Done. You Can Quote Me.

Put 5 more plants into the ground today. That's it. I am done with adding to the gardens. More on this later.

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Slept well. Spook thought I was getting up for reals at 6:30, and I let her head butt my hand a couple of times but rolled over and went back to sleep till almost 9. Took my time getting out of bed - I think it was noon by the time I was out of the shower.

First order of business was the short trip to Grocery Outlet for flour, because I didn't think there was four cups left in the bag. And marjoram, the only spice in the list of DYI (that's DIY for dislexycs) poultry seasoning ingredients I did not have on hand/grow myself. There was flour, but no marjoram. No big deal, it's not a spice I use anyway. I also picked up half a dozen HB eggs - at $2 they compete well with raw eggs and the PIA of boiling and peeling them.  Got more lox. And Kind bars - they had what I thought was my favorite flavor, but on closer inspection it was not quite, but close enough. Marinated artichoke hearts (rung up as grilled), and three kinds of kippered herring (a good hot weather snack). And lean cuisine Thai style ginger beef to try for lunch. If it's any good I'll buy more. They had a lot.

Home, used the mini Mr. Coffee grinder to make poultry seasoning. Paprika, thyme and dill seeds from the cabinet, rosemary, mint, sage, oregano, bay leaf and Thai lime leaf from the gardens. Also used the grinder to powderize some black pepper. Much faster/easier than a pepper mill.

It's a 2-part recipe. One part is dry - flour, spices, salt, pepper, garlic. The other is a batter from flour, salt, pepper, eggs. Dip the chicken in batter, then bounce it around in a zip-lock bag with the dry mix. It gets messy as the batter clumps up the dry mix. I used chicken drumsticks, so not as messy as it could have been.

Then deep fry in corn oil - it takes a long time to reach 375°. Four or five drumsticks at a time for 10 minutes. After two batches I found a clue and let the oil heat back up to 375 again. The final batch I experimented, since there was batter left, I re-battered the last 5, and dropped them in wet. Not a huge mistake, but not as pretty as the original recipe. I ate two for a snack (it was almost 3 pm) one out on the porch with some cola, the other indoors a little later.

Delayed the inevitable long enough, got the shovel out of the shed. Pulled up two lemongrass plants which were mostly dead, and a couple of Blue Hawaii clumps next to them which looked like they were starting to bloom but on closer inspection it was blossoms blown off the sage plant. Then stepped to the other side of the sage and dug a hole where the sage cutting didn't take root and planted the Cane's Hybrid Bottlebrush there. It looks good there, red tinted leaves next to the purple sage plants on either side.

The two Buddleia went where the blue Hawaii/lemongrass had been, one has blue flowers the other is red leaning toward burgundy.

Two more to go. I yanked out a bunch of gone to seed poppy plants at the driveway's edge of the front garden, between a star jasmine in the ground and a star jasmine in a clay pot. Dug a hole and put the summer berry Agastache there. Around to near the center of the front garden, dug a hole front and center of the two shrubs. Needed the tiller to cut through the hard clay. Pisses me off - I added compost and 1,000 earthworms to the front garden a year ago, the worms were billed as the kind which love to dig through clay. Anyhow, planted the very pretty mango tango Agastache there. Watered all around, including yesterday's plants.

So now I'm done planting. I've spent way too much time and $$ considering I want to move in a year and a half. And it wipes me out physically.

Back indoors, took out the garbage. Looked up how to recycle a gallon of cooking oil. Sunnyvale SMART® station will take it in a capped plastic bottle, so after it cooled I poured it all back into the original container. Next weekend I'll drop it off.

Did a dishwasher load. The fryer pot will be in a future batch.

Dinner was a packet of khao mok gai rice, which was way oily, needed several paper towels. And two more fried drumsticks. With black olives and marinated artichoke hearts on the side. Dessert was baklava a la mode. The baklava is stale, expected from the Taj Mahal grocery which rarely rotates any of its stock. Typical Arab/Indian/Mexican market. And this one is all three.

Watched the ABC local 6 o'clock news on Tivo. I am surprised and disgusted that local news can't find enough to report on, and copies national items of zero interest locally. I really don't care about a window washer in Florida needing rescue when one of his lines breaks. Not on local news - fine on national. And how many times in half an hour do I need to hear the weather? Once, please.

And get off my lawn! Oh wait, I don't have a lawn.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Hopefully Boss will be back and can remember my password
Maybe see Wonder Woman. I am not thrilled that they have chosen someone with dark eyes, and less thrilled that they have dressed her like Xena.
My nails are way overdue for a manicure. But I need to find another place. Capri, as much as I like them, has gone to a new method which makes them thick and yellowish.