Burra Maluca

I managed to find where the images were hiding reposted them here to see if they help...

I use an EasiYo yogurt maker which I found second-hand.

It's meant to be used with expensive sachets of starter powder mixed with water, but I use milk and a dollop of the previous batch of yogurt.

I also swapped out the plastic container that it came with for a glass jar the right size (I had to buy it, but it came filled with sausages...). The jar is filled cold then hot water is put in the Easiyo container to supply the heat. Which is why it's so easy - just put the kettle on while you put the milk and starter in the jar and shake to mix.



These days I use UHT milk as a rule and, because the milk has been pre-heated, it makes the most incredible thick yogurt. Sometimes a neighbour lets me have goats milk if he has surplus and is short of cash and feels like walking over with it. It makes delicious yogurt but is much runnier than the UHT, more like pouring-cream. Which is awesome in its own right but not the sort of thing you can stand a spoon up in.

I'm attaching a photo of my first batch of yogurt, which was made in the plastic container as I hadn't bought the glass replacement yet.

Temperatures dropped today.

And they are forecast to be close to freezing tonight - so Himself is about to light her up!

Sounding good so far...

Timothy Li wrote:If someone offered me some mint, would I need a piece with roots already attached, or could I start with a stem cutting?

Mint really is super easy - just snip a few bits off and stand the stems in a glass of water. Change the water every couple of days and usually within a week the submerged bits of stem will be covered in roots. That gives you time to organise your pots and things ready to grow the plants on a bit.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Something folk seem to forget... In an emergency situation, beans don't HAVE to be cooked to be eaten. They only need that soak. But only short term. See this thread for toxicity issues.

Oh my goodness I never want to go through the three days of hell I went through a couple of years ago when I failed to cook some white beans properly.

Some beans are ok just soaked. Some can kill you!

You can eat them sure. But you won't do it twice if you choose the wrong sort!

I found a link, some of which is quoted below - What beans are safe to eat uncooked?

Beans You Should Never Eat Raw

This list includes the majority of common dried beans, which contain high levels of dangerous lectins that must be destroyed through cooking.

Kidney Beans: Red kidney beans, in particular, have one of the highest concentrations of phytohaemagglutinin, and eating as few as four or five raw beans can cause severe food poisoning.
Lima Beans: These contain linamarin, a chemical that breaks down into toxic cyanide during digestion.
Pinto Beans: Like many other common varieties, pinto beans are toxic when uncooked due to their lectin content.
Black Beans: Similar to pinto beans, black beans contain significant levels of lectins in their raw state.
Navy Beans and Great Northern Beans: These white bean varieties are also high in lectins and must be cooked properly.
Broad Beans: Uncooked broad beans, also known as fava beans once mature, contain toxic compounds.
Chickpeas and Soybeans: As mentioned, these are indigestible in their raw, non-sprouted state.

Once a year, some time between the clocks turning back and Christmas, my son takes me to a local second-hand place.

I seem to be developing a bit of a reputation there and the guy recognises me and pulls my leg a bit asking if I've managed to break all last year's plates yet. I assured him that I hadn't broken many this time but I'd brought ten euros with me and intended to spend all of it, regardless of how little room there was in the house or how much I didn't need the things I found. After all, we all have to indulge ourselves a little once in a while...

His stuff is really cheap though, and even with a few things my son added to my heap I had to keep going and finding more and more things to add until the tally had reached enough to spend the whole ten euro note I'd brought with me.

Here's Rosa examining my haul, not including my son's stuff because he hasn't sent me a photo yet. If he does I may edit it in at the end...



Two vintage plates, with patterns moulded into the rims (is moulded the right term?), gold trim and a pretty pink rose design.

No doubt totally unsuitable for microwave or dishwasher, but that's hardly a problem...



Two very nice little plates with flowers. More modern. And I splashed out at 75c each! The others were just 50c...



A hand made, hand painted Alentejo plate.



Signed by the artist.

And somewhat unbelievably stamped with what seems to be a symbol saying it's safe for use in a dishwasher.



Two little glass bowls.

One is a six-petalled flower. The other is a leaf design that I already have a fruit-.bowl sized version of.



Two useful tins that I might even find a use for one day. One green and fruity and one with british wildlife illustrations, which is rather adorable.



A big pyrex-type bowl with apple designs.

I'm not quite convinced it's microwave or oven safe though. But it is very pretty and rather useful looking.



A very cute little chinese bowl thing.



The token thing for Austin, as a thankyou for letting me go and stock up on tatt to (over)fill the house with.

It's a little shot glass with a 1907 Renault car design.



And then she found it.

I have no idea how I managed to stumble on this little gem. It was lurking in the bottom of a great big bag of odds and ends of stuff that didn't look worth rummaging though.

It's a dragon-sized pink rodilha! Which is about as perfect a present as I could imagine for a little overly-domestic Portuguese pink dragon...



She's testing it.

She thinks it's a crown for a working princess!

She might be right.

And it is an absolutely perfect fit...



And if you're not sure what a rodilha is, it's for carrying things on your head.

I'm still not quite sure where I'm going to put it all. I might have to juggle some stuff out of the kitchen and hide it in the cupboards downstairs out of the way for a while. I did have a lot of fun though...

...........................................................................................

Edit to add photos of my son's part of the haul, which was included in the tenner I spent as a thankyou for him taking me there...

He got a knife and fork, a mug, and seven glasses.



I hadn't noticed that pretty glass mug in his part of the haul so I asked for a closer look. It's all leafy and flowery! I think he's more like his mother than he lets on...



And the fork looks rather nice too. With yet more flowers on...



In total 23 items for €10.

I usually do 'Ruth Stout' type composting in place, tucking the food scraps under the mulch around the veggie plants. I don't keep it wet specifically, but it helps maintain the moisture level in the soil underneath and it rots down gradually without any extra work when the rains come or from the drip irrigation set up around the plants.

Time to test the first fruit!

With a little help from AI, just for fun...





In real life, rather than AI, I've been pulling at the apples every day for weeks to see when they wanted to release, but the tree has been hanging on tight to them. I'd heard that Cripps Pink is usually ready from 1st November onwards so I didn't worry too much. But I'd also heard that they go a bit mealy rather than crisp if they stay on the tree too long. So today I decided I'd waited long enough and picked the ripest looking one, which involved quite a sharp tug to persuade it off the tree.

Rosa cut it in half for me and Austin and I did a taste taste. Sweet, juicy, flavourful. But a little mealy. Which might mean I left it on the tree too long.

I'm going to pick the rest later and see if they are all mealy, which might mean that this tree gives mealy apples (it's a seedling off a Pink Lady apple, so it's not going to follow rules because seedlings never do) or it might mean I should have picked it when the colour changed and not waited until so late in the year.

I've been playing turning photos into AI video shorts.

They can be kinda fun!

I mentioned to Rosa that it was about time for Cuca to start waking up and that we should check if her ears were recovered.

She decided to test them...



And then, wafting up from the room below us, came the dulcit tones of dragonsong...

Nights in white castle
Sleeping just round the bend
My ears are hurting
I hope they soon mend

Always I hoped they'd miss
'Cos these ears are sore.
Just what the truth is
They can't see anymore

But I love you
Yes I love you
Oh, how I love you

Gazing at people
Blades in every hand
Just what I go through
They can't understand

Some try to tell me
That they have to defend
Just what they believed in
They'll believe to the end

But I love you
Yes I love you
Oh, how I love you
Oh, how I love you

Nights in white castle
In the home of a friend
I'll soon recover
Then the summer will end.

The seasons they always pass
As they roll evermore
And my ears will replenish
Like the wheat and the corn.

But I love you
Yes I love you
Oh, how I love you
Oh, how I love you

Yes I love you
Yes I love you
Oh, how I love you
Oh, how I love you

I think she's waking up!