Clearing Out and Cleaning Up

[jacey]

Now that my office is more or less in good order it's time to tackle the two trays of real life stuff that got sidelined in favour of all the writing I did during April and May.

Today I managed to get eleven contracts posted off (music buisiness stuff); complete my cash flow forecast (yeah there are times when it's trickling rather than flowing but we look like we'll survive until Christmas); check the gig lists against the diary enties for anomalies (=cock-ups) found a few and corrected them.

I've managed to put all the remaining stuff into one tray.

And I made roast chicken dinner for three and set a soup going for tomorrow,

Tomorrow I have to chase up a few more contracts and work my way a little further down the tray. Plus I've promised Number One Son a trip to the supermarket for supplies. He's obviously been living in NY for too long, he was expecting to be able to buy seaweed from the supermarket in Huddersfield.  Yeah, right!

BTW do any of the North Americans out there know what he might be referring to as 'greens' which his local vegan reastaurant in NY served up lightly stir-fried? He says they look a bit like cabbage but are much more sweet and tender. That pretty well eliminates collard greens, I think, as the only time I've had them in the USA they've been dark, bitter and stringy. (I looked up collard greens and they seem to equate to 'spring greens' in the UK or what I would know as 'spring cabbage'.)

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Bok choy?

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. It might be bok choy. Though wouldn't a vegan restaurant be likely to call bok choy by its real name?

That's worth trying though. I've never cooked it. Does it stir fry or steam best?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

They may call it "greens" because they use a mix, or because they go with what looks good that morning at the market...

Wife has done both stir-fry and steaming. Depends on what else she has around and what she's doing with it -- we are omnivores. I'm not sure I've ever eaten it straight.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I wonder if it might be what is sometimes called 'Chinese greens', which can be bok choi, choi sum or a mixture of them?

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I know what he means but I don't know the name. I'll see if I can find out.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

"Greens" is a deliberately all-encompassing term, so it could be any of a variety of things or a mixture. The specific cultural slant of the restaurant could provide a clue. (Default Chinese greens are different from default soul-food greens are different from default California Cuisine greens are ....) The difference between sweet and tender vs. bitter and stringy is going to be age rather than species. In my experience (in California -- so no guesses how it translates to NY) the various cabbage family plants tend to be served and sold under specific names and "greens" tends to be applied to beet greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens, chard, and so forth, or to anything that's a mixture of species (and most commonly to a mixture of very young greens intended for salads or stir-frying).

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's a help. At least I'm not searching for something that possibly doesn't exist as a single entity.