Ate a Beet

According to the weathermen, it’s going to take a cold turn here in the north (until last week, we’d had an unbroken string of 34 days with highs above 80 degrees.) So I decided to harvest one of the biggest of my beets. I also wanted to avoid it getting too large, after which there is a risk of becoming fibrous and less tasty. Before cooking it was a little sphere with a 2 inch diameter.

So I yanked the root from the ground, cut off the leaves, put a little bit of olive oil on it, and popped it into the oven (along with some frozen fish sticks.)

I washed the leaves and so I had a Beet green salad (consisting of the top of my single beet.)

The fish sticks were ready in 20 minutes, but I left the beet in for 35. The beet had gotten a little smaller, and while it was hot from the oven I pulled the skin off (this appears to be the recommended method for best taste and ease of removal.)

The beet had a jewel-red interior and was easily cut with a fork.

How did it taste? Delicious. The sweetness was definitely present (coming from the garden mere moments before, there was little risk that the stored sugar would have time to turn into starch) and the distinctive "cooked beet" smell was present, but subtle.

When I cook my next beet I'll try to take some pictures.

Pictures of Plants

Check out the Sedum. It has formed a nice head of little pink and white flowers.

The leaves still show some damage from the caterpillar attack earlier this summer. As promised, the flowers are very popular with bees and little flying insects. Relatively few butterflies, though.




Here is a picture of the Beets, also taken today.

I bought a blanket

Today was one of my long days at school. PR this morning at 9:30, then I went to a presentation at noon by Donna Gerson, an attorney and author who came to talk about finding job opportunities at small law firms (generally so classified when they have 50 attorneys or less.)

Fun fact: Our tenures at Pitt overlapped, so I asked her (after the presentation) if she ever called the Pitt Help Desk.

Anyway, I still need to write more for my introduction (due tomorrow) and I need to finalize my calender (ditto.) But I'm tired, and somewhat cranky--there was a sudden change in my housemate status earlier this week, leaving several significant issues to be resolved--such as when or if I'll ever receive payment for over 3 months worth of utilities.

So, I wanted to take a nap (in a few minutes I'll go pull the books to study for Evidence). With all the folks here during the day, it's a little crowded in the Law School building (during my regular hours there's no trouble finding a nook to sleep in) so I bought a blanket, and slept outside for an hour. Quite refreshing, although my bookbag leaves much to be desired as a pillow.

And, I'm still outside even as I write this: my batteries have sufficient juice, and I've got a wi-fi signal from school.

High School with Ashtrays

Sometimes when I hit "Next Blog" I get a gem.

Submitted for your approval: http://juniorcollege.blogspot.com/

Sample Story:

We have a translator and a ASL (sign language) person in our class. Today my teacher was doing the roll and he calls out, "Is (deaf girl's name) here?" Then he waits a minute and goes, "Oh she's deaf." And then he calls her name again.

Beets

This photo was taken about 10 minutes ago (you'll notice that in the late afternoon the sun is quite direct.). When I leave for class I'll check and see if the box outside needs more water.

And then the mint plants and the basil are on my side of the window.

Here in Philadelphia, it has stayed summertime warm throughout the month of September (Weather Channel tells me that it's 85 degrees outside, right now.) If the 10 day forecast is right, we won't be anywhere near cool weather right up 'til October.

Recall the seed packet told me that the Detroit Dark Red Beets need about 55 to 60 days to reach harvest. Since they were planted August 6, that puts harvest anytime after October 4.

At that point, I'll have to decide what to do with the windowbox the beets were growing in. I could just leave it outside and empty over the winter. Or I could try bringing it inside and grow something else over the winter.

I also have my large Sedum Pot outside. When the cold weather comes it will knock out the Sedums. By the way, as promised, the Sedums have attracted lots of little bees, but relatively few butterflies.

For the Sedum Pot I'm just going to keep the heads (for seeds next year) and top off the pot with dirt over the winter.

Next spring I may try growing the nasturtiums again in the Sedum Pot, but from seed. If I don't get a better response I won't worry about it. Potting soil may just be naturally too rich for nasturtiums to thrive.

Mints and Basil 2.0

On the Left are little mint plants, on the right is a basil plant.

Both of these pots had been used before, and so I think one of the basil seeds had never been exposed to the sun. The basil self-started in the same pot as the mint (the one on the left in this picture). Five days ago I moved the basil to the (previously unused) pot on the right. It appears that I managed to transplant it without damaging the roots (Yay!)

I generally leave the GE spot growlight on all day, as well as leave the windowshades open. Both plants show significant tropism to the light, even artificial light.

The mint plants look: the leaves are a light-green color, with very thin stems.

I'm still alive!

Well, yes, I have been remiss in posting. Nothing exciting--I've just been adjusting to the new semester. Soon I hope to start posting more plant pictures and updates on my monster paper.

Up to this point in life, I've never written anything of "publishable quality". Because, frankly, it's a lot of effort and hassle. But now, since I have to write a paper anyway to graduate from law school, (of 45 to 60 pages, fully footnoted) I figure this will be my best chance ever to write a journal article that will add usefully to the corpus of legal knowlege.

Today was my visit with my professor, who said that my proposed topic was fine, but add some more comparison to the US, and have a real introduction ready for next Friday (along with my major sources primary and secondary).

So that's it. Now it's time to hit the ground, running and the paper will be due in the first week of December. Already I'm feeling the time pressure :-)

The Chief Justice is Dead

CNN is reporting that the Chief Justice has passed away.