Capricious Cogitation*

Oh Dear

2012-02-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today when I came home from work there was a large truck in front of my house. In the truck was a large, heavy box on a pallet. Right now the box is in the garage, right where the car should be. At some point it has to transform from heavy box on a pallet in the garage to this:

.....in the basement. You're all very welcome to come over now.

Playing with my food

2012-01-25T13:44:00.001-07:00

The wind is howling here today. I'm not tempted to venture out in this weather, there's nothing I need to do that badly. It's also garbage day in our area, that means empty wheely bins flying down the alley. Ah the sounds of home! It's a good day for playing around with my lunch and the ipad camera. Another coffee? Yes please.

Summer Sunset

2012-01-11T19:50:00.002-07:00

I got an email last week about a photo contest that one of our photo shops is holding. I'm really not serious about entering anything, but I decided to skim through my photos anyway. This one kind of jumped out at me, a nice big prairie sky at sunset in August. Lovely!

Snow Shoes

2011-12-31T14:18:00.003-07:00

I'm middle-aged. I am Canadian. I'm no stranger to snow. Why had I never strapped snow shoes to my feet before? I don't know. Yesterday we rented snow shoes and headed out to the mountains. It was a great experience! I had a great time. I enjoy cross-country skiing as well, but since I'm not really good at it, it usually entails a fair bit of falling. Sumonelse always seems to have a camera ready when I fall, resulting in a picture like this:

That's me a few years back, sitting in a dip on the trail with my legs and skis tangled up underneath me. Not injured, but frustrated, cold and wet if I remember correctly. Frustrated, cold, and wet can make me grumpy in a hurry.

Snow shoeing is slower than skiing, but there was no falling and I had better access to my camera. I was delighted when we turned a bend and caught sight of a couple of snowshoers wearing red jackets. I had to work to get a bit closer to them, but I quite like the finished picture.

This is my last post of 2011.

Happy New Years!

May 2012 be an awesome year for all of you!

Gluten Free Speculaas

2011-12-19T16:07:00.006-07:00

My sister Ev wrote a blog post the other day about making Speculaas, a dutch spice cookie. Perhaps not coincidentally, her recipe is almost identical to the one I have. I've made it countless times in the past and it pretty much gets inhaled around here. Reading her post made me want some. After some consideration I decided that it was totally possible to make these gluten free.

Here's my adapted list of ingredients, starting at the top and going clockwise: a blend of chickpea flour, lo-fat soy flour, and potato starch; spices and baking soda; white sugar; apple cider vinegar; xanthum gum; eggs; brown sugar; butter. The recipe calls for both butter and shortening, but I decided to go with all butter this time. It probably changes the texture a bit but I'm ok with all butter (Mmmmmm butter).

It's very important to sift the flours, starch and xanthum gum together to get them lump free and well mixed. From here it's just like making cookie dough. Beat the butter and sugar together, beat in the eggs, and finally stir in all the other ingredients.

Once it's all mixed together I like to sprinkle some chickpea flour on the counter and give it a little bit of a knead. I was encouraged that the texture came out looking very much like the original recipe.

Usually I would press the dough onto a jellyroll pan, but today since I'd only made a half recipe, I pressed it into a greased quiche pan.

When it came out of the oven it smelled delicious and looked wonderful. It had pulled away from the edges just a bit and the toothpick test indicated that it was well baked in the center.

Since I baked it in a round dish, I opted to cut it into wedges. I think it was a success! Now it may be time for coffee and speculaas.

Speculaas -The Gluten Free Version (the original recipe is here)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
3 cups gluten free flour (I used a blend of chickpea flour, lo-fat soy flour and potato starch)*
1/4 tsp xanthum gum (or guar gum)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
5 tsp (or more!) speculaas spice mix (recipe follows)
Sliced almonds (optional)

Cream butter, shortening and sugars. Add eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and spice mix. Add to creamed mixture.

Press into a jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Bake at 325ºF for 30 minutes. Cut into squares while still warm.

*I'm pretty sure you could use any commercially available all purpose gluten free flour here. I chose these ones because I like their texture (vs rice flour, for instance, which I find to be gritty). I admit the chickpea flour has a distinct taste, but the spices in this recipe totally overpower the chickpea flour.

Speculaas Spice Mix

4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground mace
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp ground anise
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Blend all ingredients in a small glass jar. Use as needed.

Indoor sunshine

2011-12-08T12:22:00.002-07:00

I'm in Saskatoon. There's a biting cold wind outside but I am totally loving the atrium of this building. Indoor sunshine, plants, a waterfall, people to watch AND free wifi.

Gluten Free Bread

2011-11-12T14:03:00.001-07:00

So to give you a little bit of back story here... about a month ago I noticed that I felt considerably better and had tons more energy on the days that I didn't consume gluten. Sumonelse gave me a bit of a hard time and, being the scientist that he is, insisted I do some experimenting. On the good side the experimenting included fresh bread and beer, but on the bad side it also included my insides. There was enough evidence to warrant being tested for gluten intolerance. The test results have not come back yet but it does appear that I have an intolerance; I highly doubt that it is more than just an intolerance. So I began a journey of discovery into the world of the gluten free diet. On one hand it seems simple to me; just skip the gluteny stuff and eat foods that are natural and naturally gluten free. Simple, right? Well....It appears my brain isn't that willing to let go of the concept of certain foods. Like pancakes, muffins and bread. With those things in mind I headed out to purchase a wide array of "surrogate flours" (I admit to being a bit obsessive) and then the baking began. Pancakes? No sweat. Muffins? I think they outshone the wheat based ones. Bread? uhm.. let's just say the first attempt was an abject failure that could have been used quite effectively as a weapon. Today I'm home by myself and I decided it was a good day to try it again. My thinking was that if it didn't work, I'd toss it and no one would ever have to know. And the verdict? I give it a passing grade right now. It rose, it looks pretty good, and the taste is surprisingly good. I'm a bit concerned with how it will keep and because of that I intend to slice it, freeze the slices and thaw them as needed.

Even though it still looks a bit 'cakey' I have a feeling of accomplishment today and I'm looking forward to having a grilled cheese sandwich someday soon.

Edit: I'm not loving the crumbly texture. I'm going to try making french toast with it, and if that doesn't work, well .... it's compostable.

Our View

2011-10-29T12:57:00.003-06:00

This is the view from the balcony of our hotel room. I'm enjoying it with a nice cup of coffee.

Live blogging

2011-10-29T11:28:00.001-06:00

Live from Banff. Yes, I slogged up a mountainside to get this picture. Sorry about the quality, I took it with the ipad and it was too sunny to really see the photo. It is a lovely day here.

It's a Lifestyle

2011-10-11T19:02:00.001-06:00

Here's an older shot from the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. We were amused that "Lifestyle" is a real estate category. Here we would call it either a hobby farm or a small acreage. This is actually a panorama comprised of three individual images. When I made the switch to Mac from PC, I lost the program that stitches photos. I tried to install the Canon photostitch program that came with my camera, but it's pretty old and it would only run if the disc was inserted. When I did get it running I remembered it was not a program I ever liked. I could have loaded Gimp* onto my Mac and ventured into that maze, but I found a tutorial on stitching with Gimp and it looked complicated. So that sent me out to the internet to find a program that could stitch photos efficiently and easily. The search led me to an open source program (free) called Hugin. It's perhaps not the most user friendly program, but that's mainly because there are a lot of variables that can be manipulated to get the effect you want. Still, with the online tutorials, it didn't take me long to get some basic stitching done. It seems to do a pretty good job. I've seen some of the shots in their gallery and I'm willing to tackle the learning curve to be able to do things like that. If you do panoramas please leave a comment letting me know which program you use, how well it works and how user friendly it is.

*Gimp is an open source program that can do much of what photoshop does.

There will be pie

2011-09-25T19:05:00.002-06:00

I was away from home for about ten days. When I left it was summer and things were still growing in the garden. When I came home the seasons had progressed. The leaves were all turning and despite the daytime temperatures being fairly warm, it felt very much like fall. This is a Sugar Baby Pumpkin, it will end up in a pie shell, and it will be delicious.

It's a test

2011-08-28T16:56:00.007-06:00

It's a test to see how well I can make a post from my porta-puter. It's also one of my favorite photos (I have lots of those).

Chief Mountain

2011-08-23T14:33:00.002-06:00

This photo is definitely not shot at 17mm. On the way home from the park we stopped at a small art gallery. As we were leaving our friend pointed at this old barn and suggested I take a picture. I replied that it would never work at 17mm. That's when he told me it was time to break the rules, or to just say the experiment was over. He was right. I still want to do some more experimenting with wide angle, but I'm happy I didn't let this one get away.

Wide-eyed

2011-08-21T13:37:00.002-06:00

All camera talk here, so feel free to just scroll on down to the pictures if you don't have any clue what wide angle is. Last week as I was reading one of the various photography articles that appear in my inbox, I decided to give myself a challenge. The article was talking about limiting yourself to a fixed focal length on the camera and using only that length for a whole week, just to get a feel for it and to see things from a different perspective. I thought I'd try that. My everyday lens ranges from 17 to 85 mm. It just popped into my head that I would shoot nothing but 17mm for the next week. That's my widest capability at this point in time. I rarely, if ever, shoot that wide. So off I went for a walk around the neighbourhood with my lens stuck firmly at 17mm. It didn't take very long before I thought that maybe I should have chosen 35mm or 50mm, but I persevered. In all honesty I didn't last a whole week, I'll get to that in another post, but here are some of my favourite shots.

Waterton Lakes National Park

Monarch

2011-07-27T20:37:00.002-06:00

Yesterday evening was just perfect for a little drive. It was still sunny and just breezy enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay. We paid a visit to the small town of Monarch. This is a town that we always drive by but never go into. I was pleasantly surprised. It's a very tidy little town. There didn't seem to be much in the way of businesses, it's mostly just residential properties with a few large churches and a fairly dominant water-tower.

Just outside of town we discovered the Old Monarch Cemetery. It hasn't been in use for a while and is very overgrown, but it was neat to walk around, take pictures and look at the few remaining grave markers.

A weathered headstone on the prairie.

Waterton Lakes National Park

2011-07-11T20:03:00.003-06:00

Waterton Lakes National Park

There was a car show in town on the weekend. Some of you would have enjoyed that. Car aficionados bring out their 'babies' and cruise through town. Some (many?) drivers want to make certain that they get noticed so there is usually a fair bit of engine revving going on. In previous years we have lain awake at night listening to the sound of souped up cars and kicking ourselves for not getting out of town. Not so this year. This year we spent a relaxing weekend camping in Waterton. It was wonderful. I gave myself lots of time to read and, wonder of wonders, I FINISHED THE BOOK! If you do not know of which book I speak, just scroll down a few posts. It's probably one of the largest most serious books I've ever read. I really enjoyed it, but I'm so happy it's done!

Canada Day 2011

2011-07-06T11:18:00.002-06:00

Window Mountain Lake

This is where we spent our holiday weekend. Well, most of it. We really wanted to get away from town so we decided to do a short backpacking trip. It's really not a long hike to this lake, but it does get steep, and when you aren't used to schlepping a pack around, any hike is considerably more difficult. It was worth the effort though. We had a lovely time and we even got to enjoy a few fireworks on friday night, courtesy of the people camping further down the lake.

What I'm Reading

2011-06-29T14:49:00.000-06:00

I'm reading Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. The back cover says "This is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs. As the battle of Stalingrad looms Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn apart by ideological tyranny and war."

Grossman finished the novel in 1960 only to have the KGB confiscate it. Supporters of the novel made microfilm copies of an extra manuscript and had them smuggled out of the USSR. It's 850+ pages of commentary on both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. There's lots of history, humanity, philosophy and politics. The list of characters is 7.5 pages long. Almost all the characters have these crazy long Russian names. I may be crazy. I'm about half way through this book, it's going very slow, but I am enjoying it very much. It is heavy reading, but it's well written and the characters feel so honest and real. As an aside, I discovered that in 2002 they made a movie, not of this whole book (which would be epic), but of chapter 18 in Part One of the book. It's called The Last Letter. Chapter 18 is a mother's last letter to her son from a Jewish ghetto and it's pretty powerful stuff. I can understand why they made a play/movie of it. I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels ready to do some serious reading; I think it's worth the effort. One downside is that it doesn't seem to be widely available, my copy is a recent publication but I got it online from the UK. Needless to say if any friends or family want to borrow my copy (when I'm done, of course) I'd be open to that. We could start some great discussions about "ideological tyranny".

The Pond

2011-06-03T20:28:00.023-06:00

The pond in spring.

On a recent trip to BC, I had the opportunity to walk around the pond at Fernwood. I had gotten a bunch of shots there in the fall, but now it felt very different. It was much more green, and lush. I didn't get to dawdle as much as last time, but I think I still got some nice shots.

Shrooms

2011-05-08T17:39:00.001-06:00

Today is Mother's Day and I was treated to a lovely brunch of homemade waffles with all the fixings. It was wonderful! Once back home it was time to relax, call my own mother and play a little bit of Angry Birds. While sumonelse was taking a turn dealing with pigs, I noticed something odd in one of my houseplants. It appears I'm growing a crop of mushrooms.

That was a good enough reason for me to take out the camera and the extension tubes.

The Oldman

2011-05-05T16:33:00.002-06:00

The Oldman River

Another shot from our walk down by the river the other day. The Cottonwood trees behind me were casting nice long shadows. It was a fun evening. I have to remind myself to do that more often.

Evening Light

2011-05-02T14:25:00.002-06:00

Cottonwood Nature Reserve

Yesterday, as the sun started to dip lower in the sky I decided to go for a stroll in one of our local nature reserves. Just as I got there a big cloud covered the sun and all the nice light went out for a few minutes. This shot was taken just as the sun started to peek out again. I'm looking forward to the day the Cottonwood trees get leaves and this whole scene turns green (it should be soon, really) but for now we still have the golden browns.

Riverwalk

2011-04-23T14:54:00.000-06:00

It's Easter weekend. The weather is fabulous. Although the landscape still looks pretty brown, green shoots are popping out of the ground at an incredible rate. It was a perfect day to go for a walk in one of the riverside parks and have a bit of a picnic. So we packed up a lovely lunch, grabbed the camera and headed over to our favourite spot. Beside the trail was an old fence post with some rusty barbed wire attached to it. I liked it. So I stopped and pulled the camera out. After carefully thinking about how I was going to shoot the post, I pressed the shutter and .....nothing. What!!?? It took me a minute to realize that I had no media card in the camera. I'd forgotten the card in the card reader and the spare card is on a shelf in my office. So the rest of the walk was an exercise in looking for things I liked and thinking how I would shoot them if I actually could. Have a happy Easter everyone, I hope the sun is shining where you are.

Random Photo

2011-04-20T14:25:00.003-06:00

How's that for a random scroll through the hard drive. I'm pretty sure this is near Beauvais Lake.

I need spring

2011-04-09T10:42:00.002-06:00

Flowers from last spring

There's no plans for today. That's right, an empty day. So I decided that it would be a perfect time to make my first visit to our local greenhouse. This is the time of year when my relatives in more temperate climates like to call me and tell me all about the flowers they have blooming in their yards (note to relatives: DON'T, I don't want to hear, Lalalalalalala, not listening). But, oh I need to see some green, so the greenhouse it is. Talk to you later!

Testing, testing

2011-04-07T13:10:00.009-06:00

This is just a test. I'm trying to reformat things so that it's easier to see photos on this blog. I'm on a learning curve here so be a bit patient with me, and definitely give me your opinion on the changes.

Same Mountain

2011-04-07T12:18:00.010-06:00

Waterton Lakes National Park

Yes it's the same mountain, but this time I've developed it a bit further in Lightroom 3. Just a bit more clarity and some extra punch in the sky. I've been messing about this past week with both Aperture and Lightroom. So far Lightroom is winning because it feels so much more slick and professional; it's also faster and has a smaller footprint on my computer. For years I've been using Picasa, and my opinion is still that for most people that program is sufficient. It does what most people want in a very user friendly way. Lately though I've been getting frustrated with it because it can't do some of the things that I want to do. I've also gotten advice from my cousin who really encouraged me to extend myself by shooting in RAW format and using a higher quality developing program. So that means I've been stewing about photography issues without actually taking any new pictures for a while now. Part of that is figuring out how to move my developed pictures to this blog. If you're reading this than obviously I succeeded! The only thing left to do, I suppose, is to bite the bullet and buy the program.

It's a Mountain

2011-04-07T10:30:00.007-06:00

It's a mountain in Waterton National Park to be a bit more specific. I took it last spring. I was just playing around with the camera for a bit there. Not a stellar photo but not bad.

Is this thing on??

2011-04-06T21:57:00.004-06:00

I just uploaded a random photo from my hard drive.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2011-01-14T21:10:00.005-07:00

This post was inspired by Lisa (hello Lisa!). She made some lovely biscuits, but was wondering if they had really turned out as they should. I told her I would give the recipe a whirl and then we could compare notes. These are buttermilk biscuits that are not rolled out and cut, they are more like a batter biscuit. The recipe calls for you to scoop out the batter by the quarter cup, roll it in flour, place it in a greased dish and brush the top with melted butter. Lisa found her batter to be too soft and I have to admit that I did throw in an extra tablespoon or so of flour since the batter was on the soft side. This is what mine looked like before baking. Soft, sticky, and just barely holding their shape.

And here's what they looked like when they were done:

They expanded into each other, and rose pretty well (though not as much as my normal biscuit recipe). I think this is a very nice recipe. The tops of the biscuits were crunchy and delicious. This was also the first time I'd ever baked in my cast iron skillet. I was very happy with how it turned out. I'll have to try that more often. As far as the taste? Wonderful! We ate them with roast chicken, veggies and baked potatoes, and yes we were all stuffed.

The recipe can be found in the book At Home in the Kitchen: Mennonite, Hutterite and Amish-Style Cooking by Judy Walter.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T14:11:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a peaceful and enjoyable day so far and I think I might just keep it that way.

Baked Beans for dinner?

2010-12-16T20:24:00.004-07:00

Apparently not. I had the brilliant idea to make baked beans with bacon for dinner. YUM. I've done this many times before. It's pretty easy, you mix everything together in a casserole dish and bake it. Easy peasy. Today, just as it was starting to smell absolutely delicious, there was a bang, and a hiss. Then the kitchen filled with smoke and the smoke detectors were blaring. Got me moving I tell ya. One peek in the oven and I knew we wouldn't be eating those beans. I had used my square pyrex dish and for some reason it decided to blow apart in the oven, and my saucy beans were dripping down onto the bottom of the hot oven. After airing out the house and shedding a few tears for my beans, we decided to go downtown and eat Ethiopian food. I just did a bit of googling and found out that I really got off lucky, other folks have had glass bakeware explode in their ovens, mine just broke into two pieces. Have any of you had this happen? I'm a bit leery of using my other pieces now. It seems kind of silly though, I've been using those things for twenty five years. Or maybe that was part of the problem? Oh well. I'm stuffed with injera and doro wat but my house still smells like baked beans. Baked beans....that reminds me of something silly.....yes....Screamin' Beans! Follow that link if you dare.

I'm tired

2010-12-09T15:07:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'm just getting old, but boy I'm feeling tired today.

Abstract

2010-11-20T17:04:00.002-07:00

Oh these pond pictures. When I play with them on the computer it makes me want to dig a pond of my own in the backyard. I should really look for other things to take cool pictures of. I've been spending too much time trying to get my new computer set up and all the files transferred. What a job. I'm adjusting to the change (from PC to Mac) fairly well. For the first two days I just wanted my noisy old PC back, but I'm liking the Mac more and more. I think I've converted.

Reflecting

2010-11-09T20:47:00.002-07:00

This is one of my pond pictures. I paid for it with wet feet. I really like it, it fits with my head space these days. I've been doing some reflecting on life and stuff lately. I haven't discovered anything profound ...yet.

Something happened

2010-11-03T21:20:00.004-06:00

As I wrote in my last post, my picture taking has been about nil for too long. Last week I dutifully toted my camera with me. That was pretty much in vain until I came to this place. I'm going to call it Fernwood. If the property owners decide to give it a better name I will reconsider, but for now it is Fernwood. The view was just too nice to pass up. I felt obligated to take a photo. Then something happened; I started walking around aimlessly with my camera. I even walked while looking through the shutter. I got my feet wet in the pond. I took lots of pictures. I'll share some of them here over the next while as I continue to ruminate over life, art and inspiration. Ok, ok, maybe I'll just show pictures and spare you the ramblings.

Possibilities

2010-10-22T17:25:00.003-06:00

Last night I went to a meeting of the local photography club. I've been feeling particularly unmotivated about taking pictures these days and I thought that joining the club might get me inspired again. There were two presentations that really resonated with me. The first was a presentation of photos on the theme of perspective. The second was a presentation by one of the club members on the photographer Courtney Milne. Milne was a well known prairie photographer who, sadly, passed away this past August. For the last few years of his life most of his photos were pictures of the pool in his back yard. Milne would spend hours every day taking pictures of how the light played on the water and how the world was reflected in the ripples. Through his camera he saw the pool change through the seasons. The pool never ceased to entrance him.

I had a conversation earlier this week with a friend. We talked about what we were doing and what we could be doing. I bemoaned the fact that I seemed to have nothing that was captivating me and demanding my attention. We've all heard the phrase "Do what you love", and I really believe it's a good thing to do, it's just that I've always had a hard time deciding what I really love to do. Maybe I need to try to see things from different perspectives, perhaps my pool of possibilities is very close, just waiting just to be discovered. I don't know where I'm going with all this, it's just what was on my mind today. If you want to see some of Courtney Milne's pool photos go here , look around and enjoy. After looking at his photos, I couldn't find one of mine that I felt would do this post justice, so no picture today.

Book Orders

2010-09-12T10:18:00.002-06:00

This box (and other boxes just like it) make me happy. The delivery man always laughs because I know when to expect him and I'm always waiting. It reminds me of elementary school. Remember those Scholastic book club "magazines". I used to pore over them, and then beg to be allowed to order a book. On what seemed like very rare occasions I was allowed to order one or two. Then the waiting came, but boy was it exciting when the teacher announced that the book orders were in. Maybe that's why I really like ordering books online.

Imagine Sunshine (if you can)

2010-09-09T11:02:00.004-06:00

It's rainy and gray here today. No offense to any west coasters, but it feels like Vancouver weather and I'm not exactly loving it. I just want to wrap myself up in a big old quilt and close my eyes and imagine that the sun is shining. The day won't be a total write off however. Any time now a post office truck will pull up to my house and deliver a box of books. Then I will wrap myself up in that big old quilt and be oblivious to the world for a while. What am I waiting for? "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". I've read the first two books in Steig Larsson's series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire) and really enjoyed them. I was going to wait till the third book came out in paperback (November) but I got too impatient. What good books have you read recently? I'm in reading mode and I need more fodder. I'll be done Hornet's Nest by noon on Saturday.

I like to make things

2010-08-18T18:34:00.003-06:00

Way back in January my sister made a blog post about luceting, a very old method of cord making. I thought it was quite interesting and had to try it out. Both of us improvised and although the results were functional they weren't pretty. My improvised lucet was especially not pretty as it was two pens and an eraser taped together. It all got me thinking about how I could make lucets. It's taken a while, but I finally have two finished lucets.

I had a lot of fun making these little things, from shopping for the right kinds of wood to all the picky sanding. I've also learned a few things as well, like there are times when a bench planer, a scroll saw, and a dremel would come in very handy. Unfortunately I don't do stuff like this often enough to warrant purchasing those tools. It was my sister's birthday recently so I'm going to send her one of these lucets. I'm certain she'll give it a good test run.

Saskatoons

2010-07-27T15:16:00.004-06:00

It's that time of year again, the Saskatoons are ripe. We got two containers full on the weekend and I used the last of them in bran muffins for lunch today. After lunch I cycled to my top secret location and had 2.5 liters of berries picked in no time at all. Fortunately there were no bees to contend with like last year, just the odd mosquito.

Pelicans

2010-07-22T17:02:00.003-06:00

Yes, there were pelican photos on the camera. This is a picture from our paddle down the river on July 11. Pelicans are a bit skittish, as soon as you try to sneak close to them they fly away. Nothing a good telephoto lens wouldn't fix I guess.

It's Monday (and it feels like it)

2010-07-12T09:23:00.003-06:00

A close up of a pink geranium.

Well it's Monday. Yesterday we paddled the river (the ubiquitous Pelican pictures are still in the camera, they will be here soon). It was a great day marred only by a few mosquito bites and a touch of sunburn. Later in the evening it was time to watch a replay of the World Cup Final. It was impossible to find the link without seeing the score so we figured we'd watch it up to the goal. We had no idea we'd be watching the whole thing. I think the Netherlands' new colour is YELLOW! I was rooting for them but overall I think Spain played better. Way to go Spain!

On the no sugar front, I survived the whole week with only a few slips. By friday I had noticed that my energy levels were not really spiking and dropping, they were staying pretty even but it still felt that they were lower than they should be, or maybe just lower than I wanted. I missed those moments of high energy even if I was paying for them with crashes. Does anyone know if this gets better with time? Or is it a matter of changing diet? I'd love to be able to maintain a higher level of energy all day long. Have a great day!

Little white flowers

2010-07-07T15:45:00.003-06:00

I've been using extension tubes on my camera and taking pictures of flowers in our garden. Unfortunately it was a bit breezy and I had to use the lowest Fstop. So I just had to forget about any depth of field. I thought maybe I'd try again on a windless day, but who am I fooling?? Wind is a given here. Sigh.

This is my fourth day without sugar. I was pretty lethargic on day two, and yesterday all I thought about was fresh out of the oven cinnamon buns with double stuff and gobs of butter on top. MMMMmmmm. I've stood pretty firm though, any cravings are being satisfied with fresh fruit or sugarless gum. I haven't had a problem with coffee (I'm a 1/2 tsp per cup kinda girl) as long as it's really good coffee. And really, life is too short for bad coffee right? It's my impression that my stomach seems much more settled these days. Sumonelse thinks that can't be related to sugar but he's willing to set up experiments to find out. I just know how I feel.

A Walk in the Park

2010-07-04T19:46:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we had planned to do a group paddle down the river, but the water levels are still pretty high so we postponed that till next weekend. That left us with a bit of time this weekend. Time to go hiking. This is a lovely picture. Isn't it funny how we usually just take pictures of the nice/scenic stuff? Then everyone thinks the trip/hike/paddle was a walk in the park. That's how it usually goes. Then I see a picture like this on the camera:

Yup, it rained, it was cold and windy, and yes that is snow along the edge of the lake. It's a good thing there are no pictures of me at this point. I was grouchy, cold, and my feet were killing me. Sumonelse has a lot of patience.

On a nonhiking note, I am trying to cut sugar out of my diet this week. Not an issue for some of you but I'm pretty much addicted to sugar (often in the form of brown sugar on toast). I'm curious to see what kind on an effect (if any) this will have on me. I was doing very well today, I was even drinking my coffee with no sugar, but we went for coffee after our hike and I could not resist having a puffed wheat square with my coffee. It felt soooooo soothing. Then I fell asleep on the way home (thankfully I wasn't driving). If any of you have done this let me know what effect it had and whether you stuck with it. And if I start writing really strange posts... it'll probably be due to withdrawal symptoms.

Randomness

2010-06-27T15:40:00.002-06:00

1. We went on an active vacation. I cycled about 300 km in six days. I lived.

2. Sumonelse is now planning our next active vacation. I wanna know what's wrong with drinking margaritas by the pool.

3. We had decent weather when we were on vacation, but it poured at home.

4. We had to deal with a wet basement as soon as we got home.

5. I'm ignoring my basement at the moment.

6. Sumone made peanutbutter cookies for her dad for father's day.

7. They were delicious (sumone makes good cookies).

8. I ate more of them than I should have.

9. I think summer finally came.

10. There are no more cookies left.

11. I think I should go now and bake cookies.

12. Vacation pics are up on FB.

13. If you are not my friend on FB (why are you not my friend on FB? Oh, right FB is silly. But my pictures are there.) I can send you a link if you want to see them.

14. I am guilty of only taking pictures of the nice/easy parts of the bike trip and ignoring the hard/tedious parts.

15. I can't think of anything else.

Stuff that happens

2010-06-03T13:55:00.003-06:00

So today after lunch, while I was making coffee, I happened to glance out the front window and saw a blue tarp blowing in the wind. Since we own a blue tarp, I assumed it was ours, though I had no clue why it would have been outside. Without hesitation I ran outside just in time to see the wind pick it up and carry it down the street. I had to do a quick sprint to catch it. Dragging it back against the wind made me look like some weird kinda superhero with a humungous blue cape flapping in the wind. Back in the yard I rolled it up and threw it in the shed where there already was a blue tarp, neatly folded. Hmmmm. Later sumonelse assured me that we only own one blue tarp. So if you live upwind from me and you're missing a tarp, give me a buzz. It would have been great to have a real picture, but who thinks of grabbing a camera when you have a tarp to chase. Did I tell you it's windy here today?

I Read It

2010-06-01T13:46:00.003-06:00

What happens when South American reactionaries storm a party attended by foreign dignitaries, executives and a famous opera singer and take everyone hostage? That's the premise of Ann Patchett's novel Bel Canto. It's not a new book, but I had never heard of it before. Sumone told me to choose it for book club so I did. I'm so obedient. I liked it. It was a very good read. It went fast. Now I've moved on to Yann Martel's new book Beatrice and Virgil. It's not going so fast, but I WILL make it through. If you've read either of these books let me know what you thought of them.

P.S. I see blue sky out my window.

If you have my sunshine, please return it.

2010-05-31T13:51:00.002-06:00

Blue sky is something I haven't seen in a while. I miss it. We've had an intolerable amount (5+ inches) of rain (and snow too!) over the last week and it's still not clearing up. It's been messing with my life. Plans have been cancelled or changed, holidays delayed and I'm being forced to become flexible.

Macro Monday

2010-05-03T16:25:00.006-06:00

Yes, I'm still playing around with macro shots. For this one I had to lay down in the garden and wait till there was a break in the wind. I'm thinking one of those little bendy tripods might be a good investment if I want to keep taking pictures at ground level. A mat or blanket to lay on would be a good idea too; I've got a lot of twigs and bits to pick off of my sweater.

Have a great day!

I'm tired of this.

2010-04-29T10:43:00.004-06:00

"Snow at times heavy and local blowing snow except rain at times heavy over eastern sections early this afternoon. Amount 10 to 20 cm. Wind northwest 60 km/h gusting to 90. Temperature steady near plus 1 except near plus 3 over eastern sections."

That's our forecast for today. I know I shouldn't complain because we need the moisture, but really.. it's almost May.

Macro Monday

2010-04-26T16:17:00.003-06:00

I spoiled myself by purchasing a set of extension tubes for my camera. Simply put, the tubes extend the length of the lens allowing you to focus much closer than you would otherwise be able to. I'm still practicing with the tubes. Composition is more of a challenge and getting the focus just right can be tricky too. Here's one of my better ones to date; a backlit shot of a daffodil.

They're back.

2010-04-18T14:16:00.003-06:00

I heard the pelicans were back so I rushed down to the river with my camera.

I knew you'd all want to see.

You're welcome.

Finished

2010-04-01T12:25:00.004-06:00

Yup, just as the weather is starting to become too warm to wear a woolen scarf, I have completely finished mine. I can strike it off my list of things to do. Yay. It came off the needles last week and it took a few days for me to get it properly blocked, a process that involved pinning it to our guest bed with what seemed like a zillion pins. I really hope there are no 'surprises' left in that mattress. Today I dug out my camera to try to get some pictures that do the scarf justice. I'm not sure I succeeded but these are good enough to give you an idea of how it looks.

Decisions

2010-03-23T18:36:00.003-06:00

I went to a kitchen store this afternoon. I saw a mandoline. I was tempted; I am a foodie after all. I want your opinion. Do you use one? Do you like it? Do you wish you had one? Do you have one in the back of the cupboard collecting dust? Could you not care less? Do you prefer to cut with a knife (this might be safer than knives)? This is an 0x0 brand cutter. It's the one I was looking at. Are there better brands? This one would set me back about $70+ dollars and I'm not absolutely sure it's worth it for me, and yet there are times it would be soooo nice. Please leave a comment. Thanks.

Update: It seems people fall into two categories here, love my mandoline vs love my fingers in one piece thank you very much. I've had a few cringing moments when I think about grazing a knuckle or finger tip on this gadget particularly since I have been known to injure myself on occasion. I've heard of people using cut resistant (meat-cutter's) gloves with their mandolines but it may just be simpler for me to stick with a knife. For now anyway. If I change my mind, I'll let you know.

Randomness

2010-03-11T12:09:00.003-07:00

I was listening to Leonard Cohen when I read Lianna's comment about banana slugs. I like banana slugs too, they're cool, in a gross slimy sort of way. The comment reminded me of camping in California, so I looked through my photos. Sadly, I had no banana slug pictures but I found one I liked of giant redwoods. I am feeling better (not a slug anymore). This has nothing to do with Leonard Cohen, except perhaps if I found a banana slug I'd name it Marianne and hum a tune while I watched it slither away.

Hello

2010-03-08T17:57:00.002-07:00

Hello to you. Yes, you. I've been fighting a bug today, so I feel like a giant slug. Blah. Hopefully I'll be better soon. Sorry there's no picture; I mean really...do you want a slug picture??

A Good Read

2010-02-25T18:23:00.004-07:00

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a novel written completely in the form of letters. It takes place in England in 1946 and centers on the journalist/author Juliet Ashton as she researches the German occupation of Guernsey and in the process develops close friendships with the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I thought that this novel had a nice balance of history, personal stories, literary references and romance. I flew through it; I wanted it to last longer, but I couldn't put it down. It's nice to come across a book that's not a heavy read but still has some substance. I'd recommend this one.

New Wine

2010-02-16T15:06:00.003-07:00

It seems like it's been a long time since we had home made wine in the house. Sumone wanted some over the holidays but the cupboards were bare, so to speak. He said he wanted it to prove to his mates that not all home made wine is plonk (he flatters me, I think his cost might be a factor here too, why buy wine when...). Making wine at home is not difficult; like most things the quality of your end product depends to a great extent on the quality of your ingredients. I make 99% my wine from high end wine kits and generally the outcome is very good. I'm not saying that you can't mess up a good wine kit but if you're good at following directions it usually works out well. I say usually because I have a batch sitting next to me that is refusing to co-operate. I can't seem to get it to clear, and if it doesn't clear it's not going to get bottled. Chances are it tastes fine (it's a Shiraz/Malbec). Perhaps I'll have to invite sumone and his mates over and give everyone a very long straw.

An Interesting Evening

2010-02-03T20:23:00.006-07:00

Last friday we decided to have an interesting evening. This consisted of going to one of our wonderful local liquor stores to purchase some interesting beers and then going to blockbuster and renting some interesting movies. I would have called it an unusual evening but, unusual for us would be drinking Bud Light and watching Transformers. The movies we selected were "9", an animated post-apocalyptic film starring Elijah Wood, and "Mary and Max", a 2009 claymation film from Australia, that is based on a true story. 9 was good, but I really preferred Mary and Max. At the start of the film Mary is a lonely eight year old living with her distant father and alcoholic mother in a suburb of Melbourne; Max is a single forty year old man with Asperger's Syndrome who lives in New York with his only friend, an imaginary gnome called Mr. Raviolli. After choosing his name randomly from the New York phone book, Mary writes to Max and they become pen-pals. The movie follows Mary and Max over the course of about twenty years as their friendship develops and they both go through some trying times. This movie had lots of very funny pieces, but it also deals with some very serious issues. I'd recommend this one for teens and adults, but not for the kiddies.

For those of you who care more about beer than movies, this is what we were enjoying during the movie:

Eric's Red Cream Ale from Quidi Vidi Brewing in Newfoundland

Weizen Imperiale from Microbrasserie Les Trois Mousquetaires in Quebec

Both were fine brews, but they were quite different. Eric's was smooth, tasty and went down too fast. The Weizen Imperiale, at a whopping 10% alchohol, was a delicious sipping beer with that distinctive wheat beer flavour.

What HAVE I been doing?

2010-01-31T12:31:00.003-07:00

This past week the bulk of my spare time has been spent making cloth drawstring bags. These bags are being made for MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) They'll be filled with school supplies and shipped to wherever the need is. Many of the countries that receive school kits are in areas affected by wars or natural disasters. A friend of mine received a load of donated fabric; she sewed bags for a few weeks until her schedule became too busy. I offered to take over. That meant digging out the old sewing machine, coaxing it to sew properly, and turning my dining room into a sewing room. I'm finding it to be a simple but time consuming job. MCC sends thousands of school kits overseas. Sometimes I feel that what I'm doing is not worth much, it's just a small drop in the bucket. Then I have to remind myself that if no one put their drop in the bucket, the bucket would stay empty. I'm learning that little things can make a difference.

Click here if you want to find out more about MCC school kits.

A learning Experience

2009-12-23T17:48:00.002-07:00

MMMMmmmm mouthwatering delicious cookies. Except this is a picture from three years ago.

Which isn't to say that I don't still make delicious cookies, but today I had a learning experience. I decided to be thoughtful and make a batch of chocolate dipped shortbread without sugar for somebody. Some people have to go without sugar and they learn to live with it, and others still crave sweets. So I ventured into the world of sugar-free baking. I didn't think it would be a big deal. I bought a popular sugar substitute, heeded the advice of family members to use half the amount called for and thought ... ok....this should be ok. Call me picky. They didn't brown, the texture was wrong, and the sugar substitute did not work well with the chocolate either. I may also be really sensitive but even with the reduced amount of sugar substitute I found the aftertaste to be quite pronounced. So did I just do it wrong? Or is shortbread just not the kind of baking suited to crystalized sugar substitutes? In any case the mice who frequent the composter are going to have a merry Christmas. I wish you all a Merry Christmas too!

It's Cold Out

2009-12-05T16:54:00.006-07:00

This is what Mother Nature has been dishing out in my part of the world. Freezing temperatures, wind and drifting snow. Its been going steady for the better part of two days now and it looks like it won't end till sometime tomorrow. Then it will get cold. I think we'll just stay home a while longer. There's something about blizzards that just makes me want to bake things. Maybe it's the warmth, or maybe the smell of fresh baking makes a warm house feel extra cosy during a storm. Yesterday it was butter tarts and cheese buns; today, in honour of Saint Nicholas I decided to make Pepernoten (in english that would be pepper nuts). For any of you that are not familiar with these, they are small hard spice cookies. They are a classic St. Nicholas Day treat in The Netherlands. St. Nicholas comes into town riding a white horse (he's very dignified and somewhat intimidating) and his helper Black Peter walks beside him being either silly or threatening and continually tossing out handfuls of pepernoten. I remember my Dad tossing out handfuls of pepernoten, and I have to admit that I once dressed up as a Black Peter to toss pepernoten at my kids and the neighbor's kids (how much will you pay me to post a picture?).

Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas

The problem was that I had tried to make pepernoten before and was not impressed with the recipe I had. I cruised the internet for a bit, but I didn't see any recipes that looked any better. So I decided to adapt one. I have a pretty good recipe for Speculaas (which are Dutch spice cookies) so I decided to use it as my base recipe. I had to tweak it a bit, but I think that I came up with a pretty good version.

The finished product.

PEPERNOTEN

¼ cup butter

¼ cup margarine

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups white flour

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. finely ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325° F. Mix everything together to make a smooth dough. Taking about ¼ to ½ cup of dough each time, roll the dough into a snake about 1 cm in diameter. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces and roll each piece in your hand to smooth it (this will give you pieces that are just under ½ teaspoon, you could use a ½ or ¼ teaspoon to scoop dough instead but I find cutting it is faster). Place dough balls about ½ inch apart on a lined (or lightly greased) cookie sheet. Bake for about 18 minutes. Makes at least 10 dozen (depending on the size you make them).

HAPPY SAINT NICHOLAS DAY!

What have I done?

2009-11-30T16:37:00.004-07:00

I've started a big (for me) knitting project. I saw the pattern for the Lace Ribbon Scarf on Knitty once, and printed it off because I thought it was nice. Last week I decided that it would be nice to have said scarf so I dug through my box of yarn and realized that I didn't have enough of any one yarn to make a whole scarf. So off I went to my local yarn store hoping to match one of my favorite yarns. That was an exercise in futility. The sales person looked at the pattern and made some suggestions. Her top recommendation was cashmere! It was lovely, nice and soft, and I almost had my colour chosen when I saw the price tag and did the math. Yikes! That would have been one pricey scarf. In the end I chose Merino wool. It's nice and soft, and I love the colours. It's going slow because I find that I have to concentrate on the pattern or I'll make mistakes. Not that the pattern is hard, but this is the first time I've ever tried lace knitting. I've got about 12 inches knit so far, and lots and lots more to go. Wish me luck but don't expect to see me wearing this any day soon.

Christmas Cactus

2009-11-21T16:39:00.001-07:00

I'm loving it. It's beautiful!

Out with the Old, In with the New

2009-11-14T15:30:00.002-07:00

Cookie sheets that is. These are my old cookie sheets. I've been using them for over 25 years. I'm not positive, but one of you may have even given them to me. They've served me well for many years, tons of delicious goodies were baked on these pans. Lately I've used them more to catch drips in the oven and for years I've refused to bake on them without using parchment paper. Needless to say, I have bought plenty of parchment paper over the years. Today I stopped in at an upscale kitchen store and upgraded.

So here's the new. Two half size commercial grade jelly roll pans and a Silpat. I was thinking of simply buying a Silpat to use with my existing pans, but the sizes weren't right and you can't just cut these things to fit (they have glass fiber in them). Then my eyes spotted the pans and I knew it was meant to be. I'm looking forward to trying these with my Christmas baking. I had heard some people complain that the cheaper straight silicon baking sheets and dishes emit a smokey rubbery smell when hot, and that they still stick a bit, so I decided to go with the real french product. Have any of you used these before? If you have did you like them? And should I have bought two Silpats because I have two pans (I didn't, it was a financial decision)? For some reason I want cookies now.

On My Ipod

2009-11-10T13:50:00.004-07:00

Analog Bell Service, five guys from Vancouver. We saw them live in Banff on Halloween and decided that we'd invest in their album. They're talented, energetic, and quirky. This one may end up on my favorites playlist.

10 Things I liked about the weekend.

2009-11-02T15:27:00.005-07:00

1. Running away to Banff.

2. Not being home to hand out treats to the trick-or-treaters. In all likelihood it would be the same 5 we had last year, although the two who came after nine last year were kinda old for that sort of thing.

3. The Chocolate Cake at Evelyn's. The coffee shop not the sister's, although I'm certain the sister's chocolate cake would be delish too.

4. Getting a head-start on reading this month's book club pick (A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry).

5. The veggie pakoras at Masala. Dinner was great too. Since I'm lactose intolerant, and most of their dishes had dairy in them, the chef made an impromptu creation for me. It was delicious.

6. Watching fireworks as we walked along the river. I don't really associate fireworks with Halloween but I liked it.

7. The Indie band concert at The Club. On the roster were: Analog Bell Service, Woodpigeon, Basia Bulat, and The Witchies. I especially liked the drummers for Analog Bell Service and Basia Bulat whom I will always remember as the baby and the jack-o-lantern. How on earth he played with a pumpkin on his head I'll never understand.

8. Having to run away from the monster that wanted to eat us as we walked past the cemetery under a full moon (well it was almost full).

9. Taking pictures at Johnston Canyon.

10. "Take a Seat", one of the films at the the Banff Mountain Film Festival which started this weekend.

My weekend was enjoyable. How was your Halloween?

Still Alice

2009-10-25T17:02:00.008-06:00

I finished reading "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova. This novel tells the story of Alice, a university professor, who gets diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's (a genetic form of Alzheimer's). The author, Lisa Genova, has a Phd in neuroscience and is a columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. I would assume, with her knowledge of the subject matter, that this is a realistic depiction of the disease. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of what it's like to live with Alzheimer's. Personally, I found it an emotional book to read, mainly because of the nature of the disease. As someone who has a family member with Alzheimer's, there were times when I laughed and times when I just had to put the book down and recompose myself.

P.S. to friends and family: I'm quite willing to lend my copy out if you want to read this. Just let me know, and we'll work something out.

Books

2009-10-06T20:46:00.003-06:00

I got my Amazon order today! Now I have a bunch of reading to do.

A Little Slice of Foodie Heaven

2009-10-04T18:09:00.004-06:00

A few days ago, on my journey through the internet, I came across a recipe that piqued my interest, took up residence in my imagination, and refused to leave. Then my friend Lisa blogged about her latest cookbook and she thought that perhaps she'd do more food blogging. I thought that was a great idea and decided that I'd try to do that a bit more too. The next question was: What food am I going to blog about? I mean really, do you want to know about hamburgers or fried egg and cheese sandwiches (both of which are staples in my house)? I thought, in hindsight of course, that I could have blogged about the wonderful curries I made this week when the kids were home. The problem was I had no pictures, and really if there are no pics did it really happen?

The recipe is called 'Rosemary-Onion Bread with Blue Cheese Topping' and it was featured on The Pioneer Woman Cooks on September 30. If you've never heard about Pioneer Woman, what rock have you been hiding under? Nah, seriously, if you've never heard of Pioneer Woman, go check out her site. She's lives on a ranch in Oklahoma. She cooks. She home-schools. She takes pictures. And she's funny.

Ok, let me continue. The recipe was somewhere in my head. The idea of blogging about food was in my head. Today at about lunch time, the two ideas met, and they decided that they were meant to be in cahoots with each other. I still have rosemary growing in the herb garden, I have onions in the garden, the only thing I didn't have was blue cheese. I was disappointed. I love blue cheese, but that's probably the reason there's never any in the house, it gets devoured pretty quick. A quick look in the fridge revealed a small chunk of extra sharp cheddar. I decided that would do and I got to work. It wasn't long before the smell of frying onions drew sumonelse into the kitchen. "Are we having those with leek soup?" he asked. I hadn't thought of that but it sounded good, so while the dough was rising we roasted veggies and made a pot of soup.

The bread/buns turned out fantastic. The whole house was filled with the smell of rosemary and fresh bread. They looked fantastic (as you can see in the pic), and they tasted sublime. This is a very easy recipe, a yeast bread that takes very little effort to mix and knead since the dough is very soft and sticky. If I did it again I would make sure I had blue cheese to use, but I would also cut down a bit on the salt. The recipe calls for two teaspoons salt. I used that this time and I thought the bread was leaning towards the salty side, although that didn't detract from the utter deliciousness. I envision these being a welcome addition to Thanksgiving dinner this year. Or maybe they will BE Thanksgiving dinner.

Splint Free

2009-10-01T18:58:00.004-06:00

I'm splint free! That's nice after almost seven weeks in the thing. I have limited movement in my wrist, but the physiotherapist is optimistic that I'll regain that movement quite quickly. And, as if to celebrate my recovery, sumone came to visit with -you guessed it- the slackline! It was tough to just sit there and watch other people walk it, but I was pretty sure that no one was going to let me on the thing. Sigh.

Wrist Update

2009-08-17T17:03:00.002-06:00

I just had a call from the doctor's office. I cracked a bone in my wrist. That's not so bad as a full fledged break but it means I'll be in this splint for longer than I'd like (like I'm tired of it already).

Raise your hand if you're accident prone.

2009-08-14T15:15:00.001-06:00

Yup, that's me. One big silly clutz. While I was on the phone with a sister the other day, sumone set up a slackline. I just couldn't stay away, I had to do it, I wanted to succeed so bad. I actually did get up on the line once (for 2 seconds) but the next time I tried I came down to earth very quickly and painfully. I'm pretty sure it's just a sprain, but I'll get x-ray results on Monday. Either way I'll be sporting this lovely black brace for a while. I'm seriously considering buying my own line so I can practice more, or at least learn how to land on my feet when I fall.

Full of Beans

2009-08-10T13:32:00.003-06:00

We ran away for a week and left the garden to its own devices. When we returned we discovered that the beans had really gone to town. Since I had decided a few months ago to unplug the freezer (it was mostly empty and hence just wasting energy) I needed to do something else with the beans. I thought of just canning them plain, but I'm leery of doing that since I don't have a pressure canner. I was raised on vegetables that were canned in a water bath canner, but somehow I just can't bring myself to do it. I have no problems canning acidic foods though, so we now have a bunch of spicy dill-pickled green beans with red peppers. I'm looking forward to tasting these, but I love how they look even more. It's just so satisfying to me to see all these glass jars lined up on a shelf. So far I have pickled beans, pickled beets, and antipasto. I'm hoping to add canned tomatoes with herbs and confriture de l'oignon (onion jam made with caramelized onions and red wine). Are you canning anything this year? Maybe we can arrange a swap.

The price of Saskatoons

2009-07-29T18:46:00.005-06:00

At the Farmer's Market - $3 for about two cups of berries

Collected in the river valley - 5 bee stings for about 5 cups of berries

So which is the better deal? I guess that depends on how you react to bee stings. I had my container pretty much full when I looked down at where I was stepping and saw a swarm of bees coming up at me ( I think I stepped on their nest). I haven't moved that fast in a long time. I ran away screaming with a swarm of angry bees chasing me. Thankfully I didn't drop the container; that would have been a disaster. Now I'm thinking about Saskatoon pancakes. Mmmmmm.

Just letting you know...

2009-07-15T11:04:00.004-06:00

Consider yourself very lucky that I haven't figured out how to put annoying music on my blog.

You get a pelican instead.

EARWORM

2009-07-14T17:12:00.002-06:00

Do I have to tell anyone what song has been on an endless loop in my head for the last day? Three guesses (and no its not Bananaphone by Raffi). Any suggestions for erasing it?

What I've been Eating

2009-07-13T13:48:00.004-06:00

Za'atar. This is a new fair trade product from Zatoun available at Ten Thousand Villages stores in Canada (I'm not sure about the US stores). I'm assuming similar products would be available to you if you had a good Mid-eastern grocery in your area, but in my corner of the prairie I can only dream of such things. So, when I saw this on the shelf I knew I had to give it a whirl. It's fairly simple stuff really; thyme, roasted sesame seeds and sea salt. Still, it's delicious. So far I've tried it three different ways.

My first experiment was a salad composed of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with za'atar. It was delicious. Next time I'll add some thinly slice red onions.

The next day we had spaghetti with meat sauce. I love to put piles of cheese on my spaghetti, but in an effort to reduce calories and lactose, I usually just watch other people use cheese. This time I thought that if za'atar was good in a tomato salad it might be good on tomato sauce too. I sprinkled a few spoonfuls onto my dinner and it was really great. I think it might be worth adding it directly to the sauce as it cooks, but I like throwing it on top, it was a very tasty garnish.

Finally, I mixed a tablespoon of za'atar with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and used it as a marinade for a couple of chicken breasts, which we grilled on the BBQ. Very simple, very delicious.

Others have suggested using it to make a dip for veggies, making salad dressing with it, or using it as a topping for focaccia bread. That all sounds appealing. If you go to www.zatoun.com you can discover who they are, what they do, the projects they fund and the positive effect this all has on people in Palestine.

I have no idea why...

2009-07-11T17:13:00.005-06:00

I have no idea why the honeysuckle decided that this was the year it would really bloom. In the past it's only had one or two blooms; this year it was totally covered with flowers. I'm not complaining, it looks gorgeous, but why now?

Red Canoe - version two

2009-06-30T13:26:00.004-06:00

Two years ago I blogged about our adventure in a red canoe. This past weekend we retraced the journey. All the conditions were perfect; the weather was good, the water was high enough and we just happened to know a couple of wonderful people who were driving out anyway and didn't mind taking our vehicle to the take out point. So off we went for another two day paddle down the river. It's only after a few hours of paddling that you start to wonder about your sanity, I mean let's be honest, for novice canoeists like us an 80km paddle is asking for pain. And we got what we asked for. I got to a point on the second day where I was beyond exhausted and I'd had way to much sun. That's when you have to think about something else and just keep the arms moving.

So what does one see along the Oldman? Well, pelicans, rocks, trees, water, cliffs, crazy cliff sparrows that freak out when you get close (see above photo), pelicans, other birds, cows, llamas (go figure), Hutterites on ATVs, people on horses, mama ducks and mama geese all trying to keep their broods in line (and sometimes failing), pelicans, beavers, a fisherman, some people on a dinghy, oh and did I mention pelicans? We saw a few of them.

I've Been Reading

2009-06-26T20:49:00.003-06:00

What happens when death takes a break? When the almost dead just hang in there no matter what? Well it has all sorts of ramifications, from the practical (how will undertakers make a living?) to the esoterical (how does this affect theology and the church?) and Saramago seems to have imagined all of them. And death? How's she dealing with the kerfuffle? And how exactly is she supposed to deal with this unexpected new twist of fate?

This is a wonderful book. It's both intelligent and entertaining despite being a bit challenging to read (Saramago's writing style will not appeal to some). I liked it and I really want to read more of his books.

New Gadget

2009-06-19T10:05:00.004-06:00

I needed to make a quick trip to Calgary the other day, and had a bit of time to waste. Can you believe I made it through Ikea without being tempted by a single thing? I didn't think so. In reality there was only one small thing and it wasn't worth enduring the line-ups for, so no purchases there. Down the block, however, is another favorite store of mine. I didn't blow the budget there either (I guess my needs are few) but I did get this little gadget. A garlic twist. I tried it last night and I like it. It minced the garlic cloves easily and evenly, there was no waste, and it cleaned up in seconds making it a clear winner over the traditional garlic press. I'm going to toss my press now. I know that any foodie out there is going to tell me that the best way to do garlic is with a knife, but I'm a bit accident prone and the combination of small objects and sharp knives, well it's just not ideal. On a side note, I used to work in a pizza joint and one of my jobs was to peel and mince copious amounts of garlic. The method they used was to put all the cloves in a pile and smash them to smithereens using a hand sized rock that was kept in the kitchen for that purpose. It was messy, but very good for getting your frustrations out. Back to the new gadget; apparently you can use it for other items as well, like sliced ginger or hot peppers (I can see the advantage there). I saw a comment online that claimed it looked much like a "herb" grinder. Being the innocent that I am I had to google that; it is similar. Hmmm.

Vacation -the finale

2009-06-16T15:09:00.004-06:00

And now, to the grand finale of our vacation, the four day sea kayaking tour of the Broken Group Islands. We got to Ucluelet on a wednesday only to discover that the sea kayaking tour we thought we had pre-booked had not been booked after all. Fortunately the tour company was very accommodating and booked us in for that weekend. With that nagging issue cleared up we relaxed for a few days and checked out Ucluelet, Long Beach and Tofino. Bright and early on friday morning we jumped into a van and headed out to go kayaking with our guide, Kevin.

One of the beaches where we had lunch and post-lunch relaxation.

A sunflower star, having its lunch.

Kelp.

Us, enjoying some evening quiet time.

I have to admit that I was both excited and nervous about going sea kayaking, I can be a bit of a chicken when it comes to waves and stuff like that, but our guide was understanding and supportive and after the first day I was pretty comfortable in the kayak. We had sunshine all four days, we saw quite a bit of wildlife (eagles, harbour seals, harbour porpoises, mink, deer, bears, otters) and had a great time exploring the inter-tidal zones. It was a fantastic experience that I am hoping to do again.

Thanks for coming along on this revised version with me! Now I'm going to concentrate a bit of time on putting an album of photos together. I'll send out the link for that as soon as I'm done. If you want to see the pics and you don't get the link by Friday, send me an email reminder.

Vacation Part three

2009-06-13T11:07:00.005-06:00

Ok, I've really been having issues with uploading photos to blogger. It seems they always find new ways to botch things up, but I think I finally have this post done.

Wednesday, after visiting family, we caught the ferry to Vancouver Island. I loved that part, it finally felt like we were really on vacation.

We bypassed Victoria (I like cities but sumonelse likes to bypass them and he was driving) and ended up in Sooke, where we discovered a lovely, artsy inn. We parked ourselves for a few days just to soak up the beauty and relax. The picture is of the garden at the inn. The whole property is covered with organic gardens that provide ingredients for their restaurant. We took a tour of their garden, it was very interesting and it gave us a deeper appreciation for our dinner that night. Not that we wouldn't have appreciated the dinner anyway; it was fantastic.

From Sooke we worked our way north and after an afternoon poking about Port Renfrew, we set up our tent in the campground at Cowichan Lake. IMHO we had the prettiest campsite. I mean really how many other people have roses on the picnic table.

The next two days were spent reconnecting with some folks that we hadn't seen in a long time. We had a great visit with my brother and his family (Hello Stu crew! yes I still have photos to send you, I haven't forgotten). We helped (watched) him check his crab cage, and were tickled to see this bad boy. I'm sure that daddy crab has been eaten a long time ago, and if he tasted nearly as good as the crab we were served, then it was an enjoyable meal.

After another day spent visiting friends in Duncan, we found ourselves with no plans for the night and no idea where we were going. It was a rather spur of the moment decision that landed us on Saltspring Island. I'd never been to Saltspring before, but I had seen this wonderful campground from the ferry numerous times. It's called Ruckle Farm and it is on the southernmost part of the Island. There are about half a dozen drive in sites (with no view) and there are tons of walk-in tenting sites that are just fabulous. That meant we had to shlep our gear a ways but the park does provide wheelbarrows for that purpose. This picture was the view pretty much from our campsite. It was a great place to relax and watch the sailboats and ferris go by. Before we knew it it was Wednesday again and it was time for us to make our way to the west coast of Vancouver Island for our adventure.

Coming soon: Part four in which we discover the joys of sea kayaking.

PS: I have this debate going with sumone, I intend to post way more photos for friends and family, sumone says I should do it on facebook, but I am leaning towards making a Picasa web album. Weigh in on this one if you care to see more pics. Picasa web album vs. Facebook?

Vacation - part two

2009-06-08T11:45:00.007-06:00

Well, let's see...we drove, we visited, we ate, then we drove some more, visited some more and ate some more. That was about it. Honestly I have a hard time blogging about this part of our vacation because it was the time we shared with family and even though I have photos of all those lovely people I am certain that most of them really don't want their mugs on a public blog. Some of them might not care (raise your hand if you don't care) but I lean towards not posting family pics on this blog. So there. All you extroverts can put your hands down now.

We spent a bit of time at Mable Lake, in the Okanagan area of B.C. The water looks appealing in these pictures but trust me on this one, you don't want to swim there until August. That is one cold lake.

How do I know that if I didn't try it? Well, meet my newest toy:

A Fujifilm waterproof camera. I had looked at a waterproof housing for my DSLR when we were in Calgary but as soon as I tried it with my camera I knew that I'd really get frustrated with it. It was way too clumsy and unwieldy. There are better underwater housings available but the cost is really prohibitive unless you are a professional with a professional camera. So we purchased a (relatively) cheap underwater camera instead. While at Mable Lake we took it for a test run. It's really hard to see what you're taking a picture of if you aren't under the water with the camera, but sumonelse was patient enough (and cold tolerant enough) to actually get photos of some fish in the lake. Some day I'll have to take that camera snorkeling.

That night we had a delicious pizza dinner with family. Here's a tip for you: If you need to know where to get the best pizza and how much to order, ask a teenage boy. Thanks to a certain young lad there was a generous supply of delicious pizza. Nobody went hungry, not even the teenage boys.

Then it was onward to visit with my mom (sumonesmumsmum?) and a few of the sisters (hello sisters!). Thanks to the sisters and the brother-in-laws we were treated to a bouquet of flowers and a lovely dinner out. Thanks again!

Coming soon: Vacation -part three, in which we take a ferry, and go places I've never been to before.

Vacation -part one

2009-06-05T20:31:00.000-06:00

Ok, so i just assumed no one ever read my blog, except during lent that is. Then I get people telling me to update the blog already. So I decided I'd do that ( see, I do listen). Now you get to come on vacation with me! I'm still in the process of editting the copious amount of photos, but we don't have to do the whole trip all at once, this could provide me with blog fodder for quite some time.

The trip started with a short stay in downtown Calgary. We rented a suite on the 12th floor of a downtown hotel and had the whole family together. It was fabulous to spend time with the kids, and I found it pretty cool to sit out on the balcony and watch the city at night. I should have had my tripod but no one was willing to trek down to the car to get it for me. Kids these days.

Uhm, this vehicle was the low part of the weekend. The flat tire was discovered just before the car was going into Canadian Tire to have another problem looked at. I'm still feeling bad for sumone. Car troubles suck.

And this didn't help matters.

The high point, for me anyway, was having dinner at a wonderful Indonesian restaurant where we went all out and had the rice tafel. That means that you get to try a bit of almost everything on the menu. Some things were familiar and some were wonderfully new.
Yum.
(I'm SO about the food)

Coming soon: part two, in which we drive a lot, visit a lot, eat a lot, drive some more, visit some more, and eat some more.

Day 40

2009-04-11T21:07:00.002-06:00

#40 Tomorrow is Easter

Let the sunshine in.

Day 39

2009-04-10T20:37:00.002-06:00

#39 Crack

Day 39 already, today is Good Friday and Easter is coming pretty quick. I think I'm taking the easy way out here by posting so many Banff pictures, but hey, Banff is photogenic. It was a truly gorgeous day here and much of it was spent doing springish activities like cleaning the BBQ and staining the new deck chairs. Tomorrow will be the day to scrub the deck and clean out the flower beds. I really am craving greenery and flowers, but there still aren't any leaves or buds here. So Sad! And NO, don't send me any pictures of the tulips in your front yard, I don't want to know.

Day 38

2009-04-09T18:55:00.000-06:00

#38 Cascade Mountain from Lake Minnewanka

Day 37

2009-04-08T20:50:00.002-06:00

#37 Icy Depths

Day 36

2009-04-07T15:39:00.004-06:00

# 36 Ice in the river

Day 35

2009-04-07T14:40:00.005-06:00

#35 Brownie Points if you correctly guess where we went.

We escaped for a few days. Escaped from home, work, telephones, eating healthy, computers AND internet. Honestly I thought I'd be able to post yesterday, and even brought the laptop along to do so, but the hotel we were at had no free internet access and there were lots of things higher on my priority list then finding a free wi fi connection (like walking, reading, soaking in the hot springs, and eating).

On another note, I have to let you know that the gougere I made on Saturday was fantastic. I added a wee bit of salt and some extra cheese (grated parmesan) because I found the batter to be just slightly bland. They were very simple to make and received rave reviews. I will be making these again, they're a nice change from sweet pastries and can be served just as well on their own, as an appetizer, or with a meal (like perhaps a beef stew or a hearty soup). I'm getting hungry now.

Day 34

2009-04-04T18:54:00.002-06:00

# 34 What Have I Done?

Well.... If you haven't guessed... I went to Chapters and added to my stack of books to read. I know it's not a real artistic shot, but it's what I did today. The other thing I did (actually am doing right now) is bake these little gems, I sure hope they turn out as tasty as Pete's look. I'll let you know later.

Day 33

2009-04-03T18:19:00.002-06:00

#33 Chinese section of the cemetery

Day 32

2009-04-02T16:59:00.003-06:00

#32 Some bark, no bite.

I took the camera for a walk today and as I was taking pictures of random tree branches I heard some vicious barking behind me. I turned around and there was this dog jumping up on the fence and barking like crazy. As soon as I started taking pictures of him, he quieted right down and just posed. He was much more photogenic than the trees.

Day 31

2009-04-01T17:34:00.004-06:00

#31 Oh Deer!

While driving around town I spotted a gang of deer just hanging about in someone's front yard. I stopped the car but by the time I got my camera out the deer had all abandoned the front yard and gone through the gate into the back yard. I went to the end of the block and through the alley in time to see them leap over the fence into a little park, where they didn't mind having their pictures taken.

Day 30

2009-03-31T20:10:00.003-06:00

#30 Gazing into the Magic Ball

It was one of those days, I just couldn't find anything interesting to take pictures of. Maybe it's the time of year (it's kinda greyish brown), maybe it's the weather (greyish) or maybe it's my frame of mind (blueish). I dragged the camera with me most of the day and nothing, nada, zilch. As a last resort I dug out the ball and played around a bit.

Day 29

2009-03-30T20:23:00.003-06:00

#29 The Museum is Closed (for the night)

Day 28

2009-03-28T20:24:00.002-06:00

#28 I haven't lost them yet.