getting toasted

in which our plucky heroine tries something new...

I have run out of my usual breakfast cereal garnish of pecans, but found a bag of raw almonds in the freezer. Dry roasted almonds are much more pleasant to eat, so I thought "how hard can it be?"...

two techniques:

on the stovetop ~ difficult even when stirring constantly to get a good result, as the part in contact with the pan begins to char before the nuts are toasty.
in the tabletop convection oven ~ at 225 F, much better results, if a bit slower. I set the timer for about 25 minutes, and stirred them once or twice. No char, and the nuts were toasted well internally.

After the small test of both options, the remaining almonds were roasted in the convection oven, cooled, and returned to the freezer for storage. I prefer pecans, which can be broken up by hand wheras almonds need chopped with the mezzaluna, but using what is in storage has much to commend it. Eventually I can arrange another Costco trip for more pecans.

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 TIL* that aphantasia and anauralia are both types of neurodivergence. 

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First task of the day, spent about an hour in the backyard, pruning away grapevine foliage to expose the grape clusters. By then the sun was high enough that the danger bugs were out exploring, so I put away my Felcos and went inside to have breakfast. Having the grapes not hidden under the leaves will make it safer for my pal who wants them to pick them. According to my previous years records, they won't be really ripe until October...

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Botanical information I discovered online... I can safely prune back the side yard ferns all the way to the ground. Plums will continue to ripen off the tree, so picking them before they are all the way tree ripe may be a good idea, in case of two legged predation.

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While listening to "The Wok" audiobook, the author mentioned a few useful resources for information about homemade chow fun noodles. I found this recipe with its excellent photos to be inspiring. I want to try this at some point, since I miss going out to eat, and enjoy attempting to make my favorite treats...

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	prune grapevine	yard waste bin
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. The Wayback Machine Internet archive... I cannot express how much I love, and how often I use, this resource...
2. I am gradually losing some of my annoyance with Google Docs
3. Past Me (being a good cook) makes Current Me tasty meals. Stir fry, and spicy peanut sauce, in the fridge and cooked rice cubes in the freezer equals dinner in minutes, and all the ingredients are ones I can eat.

Time of Isolation - Day 1164

* TIL = Today I Learned