Cadbury Peanut Toffee Cookie

I'd love to be able to go to the supermarket and buy some chocolate or biscuits. But generally, what is available to buy is mostly made appealing through marketing, rather than actually being an enjoyable eating experience. I ate a couple of mouthfuls of this and threw it in the bin, it just wasn't worth the effort. And I bought another bar of a different flavour in the same range with this as part of a special, and that ended up in the same place.

The packet.

What's inside the packet.

Shing Shang Crispy Wasabi Coated Anchovy

Thank goodness for Asian supermarkets.  Somewhere amongst the mystery products that I either don't trust, or don't identify as edible foodstuffs, there are gems.  I'm not sure this was one of them, but it was definitely more edible than the salty dried fruit.

Wasabi coated anchovy

I suspect food colouring and horse radish were more likely to be present, than actual wasabi.

The real disappointment with this product is the wasted potential.  The potential for this to have been something better than wasabi peas.  The potential for all these anchovies to have been put in oil in tin cans and sold for a much more reasonable price than the anchovies you find in the supermarket.  Unfortunately, Asian supermarkets only seem to ever have dried anchovies.

Imaginary Realities update #1

The first article has been submitted, coming in at 7000 words. There are also loosely 14 articles "promised" by various authors on a range of subjects. I quote promised because this is a volunteer effort, and while we now can't come in at 0 for 14, we could of course come in at 1 for 14.

Interested in writing an article? Get in touch at:

  imaginary-realities-editors@disinterest.org

Growing cuttings

Plants are not that expensive, but the cost adds up.  A blackcurrant bush costs around $12NZ I think, and I can get a range of other berry plants for around the same price.  But if I had access to existing plants, I would be able to take cuttings and grow more.  In this case, I've managed to acquire cuttings for black currant, black grapes with seeds and some apple trees that grow up as columns.  I don't know the names of any of the varieties.

Blackcurrant, grape and apple cuttings.

There's rules to this sort of thing apparently.  But at worst, these are free new plants.  Maybe I'll have a hedge of dwarf apple trees later on.

So, on to my unruly approach.  The long cuttings at the back are the apple cuttings, and are apparently cut wrong.  I need to make them shorter and perhaps snip off the top, I am told.  The grape cuttings in front of the apple cuttings (hard to see, I know) have been moved around between different garden locations. This doesn't seem to have done any harm - unlike the garlic cloves in the next bed, which have likely suffered from their move.  The blackcurrant cuttings, of which there are many, follow the rules.  What those rules were, and where I found them, I don't know!  But I do remember something along the lines of removing all but around three buds on each cutting.  I really need to be taking better notes.

Things are looking promising too, I was out there in the rain the other day, and I am pretty sure the currants and grapes are budding up.