Tidbits

First of all, this is my 500th post.  Crazy!  And now, in no particular order, and with no profound importance to anyone, here are some tidbits from the past week or so:

~ You know that mint sugar I bought by accident?  Turns out it’s pretty good in black tea.  I did buy plain sugar for the Irish Apple Cake I made Saturday, though.

~ Creaming butter and sugar “until fluffy” can be done by hand.  It just takes a good dose of elbow grease (and a lot more time than it would in a mixer)!

~ It seems there has been a recent explosion in my apartment’s cockroach population.  I’m seriously contemplating instituting a “one-child” rule.  It’ll never work, you say?  Maybe not, but it’s certainly worth a try!

~ I think this week, I may have had my most interesting taxi ride to date.  And this time it didn’t involve marriage proposals from taxi drivers (thankfully!).  My friend and I were shopping, and she got an office chair.  It wouldn't fit in the trunk of the taxi, so guess where it ended up?  Across the back seat, partially on my lap.

~ While I was walking home from class, I passed one of the roadside nurseries and what should I glimpse?  Several chickens and ducks, sitting right on top of the plants like they belonged there.  Silly things.

~ I’ve discovered an acceptable substitute for when dry pinto beans aren’t available: “pink” beans (haricots roses, the label called them).  I’m pretty sure that they’re the same pink beans used in Mexican cooking sometimes, and the taste is similar to pinto beans (actually, kind of like a cross between pinto and black beans).  Score!

~ Apparently geckoes molt.  I saw Rue up on the ceiling one night this week with a wispy something hanging from his tail.  So I looked it up, and yes, they do periodically molt.  You learn something new every day.