I slept through lunch today.
When I would normally be posting something for my weekly appointment with The Blog, I had an appointment instead with Dr Sandman and a box of Scotties. Oh, dear. It’s not fair, really, because I only just got over a cold! This is maybe the second time I’ve had consecutive rhinoviruses. Making up for those 9 months in which I wasn’t sick, eh?
I’ll need to muster up some energy to cook dinner and bake some birthday brownies for a certain someone. In order to do that of course, I need to clean up the kitchen. Yeah, I’d rather be at work! But it has to be done somehow. I’ll tempt myself with the promise of yummy squash later.
Speaking of yummy things, the following combination is awesome:
quinoa + dried cranberries + black beans (from can) + Stevia to take the edge off in case you didn’t soak the quinoa long enough first.*
cosy that up with
white rice + mixed frzn veggies (I like peas/carrots/corn/lima beans mix)
eat hot, topped with grated romano cheese. for omnivores, some canned fish is good, too.
Careful not to drool into your dish if it’s as good for you as it was for me. Quinoa is also good sauteed in butter with mushrooms; however, my mushrooms decided to dry out before I could eat them, little buggers, so I had to find another option.
Wish me well for next week to be in good shape again for a less head-cold inspired post. Oh, in the meantime, check out all the press my favourite little campaign has been garnering lately!
*The quinoa + cranberry dish is inspired by my sister. The quinoa + black bean combination is inspired by a steaming hot, delicious meal from the Foundation restaurant on Main St. in Vancouver.
The holidays are upon us and to ring it in, Mother Nature sprinkled some snow over our humble city this morning! I never saw it falling and woke up to rain, but I got outside to photograph it a bit. Nothing too special to share this time as per the snow but I thought the above image was quite festive. It’s very, very wet out there but gorgeous especially when the sun peeks out. So, a White pre-Christmas… good enough for me right now! And yesterday was the Winter Solstice, which means days will now be getting longer. For the shortest day of the year, it was a pretty good one!
It was a year ago today when I posted my first holiday message complete with a photo of a grumpy little fish. This year, Jake gets some furry white cotton on his stocking that I pulled off an old elf-doll I made as a kid. Jake is, of course, just as pissed off to have his view blocked by something bright red. (It’s plain on the back side.)
Continue reading This merry time of year »
The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz
Our Canstruction 2007 skull scupture, recreated in orange flesh.
Photo by Mike Savage.
On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind — the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.
I spent my Friday evening with purpose: le nettoyage. I tackled three key spots in my living room that were riddled with junk, amalgamated some unpacked stuff sitting around in two boxes since last year (oy), and subsequently made good space in my kitchen closet. I’d have to say half of what was lingering in that closet, however, was plastic bags.
Big ones, small ones, some the size of your head. Give ’em a twist, a flick of the wrist… and stuff them into four or five groups of screw-it-I-don’t-care-if-it-says-it’s-recyclable-or-not-it’s-getting-recycled-NOW bags. Gone, goodbye.
And at the end of it all, there are still more.
Continue reading Plagued by plastic bags »
raspberries: pleasure > price
squash, cooked
gourds
grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, apples
bananas
can’t wait for mandarin oranges but gloves will be required in that chilly outdoor paradise
mashed potatoes and meatloaf, carrots
broccoli and mushrooms for later with the peppers
tomatoes with that delicious tomato scent
can’t wait for raspberries in my cereal
ooh, oatmeal: an even better treat! how i wish i had yogurt.
note to self: raspberries in cereal and raspberries in oatmeal.
oh fruit brings fruit flies. the betta (fish) enjoyed it very much.
tomorrow is four minutes closer to 12 hours of night and so far autumn has treated me exceptionally well. the local food is abundant.
can’t wait for pumpkins.
The Monday lunch blog resumes with the conclusion that it is now officially Fall. I think.
Chinese Lanterns — the plant, that its — hang in the Granville Island Public Market (October, 2006)
My mother always brought the seasons and holidays into our home. The fall saw gourds and miniature, ornamental pumpkins, perhaps some dried leaves, and of course the annual Halloween decorations I put up every year til I moved out. She had me tastefully decorate the gourds once with a little bit of fabric paint.
Now it’s my second autumn in my own home and I’m feeling the urge to embrace it with decor. Nothing tacky, and hopefully nothing plastic. I saw some gourds at the supermarket but I’m hoping to find something a little “fresher” and more local, say, from the farmer’s market. If anything spells autumn, it’s nature and the harvest!
Dried cornstalk at the farmer’s market (October, 2006)
So do you, readers, have any suggestions for simple, organic ways to warm up the house for the fall? I have a coffee table and dinner table I can do up with baskets, a corner table and a windowsill or two. Even the TV bench would work for small things. I passed by Michaels and perused through their flyer later at home and saw a few good things, but crafts in the common sense are too cheesy for me. Pinecones are nice as well but I associate them with Christmas generally. I’d love to see what the Finns do this time of year especially given our geographic similarities.
a soft quilt protects the
atmosphere as far as
the eye can see.
it follows us along.
comfort.
when we pause i can see it gently moving ever so slightly
to the east.
mt baker looks bare.
wishing i had a camera to show you
the concentric circles pulsing in shallow puddles
on the concrete checkerboard
the mountains disappear today
behind mist, fog and cloud
the sky tapping on the pavement, rooftops, railings
huddled warm inside i can’t wait for a hot cup of tea, blanket and a movie
can’t wait for candles, pumpkin pie and hot oven-baked meals
leaves turning turn the time ahead of time
and crunching turns to splashing
it will rain all the time now
fogging up the glass, and darkness
shatters light through raindrops
on the flat windshield of a lazy bus
i dream of summer.
no, now i dream of fall for the first time.
blackberries, peaking, dwindling. the aroma
is irresistible
and here it is, near october and
i have reconciled with summer ending.
with seasons shifting,
as they are wont to do. and it begins again
It’s surprising what we can accomplish in an evening after work with the right amount of effort. I don’t get home until 7 after I finish at 5:30, but that time of the day on a sunny evening is just absolutely gorgeous in my neighbourhood. I have a quick, relaxing walk home from the bus and then dinner since I’m always ravenous when I get in. On Tuesday, I forced myself to not waste my evening and energy, and go for a walk after dinner. It was almost 8 by the time I left the house, armed with a camera and independent of my iPod.
Continue reading Night Moves »
Enjoying the view at Cates Park last summer (photo by my father)
As summer draws to a close here on the west coast, I reflect on this and past summers while starting to think about the new season fast approaching. It’s been an eventful summer, kicked off by graduation in May, a new job in June, and followed by three road trips and lots of family visits. (In the end, somehow not enough of the last two.) I was fortunate to reunite with four “long-lost” cousins this summer, three aunts and one uncle. I went to places that were new to me — Salmon Arm and Princeton — and truly went camping for the first time. Yet somehow, after all this adventure and enjoyment, it feels as though summer as a season didn’t really happen. I couldn’t manage to attribute it to taking on a full time job for the first time — I didn’t want to admit to it and previous summers with almost as much work involved didn’t pan out like this one. As it turns out, I’m not the only one to have noticed the lack of heat and lack of “summeriness.” It’s not the job at all (thank goodness). It simply hasn’t been hot! We had a couple blazing hot weeks way back in May and a breathtakingly hot day awhile back, but generally it’s been cooler overall. We also had a very, very wet June. It all boils down to me struggling to keep what’s left of the summer, enjoy it, bask in it, and convince myself it’s still July. HA. So I took a short trip to the swings in the park yesterday (gotta love my office’s location).
Continue reading From one season into another »
When I walked in the door this evening, our angelfish, Agnes, was poking around at the back of the tank, which is on the other side of the large room. No sooner did I look for her as I closed the door, did I see her excitedly approach the glass and start flitting about. She saw me from clear across the room! We’re talking about a fish with eyes the size of capers. Smart fish! I thought to myself, it’s like having a dog to come home to. “Hello, Agnes!” before I could even take off my shoes. She follows me back and forth when I walk by, begging to be fed. I’d show you a picture, but she moves too fast for the camera’s liking.
