Plant Some Beans and Lighten Up

Today I plant the bush beans. I'll plant some in my raised bed and start some inside for the places I'll need to protect them from the slugs. Yesterday I harvested almost all the radishes and so I have space now. I've been eating radishes and kale almost every supper now in an attempt to lighten up my diet. "Lighten up" is my key phrase for the month. I've got to get rid of this tendency to plunge into anxiety as I get more and more tired from my busy season. Only about 28 more days to go before things really lighten up. The weather has also been my nemesis this spring. I do appreciate all the rain but the cold temperatures are getting on my tits.

Yesterday I harvested and culled bamboo in C's yard and we had a nice glass of iced bancha twig tea under the lilac tree chez-nous. My friend dropped off some wild garlic in a pot and also a few stalks to try. It is pungeant and fresh. I think this used to grow on the prairie. I have a sweet memory of a sunny day on a hillside with that same pungent smell coming from a plant with delicate white flowers.

I have been ironing fabric to prep it for my installation. I have to bite the bullet and start cutting now. It's that vulnerable stage between conception and realization. I hate this bit. This is where I wish I had a proper studio with a large clean cutting table, an industrial sewing machine and an assistant!

We've been enjoying the Ataulfo mangoes in smoothies with cardamon, yogurt and rosewater. P should be home soon. We sure miss him and he has been incommunicado as usual. All these new ways to communicate and not one word. Strewth.

Banners and Bamboo

I went to the volunteer tea at the school today which was delightful and had a cupcake theme.

This is the prototype for my next teaching project. Of course the reverse appliqué is inspired by the Alabama Chanin style.

I love this piece of graffiti art that is on the way to the MOP garden. I think I've seen other work by this person around town.

I had a porchetta sandwich at the new place on Cambie beside Choices. It was pretty good--a bit salty in spots where there was more mayo, but I loved the crispy bits of crackling. It really needs to be eaten with an ice cold glass of dry apple cider though. Then it would be perfect. Also coleslaw on the side would rock.

I have developed a wierd candy fixation. Today I had to have chocolate-covered nougat which is one of my weaknesses.

I did go to Anthropologie this past weekend and I felt like screaming I wanted so many things. I also love the decor. People were lined up out the door and they were laden with stuff they were going to buy. Some of the stuff is really high quality, but the jewelry is crap IMO.

Mango Days

We are really missing Peter. It's been so long since he went away on a trip it feels really empty here without him. I am busy working on my installation piece. It was warm enough to work outside this morning so I ripped apart two curtains I am going to rework. I was listening to Mr Gomeshi talk to Susie Bright on CBC while picking part stitches under the lilac tree. Ms. Bright was genuine, humble, and brilliant. More interviews like this please and less hyper-pop air heads.

I just baked a mango coconut bread because the Ataulfo mangoes are good right now. I got the recipe from Ceci n'est Pas un food Blog. I baked it for an hour, which is half an hour less than the original recipe.

Beta 5 Chocolates: OMG

I managed to get my two grumpy guys down to Blim Market on Sunday where we had lunch and picked up treats. Move over people, there's a new chocolatier in town and he means business! We bought a mixed box of chocs from Beta 5 and we were incredibly impressed. Much detailed conversation over the subtle tobacco chocolate ensued. I loved the banana. Wait, I loved them all. Check out their online shop: beta5chocolates.com. You know you want some!!!!

Ules has been working on a school project in which his class is creating a food vending cart. They've decided on selling chocolate and/or caramel apples. I was ordered to buy Golden Delicious apples so we could try the recipe at home.

And he's back into episodes of Alton Brown, finding new ones and re-watching his favorites.

He continues to draw and create imaginary computer games. I love the angular style he's had right from the beginning and continues to develop as with these flying vajayjay dentatas.

Happiness in May

Happiness in May is eating kale chips in bed. Kale chips made from kale grown in your own garden. Finished prepping a workshop and reaching the point of exhaustion. Cutting 150 twigs, 150 piece of wire, 150 pieces of hemp. You get the picture.

Seedlings are planted in school veggie garden. Check.
$900 worth of plants planted in school art garden. Check.
Process documented.
Hoola hoop purchased.
Gardens watered.
E-mails answered. Well, most of them.
Earthquake kits started.

And hey, I get a week off soon. Well, almost.

P's B-Day at L'Abbatoir

Handmade gnocchi and lobster
Peas, lobster butter

We went for a really special treat for P's birthday. It has been ages since we had a fancy meal and so it felt like we were really spoiling ourselves. The food was very good. I am not a fan of the big noisy room, and as usual they have not dealt with sound issues and the tables are so close together you are forced to endure your neighbors' insipid dialogue. I loved the gnocchi--light, fresh, delicate and all about spring.

Part of the bread basket. We devoured the bacon brioche. I liked the flat bread with toasted cumin the best of the three.

Dungeness crab and chickpea toast
Toasted brioche, light crab custard, carrot pickles

Peter had three appies and he absolutely loved the sweet breads.

Warm steelhead and crunchy potato salad
Ramps, horseradish, dill

Pan fried veal sweetbreads on toast
Sauce gribiche with veal tongue

Scallops and oxtail dumplings
Beech mushroom, asian pear, spiced jus

This was my main dish. It was good, except it is weird that they called the spring rolls "dumplings" and the spring rolls were just not as well executed as the rest of the meal. I liked the five spice sauce--it had a pleasant savory depth of flavour.

Fizzy lemonade

Blood orange sorbet, tapioca pearls and earl grey granita

A candle for the birthday boy. This was chewy and fizzy--Willy Wonka land.

Rhubarb mousse
Strawberry rhubarb sorbet, graham cracker crumble

Oops, forgot to take a photo of my dessert. Too bad because it was so pretty with several layers of mousse and candied rhubarb garnish. it was really well done with the contrasting textures--the crunch of the crumbs, the snap of the candy and the smoothness of the mousse itself.

The cocktails were more interesting than the wine list, so next time I'm just going to stick with a couple of mixed drinks and skip the vino.

Wordle

Have you experimented with Wordle? It's so much fun.
Just type in a bunch of words, or cut and paste words
and put them into a graphic design program which generates
a word cloud.
You can play around with the fonts, color and layout.
Kids would love this!
I typed in the names of herbs bees love. You can see they are attracted to plants in the mint,
borage, and aster family. Just click on the graphic above and create your own.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Happy Mother's Day to whom it may concern! Today I am puttering on my computer and thought I'd share some interesting and eclectic links I've been finding.

1) Venetian Red: A blog about art which currently features the work of an amazing Jewish artist who painted in gouache in WW II--Charlotte Salomon.

2) A video from the Edmonton Journal site about the Alexander McQueen show on in New York right now.

3) A very cute vegetable patch quilt.

4) 8 out of 10 Cats: A British Comedy Show I've been enjoying online.

5) A very cute food truck ad, playing on the Brady Bunch theme.

6) Images of Poiret's work I am studying for a costume.

7) Lamps made of silk worm cocoons.

8) A photo of guinea pigs for a chuckle.

Hail and Damnation

Just this morning I was admiring my brave, robust nasturtiums and now they are battle-torn and bedraggled. Some have lost the good fight. There were other casualties. I could cry. Not one, not two, but three hailstorms this afternoon while the sun was shining in one part of the sky. Bizarre. Sad. Frustrating. We prairie people know the heartbreak of weather damage. Not enough sun, too much sun. Too much of this, not enough of that and just when you thought to reap the bounty, the locusts arrive. Luckily I have more plants started inside. I was planning on putting them somewhere else, but they will replace the wounded and the dying.

In spite of this weather disaster, today was a good day. Another seedball workshop. The (almost) end of another residency. Aujourd hui, ça va. I feel I have clawed my way to the top of another learning curve. Life is never as pleasant as the new age self-helpers would have you believe. Life is full of migraines, stress eating, sore body parts, insecurities, people who look at you with disinterest, dislike, and hatred. People who use you up and chuck you up like a LOL cat hairball. But there are days when you feel you can rise above it all. You can go beyond all that grimy human crap and feel good about what you have accomplished. Today is such a day. I have great colleagues, friends and family. I live in a cool city with a pretty awesome climate. I like my work. It's almost June. I have new leopard print pajamas.

I've been watching Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes episodes which are just amazing. I think I will use some of his gestures for my next performance. Still trying to get through a Margaret Grimes novel about horse racing. I must admit I don't like stories about race horses. I find them extremely boring and they seem to be all the same to me--one big yawn. I think it's a stupid sport. So there.