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[Apr. 5th, 2015|07:07 am]
E.G.
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Happy Easter to those who observe ... we took down the Yule wreath, but i've not really refreshed the seasonal decorations in the little display area for a multitude of seasons. I'm trusting that i am recovering and that vitality and motivation are just around the corner. Today, at least, i am vital enough to be making an orange pie in the style of Shaker lemon pies with my coconut crust. I am very much looking forward to this pie. And i'm going to stir up a batch of North Carolina vinegar sauce. I've been wondering what it would be like to cook beans with it, garbanzo or white beans? Christine's been applying it to the vegetarian chicken stuff, but there must be some other way to get the flavor into my life. Some sort of pilaf?
Sadly, the pie seems to not be cooking enough, not setting. I forgot to add starch, and i think i cooked in too cool an oven. I'm trying to zap it to doneness now.
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A review of the new Nature journal on plants showed a botanical drawing of a root vegetable that i couldn't quite name. Not a brassica, i knew: but the spinach family. And so i deduced it was a white beet (probably a sugar beet). That led me to poking about in the related plants, which include the goosefoot i was observing in the baylands on my walk yesterday. I've no idea if i was looking at a escape from domestication or a wild type, but this article on the domestication of a variety of eastern North American plants pleased me.
Smith, B. D. “Eastern North America as an Independent Center of Plant Domestication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, no. 33 (August 15, 2006): 12223–28. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604335103.
 bobby1933 posted a poem that mentioned shepherds purse and i finally had the common name that i confuse with lambsquarters in front of me. Shepherds purse is a brassica (mustards and broccoli, and so on) and lambsquarters is in the spinach family (or what i call the spinach family: Chenopodiaceae is more accurately known as the goosefoot family).
More thoughts on the edible landscape of weeds. Meanwhile, there's something growing in my untended planters. It appears to match images of leaf celery. I ponder a salad of nasturtium and those leaves.
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Meanwhile, i need to acknowledge that the elephant in the room is taking a toll. I'm strong and can manage, but i begin to ask whether i need to find some help. The thought of sorting through the mental health options available through my health care is not ... inspiring. Nonetheless, i suppose i should NOW while i am feeling the buoying energy of the seasonal light and the delight that i can have lovely days at work.
I think i have an evening out with a friend planned in a week. I think i can get some support from her. My sister is supportive as well. There are a limited number of people with whom i feel like discussing elephant issues, although i've made sure that people at Meeting are aware of what i am carrying.
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