Citius, Altius, Fortius, Knittius

The Torino Winter Games are to begin today! How am I acknowledging this celebration of human ability? I'm knitting a skirt. I've joined the Knitting Olympics. This event put together by the Yarn Harlot, dares and challenges all knitters to knit a piece that will begin no sooner than the lighting of the Olympic flame and must end before the closing ceremonies.

I'm going to be making a 5-paneled A-line knee-length skirt. I'm going to be using Sirdar Donegal 'Tweed' yarn in Grass. It's a mashine-washable wool blend and will be ready just in time to meet Spring. I picked up a whole swack of it last month at Mad About Ewes big clearance sale.

There are no rules other than the start and stop time. Any knitter embracing the Olympic philosophy of "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (faster, higher, stronger) and is ready to let the next 16 days get sucked around a pair of knitting needles and ball of yarn is welcome to join.

Part of the deal is to also challenge yourself with a project. If you're a first timer, then a simple scarf may be challenging enough. For me the challenge would be that I don't have a pattern to follow and that I've never made a skirt in this manner before. So this project depends a lot on trusting my gut instincts. Once I have my first panel done, I'll have a better idea if my initial plan will work or not.

Right now, I need another cup of coffee. This month I'm working my through the Saltspring Island coffees. Their Sumatra roast is very fruity.

Go Team Canada!
Update: Here's the skirt. Unfortunately, the yarn wasn't the best choice for a skirt for me. It didn't drape enough and was a bit thick for my liking.
This skirt eventually got frogged and turned into the Fiddlehead jacket

Crap Wrapped in Lettuce

Darren has requested a recipe for lettuce wraps. So here it is, plus some variations.

This recipe is great for novice cooks and is very versatile. It falls in the aforementioned chinese cooking system of 'chop up crap, throw crap into hot wok, season with more crap, eat crap.'

Basic Lettuce Wrap Recipe:

Ingredients:
Meat crap - I usually use ground pork. You can use any ground meat. A pound is enough for 4 servings. You can also use leftover meat like chicken, BBQ pork, duck, salmon, meatloaf, shrimp, roasted squirrel. If you use pre-cooked meat just add it at the end to just warm through.

You can also use tofu or tempeh. For tofu, use firm or extra firm. If using firm tofu, just sandwich the tofu block between two large plates with a can of whatever on top to squeeze out excess water. Crumble or chop into a small dice.

Vegetation crap: Whatever as long as it's not watery like a tomato. The usual veg crap for this are carrots, celery, onion. You can also use water chestnut (fresh not canned. Canned water chestnut is it's own punishment), jicama, fennel, bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. I'd stick with crunchy veggies that cook up fast. You can also use up leftover veggies here too. I like gai lan, sugar peas, mushroom (shitake is very good) and spinach. Again, if using already cooked veggies, add at end to just warm through.

Don't go overboard. This is one of those times that you should K.I.S.S.

Other crap: I like adding nuts, just a handful of walnuts, pine nuts or even pumpkin seeds add a neat extra dimension to the dish. Toast the nuts before adding. Just throw them into a dry pan at medium heat. Once they start getting some colour & you can smell the nuttiness, they're done.

Seasoning crap: Ginger, garlic, shallots, szechuan peppercorns, soy sauce, fish sauce, curry powder, ancho or chipotle chili powder, 5-spice, 7-spice, ground cumin and corriander, sesame seed oil, black bean sauce. Again K.I.S.S

Oil: Use peanut oil or veggie oil (canola, safflower, corn etc). Save your olive oil for another time.

Condiment crap: Hoisin sauce is the traditional favorite. Plum sauce or duck sauce is also pretty good. You can also serve with a chili-fish sauce (just mix a glop of sambal oelek and fish sauce together) and some wedges of lime. If you're using curry powder or powdered cumin and corriander, you might want to opt for some yogurt sauce (1/2 cup yogurt, some chopped cilantro/parsley, 1 minced garlic clove and squeeze of lime/lemon, salt & pepper to taste) or a chutney. If you're using ancho or chipolte powder, some salsa or sour cream will work well.

Instructions:
There are 2 main factors to a good basic lettuce wrap filling. One is that everything is cooked up fast so have everything chopped and right beside you at the stove. Secondly, the filling can't be a sloppy, wet mess. Unless you like wearing your dinner.

1- Chop veggies into small dice (1/4 inch cubes). Mince ginger & garlic if using.
2- If using raw ground meat, season with a good healthy pinch of salt.
-If using leftover meat, either dice or shred the meat.
3-Heat up a couple glugs of oil in pot/wok/pan at medium-high heat.
4- Add ginger & garlic to oil. Don't let it brown.
5- Add ground meat. Spread it out over the bottom of the pan.
6-Let it brown. This means "DO NOT TOUCH". For about 3-4 mins. Let the meat get some colour before you start farting around there with your spatula.
7- Once the meat is cooked, add the veggies. Cook for a minute.
8- Add other crap (nuts, seasoning stuff). Start off with a couple spoonfuls. Taste it before adding more. If you're using any of the spices like curry or black bean sauce, push some of the mixture to one side of the pan, let the moisture evaporate a bit and toss your seasoning onto the dry pan bottom to let it get a bit toasty. Be careful not to burn it. Toasting will help bring out the flavours and aroma of the seasonings. Mix in with the rest of the crap.
9-Taste it. If it needs more seasoning crap then add some. If not, then don't mess with it.
10- Serve with iceberg lettuce leaves and condiment crap.

Lettuce tips:
1-Use iceberg lettuce. Do not deviate, the other lettuces won't have the strength to hold the filling and you'll end up with filling on your lap.
2- Remove the core from the lettuce with a small paring knife. Just cut around the core with the knife pointed towards the centre so you end up with a cone shaped lettuce stump.
3-Slowly peel one leaf at a time. Cut off any thick stalks.
4- Wash the leaves and dry them as best you can without ripping. Stack them onto a plate and keep in fridge with a damp towel over them until needed.
5- You will end up a bunch of inner leaves that won't work. Save those for another use like an iceberg salad with blue cheese dressing and walnuts for lunch tomorrow. Or shred them and toss them into a bowl of congee.

Leftover Lettuce Wrap filling ideas:

You might as well make more than you need. So double or triple the recipe. For the most part, the filling can be frozen and used later.

The filling also makes a great base for fried rice or chow mein. It is as simple as reheating the crap in a wok and tossing in some cooked rice or noodles.
It can also be thown into a congee.

You can throw it into a bowl of noodles and soup.

Throw a bowl of leftover filling into a hot pan with a bowl of stock or water. Add a couple handfuls of spinach. Take pot off of heat and add a slurry (1 tbsp of corn starch and cold water mixed). Put back onto heat, bring back to boil for the slurry to thicken the sauce. Add more seasoning (soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce) if needed. Serve over sauteed asian greens or snap peas if you have them. Serve with rice.

If you have curried filling, just reheat it with a bit of stock or water. Add some more curry powder or ginger if needed. Toss in some coconut milk and serve over rice.

You can also serve the filling with naan or tortillas.

Chili powder seasoned filling is a perfect foundation for a quick burrito/taco. It is also the beginnings of a fast, easy stew/soup. For stew, just reheat a bowl of the filling and add a couple of spoonfuls of tomato paste. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat. You're looking to caramelize the tomato paste, not burn it. Stir continuously. Toss in a can a diced tomatoes and bring to boil then let simmer for 15 mins. Add more seasoning if needed.

For soup, skip the tomato paste and add a cup of stock along with the diced tomatoes.

Now I'm hungry.

Later my lovelies.

Gung Hay Fat Dog!

Happy New Year of the Bitch!

Let's get this party started.

So, I had myself a nice little Chinese New Year dinner this past weekend. For the first time in who knows how long, I actually made Chinese food for it. I was considering doing a Moroccan Chinese New Year. Since Chinese food has taken over the globe I always feel it's only ironically fitting to serve the cuisine of other cultures on this most festive of Chinese holidays.

Check out "Chinese Restaurants", a 13 part documentary by Cheuk Kwan about the Chinese food diaspora if you ever have a chance. There's a freaking Chinese restaurant where ever you are, from Trinidad to the most remote northern corner of Norway. For a hilarious look behind the scenes, check out cinematographer Kwoi Gin's Rice Bowl Diaries. It is proof that the line, 'Well, I'm making a movie.' is a great way to pick up chicks no matter what country you're in.

However, I've been hankering for some beef in black bean sauce and since most of the Chinese restaurants in this rusty town is known more for their neon red sweet & sour sauce on deep fried anything, I figured I'd do Chinese this year for the lunar new year.

I actually followed some of the food traditions. I even put out a traditional plate of sweets , aka the Tray of Togetherness, for our guests to munch on as I finished dinner. White Rabbit candies are a traditional sweet, aren't they?

Anyways, here's the menu:
-Beef & lychee in black bean sauce
-Lettuce wrap with pork and walnut & szechuan peppercorns
-Potstickers
-Pan-fried Lo Bak Go (Chinese turnip cakes. Tastes so much better than it sounds)
-Braised Chinese mushrooms (shitake, straw, enoki, black fungus, white fungus) and bean curd
-Ginger Prawn Chow Mein
-Asian fruit salad (star fruit, pomelo, mandarin orange, chinese apple pear, lychee) with lime-honey dressing
-Lychee chocolate truffles

I probably made more Chinese food for this feast than for all of last year put together. I must have been cooking from genetic memory since I can't remember making half these dishes before and I would risk losing my Chinese certification if I used recipes. Who uses recipes for Chinese cooking anyways? It's pretty much just chop up your crap, throw in your crap into a hot wok, season it with some more crap and toss your crap onto a plate and serve!

Anyways, happy year of the bitch.

Eat, Drink and Be Chinese!

Harper Ate My Country

Am I blue?
Am I blue?
Ain’t these tears in these eyes telling you,
How can you ask me,
Am I blue?

That's what Canadaland was singing this morning in the shower, trying to get Bush's dried-up jizz out of its mullet.

Prime Minister Harper.

Wow, tastes like moose ass when I say that.

I'd drown my sorrows in a 40 pack of Timbits but Timmy Ho's is American now, so I'll just lay here with my toque and my Care Card pressed ever so gently against my cheek and dream of simpler times....sigh

Here's a recipe for a Coffee Crisp cocktail to get that nasty moose sphincter taste out of your mouth:

In an old-fashion glass pour in:
1/2 oz Amaretto Almond Liqueur
1/2 oz Kahlua Coffee Liqueur
1/2 oz Irish Cream
Fill with Milk

Nothing to Love

(Photo taken of ice formation on rock on Arrowsmith Mountain last year. So beautiful it kinda hurts. Don't know if it hurts because it's so beautiful or because it's so temporary.)

I love nothing.

That came out wrong.

I'm in love with...ACK...damn this bloody, bastardized language. This is why Buddhism could not have been born in the west. Maybe that's how Russia gave birth to Nihilism. It was all just a big misunderstanding.

Heck, I shouldn't be loving nothing anyways. I'll just become too attached to it and then I'll drive it away. Nah, nothing wouldn't leave me? Would it?

Most likely I'll just forget it somewhere like on the edge a gas station bathroom sink, where it'll grow into a brilliant fuschia gas station bathroom algae bloom and take over the world.

Maybe it'll wander off one night and end up hitching a ride with a bunch of tree planters. Homesickness will get to it and it'll walk back home only to be shot in the leg by a drunken target hunter. The hunter brings nothing home to heal and nothing returns the favor by boffing the hunter's wife. Then the hunter offs himself to frame...wait, how the hell did nothing end up on the set of Clay Pigeon? Which, BTW, is one of the most under-rated movies of the last decade. Love the chemistry between Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix. Loved that Joaquin did Brother Bear. Great animated movie about rights of passage and examination of self and who we deem as our enemies. Also, SCTV's McKenzie brothers show up in this movie disguised as a pair of moose, making this Disney film about a hunter that becomes a bear more Canadian than anything Cronenberg every made.

I would presume than the writers of this film based the story on the Dancing Bear mythology. The Dancing Bear is the ubiquitous stone carvings of a happy bear balanced on one foot that, along with the Inukshuk, represent 98.5% of the Inuit art being sold in Canadaland. In Inuit mythology, humans are reincarnated as animals and since the bear is the king of the land up in the Great White North, one would be so thrilled to come back as this gorgeous creature that they would bust a move. Reincarnation is not just a process between lives but also within one's life. Our stages from birth to death is linked by reincarnations as we leave our old selves and enter the realm of our new selves. Sometimes these shifts are ritualized into graduations, weddings, christenings, debutante balls etc. All are rites of passage and involve some form of ritualized death and rebirth.

Words, simple shifts of words, can sometimes be all that is needed to close one door and open another . "I now pronounce you blah blah blah."

Words often mark milestones in a relationship. Walls are breached from the first 'hello'.

How many hours have I sat with pencil and paper untangling words from my brain until that one word comes and it all just spills out.

But words are nothing.

Nothing.

Right.

I love nothing.

I also love freshly ground coffee. I spent a good 5 mins sniffing freshly ground Mexican Chiapas coffee and watching the storm come in.

I also love Manchego cheese. Can't find any Manchego cheese in this town this week. Might have to find a way into the underground Manchego cheese cartel.

I'm such a slut. Yep, a rambling, coffee-sniffing, cheese hunting, knitting-freak, nothing of a slut. And you all love me for that!

Kisses and smackings to you all.

P.S. - Pat your scarf is ready. I might send it over via flying marmots. Be on the watch for flying marmot poop. That shit stains. Maybe I'll just wait & give it to you the next time I see ya.

Martin Luther King Jr. Never Got Any Swag

What is that bright disc in the sky? Ack, my eyes are burning!

After another day of bruising storms, the rusty coast is enjoying a brief siesta. Enjoy!

Yesterday, our southern neighbours celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day with a pageant of blindingly white smiles, frocks that exceed the GNP of most African countries, over-primped tresses, collagen plumped lips and silicon enhanced everything else known as the Golden Globe Awards. Actually, I'm just assuming that's what was showcased at the awards since I opted to spend the evening knitting a scarf for my sis and reading 'Ender's Game'. But I'm sure it was a great fashionable feast of Hollywood backpatting.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and legacy, re-reading Ender's Game and watching the mudfest that is Canadaland's federal election has me thinking about what makes a good leader, or in the case of the federal election, what doesn't make a good leader. At best, the party leaders look and sound like a bunch of cranky toddlers throwing poop and blame at each other. Watching the debates, I actually wished that the Parti Québécois ran in my riding. But they don't and I'm stuck trying to figure out which of the evils is the least malignant.

Not voting is not an option.

Men like Roy Mah and Douglas Jung and other men from the Chinese community went off to fight in WWII so brats like me could mark my 'X' like other Canadians. They gambled with their lives with no guarantee that their efforts would lead to the Chinese community's enfranchisement. They did it because they saw that they only way to change things was if they stepped up and made the changes within. Instead of sitting around and waiting for enfranchisement and equality, they took it upon themselves to act like Canadian citizens, to accept the responsibility of being an Canadian citizen despite the 'Alien' designation stamped on their birth certificates.

They weren't heroes. They were leaders.

And I would be a bugger if I didn't vote.

I'll leave you with this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:
- 'But I know somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.'


P.S. - Just found out that a trip to the Antartica was part of the Golden Globe swag bag. Along with cold weather gear!!! If some generous swag recipient wants to pass on this trip and gear to little ole me, I'd be forever grateful. I'll even knit you a sweater.

Knitting Rain and Pizza R n' D

Hey, look out the window. Surprise! Here comes the rain again. I've had that Eurythmic's song running through my head all day yesterday (...talk to me...like lovers dooooo.) At least it replaced that stupid hippo song. Scratch that, stupid hippo song just came back.

Well, this last spell of rain is proving why this is the rusty coast of Canada. We're in the last stretch of days before we break a record for the most consecutive days of rain. Go rain go!

So, according to the Grand Poobah of Weatherametrics of Canadaland, you could actually count the number of hours of sunlight that we've had since Dec. 19, 2005 on your fingers, even if you had one stuck up your nose.

So Rusty Coasters (or is that Coasterinias, or maybe it's Coasterites, how about Coasterese?) have to find ways to combat the soggy winter blahs. Some try light therapy, some run off to somewhere else where it doesn't feel like the sky is a leaky faucet and others just bitch and moan and count the number of hours of sunlight on their snot-covered fingers.

I like to embrace the fact that there is a season where I can listen to old Eurythmics songs and new Radiohead songs and lots and lots Chet Baker in between and read a bushel of Dylan Thomas' poetry and re-read the LOTR for the 50th time and knit a sweat factory full of sweaters and scarves and other cozies and drink pots and pots of tea and be glad that I don't have to wash the car for months. As Neil Young sings it, be the rain. Yes, my darlings, sometimes it's fun just to drown in clichés.

Speaking of knitting, I just picked up a skein of the most gorgeous mohair yarn. The yarn is made by Fleece Artist and is from their HandMaiden line. Fleece Artist is based in Halifax and make the most delicious hand-dyed yarns. They are my favorite yarn producer and are quite affordable. I picked up the Baby Kid (http://www.fleeceartist.com/yarn_babykid.html) in Blue Lagoon. Some of it is going into a short scarf I'm making for my my sister. The rest I think I'm going to fashion into a shawl of rain.

Last night we got to do some research and development with our backcountry oven. We had some friends over for dinner and I had made a couple of homemade pizzas. Just when I was about to pop them into the oven, I realized that the oven wasn't working. So out comes the backcountry oven. A backcountry oven is basically a non-stick pan with a lid that has a built-in thermometer for baking stuff on camping trips. There's a 'pot cozy' that fits over the whole thing that helps keep the heat in. The whole thing sits ontop of your camping stove. Ours is made by Backpacker's Pantry.

So we heated it up, popped in the pizza, had another glass of red wine and chatted. We were drinking Cono Sur's organic Cab Sav which was had a nice earthiness to it. Luckily, I had also made a pot of chorizo sausage and black bean soup, so I wasn't too worried about not having anything for dinner.

Since the backcountry oven works best when the temp hovers around 350F and I usually bake pizza at around 500F, I was curious to see how the temp difference would affect the end product. Obviously, it would take longer but would it affect the taste and texture of the pizza? Hmmm, enquiring bellies wanted to know.

Halfway through the baking, the kitchen oven decided to work again and so I popped the second pizza into that at 500F for 12 mins. I was excited to be able to do a taste comparison of the two pizzas (I know, I'm such a geek).

Well, the pizza baked in the kitchen oven turned out great. I had made a whole wheat pizza dough and topped it with pesto, artichoke hearts, olives, cooked chorizo sausages, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and mozzarella cheese. The crust was perfect with a nice crunch and a tender inside and the cheese was nicely golden.

The backcountry oven pizza turned out pretty good too with only a few minor issues. One was that it took a bit longer, about 30 mins. to bake. We didn't have the stove fully pumped and weren't exactly keeping close watch on the fuel output. We also had it cooking outside on the porch where the winds were probably pulling a bit of heat away.

Obviously, you can only make one pizza at a time. There's enough pizza to feed 2 bellies for dinner (or one very hungry belly.) So if you have more bellies, you either have to make more pizza or supplement it with a hearty soup.
Another thing is that the crust didn't really get crusty. It was baked fine and was soft and tender but there was no crunch to the crust. Maybe we should have let it baked for another 10 mins but my belly was grumbling. Also, the cheese didn't get golden but I didn't expect for it to. Since all the toppings just needed to get warmed through, they worked well.

In the past I have found that wetter ingredients (fresh tomatoes and other veggies) and a too thin of a sauce don't fair well in a backcountry oven pizza. The moisture pools ontop of the pizza. I'd suggest using a basil or parsley pesto or a tapenade instead of tomato sauce and stick with toppings that don't need cooking so they won't release much moisture. That said, if I was on a kayaking trip or car camping, this pizza would be a pretty deluxe way to end the day.

That's it for now. I'm off to be the rain.

Dance with a dirty old man

Canadian poet, Irving Layton, died yesterday in Montreal after a battle with Alzheimer's . (Note to self: Never do battle with Alzheimer's, it always wins. Pick on a something my own size like a canker sore.) Whether you thought of Layton as a prince of words or a dirty old man is moot since all Canadian poets are dirty old men, even the women. Especially the women. Yes, even Maggie Atwood. Do you think anyone could possess a wit that sharp and not be a dirty old man?
Of all Canada's Pantheon of Poets (who, by the way, gather at a Tim Horton's every spring in Sudbury for their annual general meetings. I hear George Bowering is fond of the Dutchie) Layton was the best at being a dirty old man, IMHO. Yeah, I know, Lenny does a pretty good job at it too but he's a freaking Buddhist now.

Layton embodied the anti-Puritan zeal and throb of dirty-old-manliness on and off the page. He lived singing of thighs, breasts and shoulders. He died with his 'loins wrinkled like the forehead of a sage.'

So, on this day I will remember Irving Layton as one of Canada's greatest dirty old men. They certainly don't make them like they used to.

Just wondering...

why are Ziyi Zhang's pretty brown eyes aqua-blue in the 'Memoirs of a Geisha' posters? Is Crystal Gayle singing the theme song?

Just wondering.

Swooning Naked Monks

I'm listening to the 'Ballads of the Swooning Naked Monks', otherwise known as 'Carmina Burana' by Carl Orff. The most famous bit 'O Fortuna' is the music they play in movies when the hero escapes imminent death and things all around blow up.

In a past life, I had the oppurtunity to perform this in a chamber choir. It was one of the most moving musical experiences I've ever had. Wildly crazy about Orff already, I was doubly thrilled to be singing the poetry of a bunch of vagabond monks and vagrants who were the authors of the 25 poems that Carmina Burana is based on. The poems revolved around 3 things: Spring, drinking and love. Perfect material for a green, tender maiden like moi to be studying. I did my best to acquaint myself with all three.

(You can't really expect me to be too serious about music that has lines like 'my virginity makes me frisky'. )

As moving as it is to listen to the 'O Fortuna' verse while Mr. Hollywood Hero is swinging on a telephone wire and saving Miss Hollywood Starlet from the scorching her lovely locks, it is hundred times more moving to be inside the music, surrounded by your choral comrades, voices lifted, pissed off at Fate.

But my favorite moment is the the 20th song 'Veni, veni, venias ' with it's robust vocals and percussion angst that spills into the vulnerable solo vocals of 'In truitina '. So tragically lovely. Sigh.

So here's to a bunch of swooning ,naked (well, they were defrocked) monks. If I had some mead, I 'd raise a glass of that to you but since isn't noon yet I'll raise my cuppa coffee to you.

BTW, I'm drinking Kicking Horse's Fair Trade Kick-Ass coffee. Nice, strong morning blend. Goes very well with a slice of pumpkin-persimmon bread.

Have a swooningly lovely day!

Winter Solstice Part Two

I decided I needed to spend the few hours of light left on the shortest day of the year outside wandering about the seawall. I needed to properly welcome winter, as unwinterly as it may be. The rain that pelted the Rusty Coast this morning had quieted down. It was so warm that by the time I got to the seawall I had already unwrapped my scarf, taken off my jacket and gloves. I hadn't even bothered putting on a toque. It was dreary and grey. I cursed the lack of snow and the balmy weather. It's going to be hard to find any ice-climbing next week without a huge drive. I know it's supposed to be mild out here but if this weather were a 8-year old, it would get picked on every recess. Winter looked like something the cat dragged in.

I looked across the channel and on a post, perched like the King of England, was a blue heron. I thought about my friend Karin who has a strong connection to these regal birds. She had recently sent sad news of her dear feline's passing. It all made me realize that I had much to be grateful for. The grey that was so dreary was now not so. I looked over to the small island in the channel and smiled. It's trees were crowned in winter mist. With an impossibly slow sweep of its wings, the heron took flight. The sky's greying was now a myriad of silvers and pewter. The air was crisp and alive. I smiled and thought. 'It's a grand day to welcome in winter!'

When one welcomes winter, one needs the right nourishment. So I walked down to McLean's Fine Food store, a dangerous place for a belly like mine. My mission was to find cheese and olives. But instead of going straight to the cheese counters, I tortured myself by going up and down all the aisle. So many wonderful food delights and so little time and money. The cheese counter was a slow tango of decision making. Do I want something mild and tender? Or do I want a ripe, pungent kiss of blue-veined opera? In the end I chose the Pecorino Pepato Isola Siciliano, but I did flirt a bit with the Gorgonzola. With cheese and a container of assorted olives, I headed back home.

The universe had another plan for me.

Did you know that Christmas is coming soon? Really. It's within days. With a few hours of daylight that I had left in the shortest day of the year, I decided that had to find some gifts for our neice and nephews. Now, not to say that I haven't been thinking about them, I just kinda thought that the right gifts would just find me eventually. But that doesn't seem to be happening so I wandered about through used book stores and small local shops looking for something that would say, 'Tah dah! The perfect gift!' I really, really thought that I could find a barely used copy of 'The Little Prince' in perfect condition just sitting there on the shelves. Or a fair-trade Peruvian hand puppet that any little girl would immediately fall in love with.

No such luck. But I did run into my dear friend Tim, a brilliant poet and ancient, warm soul, who was busking with his pennywhistle in front of the library. He had an umbrella of candy cane red and white opened and tucked into his belt and a huge smile and hug for me. Life is good.

Then DH calls and tells me he has the rest of the day off and I can take the car to find gifts at the mall. Typing this now, I don't know how got to thinking it was perfectly fine that I spend the few hours of light on the shortest day of the year in a MALL!?!? I chalk it up to my missing my afternoon tea and therefore suffering from a lack of civilizing caffeine.

Going to the mall only reminded me why I don't go into malls, especially during this time of year. I'm no Scrooge. I love giving gifts, almost as much as I love receiving them. But mall gifts? I wanted to give them something that would reflect some facet of DH and me. I reminded myself the first rule of giving: Give a person something that they want, not what you want them to want.

(But doesn't every little girl want a fair-trade Peruvian hand puppet?)

So I braved through the crowds and the processed music and found gifts for the kidlets. I attempted to leave the parking lot but someone must have rearranged all the entrances and I ended up getting lost. I eventually found an exit and as I was waiting at the stop sign, a big, white van pulled in and a pair wonderful, smiling familiar faces popped out of the window. The universe had granted me the gift of another chance meeting with friends!

After an impromptu coffee visit with my friends, I headed home with my belly grumbling. Poor belly.

There wasn't much in the fridge but it was all that I needed. A bunch of brocolli, half an onion, a few carrots, a German smokie and, of course, the cheese and olives from this afternoon. I made a simple soup for our winter solstice dinner. I cut up the smokie and pan-fried them until they were crusty and brown, added chopped onions and carrots and let that all saute. Deglazed it all with a bit of white wine leftover from last night. Then I added the brocolli, florets and stalks cut into bite-sized pieces. I pitted and coarsely chopped a handful of moroccan salted olives and threw those in. Then I covered it all with boiling water, along with a can of chickpeas. I let it come to boil then let it simmer for a bit. The olives, smokies and veggies did a good job making a quick broth. A few sprigs of thyme and oregano from the kitchen garden, a few grinds of pepper and dinner was ready.

Unfortunately, DH had work tonight so I dined alone. I ate in my newly curtained dining room. The curtains do help to keep the chill out of that corner. The soup complimented the pecorino cheese so very well. I paired the cheese up with the walnut bread. The earthy, nuttiness of the bread held it's own against the strong peppery sheep milk cheese.

It's been a grand day. A day of unplanned gifts in so many ways.

Welcome Winter! I hope you enjoy your stay!

Happy Winter Solstice!!

Winter solstice is upon now, though it feels very unwintery on the Rusty Coast with temps up to 11C today. I will wax poetic about this glorious annual milestone a bit later. I will leave you with this quote from Billy Shakespeare for now:

Blow,blow thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind,
As man's ingratitude.

Please pardon the mess...

What do you expect from someone who decided to start a new blog just days before Elf Hunting season begins?? So the house is a minor catastrophe. How the heck did my knitting crap get all over the freaking place and how come last week I couldn't find a single yarn needle and today there's a colony of them that have taken the coasters as hostages??

I can explain. I've been making 'Happy Birthday Jesus!' gifts all weekend. This year it's brittle. Partly because I love brittle and so if I love it then everybody else loves its. Dems the rules. Also because I had pretty much all the ingredients and my bank account is a bit barren.

I made pumpkin & sesame seed molasses brittle, plain ole peanut brittle, spicy pecan brittle and an almond toffee. Miracles of miracles, there's actually some left for gifts.

So the kitchen got a bit messy and then I had to bake bread yesterday. It was supposed to only be a bread morning but it ended up being a bread day. All day and into the night. I made 3 loaves of walnut-kamut, 3 loaves of seed & multigrain, 2 loaves of fruit-anise seed bread and a patridge in a pear tree. But it was neccessary. We were completely out of bread. Nada, not a crumb. I didn't know what to sop my soup up with. I mean, I make soup just so I can sop it up with bread. We cannot soup without sopping!

Somehow a relaxed morning of making a few loaves of bread ended up turning the house into a Atkin's Dieter's nightmare. Not that I'm complaining. It's just that by the time I pulled the last of the bread out of the oven, my DH called and said he was on his way home and I realized that a whole day had already risen and baked! I hadn't even had a shower yet!

I pampered myself with half a loaf of walnut-kamut bread accompanied with a good couple knobs of butter and a thick slice of real Derbyshire cheese.

Dinner was a spicy pork & eggplant Thai-sort-of soup and walnut bread. I just browned a pound of lean ground pork, then threw in the last of a batch of roasted eggplant, a few sliced mushrooms, carrots, onions, a smacked loonie of ginger, a couple of cloves of garlic . A couple glugs of chinese cooking wine, a couple healthy jizzes of fish sauce, a spoonful of sambal oelek, a few szechuan peppercorns were added once everything was cooked up. I added enough boiling water into the pot to cover the ingredients plus and inch and let it simmer for 10 mins. If I had them, I would've added some scallions and some lemongrass. Cilantro wouldn've been nice too.

I also had a bag of brussel sprouts and a few stalks of gai lan than were close to their due date. Those I cut up and sauteed with some chopped garlic. Upon serving, I just added the greens ontop of the soup.

This morning I breakfasted on the seed and multigrain bread and a couple slices of parmigiano reggiano. There's something so satisfying about bread and cheese. Especially if the bread is homemade and the cheese is good, honest cheese. I buy my parmigiano in chunks no bigger than my fist. If you only enjoy parmigiano in the grated form then do yourself a favor and cut yourself a slice. It's the only way you can get the full-mouth experience of parmigiano reggiano. A good chunk will have these amazing naturally formed salt crystals that crackle as you bite into them. The taste is earthy and sexy. Like the unadulterated sweat of a Roman slave boy...oh, sorry, got carried away. Anyways, it's really good.

I supposed this makes me a parmigiano snob. If you want to use that dessicated cat puke in those green containers that is being sold as 'Grated Parmesan Cheese' on your jarred pasta sauce, go right ahead. I mean that chunky ketchup backwash could probably be improved by the horse musk aroma of that processed lactose atrocity. But if you're going to go through the trouble of making a homemade sauce then why do you want to slap it across the face and spit into it's mouth? I know, it's expensive but think of it this way: You've gone through the expense and time of making a homemade sauce, a good couple shavings of parmigiano regianno will help your sauce bloom into a savoury blessing. Well at least it won't make it taste like cat puke!

So today I'll clean up. I'll even put up a couple of curtains and sequester my knitting crap to only one corner of the living room. Maybe I'll even have time to take a shower before the DH comes home. A girl can dream can't she?