Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Salads on Tuesday

Yogurt

I checked on the dish of yogurt before I went to bed, early this morning, to see if I needed to reheat the oven, and found that it had already set!  There were a few cracks where the whey can be seen, forming yellowish streaks.  I put the dish in the fridge before I went to sleep.

I went to bed a little after 4:00 a.m., this morning.  I woke up, once, at 7:15 a.m., and debated whether to get up, but decided to sleep in.  Joyful activity of the day: sleeping in!  LOL!  I woke up at 10:30 a.m., instead, had a cup of tea, and spent the rest of the morning relaxing, reading and replying to blog comments, and trying to decide what I wanted to have for brunch!

Scrambled eggs would have been easy, and I even pulled out the saute pan, but I'd want a piece of bread or a fried potato with it!  A bowl of leftover soup would have been filling, but it was not quite what I wanted.  A cold cuts sandwich, perhaps?  But I had that for dinner, last night.  What I really wanted was pancakes with fish curry gravy; that would be delicious (in my opinion; I know pancakes and fish curry is not everyone's idea of a delicious meal, LOL!).  But that would have been indulgent (all those carbs; I wouldn't be able to have just one pancake).  Maybe milk rice with fish curry.  But, that would be carbs, too.  A salad would be healthier!   Yes, I know I am blessed to have such a wide range of choices for a meal.  Eventually, I had a salad (butter lettuce, grated carrot, cucumber slices), with canned tuna and salad dressing.  Dancer approved of my choice as he got both a piece of lettuce leaf and a teaspoon of tuna!  His tummy satisfied, he went off to have an afternoon nap!  Brunch was eaten at 2:30 p.m.

I called my half-sister in the afternoon and wished her for her birthday. 

Later, I strolled around the garden, looking at the plants.  Most of the osteospermum have fuller petals, but, this one plant seems to have narrow petals.  I don't know if there is something wrong with the plant or if this is a new cultivar!

Narrow Petals

Occasionally, friend M brings some seeds or bulbs and plants them in my garden to share with me.  Some Sparaxis tricolor (also known as Harlequin Flowers) he planted has flowered - colorful red flowers with brown and yellow centers :



Sparaxis tricolor or Harlequin Flowers (red with yellow centers)
I hope they multiply and establish themselves.  I might have to plant them in another spot, though, so they don't get overwhelmed by the osterospermum!

In the meantime, the osteospermum has self-seeded itself in the middle of what should have been the lawn:


Colonizing the Lawn

I have asked M to leave it to grow there - maybe it will take over the lawn!

Around 4:00 p.m., neighbor S from across the street called me and asked if she could bring me some Armenian salad, made from bulgur wheat, sauted with onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, parsley, etc.   It is called "eech" (sometimes spelled as "itch").  Of course, I said yes, so she brought some over, along with a cookie her mother had made and some ginger candy:


Armenian Bulgur Wheat Salad, Cookie, and Ginger Candy
I had some of this salad with my evening cup of tea.  It was very flavorful!  The cookie was delicious, too - not very sweet, but with a coconut flavor.

In the evening, I vacuumed the house.  I decided to wait until tomorrow to do the laundry and mop the kitchen. 

For dinner, I had red rice, green beans, and fish curry.  Afterwards, I had some of the yogurt I made, for dessert.

Aunt C called to say she enjoyed the fish curry I sent home with cousin N.  A bit later, cousin P called to ask how my doctor's appointment went and friend R called, too.  Later, I video chatted with my daughter.


Today, I am grateful for:
- My half-sister and the relationship we have
- The blessing of having a choice when it comes to meals
- Neighbor S bringing me food
- Phone calls from family and friends
- A sunny, warm day

How was your Tuesday?  Have you eaten bulgar wheat salad? 

18 comments:

  1. Your flowers are so pretty. I planted osteospremum one year and was so excited when you said they self-seed and come back easily. However, I didn't get one plant even when I shook the seeds all over the ground. Maybe I'll try again this year in a different place.

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    1. I'm sorry they didn't self-seed, Live and Learn. Yes, maybe try again. I've planted seedlings in various places, like my parkway strip in the front, hoping they'll establish themselves in those spots and they haven't. I guess the soil conditions, etc., have to be to their liking?

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  2. A satisfying day, I would think.
    You have some beautiful colour in the garden, I especially love the Harlequin. Something which is sadly lacking here. I need to get out and do some planting. X

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    1. Jules, yes, it was a satisfying day. :) Thank you; the Harlequin are very bright and colorful, aren't they? Hope you are able to do some spring planting, soon.

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  3. Tabbouleh salad is made with bulgur and I have eaten that in the past. It is a very refreshing summer salad with lots of tomatoes. I used to really enjoy that before this diet. I hope you enjoyed. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

    Love the Harlequin flowers but I agree with you that they may get lost among the daisies. Wouldn't they look spectacular growing in a huge drift of their own? I hope they multiply quickly by self-seeding.

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    1. Susan, this salad was like a cooked version of tabbouleh! Quite tasty.

      The Harlequin flowers are a type of bulb, so, what I'll have to do is dig up the clump and plant it elsewhere and hope it multiplies. Or, buy more bulbs to plant!

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  4. I love the pics. That Armenian salad looks beautiful and sounds tasty. It's still a little cool here for salads, but I think I will have a try at that later in the year. Thank you for sharing

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    1. Lyssa, this particular salad can be eaten hot, too. In fact, that's how I ate it - I heated some of it in the microwave.

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  5. I've had Tabbouleh, but not Armenian bulgar wheat salad. It looks delicious.
    All your brunch options are very tasty, but I'd choose milk rice with fish curry. :)

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    1. This salad is a lot like tabbouleh - it's like a cooked version of it. Yes, I think there might be some milk rice with curry, one of these days, soon!

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  6. Have you and your half sister always known about each other?

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    1. Yes. :) When my mother married my father, he was a widower with five children (4 boys, 1 girl), all under the age of 13! LOL. Then, I was born. We all lived together, as one family, even after father died, until my sister married and left the house. After that, the half-brothers left, too, and my mother married again. So, in a way, I am the youngest of 6 children and, yet, an only child, too, because I am my mother's only biological child. :)

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    2. Oh ok because ancestry DNA has dug up a lot of secret siblings and half siblings. It unearthed 3 adoptees that were biologically my first cousins. My mom had 6 older sisters. My oldest cousin was left at the Chicago Foundling’s Home in 1949, but we don’t know which of my aunts was his birth mother. My mom was 4 in 1949, and my aunts were between 14-20, so it could have been any of them. I have not met him yet, but there is a resemblance, and he is my maternal first cousin with 100% accuracy. The other two adopted cousins are women and were placed for adoption properly.

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    3. One of the TV shows I enjoy watching is called Finding Your Roots, where they research people's ancestry. It is fascinating! How interesting that you discovered three cousins! I hope it was a happy discovery. I've heard that some people have regretted submitting to DNA tests because they've discovered things they didn't like! I suppose it is disconcerting to suddenly find out that you aren't quite what you thought you were and so forth.

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    4. With my cousin Barbara, her introduction was very minimal. We do not know who her birth mother was either- we just know that it was not my mom or the two aunts whose children had been tested as well. My cousin Alice was the only one rumored about all the years. Unfortunately, we found her only 4 months after her birth mother, my aunt, passed. That aunt had two more children after her and they tested as half siblings. So we knew it was her. My cousin Bill, who was left at the Chicago foundling home in the summer of 1949 is also unknown as to which of my aunts is his birth mother. He is so open with me and acts like he’s known me forever! He even tells me to come and knock on his door without announcing. I was like thanks lol but I’ll call first. Since he’ll be 70 this summer, his estimated birthday is a good time to visit

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    5. That is so interesting, Akasha! Finding long-lost relatives! I hope you get to visit Bill over the summer. Or, perhaps, he can come down to visit you and your parents and meet more members of the family. :)

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  7. Lovely flower photos again and I am amazed by the Harlequin Flowers as I have never seen them before.

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    1. The Harlequin flowers are quite eye-catching, aren't they? I think I will be looking to buy a few more bulbs for the garden. :)

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