Misfits meets Imperfect

 Today was the first delivery of the new partnership of Misfits with Imperfect Foods, and I'm very happy. I'm hoping this how they go on.

The box arrived mid morning, many hours earlier than FedEx used to deliver, from the food folk's own delivery van 

 Both names on the box

And less insulation, probably because everything being delivered from the vehicle is produce, no need to insulate against other substances in a FedEx van.

Packing, which included cold pack items, was very well done

And the quality is excellent.

So tonight was panfried tilapia with steamed baby carrots, dessert Greek yogurt and blueberries.

I floured the fish with a mixture of flour, turmeric, salt, black pepper and lemon zest, left it all afternoon in the fridge, panfried it this evening. Just a couple of minutes each side.

Very happy with my results of the first week in the new partnership. 

I finished the flower puzzle, which turns out to be made by a flower farm in the pnw. 

I really couldn't have tolerated these reds for more than just the broken up section. 

But it's nice puzzle finished and ready to return.  Red has a seasick-inducing effect on me, a downside of synaesthesia, so I limit my exposure.

I'm still in the midst of This Golden Fleece, and it continues to be a great journey of learning.  In my own fiber world, I ran out of spun yarn last evening so I've been spinning a new supply, to knit off the spindle along with the other two yarns.

Spinning off the spindle involves keeping the spindle away from the other yarns, my afghan, sweater, etc, because it spins happily as the yarn comes off it, the unoccupied hook tangling merrily with whatever's near. I put it in a separate bag and it jumps out.

I may make it back to the knitting group tomorrow, we'll see. I'm wintering -- very willing to stay put, spin, knit, read, cook.  Icy rain and wind have contributed.

Happy evening everyone, stay warm or cool depending on which hemisphere you're reading from! From here it's hard to believe it will get warm again.

Misfits and Freecycle

Yesterday's Misfits box was a cold pack order, items sent in special packing

So I'm all provisioned for eggs, cheese, fish, chicken butter, yogurt, cool items. 

And the cool pack bag, along with a few togs, 

is leaving this morning via Freecycle, took about ten minutes to set up.

The clothes are now packed into the bag and sitting on the step. The taker happened to have business a few hundreds yards away this morning, worked nicely all round. She's reliable about showing up, too, often a problem with Freecycle, people overcommit, then fail to show. 

Now that I'm winding down with Alice B Toklas, the current reading is a Kate Atkinson

on my Kindle, easiest way right now, since most printed books are a little too small to see well.

And a Mrs Pargeter audiobook 

to accompany knitting and sewing - this time an alteration promised to handsome Son, rehemming frayed jeans legs. This will get done promptly, unlike similar tasks for myself, so mom-typical.

And the view from the stairs waiting for Misfits

Carpenter's pencil 

Happy day everyone and hang in there

Snowdrops, yay, and other good things

Today is a bit less bitter, and in the sunshine on the deck very workable 

I did some indoor plant care, involving raking the area around the ficus. It's that time of year when the rising light levels get her restless and starting to throw down leaves in her annual campaign to get outside before it's mild enough.

Anyway I tossed the leaves outside and noted that the brambles have not only grown, but touched ground and rerooted. 

Sooooo I went for the big kitchen scissors I, and all the neighbors, use for minor pruning, and set to work cutting as close to the ground as I could. I'm not strong enough to yank them out, and the ground's solidly frozen, so cutting is for now.

I was immediately rewarded, after doing this and carrying the jaggy, stabby, branches out to the woodland for shelter. 

Got back and found another suet feeder no doubt taken by squirrels, still with half a block of suet, buried where the brambles had been. And, great excitement here, look, look 

Snowdrops, all three of them!  Bravely under the snow till now, blazing away.

So the exercises no doubt stood me in good stead fir a bit of gardening here. It's a lot more fun to be outside cutting and carrying and exclaiming, though. And walking will definitely happen today.

Meanwhile I've been provisioning the inner woman with some mass roasting. Chicken drumsticks and vegetables. Several meals, also a couple of roast drumsticks now in the freezer, handy for various purposes.

Which reminds me to ask something I've been wondering about. It's about recycling, reusing, all that.

This is the coldpack bag I got from Misfits, which had the chicken, eggs, cheeses, yogurt etc in it. They pack the cold items  in this,  then include it in the produce box.

 It's perfectly clean, insulated, waterproof, large, and though it's probably recyclable since most Misfits packing is, I can't help wondering if I can get a second use from it.

*I already sent a pic to handsome Son, suggesting it for his car, to put his grocery bags in and keep the food cool, haven't heard back yet.

So, dear Blogger Brain trust, do you have any ideas?  All will be studied, and the decision of the editor is final. Oh sorry, forgot this isn't a newspaper contest from the fifties.

And here's the result of my studying ideas for bread adjacent recipes, including one for apricot and walnut bread.

I have plenty of both, so I investigated it and found it's that kind of terminally fussy bread recipe with half a dozen stages, and I decided it was the Recipe Writers'  Full Employment Act at work and life's too short.

So now I have a nice batch of apricot walnut hot biscuits. Split and buttered, they're proving just fine. 

This afternoon I'll check in on Textiles and Tea and report back tomorrow, along with the current stage of the Renovation of the Dresses. The Chinese licorice poultice restored my thumb to working condition so I've been stitching, yay.

I have no idea why Blogger has suddenly started centering text despite my attempts to left justify it. It just doesn't feel like it evidently. Taking a centrist position. Chicken.

*Late breaking news: Handsome Son just messaged, definitely wants it. But I'm still open to other thoughts.