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| Birthday Celebration Dinner |
Miso soup, baked scallop and mushroom roll, beef teriyaki dinner, unagi (eel) donburi, mentaiko (cod roe) cut roll, and tempura squid salad. The beef teriyaki dinner, which comes with miso soup, salad, pickled vegetables, and rice, was my choice; the other dishes are what daughter ordered for herself and I got to sample them. We couldn't finish all the food, so the leftovers are in the fridge to be eaten over the next couple of days.
Daughter and I slept in, this morning, and I woke up with a pain at the base of my spine, but, it eventually wore off during the course of the day. I think I might have done a bit too much, yesterday. I took it easy, today, but, did a load of laundry and got Rebel the Robot vacuum the family room. Daughter managed to reconnect it to the internet, after several tries. She was just about ready to give up when it beeped and started to vacuum! Daughter says she doesn't know what she did to make it work, but, I was able to work the vacuum with my phone, today! Let's see how long that will work!
We had croissants and patties for brunch, today, and the Japanese food for dinner.
It was a lovely, sunny day, with the afternoon high reaching 71F! I opened the windows to air out the house for a little bit, and walked around the garden for a bit.
Yesterday (Friday), M cut the bottle brush tree quite a bit at my request. He was unsure if the tree would survive, but, I had him cut just above some new growth and I am confident that it will do just fine:
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| The Newly Pruned Bottle Brush Tree |
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| From Another Angle (One of the Curry Leaf trees behind it) |
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| The Pile of Branches that were Cut Down |
We will dispose of the branches in the yard waste bin over the next few weeks.
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| Peach Tree |
The peach flowers are coming to an end, I can see the first fruit starting to set, and the branches are starting to leaf out.
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| Orange Flower Buds |
Oh, and I picked some oranges, too:
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| Freshly Picked Oranges |
Lady Ella, these are for you, but I don't have a way to send them to you. Sorry about that!
- Being able to sleep in
- A sunny and warm day
- A special dinner from a local restaurant and an opportunity to support a local business
- The pain in my spine went away
The birthday dinner looks like quite a feast! Orange blossoms smell so good. Do lemon blossoms smell good, too?
ReplyDeleteIt was quite a feast! :)
DeleteLemon blossoms also smell nice. Right now, the calamondin (another type of citrus) tree is in flower and they are very fragrant, too.
So it sounds like most, if not all citrus have fragrant blooms. BTW, I woke up this morning singing the song, "Lemon Tree". :)
DeleteYes, I think all citrus have fragrant flowers. The fragrance is strongest in the evenings. Ha, ha, I know that song! :D
DeleteYour celebration meal looks delicious. I hope your Bottle Brush tree survives it's pruning. I am rather envious that you are able to pick oranges from your garden and will have another bumper crop of peaches to look forward to. Enjoy the rest of the time spent with your daughter.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; yes, the celebration meal was delicious and my daughter was very happy with her selection. I'm sure the bottle brush tree will survive; if not, I have one of its seedlings growing in a pot...
DeleteI am very thankful that I can pick lemons and oranges from my garden and have other fruit to look forward to in the summer. :)
Yes, looking forward to spending this week with my daughter. :)
The food looks amazing. I can imagine DH's reaction if I offered him squid, but I have had it in the past, and many years ago in San Francisco I had a pasta dish, black tagliatelle with some tiny squid on it! I must admit it did look like something out of a horror movie, but that didn't stop me enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteIt was tasty food, Bushlady. I am fine with eating squid and octopus, etc. (cuttlefish was often served at meals when I was growing up) and daughter is very adventurous when it comes to food (definitely more than I am). :)
DeleteWhat an exciting birthday celebration meal! I’ve never tried unagi donburi or mentaiko. I will look for them on menus in the future (if I can remember what they’re called). You and your daughter seem to share an adventurous palate!
ReplyDeleteThe escape room sounds like fun, although mildly terrifying.
Lovely oranges with more to come. And you have peaches to look forward to as well.
We did nothing today except a couple of errands and a family Zoom call. The dogs are looking like a canine interpretation of Dali’s Persistence of Memory. I think we all want to go back to bed.
Good to hear that Rebel the Robot is back on track, obeying orders from the phone. Isn’t it nice to have your technical expert back in the house? ☺️
It was a delicious meal; I mostly stuck to my teriyaki beef, but, I tasted a little of the dishes my daughter ordered. My daughter has a more adventurous palate than I do! But, she just loves Japanese food (and culture; she minored in Japanese in undergrad.)
DeleteDaughter loves the escape room adventures; I am glad she and her friends can get together to do them.
We shared one of the oranges, last night and it was delicious. Yes, there will be peaches to look forward to, as well as other fruit (still waiting for the trees to come out of dormancy).
Sound like you've had a nice, relaxed day; the first day after a time change is hard on everyone, I think.
Yes, it's lovely to have my technical expert back in the house! :D No doubt Rebel will behave itself while the tech expert is in residence and will act up once she leaves! :D
What a super way to celebrate a birthday. I've never tried Japanese food. Those oranges look delicious, I have had oranges straight from a tree, I don't think I had ever tasted anything so delicious.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris. My daughter loves Japanese food and this was her choice of a birthday dinner. The oranges were delicious - nothing quite as good as freshly picked fruit from your own garden! :)
DeleteSounds like your daughter had a good birthday meal! Im late, but I wish her a very happy belated birthday!
ReplyDeleteShe did, Celie. And we both had leftovers from that meal, for dinner, today. :) Thank you for the birthday wishes. :)
DeleteBelated Birthday wishes to your lovely daughter. And I'm glad she enjoyed a smooth journey home.
ReplyDeleteI've had a good catch up with your posts this morning. Your garden is looking beautiful with so many of the flowers in bloom. I chuckled at Dancer's face, as he's lying on the blanket. My two always look quite put out when I have the audacity to change the bed covers :)
The freshly picked oranges look fabulous - that vibrant colour! And the blossom is a promising sign of a plentiful fruit harvest. I keep checking my lemon trees. They don't show any signs of flowering just yet, although they are growing new leaves.
I hope that you have rested and your back is feeling less uncomfortable now. X
Thank you for the belated birthday wishes to my daughter, Jules; I will convey them to her.
DeleteYour lemon trees will probably flower in another year or so. It's great that they are growing new leaves!
My back pain seems to come and go - I think I need a new mattress.
Gosh, what a spread! Definitely fitting for a birthday celebration! And wow - you have really stretched the definition of the word "prune"! Keep us posted on the bottlebrush.
ReplyDeleteI fear it would cost you more to send me those oranges than it would for me to buy them from the supermarket. It always made me laugh that in Ehime, which is famed for citrus production, people would courier their harvest to each other from different parts of the prefecture. Absolutely crazy, but some people insisted that oranges from their hometown were better than those elsewhere. (They all tasted exactly the same.) It was mad enough that people bought oranges from the supermarket when in season, given there was so much fruit changing hands for free. The number of times I arrived home to find a box of something left outside my door! Happy times....
Ella
I thought you might have enjoyed that meal. :)
DeleteHa, ha, yes, I did have M prune that tree down to a nub, didn't I? But, I'm fully confident that it will grow back, just fine. Yes, I'm afraid sending you oranges from here would not be that easy. I did send a box of lemons and oranges to a friend of mine on the east coast, a few years ago (before the pandemic). :)
Your food looks delicious from the Japanese restaurant. I'm glad you both enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteYou really did give that bottle brush tree a pruning! I'm looking forward to seeing photos of it rebounding.
Oh gosh - those homemade potato chips sound delicious. I would've really enjoyed that little snack :)
I'm glad your back pain went away.
The food was delicious; that particular restaurant has good food. The poor bottle brush tree is probably in shock, right now, but, I think it will do just fine. Homemade potato chips are tasty, in my opinion. Maybe not quite as tasty as the store bought ones, but, at least I know what goes into these chips - potatoes, oil, salt, and chili powder!
DeleteThank you, Debra. This recent back pain seems to come and go - I think I need to buy a new mattress!
What a wonderful birthday dinner. I hope your daughter really enjoyed it. I am always so jealous of what you have in your garden. The oranges look wonderful and the blossom is just so delightful. I'm glad the back pain wore off - take it easy!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sharon; yes, she really enjoyed her birthday dinner. :) The oranges are delicious (we ate some today, too). I think I need to get a new mattress for my bed; I think the back pain is from sleeping on a not so comfortable old mattress.
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