Au Revoir Medallion, Awkward Axolotl, and Aloo.

Sadly, Medallion (my freshwater Swan Mussel) passed away today. I did pretty well, seeing as according to various websites, they don't normally survive more than six weeks in home aquaria. I must have done something right, he'd been here at least six months, and put on another half his own size. But these things happen I guess. Thank you shellfish, you did a great job of annoying the axolotls, and filtering the water...

Mind you, they're good at getting into trouble on their own. They often climb in the foodbowls and spin round for a bit, but earlier this afternoon Benny got himself properly stuck, whole body wedged in the bowl. He finally stopped panicking, and was sat carefully thinking about it, waffing his gills. I took mercy on him, shaking the bowl gently until he fell out. He's gone to sleep - too much excitement for one day.

We all went for dinner to the YakYetiYak - a Nepalese restaurant today, my housemates, myself and two friends I mean. It's certainly a new experience for me! We all had something different, and I discovered how nice Lisse is. This is like a milkshake, but made with yogurt; mine was full of real blended banana, very sweet, but very nice. I ended up with fermented bamboo shoots stir-fried with new potatoes and black-eye peas, finished with fresh vegetable stock. They say it's a Kathmandu speciality, and I would recommend it. Ignore the aroma of the fermented shoots, and the flavours are superb! The table in the second picture was ours, there was an extra floor cushion at the head, and that's where I was sat. (Thanks to YakYetiYak.co.uk for the image)

And here's a couple of links that regressed me to being very small (yes, even at my height, there was such a time) when I used to stick my head in the glass bowl door of the washer to watch my socks go round and round... They can take you to age three and a quarter all over again; they are exactly what they say they are!

http://www.switchitoffandon.com/
http://www.watchitwash.com/ - (you will need to turn the dial, middle top, play with the dial!)

Quote for today: "Surely that would make "potato aloo" potato potato? Is that like potato with a side order of potato? And maybe a small helping of potato to go with the potato and potato? Dunnit look weird when you keep typing the same word? Potato potato potato...." - E.G (Confused by aloo meaning "potato" or so the Nepalese waiter told me)