Old lady is a mean neighbor

Today I decided to mow my yard - it was long over due, and life has been busy.

So I go about my usual inspection of the yard - to check for stuff I don't want to mow over (namely dog poop), and came upon a pile of dead branches in my yard, right next to my neighbor's fence.

A pile.

Initially I thought - oh no, did my tree die. Then thought, ok, maybe my neighbor is pissed at the tree that has grown next to her fence, and decided to trim the part that went over. So I inspect the branches a bit.

Nope. That's total yard waste from the vine that grew around her patio. Neatly cut. I don't even have scissors that sharp.

I was pissed. OK. So not only did I find cigarette butts in my yard from her, now this. I admit that my yard looks bad, but its no a dumping ground for her junk.

Looked around, I picked up the pile (that kinda stuck together) and tossed it over into her yard. Then immediately I regret it knowing that she will know that I tossed it over.

Whatever. Actually - as I thought about it, I thought, next time when something like that comes over, I am going to ring her bell at 11pm and hand her the stuff she dump into my yard, politely, asking if her granddaughter had left it. I'll just be polite and return her stuff for her.

Remind me that I need a camera. Next time I am taking pictures. :) including those of watering the lawn if we ever had water restriction. Because I am sure she would do it.

We know our evil postman ...

This was what I found in my mailbox when I got home yesterday :


Ugh.

When Amy used to live at my place, she had a suspicion that our postman doesn't like her. Like sometimes she won't get her mail or such.

Once, I believe she even got a little note (not as formal as this one) - that her car is blocking the neighbor's mail.. I think.

Our suspicion was confirmed with another neighbor across the street - who also got a note threatening to have her mail suspended if she doesn't move her car out of the way from the mailbox. She - luckily - had move out of the neighborhood a few years back and never had to deal with our postman again.

So what now ? I don't really mind my neighbor parking in front of my house... but I am not sure why can't the post man just walk out and put the mail in the mailbox. Isn't that their job ? irregardless rain or snow ?

Some option I think :
1. Photocopy the above note and add a nice note and put it at my neighbor's wiper next time I see the car parked in front of my house.
2. Chris said to call the Post office general to see if that's the case. I am sure that would result in many un-delivered mail....

Hmmmm.... what to do.. what to do...
Maybe I should just always have my mail picked up...

What to do with left over curry ?

Last week was a particularly busy week with friends visiting and organizing a potluck, in which I cook - not one, but two - huge pots of curry, which resulted in leftovers.

During the week - we've been eating out at our old favorite places, and thus all my leftover curry has been neglected. It was only on Monday - that I remembered that I would need to work on those leftover ! (otherwise I would waste food again .. which I am trying not to do)

What to do with left over curry ?? One of the things I liked when I was in NYC was these curry puff pastries that they sell at bakeries in Chinatown. I figure, perhaps its not too hard to make ? Browsing the websites online yields some baked instructions...

Ingredients :

1. A box of puff pastry sheets.
2. left over curry
3. Cayenne pepper powder .
   
4. Some salt.
5. One egg, for egg wash.
   

These are kinda the steps I took...

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degs. Tho, the pastry sheet box said 400.
   
2. Thaw the pastry sheets. Follow instructions for thawing. I over thawed them.
   
3. Mix 2,3,4 so that the flavor is more intense.
4. Cut the sheet into 3x3 squares (4x4 might have been nicer)
5. Fill the squares with curry mixture (small spoon full) , seal it, and put fork marks all around it.
   
6. Add egg wash on top
7. Bake it - till it looks done.
   

Ok, not too scientific , but good enough. How bad can it be ?

I baked it till the curry kinda oozed out... partially b/c I didn't seal it well, and partially b/c I put too much stuff in there... (goal = use curry)

Ugh.

I pulled the pastries apart, and set them on the table top to cool over night...
and ta da ! This actually tasted good in the morning.

Yard waste recycling - not done right.

I am particularly fond of recycling - the more stuff I can recycle the better. One of the things I like to recycle is yard waste. Last year , I raked up enough leaves to fill up my no longer used 30 gallon garbage can, and more. Those were all recycled... I was happy.

When spring came, I decided to use my 30 gallon garbage can again - to fill it up with weeds that I've been digging up as they pop out of the ground. No harm done. Just not too much weeds to fill up that tank.

I gradually add more stuff as I work in my yard... since spring.
And today - I decided its time for recycling.

I lifted the lid to add more weed, and - almost swarm of fungus gnats swarmed out. Ack! My last yard work waste must have included a bit of those gnats !

So gross.

I closed the lid quickly... and hope maybe my garbage guy doesn't get grossed out.

Next time - I'll use a bag.