I ordered the Braun 9 Multiquick Hand Blender which also functions as a food processor yesterday. I wanted a small food processor and was particularly open to multi function gadgets because we also don't have a blender. This gadget may replace the hand mixer, as well as provide blender and food processing functions. First tasks will be chopping onion and celery for dehydration. Some might then be ground up to go into a SOS "Soup or Sauce" mix [Here, also veggie powders].

I started the glycerine treatment of lemon balm last night. Not sure i *like* lemon balm. It's certainly not leading with lemon notes, but i twill give it some time.

I've decanted part of the glycerine from the lemon balm (as the leaves shrunk up) to execute another flower preservation experiment. Glycerine is mentioned frequently on the web, but it's not clear to me how general it is as a preservative. I've air dried daffodils in the past (by accident, in the vase as water evaporates) and kept the crepe paper reminders of spring for some time. I tried glycerine with daffs, and the glycerine (which i now understand as a solvent) dissolved the stems. Ew. So, my current speculation is that woodier stems are needed. I've started an experiment with lilac and azalea. I might add a columbine as the wiry stems seem less like the daffodil's tender stem even though "woody" isn't a good descriptor either.

One thing about the web: the number of how to bloggers out there has essentially flooded the internet with third and fourth hand documentation that really doesn't seem tested.