Miscellany

1. *Finally*. I got an e-mail this morning that my benefits have been sorted out... but I'm to submit my claims through her, to "make sure there's no more problems." (Another friend who deals with the same person figures that it's so that she can have a few more weeks to contact the insurance people.)

2. *ow*. Last night after knitting, I looked at the cookbooks for a bit before leaving McNally Robinson. When I left, it was around 10 pm... when the buses don't run that often. Halfway across the (large) parking lot, I saw my bus. Since it could be quite a while before the next one came, I ran and waved madly. I did catch the bus, but *ow*, my plantar fasciitis *hurts*! My heel feels really bruised. *wah*

3. Mmmm.... pasta!

Long ago and far away, I had a boyfriend who would cook me amazing meals. Many were recipes from the pasta section of The Silver Spoon. It turns out there's now a cookbook called The Silver Spoon: Pasta, that has an expanded version of the pasta section from The Silver Spoon... and instead of being $50+, it was on sale for $10 in the discount section of McNally Robinson. Woo hoo! Of course, I still have to do my own cooking and clean-up... but I guess I can't have everything.

I didn't have the right ingredients for an exact recipe from the book last night, but I did whip up a great meal using inspiration from it's pages. Yum!

4. The other day, Little Blue finally opened up a second flower, so I could try cross-fertilization:

Of course, after I took this photo (and before I got around to blogging it), a third blossom opened up. There doesn't appear to be any pollen on the paintbrush (or on the stamens, for that matter), but I try anyway, just in case. The first blossom has fallen off now, so we'll see if the little nub grows into a pepper, or if it shrivels up and falls off.