Thursday, December 07, 2006
3 Pictures
I forgot to add this picture of the Chocolate Guinness Cake to the recipe entry...
mmmm! One final note on the cake, when the chocolate cover hardens, you need a pretty sharp knife to cut a piece all the way through and not crack the shell. Whatever you do, don't slide the knife under the slice towards your bare finger. Chocolate is slightly difficult to clean out of a gaping wound. Not that I would know from personal experience.
Next picture... For some inexplicable reason, the tiny courtyard in front of my apartment has been plagued with mushrooms. Everytime there is any bit of moisture--rain, fog, whatever--exactly 2 days later, I have at least one new stinkhorn. If you've never had one, it smells a little like ammonia and a little like rotting flesh. But I can't just have any stinkhorn growing out there, like the usual Octopus Stinkhorn that looks like silly string gone bad, it has to be one I'd never heard of... Ravenel's Stinkhorn. Look at this lovely thing:
Obscene, no? You should read the legend on how it came to be--I can't find where I first read it; however, the Latin name for this plant is phallus ravenelii. Pretty much sums it up. Of course, if you don't get these buggers right away, the spongey stalk deflates, the gooey top turns black and tarry, and it falls over and pollinates everything in sight. Given that, I get to start my day off by yanking up each new visitor with the newspaper wrapper, hoping I don't sink my fingers down into a hidden, unhatched "egg" (see below).
So fresh and oozing with yuckiness! One day recently I pulled up over 40. Nobody else I've seen at the complex has these. I love nature.
Last picture--a more cute, non-yucky visitor!
Awh! We noticed this little guy hanging around by the hotel parking lot next to Mayo. Since he came right over to me to say hello, I was convinced he'd either run away or had been dropped off. With winter coming, myriad birds of prey on the property, and a busy street next to his covey, I thought I'd try and "rescue" him. However, after a couple hours of my assistant Robin and I running around with a beach towel and minnow net after him--through the courtyard, under the cars (NO, BUN, NOT UNDER THE BEATLE), etc.--followed by a day of near paralysis (clearly, I had not done enough plies in my childhood to last me a lifetime, as I previously thought), he let us know he was not having any of that rescuing business.
We did have several lovely conversations, though, during which I sat on the grass and he bathed 2 feet away (SO cute), and I suggested he rethink his plans not to move in with me and Lex and what lovely buds they would be, seeing as how they were both the color of a caramel macchiato. He, on the other hand, thought his thatch of sawgrass was just fine and was enjoying the 99 cent Wendy's salads the ladies were leaving him. Robin thought we should name him Ajoe (for the journal), but by the time we had returned from Thanksgiving break, he'd moved on. I hope. *sigh*
mmmm! One final note on the cake, when the chocolate cover hardens, you need a pretty sharp knife to cut a piece all the way through and not crack the shell. Whatever you do, don't slide the knife under the slice towards your bare finger. Chocolate is slightly difficult to clean out of a gaping wound. Not that I would know from personal experience.
Next picture... For some inexplicable reason, the tiny courtyard in front of my apartment has been plagued with mushrooms. Everytime there is any bit of moisture--rain, fog, whatever--exactly 2 days later, I have at least one new stinkhorn. If you've never had one, it smells a little like ammonia and a little like rotting flesh. But I can't just have any stinkhorn growing out there, like the usual Octopus Stinkhorn that looks like silly string gone bad, it has to be one I'd never heard of... Ravenel's Stinkhorn. Look at this lovely thing:
Obscene, no? You should read the legend on how it came to be--I can't find where I first read it; however, the Latin name for this plant is phallus ravenelii. Pretty much sums it up. Of course, if you don't get these buggers right away, the spongey stalk deflates, the gooey top turns black and tarry, and it falls over and pollinates everything in sight. Given that, I get to start my day off by yanking up each new visitor with the newspaper wrapper, hoping I don't sink my fingers down into a hidden, unhatched "egg" (see below).
So fresh and oozing with yuckiness! One day recently I pulled up over 40. Nobody else I've seen at the complex has these. I love nature.
Last picture--a more cute, non-yucky visitor!
Awh! We noticed this little guy hanging around by the hotel parking lot next to Mayo. Since he came right over to me to say hello, I was convinced he'd either run away or had been dropped off. With winter coming, myriad birds of prey on the property, and a busy street next to his covey, I thought I'd try and "rescue" him. However, after a couple hours of my assistant Robin and I running around with a beach towel and minnow net after him--through the courtyard, under the cars (NO, BUN, NOT UNDER THE BEATLE), etc.--followed by a day of near paralysis (clearly, I had not done enough plies in my childhood to last me a lifetime, as I previously thought), he let us know he was not having any of that rescuing business.
We did have several lovely conversations, though, during which I sat on the grass and he bathed 2 feet away (SO cute), and I suggested he rethink his plans not to move in with me and Lex and what lovely buds they would be, seeing as how they were both the color of a caramel macchiato. He, on the other hand, thought his thatch of sawgrass was just fine and was enjoying the 99 cent Wendy's salads the ladies were leaving him. Robin thought we should name him Ajoe (for the journal), but by the time we had returned from Thanksgiving break, he'd moved on. I hope. *sigh*
Labels: chocolate, garden, recipes
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