Five-ish months of Chinese

My daily Duolingo sessions have been paused for travel twice now, so I don't have an exact count of days anymore. But it feels like I'm making progress of some sort. I've made it through checkpoint 2 of 4 and I continue to accumulate vocabulary. For instance, just yesterday I got a new word that lets me say the most useful phrase I have managed to construct yet: 我会用筷子 (I am able to use chopsticks).

And when I say "say" I of course mean "type", because I'm still not getting any real pronunciation practice in. I stopped using Hello Chinese after a few days and should probably get back to it. The local community college had a Chinese conversation class this past spring; if they offer it again I may sign up.

I finally converted to a paid Duolingo account, seeing as I've managed to stick with it this long. I had long since developed banner blindness for the ads, but since it seems to be actually teaching me things that are going to be useful, it deserves my money.

Lamb stew with apricots and couscous

3 Tbsp flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 boneless lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
3 cups chicken stock
6 oz dried apricots, halved
1 cup peas
Couscous (separate recipe)

This is delicious. I love it. It has to be an occasional thing, though, partly because it only makes 4 servings and partly because holy crap have you seen the price of lamb lately.

It's also very hard to find lamb stew meat around here. It isn't in the supermarkets, and even the local halal place doesn't stock boneless lamb. The only sources I've found are the local farmers' market and a place specializing in very local meats which doesn't generally have lamb available every day.