek way than coffee press/ filter/ espresso machine), which in turn is possible only in a properly sized ceramic pot/ jug, finally found at Cargo.
10. I didn't buy a single Christmas item, can you begin to imagine such strangeness?
11. We followed Spooks religiously (my first real time British TV series), it's OK.
12. We've seen a Tate premiere every week, at Modern and at Britain. I thus learned that young people go to Modern and old people go to Britain; frankly, the youth should incorporate/ revisit the old art and the elders should be tired with it already and check the new stuff out there.
13. I learned a lot about olive trees (they can live 500 years!) and olives, especially curing the latter. One of our trees has a fine production of maybe ten olives (!) that I want to cure as a curiosity. In olive oil. Tomorrow. One day legendary.
Update, November 15th 2007: Done. Our crop consists of some ten cute but small olives.
14. I read Northern Lights/ The Golden Compass (thank you, Catherine!) and can't wait to buy the next two in the trilogy. It's my first meeting with Philip Pullman and a good one, if not gripping.
15. Because of the great previous experience with GTD, I've started reading David Allen's new book, Ready for Anything. It makes you think as you read it, so I'll go on and report back.
16. I've had the first 5th of November party and fireworks experience (thank you, Steve!), even if on November 3rd. I can never have too many fireworks. Oh, no bonfires, though.
17. We've discovered that 2 Days in Paris can be found online for free, though only (a) without English subtitles and (b) with Spanish/ Korean/ Norwegian subtitles. While I see how buying the DVD makes sense sometimes (though this time I get that French and can't wait to see the film for months now), I must also marvel at the correctness of the British and American viewers, who seemingly so far did not rip the good version to put it online. No worry, the rest of the world will.
18. We counted an alarming number of couples we know that do not live together though they've been together for years. Right after we tried to guess how many of them will make it, we heard about one breaking up and, as usual, don't know what to say to either party.
19. I didn't buy any item that could pass as frivolous, though I'm not cured yet, just patient.
20. I've had both live dinosaur rock and weird fruit beers on the same evening.
Labels: cookery, couch potato, friendz, green babies, grrl stuff, liquid treats
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