haresfur

As a bit of a follow-up. I hadn't been mulching the beds with earwigs because I know they like moisture. But I tried and it seemed to help some (at least until I fried everything in a heat wave). Seems counter-intuitive, but I think what is happening is that the moist mulch keeps them happy under the surface at least for long enough for the seedlings to get established to where they fight their own battles.

Another dimmer option is pulse-width modulation through something like an Arduino controller. You will have to send the PWM signal from a pin on the Arduino board to something like a DC motor control to jack up the signal to 24V. Bonus is that you can use the micro-controller as a timer to turn the lights on & off and even monitor soil moisture (caution many low end soil moisture probes are crap).

A book is useful for dining alone so that the people at the next table don't notice that you are listening in on their conversation

I'll have to try that, although the results seem likely to vary with the type of honey.

It is native to cool parts of Tasmania and Victoria. I tried growing one once but cooked it. Perhaps I'll try again but with my luck will probably end up with a male plant and no berries. I haven't tried the fresh berries but the ground dry one are brown that some people think taste peppery. I don't but there is a nice subtle flavour to me. I just coat the meat, bag and sous vide. It ends up looking like it has been seared so that helps with the presentation IMO. I don't know where you can get it in the US. Here are a couple of links Tasmannia lanceolata and This native berry has four times the antioxidants of blueberries. I also found a recipe where they mixed it with wattle seed as a rub on lamb which I'm keen to try.

A solution to a problem I didn't know I had

Local grocery started carrying 36 mo aged Gouda. I was too cheap to try it when visiting Holland in my 20s, but man it is good as a nibbling cheese. Except for the cat who devoured most of a piece I left out and gummed the rest. He has good taste.

Nice. An Australian icon.

They should all be fine. Taste them.

Mountain pepper crusted flatiron steak. Mountain pepper berry is an Australian native that doesn't taste particularly peppery to me. I coat the steak with ground berries, seal and sous vide at 58 for an hour 15 min. This one was chilled and sliced. No searing although I have done that and decided it took away from the flavour of the berries. I actually went a bit overboard on the coating this time because it was a touch gritty. Or maybe it wasn't ground as fine. Still was happy with the result.

Very little cooking but that's the point of a traditional Aussie cold Christmas lunch: Jarlsberg, aged Gouda, Port Salut 2 kinds of kalamata olives, Sicilian green olives, green olives in gin & rosemary garlic smoked mussels, tiger prawns, smoked salmon with capers tomatoes, cuke, salad mix, piquillo peppers, sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted chili eggplant cocktail sauce with wasabi to adjust the heat loma, sous vide mountain pepper crusted flatiron steak, smoked ham More than enough for 2

Certainly no goose expert, but I did one a while ago (the dearly beloved must have been out of town). I sous vide - confited the legs then coated in dukka and browned - trying to replicate the ones from a local restaurant - Masons of Bendigo. The problem was that the legs fell apart so I'd do them for less time. I roasted the rest because I didn't want the skin to get soggy in the sous vide. Still wasn't crispy enough but I'm glad I just roasted it rather than sv. That is if you want the skin.

Relevant internet link Datsun pork roast

No specific dining recommendations but the green mussels are good. I would definitely look for a fish and chip shop to try the southern hemisphere fish. As far as driving goes, the really long one lane bridges with two way traffic were pretty wild. Oh, try to find some Pavlova

I seldom do anything except meat in the SV. I think most veg are done at a higher temperature, though. Next time, maybe do up some chicken breast to freeze for later use.

Someone who wants to eat the broccoli stems will be quite the catch when they reach the catching age

A simple martini variation, but I'm quite happy with it (and I have dry vermouth on hand that should be used up) Nightingale martini with pimento dram 1 1⁄2 oz Gin, Tanqueray 1⁄2 oz Dry vermouth, Noilly Prat 2 bsp Allspice Dram

anyone had any success controlling earwigs?

It's above ground but a couple of meters head won't drive much. The pump does self-prime. Smallish pump but now I can run a hand spray-nozzle. I haven't tried it on the micro-emitters yet. There's no way in heck I'd want to dig a hole to bury the tank in our clay & bedrock.

This topic reminds my of my time in Uni, when we staged the great winter broccoli rebellion. It was one of the few available winter veg my house could afford but we had had enough! Last week I did last-gasp sous-vide lamb shanks (post-sear, then coated in dukkah and quickly crisped again). My lamb lady said, the slow cuts will go into sausage for the summer.

Fitty-fitty. Here's to Nick and Nora.

I like blue cheese but it usually makes my mouth itch. Took a long time for me to realize that isn't normal and I must have an allergy.

I finally got a pump for it. I had been using it only for deep watering trees and a low-pressure bobble sprinkler that couldn't keep up with everything.

I only have one rain barrell. Here it is on its side before it was installed

Cut them in half and fry the everlovin' shit out of them in olive oil. Any leaves that fall off should end up black.