Liquid Gold

One of my husband's elder brothers owns several hundred acres of bush west of the city. Three of the brothers, my husband included, use this property communally; they go out there and do man things together, bonding over the smell of woodsmoke, man-sweat, and DEET.

That property gives us many things. The three, hunters all, go up in November to hunt deer, so our freezer is invariably full of venison. I'm iffy on the idea of eating Bambi, but free meat is free meat, so I've found recipes that let me (and my step-daughters) pretend that Bambi is actually Bessie.

In an effort to attract more deer to the property, the brother who owns it plants turnips, beets and other deer favourites. Sometimes in the fall, these veggies find their way into our house and grace our table, sometimes even beside a deer, er, cow, that they were intended to lure.

My favourite gift of that land comes in this time of year: maple syrup. In pictures:

The sap was flowing so quickly that after the tree was drilled, its side was soon soaked.

A fantastic shot by my husband, capturing a single sap droplet falling. I confess to drinking straight from the bucket... the sap is cold and refreshing, and only very slightly sweet.

After only two hours, there was a good 2" of sap collected.

There's a collection of older metal pails as well as the newer plastic ones. All in all, they have about 80 trees tapped; not enough for commercial purposes but enough to keep most of the family in syrup for the entire year.

The trees aren't on lines, so collection is manual. The snow was still deep so it was good wet fun slogging up to the buckets and back.

The wood-fired boiler, hard at work. Man, is it hot in that hut.

Knitting while waiting for the day's boil to complete...

Enjoying an unseasonably warm winter day and a campfire.


Another awesome shot by my husband.

The finished product... many liters of sap later. It is sooo good!

Ooops! Boiled too far... a tasty mistake.

A Little Bit Of Everything

It's been an awesome week.

• I made the Dean's List for last semester! Although I know full well how hard I worked, getting that letter in the mail brought tears to my eyes.
• I have income again. Huge relief.
• I'm booked into Ste. Anne's for three nights in August. After a little dithering I decided to splurge large. I can't wait!
• My husband and I went to Richmond Nursery and picked over 40 lbs (!) of strawberries. It's all berries, all the time now in the house... most went into the freezer but some were dehydrated and of course shortcake was consumed with copious amounts of real whipped cream.
  
• I worked like a dog the last couple of weeks to get the homework situation under control, and now can sit back (just a little!) and relax. However, midterms still continue... pardon my questioning, but doesn't "mid-term" imply that the tests should be... um... in the middle? And not continually throughout? Of course, exams are in a month, too.
• The garden is insanely fertile. The radishes have come and gone, I planted a second round of rapini, and we're eating sugar-snap peas to surfeit daily. The sweet peas are beginning to perfume the air at the front of the house.

On the "what the hell?" side of the coin is city council's decision to make students over the age of 27 pay full price for bus passes; we're no longer eligible for the student prices. This is apparently because older full-time students obviously have less need for money than the city does. I don't understand this move at all, aside from the blatant cash-grab. I've already written my city councillor.

Pictures! Yes!

Ever wonder what 40 lbs of strawberries looks like?

What else has to happen after you pick that many berries?

There was baking last weekend... cinnamon rolls with pecans and cranberries. Ooooh yum.

The cat gets everywhere...

...including, on occasion, stuck between the screen and the glass patio door.

Ummm... help? Anybody?

Finally Pictures

I finally got around to getting the pics off my camera, so here are some things I've meant to show you.

First off, a super-fun afternoon project: a quilted pencil-case. The fabric is left-over from the quilt I made for my niece.




The inside, in a coordinating fabric.

A close-up of the quilting.

My cat had a visitor come calling this week.





We live deep in the 'burbs. The developer's equivalent of strip-mining took place before the houses were plopped down, so the wildlife that used to live here was pushed out or killed. This chipmunk is the first I've seen in two years... nature slowly adapting and creeping back to the land we took.
(PS... Liz has since informed me that this was a red squirrel, not a chipmunk, and that this is even better. :) )

Next... a juicy pendant that Velda sent me for my birthday...



She knows I'm crazy about orange! It was a perfect gift... thank you. :)

The Citrus Poppyseed cake I made yesterday. It's a truly decadent cake, with gobs of butter, sugar and eggs; but it's such an infrequent treat (once a year!) that I can make and eat it guilt-free. Almost. :)





Martha Stewart, I ain't... I couldn't smooth out that icing for the life of me, but since it was being eaten amongst family, I didn't sweat it. It tastes wonderful, despite the crappy decorating job.

I need to return to these...



so farewell for now!

38 Things I Love

In celebration of my... *coughcough* 29th birthday, I present a list of simple things that make me happy.

1. When the perfect song for the moment comes up on random play on my MP3 player.
2. Warm, sunny days.
3. Shoes that look great yet I could still walk all day in them.
4. Snuggles from my cat Mina, who could easily be mistaken for a total bitch otherwise.
5. When the government calls and says, hey, we've made a mistake and actually owe you thousands of dollars. (this happened this week.)
6. Gnocchi with basil pesto, chopped tomatoes, roasted pine-nuts and gobs of feta.
7. Green tea, brewed so strongly that it seems to strip the first couple of layers off my throat.
8. Floaty clothing in strong colours. (You oughta see me today.)
9. The colour orange makes me supremely happy.
10. Friends who rock at buying gifts for you, and know what you'd love, even if you don't.
11. Sitting in the back garden with a drink and chatting with friends.
12. Eating fresh herbs straight from the garden.
13. The smell of sweet peas wafting through the house on a hot summer day.
14. Foot-rubs from my husband as we watch TV together.
15. Brushing my kitties and making them fall over in ecstasy.
16. Hugs. I need more huggy friends.
17. Being perfectly on time for the bus in the morning.
18. President's Choice caramels with sea salt. I am a junkie.
19. Chocolate gelato eaten straight from the container.
20. Working so hard to understand a problem in school, and then finally figuring it out.
21. Total physical exhaustion following a work out.
22. Also, hurting like crazy the day after a work-out... but hurting in the way that tells you the workout was effective and that one day, your abs will rock.
23. Raspberry vodka.
    
24. The perfect dance, where neither of us needs to work too hard to think about what needs to happen; our bodies just take over and we go along for the ride.
25. Random connections with strangers; I wish I was brave enough to make more of them.
26. Friends who will go (sometimes thousands of kilometers) out of their way to spend time with you. This also happened this week. Thank you, Neal.
27. Friends who are so close that you realize they're more like family. Again, thank you, Neal. That's why I hugged your son. If you are family, so is he. Hope he wasn't all weirded out by it.
    
28. Time alone, to eat cereal and toast for supper for a week and not bother to get dressed if I don't have to.
29. Totally not looking my age.
30. Fresh pineapple juice.
    
31. Spending hours in the sewing room, losing myself in the zen of creating beauty.
32. Giving *the perfect gift* to someone, especially if I've made it.
33. Lavender linen spray on crisp, fresh sheets.
34. When I get let off of kitchen duty by my husband to let me do homework. That, friends, is love in action. :)
35. Having a maid. There are far more important things to do with my life then to make sure my shelves are free of dust.
36. Being in a state of anticipation. For example, being very hungry but able to smell the food as it is being prepared, or turning a package over and over in your hands before you open it. The anticipation of an event is (almost) always better than the event itself... I enjoy dwelling there.
37. When men look admiringly after me as I walk by, and women who are strangers to me smile and tell me I'm foxy. That was this week, too.
38. Finishing an exam and knowing in my core that I aced it.

I hope your day is full of the things that *you* love... I'm off to bake a Citrus Poppyseed Cake from the Rebar cookbook.

My Favourite Cookbook

A creature of the Internet age, I have a shelf full of cookbooks that I rarely use. I really ought to just get rid of all but a handful, but somehow having them there gives me comfort, even though I've not cooked a thing from some of them.

There is one cookbook that I prize highly, though, not only for the delicious food it has directed me into making, but for the memories and associations it offers me.



The Rebar, for the unfortunates who know it not, is a wonderful funky, healthy restaurant in Victoria. To me, it epitomizes the entire West Coast ethos... fun, not taking itself too seriously, unafraid to try new things, yet respectful of life. When I lived in Vancouver, I made regular pilgrimages to Victoria's Bastion Square to eat there, and miss it badly now that I'm trapped so far away from my beloved West Coast.

When the cookbook came out, I bought it immediately and drew much solace from its pages. Although the recipes tend to be a little complex from the aspect of ingredients- I rarely have all the ingredients for a specific dish in my rather well-stocked larder- they are all worth the effort. The beautiful lay-out, the personable writing, the comforting feel of this book in the hand, and the many wonderful recipes make me pick up this cookbook over and over, even when I don't intend to cook a thing.

Comfort food, indeed, when just the cookbook itself is so satisfying. Pick it up and leaf through it next time you're browsing your local bookstore, and see if you aren't inspired by the best of the West Coast, as well.

School Is Good for the Waistline

I'd heard about the "freshman fifteen", and although I was pretty sure I wouldn't be a victim, I was a little concerned. Needlessly, as it turns out.

I used to pack amazingly huge lunches at work, not realizing at the time that I ate so much because I was bored with my job. I am the very opposite of bored now; perhaps even overstimulated. I run from class to class, so engaged in what I'm doing that I eat now only to fuel the machine. I make sure the snacks I take to eat in class are veggie-and-fruit heavy, and two days a week I sub in a meal replacement bar instead of a packed lunch.

I've completely overhauled the way I eat, and the way I see food, and it was pretty much effortless. I saw the new routine of school as a perfect opportunity to change what I thought needed changing. I also must say that being surrounded by slim young 20-somethings goes a long way towards keeping me motivated. I'm not competing or anything, but motivation is where you find it.

I've felt fantastic these last couple of months... yes, I'm challenged by the work-load, but I love having my brain stretched in different directions, and I have incredible amounts of energy. I'm down five pounds since school started, and I bet there's more where that came from. I acknowledge that I don't *have* a weight problem, per say, but I could stand to lose a few more to get me to my ideal weight. And if I drop an inch or two in the hip/thigh department in the bargain... well, that's all good.

Actually, I am aiming for the freshman fifteen. Only the other way 'round... taking it off my ass, not packing it on.

I Love School

The first day was a blast and I can't wait to start all my other classes!!! Each day this week is like munching my way through a box of Purdy's chocolates... I don't know exactly what it is but I'm pretty sure I'll like it.

(Speaking of which. Why do only you spoiled Westerners get Purdy's stores? It was insult to injury to move out to Ontario (which is bad enough on its own) and then discover I had to do without really good chocolate.)

Wolf, Hat and Cake

I don't think anyone in this house ever expected to see this done.



As it happens, I took my sewing machine to Arnprior for servicing about three weeks ago, and it's been out of the house for three weeks. What's a girl to do but cross-stitch and knit her fool face off? This project was promised to DH some years ago. Who knows, I might actually have it in a frame by year's end.

Expect another cross-stitch FO soon (!). I feel compelled to do sewing room spring cleaning, as it were, and finish up projects that have been lingering for some time. I want a fresh start with my projects, as I begin my fresh start with my career.

On the other end of the quickness scale. Also finished (in a day or two) is my "Tea Cosy" hat. I am totally loving this. It's alpaca, it's warm, and it's super practical.



From the back:



Yes, it has a pony-tail port! :)

I also did massive amounts of baking.



These are fruitcake... I make a mean cake and have converted several former fruitcake haters with my kitchen mojo.

Last Gasp of the Garden

It's harvest time, more or less, and I have to say I'm pleased with the overall performance of my little square-foot garden. This being the first year, there's definitely tweaks and changes I'll make, but overall, I got good veggie bang for the buck.





Out:
Zucchini. Not overly fond of the stuff to begin with, and the single seed I planted used up so much real-estate and gave me so many squashes that I was filled with despair. Not a bad outcome for someone who actually likes the stuff, granted. Don't ask me why I planted it.

Marigolds. Planted as a pest deterrent, these cheerful blooms often crowded out the actual veggies they were intended to protect.

Peppers: Three plants, two tiny little peppers all season, only one of which was edible. Not worth the effort, IMHO.

Strawberries: I've had both climbing and alpine strawberries going for two years now. While I enjoyed the berries, this summer was so very wet that the majority molded on the vines. As they're good for two good bearing years anyhow, I pulled 'em up.

In:

Garlic: All that real-estate cleared up by removing the strawberries is now turned over to two varieties, Siberian and Fireball. If everything goes well, I'll be self-sufficient next year as far as the stinking rose goes.

More:

Beans: I loved the taste of the fresh and dried-on-the-vine beans. More, please!



Peas: Despite the weird rust that claimed these late in the season, we enjoyed many delicious sugar-snap peas.

Carrots: A sweet heritage seed, these carrots were tasty.

Kale/Chard: What's not to love about these hardy, delicious, healthy greens???





PS: Spot the kitteh!

Slow Food Weekend

With DH and the girls both gone, I am in the enviable position of having no-one to please but myself when it comes to meals. Yesterday I had a craving for pumpkin pie, and after looking around, I settled on a somewhat exotic recipe calling for sweet potatoes and coconut milk called cazuela pie. As I took the fragrant spiced sweet potatoes out of the oven, it made me crave a soup I had had somewhere in my past- sweet potatoes, peanuts, coconut milk and spices. I filed that thought away and continued making my pies.

The pies were done, half of one eaten, and the craving persisted this afternoon, so I turned to my most likely friend in such a food emergency: the Rebar cookbook. I found it immediately: African Yam and Peanut soup with ginger and pineapple. (Recipe is found here... is this even legal to type out recipes from books and publish them on the Internet???)

Anyhow. Unwilling to take any short-cuts, I made a lovely vegetable broth from leeks, celery, carrots, fresh garden herbs and spices, and then used this broth as the base of the yam soup. All afternoon I chopped and stirred, blended and sampled. It's funny how I usually couldn't be bothered to go to this lengths for dinner with a house full... but perhaps since it was only me, I took great pleasure in the preparations.

Dinner was excellent. A glass of Merlot, some whole-wheat naan bread, and a beautiful creamy orange soup graced with cilantro and dull red squiggles of hot sauce. Should have taken a picture but I was too hungry. An excellent recipe, though pretty time-intensive. Fortunately, I'll have left-overs for days, and a freezer stocked with delicious soup.

Knit-Out and Garlic Fest

As far as you know, I've been up to absolutely nothing, because that's pretty much what I've blogged about recently. Truth is, I've been lazy... there's been a lot going on lately.

First there was the OKG Knit-Out at the Experimental Farm. The ever-present rain held off and we all had a lovely day, even my step-daughters, who were corralled into coming. Well, one asked if she could come, the other needed to be coerced to give my husband some much-needed "me" time.


A very patient knitter showing SD the Eldest the tricks of broomstick lace. This is the one who didn't want to come... she got really into it.



The other one loved it right from the get-go, and really enjoyed our Guild president's freakishly large needles.



Then, last weekend, my girlfriend Lisa and I headed out to Carp for the Garlic Festival. We went last year and discovered that the garlic they sell at the supermarket really can't compare to the fresh stuff. This year we went with the intent of purchasing a year's worth of garlic so as to never have to buy it from the supermarket again.





I think I must have bought 6 or 7 pounds of garlic... I hope it's enough. I intend to plant two varieties in the fall for my own personal harvest next summer.

After Carp came my own version of the garlic festival. Bruschetta, heavy on the feta and scapes, and quinoa tabbouleh with mint and parsley straight from my own garden. This is what summer is supposed to taste like.

Breakfast

My husband makes pancakes for the family on Sunday morning. A late riser, I'm usually just rolling out of bed by the time he's rounded up the girls and gone for the day, out to play in the woods at his brother's property.

I came down to this pretty little "Still Life on Mother's Day Morning." My husband's card was mooshy and lovey as always... I swear the man trolls the card shops for hours looking for Just The Right Card. (To make you even more envious, he doesn't just wait for Big Events to give them to me. He's a big one for random romantic moments.)

The girl's cards are a little more ambivalent. SD1, the founder of hell month, writes, "may get really angry But you'll always be the greatest step mom ever". She signs it "HRH of Loud Noises." Too true, and funny as heck. SD2, who's a little meeker and more political despite being younger, simply hopes that I have the best day out of all the days of the year.

I think I might do just that. A little gardening, a little knitting, a little sewing, and I might even fit in a little gaming. Hope your Mother's Day is as pleasant as mine is shaping up to be.

From the Kitchen

DH and his brothers were busy for the last few weeks making maple syrup. What a lot of work and money was invested into the process! This is truly liquid gold.



I think we got about 12 litres of syrup this year... that means nearly 500 litres of sap was collected for our syrup only, to say nothing of the syrup that DH's brothers took home. Crazy, and a whole lot of work. It surprises me that this sells for about $9 a litre in the stores... I know the large operations are way more efficient than DH's wood-burning boiler and manual bucket collection, but it seems to me that the price ought to be higher.

Dh was cooking dinner last night, pepper steak on the barbeque with veggies and potatoes. His cutting board with the chopped veggies was a work of art in itself.





For dessert, I used up a half-dozen pears that I bought in the over-ripe fruit bin at the store. They became a happy part of this Pear-Cardamom Kuchen.

Happy Homemaker

I love to spend time puttering in the kitchen, but have really got out of the practice of slow food lately.

I believe that most every food is good, in moderation. However, I noted an alarming tendency in my diet... too much sugar, too much coffee, too much booze. I was reacting to stress with unhealthy diet, and that it a vicious circle I want no part of... for me, I know that bad diet leads to poor self-image and depression, which leads to eating more sweets and drinking more... it needed to stop.

I have declared a one-week moratorium on sugar, coffee and alcohol, beginning last Thursday. I will extend as desired... frankly, after just four days, I feel ever so much better already. Except for the sugared vanilla syrup in my London Fog this morning (or, for the uninitiated, a non-fat vanilla Earl Grey tea Misto, if you're ordering at Starbucks), and a tiny bit of batter ingested when I, er, "accidentally" licked a wooden spoon (or three) this afternoon, I've been faithful. (Let's call that quality control, shall we?)

Yesterday just before dinner, I realized that if I wanted dessert, I'd have to whip one up. The gelato in the freezer, non-fat though it was, was out of bounds due to sugar content. Rescuing a handful of withery Mac apples, I whipped up an apple pie. I won't use shortening or excessive butter in my pie crusts, and have long become comfortable with the knowledge that my pie crusts will be... how shall I say it... robust. This was no exception. You don't need a plate to eat my pies on... they stand up for themselves. On the plus side, they're high in fiber, low in fat and good for the development of one's jaw muscles.



Today was destined to be a baking day, too. Mom Linda, who has spent her entire life hating fruitcake, loves mine. So we struck a bargain this year... when she came to visit, she'd bring apple pie (I am green with envy over her crusts, though I won't think of the high fat content requires to make them so perfectly flaky.) In exchange, I'd have a ready supply of fruitcake for her.

What with travel and all in the fall, I didn't get a chance to make my fruitcake. It seems a little odd to be doing it mid-February, but all the same, that's how I spent the afternoon. It will be perfectly marinated in brandy by the time mom arrives, a little more then a month from now.



Then, for tonight's dinner, I have a pot of Thai fish soup simmering fragrantly on the stove.


There's something supremely satisfying about healthy, delicious food, made by one's own hands. Despite the fact that I didn't spend the kind of time in the sewing room I had looked forward to, I cannot by any means call the weekend a loss.

I hope your weekend was as satisfying as mine was.

If you are lucky enough to have a long weekend, allow me to a) be green with envy, and b) live vicariously through you. Us Feds get stiffed out of Mr. McGuinty's grand new holiday. Thanks, whoever is responsible for that. Love ya.
(Family Day? When our kids are out of school but we're not off work? Call it "Babysitter's Day", 'cause that's what it is.)