Following the visit to Tesco's noticed at reference 1, we were back for more yesterday.
Started off down the seasonal vegetables aisle, looking for the greens which had been so successful the year before, to be surprised to find Brussels sprouts, about half a year out of season: you could not be more out of season. They turned out to come from Morocco.
Greens visible below. I did not check, but I imagine that they came from Lincolnshire, as they did last year. And I should say that their appearance improved a great deal when one got them out of their plastic bag.
All converted into the dish snapped above later in the day. Mince started in a little oil, after which the onions were added. After a while, a small amount of water and then simmered for about an hour. Drained off the liquor to make gravy - although the roux'ing involved was a little improper - gravy then added back to the mince. Added carrots and peas, cooked them for about five minutes longer.
Good gear. Not a condiment in sight anywhere.
Somewhat earlier we had wondered about the shrub near the jasmine, previously noticed at reference 5. Was it another jasmine. It might have had no smell, but the flowers looked tubular. A detail is included above.
Google Images is quite sure that 'this plant is Jasminum officinale, commonly known as summer jasmine or common jasmine'. His identification is not disturbed by the lobe count looking like four in Wikipedia at reference 6 and five in my snap, the proper number for a flower of this genus. Inter alia, he says that there is a fair bit of natural variation.
In response to a supplementary he gets quite fulsome on the subject of absence of scent in the middle of the afternoon. Three strands: getting towards the end of this round of flowering; the heat is driving the scent off; and, the idea is to attract night flying moths, so more effort is put into scent in the quiet hours.
I shall try again this evening.
I might add that one of the cottages opposite is called 'Jasmine Cottage', so perhaps jasmines do well here in Brading.
Last up, a horse field out the back. Looks rather like far too many horse fields in Surrey, with too many horses to the acre. The horses can be seen left, in the middle. No donkeys that I could see- for which last, and a rather greener field, see reference 7.
But then again, it has been very dry and, furthermore, there are, or there used to be, plenty of wild horses in Texas and Mexico, both of which are very hot and dry in the summer. So maybe horses can cope with the heat better than I can.
PS 1: I wondered today how long that they have been growing sprouts in Morocco. If Gemini is to be believed, they have been at it big time since around 2020, to have become a major player in the world markets for same. Whereas I had only noticed their beans in Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, maybe a few other salad things. I think Brexit had a hand in all this, levelling the playing field between Europe and North Africa.
.PS 2: I did not read the piece at reference 2, but the snap of their headquarters building at reference 2 did catch my eye, with the version above being lifted from Wikipedia at reference 3. Very roughly the same footprint as the Pentagon, but with rather more green space in the middle. They are clearly making far too much money to be able to afford such a swanky headquarters building. Not out in the country either, so buying up all the property involved must have been a bit tricky.
I have been reminded that the whole bay area is built up, with San Francisco at the top and all kinds of big tech associated places one has heard of down below. Although, I had not previously heard of this one, the city of Cupertino.
Indications that there are lots of coastal redwoods too.
PS 3: I was impressed that Google Images was able to say where the unedited version of this snap had been taken. Seven Dials in London. Supplied by a correspondent. For the avoidance of doubt, I should say that I knew straight away, as the Covent Garden branch of Neal's Yard Dairy is in next door Shorts Gardens.
PS 4: Monday morning: in the margins of a minor edit, Gemini sorted out a minor problem with Edge, probably the result of my still getting the hang of working with the touchpad, rather than my usual mouse. I don't suppose that he was word perfect, but he was near enough, he did sort me out. The start of this short exchange being snapped above. As it happens, he had also sorted out a problem with our unfamiliar TV yesterday evening. Where would we be without him!
I associate to the way that mobile phones have become part of life. Hard to imagine getting along without one now.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-visit-to-tescos.html.
Reference 2: Apple sues OpenAI alleging theft of top-secret information: Lawsuit marks collapse of relationship between two of the biggest names in Silicon Valley - Michael Acton, Financial Times - 2026.
Group search key: 20260711.
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