Twisted Spinster

While I am waiting for thoughts to form themselves into words, I thought I’d share with you some recent photos of how I have been occupying myself for the past few days. First, here is a picture of my dinner of a couple of days ago:

I call that my “pretend it’s already autumn in some place that has proper seasons” dinner. Yes, those are brussel sprouts — I love me some fresh brussel sprouts smothered in butter. And sweet potatoes, I have discovered, are excellent when not canned, and I put salt and butter on them, not brown sugar. (Sweet potatoes are sweet enough — the brown sugar makes them too cloying for my tastes.) And the meat is these pork medallions I found in the grocery store for not too much money. So that was Tuesday night.

Tonight I had this:

First, the photo came out double exposed like that for some reason — I think I need a new battery in my camera. Anyway, that’s green beans (fresh, of course), these really thin steaks, and fresh mushrooms fried in the steak and olive oil grease, with a bit of the zinfandel you see in that wine glass over there poured over them to deglaze the pan. And I also had the brilliant idea of chopping up a shallot, a habanero pepper, and half of a long thin pepper called a “finger hot,” and frying them a bit in the pan as well. Oh oh oh. I am such a good cook. However, I think I had better invest in some gloved for any further chopping up of fresh hot peppers — I had tingly, burning fingers for over an hour.

And that brings me to my project! Which already looks like it’s going to expand… observe:

Yup — that’s a real pot, full of real dirt, planted with real plants: thyme, rosemary, chives, purple basil, and two tomato plants (one a red variety and another a yellow) hidden in the back. If all goes well and my notorious black thumb doesn’t kill any of them I should have tomatoes in or around December. I love fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs, and the plants were so cheap. The most expensive part of the project was the pot and it cost about twelve dollars. Anyway, I am already getting ambitious — Walmart had some varieties of peppers, cucumbers, and other veggies, not to mention more herbs like mint and cilantro. And I’d love to have a lemon tree in a pot. And I could grow lettuce…

Xena (the younger cat) loves the herbs. I’ve already caught her gnawing on my chives, and she can sit and smell the thyme for hours, or would if there weren’t lizards and the neighbor cats to distract her. Squeaky, my older cat, is more mellow; she just likes going out to the patio for warmth. Here she is, getting baked in the hot sun like a cake:

More later…