hey love, I'm an inconstant satellite

This came from buying rosemary and nectarines at the same time and noticing that they smelled right together, and then from wanting to welcome Wim home with a treat, and also from reading Yakitate! Japan extolling the virtues of hempseed (absurdly, as it does everything).

( cut for not completely successful recipe )

This is a TEA EGG, which I love and adore and now can make in my home thanks to The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. Basically, you take a bunch of eggs, boil them (cold water to rolling boil, remove from heat and cover 15 mins), and crack their shells up prettily. Then you put in half a dozen star anise pods, half a cup of soy sauce, and tea -- Lapsang Souchong is awesome for this purpose, though I find it too smoky to drink -- and simmer for a couple of hours, then steep overnight in the fridge. You get these marvelously fragrant and beautiful eggs that you can put in soups or just eat straight.

I used to only be able to eat these at the Taiwanese Student Association's Night Market every year, then a ramen place that has them opened up, and now I can make my own. YAY.

In other food news, Wim and I had a great meal at Octo Sushi last week, including daily-special takoyaki, spicy soup with chicken, and a bunch of sushi rolls. Salmon and avocado maki worked nicely, I thought. Obasan in lower Queen Anne fed me well on unagi-yaki last night, though like most restaurants in that area it was a little expensive. The TV was showing Sen to Chihiro when I walked in, so I loved it immediately, and the genmaicha was great.

My intention for tonight is lentil soup to go with the bread Wim made this weekend, though I'm glad we have the pressure cooker because that fella is still not here with my lentils.

Homegrown oyster mushrooms (by me, in espresso grounds, from mycology class)
One giant duck egg and one wee little egg from either a marabou chicken or a guinea hen (from hattifattener's mom)
Spinach

Fry up in a scramble -- mushrooms first until they brown a little, then eggs, adding the spinach after the others are almost done.

I sense perhaps also yogurt and fruit in my future, as I am still a little hungry.

Later today: Piglet racing!

I have achieved pie, without much time to spare. Still no great solution for the problem of crusts that puff and crawl when baked empty; this time the fluted edges were bent outward over the edge of the pie plate only to fall off under their own weight in the first minutes of cooking. Much yelling.

( My lemon meringue pie recipe )