lupin seeds, when not entirely ripe yet, have the most amazing, iridescent teal-green shades. like beans for mermaids. i think it's utterly unfair that they are poisonous.
this is a viola seed pod, not sure which kind exactly, because we have all kinds growing around, and frankly i'm not very good at telling them apart. we have very tiny white ones, the slightly bigger tricolor type, the early lavender-coloured one and a bunch of blues that i have given up on trying to identify after learning that they cross-breed easily and it's all very difficult anyway. i found the pod under our old rowan tree, where i did some serious weeding the other day and enjoyed spying on a little shrew, which just might be my favourite animal ever.
the adder is still around and i think i'm giving her more trouble than she is to me, running around being scary while she's trying to sunbathe. a friend of mine came over last week and it was the first adder she had seen alive. i also had a nice chance meeting with a white-tailed deer one night. we were both startled at first but after some mutual staring and a little singing (totoro song), trying to speak deer and attempts at telepathy from me, the most likely flabbergasted deer lithely bounced away but stayed in the vicinity, i heard it grazing while i kept on picking blueberries. i felt good that it wasn't too scared of me. usually they flee in panic and all i get to see are the white bottoms disappearing into the woodland. i could have gotten a beautiful photo but didn't dare risk ruining the magic of the moment.
i had a half a mango that was on its last leg so in the middle of pie-baking i changed my plans from mixed berries to mango and cardamom. and yes, these modest slices constitute a 'portion' for me, in case you were wondering. (and yes, that is moss that has been stuffed into the timber frame of this house more than a century and a half ago.) had a second helping, too. the crust is not burnt, it's almond flour and rye. officially i'm not eating grains anymore, but i still have some flour to be used up, and pie crust is the way, i think. this was a perfect dessert to the aubergine and chanterelle curry i had with quinoa.
i tried roasting half of the eggplant in the over to make a mediterranean style spread, but it kind of just dried up into something that doesn't look very appetizing. hoping it tastes good, still...
