New Year's Gougeres

Today I was jonesing for gougeres, so I made a batch while listening to CBC Radio One--a program about the dire situation in Syria. I wish for peace for them. I made a lentil curry soup for lunch, with some spices I brought back from Montréal. Saturday I went for Sunch with some girlfriends at Chutney Villa, reminding me what a great deal it is (12.95 for brunch and chai) and how good it tastes. The sambar was better than average, so it inspired me to riff on that theme.

I have no idea what to make for New Year's eve Dinner. I did fall for the cuteness of some New Year's themed brownie bites at Whole Foods, so dessert is covered and we're going to drink the mead I received for Christmas. Everything I feel like making involves foods that my family don't like. Bummer.

Post Christmas Cravings

When I've had one glass of port and one Christmas cookie too many I find myself craving a cleansing soup. So today made a pared down version of my favorite Thai chicken soup, using lemon verbena instead of lemon grass, and cleaning the fridge out of leftover sweet potato, leeks, onions, and kale. I would also love some good miso soup, and that awesome soupy Vietnamese chicken curry. I have also found myself craving pizza, so went to get a slice of my mushroom pizza with its awesome chewy crust at Trilussa. I also love wild rice in soup. I've got to track some down.

We got a big hunk of chevre for Christmas, so tomorrow I'm gonna make a cheesecake!

As I prepare to head to Victoria next month for my annual trip, I am sad to hear The Superior and Daidoco have both closed. All is not lost: Daidoco has been reopened as Ochida with what looks like a similar menu, but the Superior will reopen in February for 2 nights a week as a live event club with rotating chefs.

Truffles and Mysteries

Okay, so I'll admit it. My favorite way to relax is to drink port, watch British mysteries and eat bonbons on the couch. I have found a great source of material to watch and have been going through the Dalziel and Pascoe shows. Today I ran two Christmas errands--getting pretty sick of doing so in the rain. I have been eating chocolates by DC Duby--particularly the fruitcake caramels and the s'more-style chocolates.

Tomorrow I'll be getting an Indian Head massage, which I am very excited about. I had a doozy of a migraine yesterday, but (knock on wood) it has stayed away today. No port for me tonight. I have hidden a stocking stuffer I can't find, but otherwise things are under control. Tomorrow we eat the oysters grandpa C gave us. Yahoo!

I was pondering massages today. I have had different kinds of massages and masseuses for over twenty years. I think I should write about my experiences--from the octogenarian ministrations of Gustav in Manitou Lake to the third-world style acupressure for morning sickness in Vancouver, each experience was uniquely traumatic. A Shiatsu practitioner gave me TMJ and made every fibre of my body swell up in pain. My German Feldenkreis practitioner blamed all my alignment troubles on my overladen top shelf. And so on . . . . Hopefully tomorrow will be all about the pleasure and NOT the pain. Actually I read up on the masseuse and she sounds absolutely lovely.

Night Skies and Tiny Mushrooms

Sometime last night before falling asleep I felt as though I had had enough. Enough buying stuff for the big day. I just want to put my feet up and RELAX.

We woke to find snow on the rooftops and so I put on my boots and headed to school with the boy so I could continue down the hill to Book Warehouse. I am happy BW is local and it's still here, but I must say, the cookbook collection was thin on the ground and left me depressed. Then I went to Chapters and got even more depressed. I know I needed to go to Barbara Joe's but it is hard for me to get there. Anyway, I did buy a couple of books and then headed to Banyen Books to get another book for Peter. I miss the big old Duthies book store down town where you could lose yourself in the scope and variety of books. It was the kind of book store that was full of possibilities and hidden treasures. I really miss those kinds of stores, the kind of places I spent many hours in on my trips to London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham.

I wore my big furry hat, but it was too warm as the day went on, the snow turned to rain, then sleet, then hail and finally the sun came out. By then I was tired on my feet and headed to the number 7 bus stop to go home. I was waiting with a smiling senior wearing an awesome turban. She sussed that something was not right and she'd been waiting too long. Sure enough, a bus driver coming down the hill told us the seven was stuck in traffic. I jumped on his bus to go to Macdonald and we saw what the problem was: a protest parade in support the Rainier hotel. A float with black helium balloons and faux coffins was followed by a group of mourners in gothic finery. It was arresting.

And so now all I have left are my crafty gifts. I am currently obsessed with creating little night scenes and I am looking for miniature toadstools and gnome-related imagery. Yes, gnomes are trending right now. Well, at least they are in our household!

Critiquing Neo-Burlesque

I've been thinking about cabaret and burlesque since the performance on Saturday. I found a very insightful critique by Dan Savage. Burlesque creates a  strong dividing line between people who are "for" and "against". I think Savage is right when he says we need to critique the neo-burlesque pieces as theater and/or (I would add) performance art and the bottom line he says is that the work needs to engage your crotch and your brain. I enjoy pieces that are brainy and titillating, like the work we saw by Chicava Honeychild. So first of all, is it a well-constructed, well-rehearsed piece with high production values? Is it well-executed? And finally, is it a museum piece? Does it just produce a re-iteration of the heteronormative tradition, or is it a fresh, edgy take with a political edge?

Bamboo Tumbleweed: Mine Kafon

http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/mine-kafon-a-bamboo-tumblewee.html

This beautiful short film shows an amazing product designed by Massoud Hassani  that uses the power of the wind to detonate land mines.

This Ship is Sinking

As CBC news reports, the Liberal Government--appointed officials who re-assessed the value of Horseshoe Bay Terminal from 47 mill down to 20 bucks has just sunk their party into deep, deep waters.

Back in My Kitchen

Peter wanted to open a dessert wine we bought in Austria, so I was ordered to make a dessert. I baked a fresh ginger cake, using David Lebowitz's recipe and made a caramel sauce to pour over it. (Don't tell anyone the cream I used was a month past its due date!)

I also used this recipe to make Bulgogi tacos which uses grated pears. (I cut back the soya sauce and sugar a bit.) I also added chopped roasted peanuts because I was jonesing for those awesome tofu tacos at La Tacqueria.

We had sliced pears over the cake and the dessert wine was as dark as molasses. The pairing was excellent, if I do say so.

Chez Nous

It's good to be home again, even if it is dull, wet, rainy and cold here. I see that the table cloth has not been changed since I was gone, nor the toilet cleaned, nor the cookies replenished in the jar. The boys stayed up too late last week and are sick and a bit grumpy.

I am eating for two time zones, as my friend says, and find myself extremely famished at 9 am.
Now is the time to sort through my photos and start blogging about my trip. I read a great book on the way home called How to Be a Woman by Caitlan Moran. I was struck at how similar (in nature) a few of her observations are to some of the anecdotes I recounted in my piece. She is a witty and wise feminist and her words are inspiring and affirming.

I had such a good time in Montreal that I cried in the taxi on the way to the airport--tears of joy, sadness and relief. Plus I was going on very little sleep since we partied like the end of the world was coming and had poutine in an all night diner called Claudette's at 3 am. Partied more, and then had three hours of sleep before waking up and getting ready to depart. I was reclaiming my youth in some ways and hell, I had a great time doing it.

Performance Art Bordello, Here I Come!

So I had my tech talk through yesterday, which meant I had to take the Metro. I found it overheated, stuffy, noisy and claustrophobic and it made me realize just how posh the RAV line really is. I found the venue, which is on the street with all the fetish shops. The entrance was just a black door with a number on it--very discrete. The manager is amazing and she says the space was probably a clothing sweatshop at one point, a Chinese restaurant and a bordello. It dates from the late 1800's.

My technician is a diva. I am not worthy. Still, I woke early this am with details running through my mind. I had to sign a "messy contract" to agree that any weird materials I use would be cleaned up WITHOUT A TRACE at the end of the show. I guess they know their performance art history.

I found a chocolate shop that sells savory buckwheat crepes for lunch. It was exactly what I wanted. Then I finally found Camelia Sinensis and bought some locally grown herbal teas. I also found this crazy manga tea room that sells manga and serves tea and cupcakes.

Last night we went out for cheap and tasty curry and then saw some internet pieces in a grubby internet "café".

Kitty has decided I am now subject to her rule and this morning she showed me where her food was and demanded to be fed.

Some of my French is returning and I am inspired to take some more classes when I get home. There is much less tension between the French and the English now than when I was here many years ago. People are pretty chilled out about helping me figure things out. Also, I am in a very Anglo neighborhood, so I'm hearing a lot of English all the time.

Today we are going to have goulash with a textile artist and see work at Oboro. I also have to buy beer and a mirror--easy to remember because it rhymes.

All About the Breakfasts

Montreal is really into a darned good breakfast. Yesterday I bought baking from Guillaume and doughnuts from a place beside it called Sardine. Sardine proudly displays a toolbox full of yeast-raised doughnuts on their counter, so I bought some with cardamon and sugar and some dark chocolate-orange glazed ones. They were doughnuts with attitude, not wimpy and not over-sweet. I realize that the plateau/mile end is a great place for eating, even on a low budget. Yesterday we headed over to the Jean Talon market in Little Italy and Sarah took us to a little depanneur where the woman makes one amazing soup of the day. It happened to be a rich and delicious pea soup. Apparently there are a lot of little deps that also sell sandwiches and/or lunch specials. We also stumbled into a high end Italian deli with one table and a chef who will cook you specials from all over Italy.

Kitty has accepted me and sleeps on my lap now. She is a VERY mellow cat.

Yesterday I had a fantastic sandwich at Santropol with veggie pate and all the fixings. Why can't we have good sandwiches like this in our neighborhood????? Santropol thrives on serving a sandwich based menu and has done so for over 40 years. It is a warm and congenial place and even the staff hang out there after their shifts. I headed from there to listen to my friend's choir rehearse at Oboro and saw an Htmlles video screening. Today we are heading to Jean Talon again to an internet cafe to see some work and I have a tech meeting.

And speaking of breakfast, I am eating a maple goat milk yogurt from Beurrerie Patrimoine which is so rich and creamy I am in heaven

Montreal Love

Well, I am in such a fantastic neighborhood for noodlin' around on a warm November afternoon. I walked down to the Studio XX Gallery and had lunch at a place called Steak Frites on St. Denis. There's a simple blackboard menu and it's Apporter Votre Vin. I had a really good calamari salad and managed to spill tzatsiki sauce all down my shirt. (Not very chic!)Yesterday we had a really good lamb pita with the best tzatsiki sauce I have ever tasted at Arrahova. The pita itself was chewy and flavorful and I spilled tzatsiki sauce all over my sweater. Zut alors!

I also found a place that makes a special Breton pastry called Kouign Amman. Lots of places are closed on Mondays, but we are thinking of getting special rotisserie chicken for supper. Last night my hosts threw a spontaneous dinner party with awesome curries and a gorgeous ginger cake, moist and infused with fresh ginger. Sarah makes cakes for Santropol so today she made her own candied ginger to decorate another cake for the restaurant.

I sat down and watched a fantastic video at Studio XX called Emerald Town: Gary Indiana by Zanny Beg and Keg de Souza. Highly recommended!

Je Suis Ici

I'm in Montreal! The sun is shining and we started the morning with excellent pastries from Guillaume pastry shop which bakes with locally milled wheat. Last night we went to the opening of Nikki Forrest's brilliant show at La Central. I am staying in a cozy little apartment with family and they have a big furry black cat named Bear. She is one of at least four such cats on the block and her owner can tell them all apart.

Yesterday I went on a long walk to get my bearings. As long as I know where the mountain is and where the gallery is, I think I can now navigate on my own. We had rose and cedar tea at Fuschia, which was incredibly beautiful. Today we go searching for chocolate.

Weekend Journal 2

One of my Friday rituals is listening to the BBC Comedy Friday podcast with Sandi Toksvig. Those dude and dudettes are really funny.

I baked some chocolate fleur de sel sables from this recipe, which is awesome.

Saturday I edited my new video with Peter and got my costumes a bit more sorted out. Today I washed one of my costumes--all these details to look after before I go.

I watched an episode of Remington Steele on DVD which was absolutely awful, so consoled myself watching episodes of Silent Witness and Inspector Lewis on Youtube. Much better.

Rehearsed, did research on eating in Montreal and found a couple of interesting places, including this one.

Brunch at Trafalgar's, which was lovely. See Beespeaker.

It stopped raining for a bit today so I walked to the library and of course it poured all the way home, so I stopped at Trilussa for a piece of pizza and bought a loaf of bread. We'll see how the boys like it. We are very fussy about bread at our house!

Weekend Journal

My son has to do a weekend journal for school, so I thought it would be a good thing to do myself and then at the end of the year we can put it together and compare notes. Saturday was pouring with rain, but Catherine and I were determined to go to the final sale of the season at UBC Farm. I bought squash, onions, garlic, kale, beets, fennel, and a hella big bag of carrots. I got really excited about roasting that veg. I made pumpkin miso soup for lunch. Saturday evening we went to the inlaws for dinner. I had a lovely white blend from Stone Boat and we had a Nichol pinot with our prociutto-stuffed chicken and mashed potatoes. For dessert, a "relatively young" Sauternes with homemade mocha almond ice cream and Neiman Marcus cookies. Heavenly. Ullie bought a new game reccomended by the Shut up and Sit Down Guys he idolizes. Or is it Sit Down and Shut Up?

On the way home in the cab we heard the news of the earthquake in Haida Gwai. I put the radio on my pillow and listened to the coverage until I fell asleep. Fascinating. I am so glad no one was hurt.

Sunday I made pumpkin pancakes, modifying my waffle recipe, (since I broke our waffle maker). I spent a wonderful afternoon in the garden cutting back detritus and planting garlic, making sure there was some manure mixed in with the soil. I spent several lovely minutes watching woolly clouds in my anti-gravity chair, which is an important part of my gardening ritual. I had a piece of Robyn's lovely sweet potato pie for a treat. Peter made salmon pie for dinner.

I recorded my script so I can listen to it on my mp3 player to memorize it.

Today I roasted carrots, beets and fennel and made kale chips after the oven was turned off. A couple of chips almost reminded me of crispy bacon. I think I might try to make kale bacon. I have some ideas . . . . Had a lovely afternoon tea with C and J at Shaktea. I am on a Dessert Blossom kick and trying to watch the caffeine these days as my brain seems to be sensitive to it just now. But oh, how I love it!

Tonight I baked some tofu to have with the roasted veg and quinoa. After dinner I made Scottish flapjacks. I think I aced the recipe, caramelizing the sugar and butter and honey before mixing it with the oatmeal, but I need to make it on silicone next time to keep from having to grease the pan. I also added salt to the recipe which made a HUGE difference!!!!!!!!

Of course today we are sending good thoughts to the New Yorkers and other folks down south who are facing Hurricane Sandy.

These Boots

Okay, so winter's a coming and it's time to start wearing boots, so to cheer you up, just watch Nancy Sinatra and her awesome dancing chorus.

Cosplay Version of I Was Born This Way

Let your freak flag fly. Where was this culture when I was in uni?

Extra points if you know your Japanese pop culture and can name all the characters. Who is the Sasquatch dude and is that Jesus in there with the purple toga-sarong?

Nat King Cole

Errand Boy for Rhythm. I love it!

Work, Work, Work

My work is seasonal, and it shifts. Right now it's about collecting and sorting seeds and getting words on the page. It's been a while since I wrote a solo show--about 7 or 8 years. It's fun to be able to take up space on the page and stage again. I  promise silly costumes and filthy language. There will be cleavage. I'm keeping it pretty light, and making myself have fun.

I love the softening of the light. I walked to the library and just admired the quality of light around me. Not having to water and not having to walk my son to school literally saves me hours out of my day which I fill with cups of tea and words, words, words.

Being in the moment, planning for the future and musing on the past: fall is full of all three for me, braiding it all together in soft, muted colors. Lately I've longed for someone to braid my hair, like a child. Hopefully, after the seedy workshops I will be able to clean up the plant matter in the house and get some more space happening. After all, I've got to get this script up and moving now.

The Last Fruits of Summer

I find it alarming that you can't find blackberries in grocery stores--does that mean summer is over? I made a lovely blackberry tonic by letting berries sit in water that's just been boiled for 1 day. I add a bit of agave syrup to sweeten, and have experimented with adding anise hyssop blossoms and leaves. I've been doing the same with the crab apples of Cactus Lake. I love the soft gentle heat of September. It feels good on my shoulders. Warms ones bones.

Tonight I made an homage to my dad's cousin who sent us some seeds for German beans called Nekkar Konige. I grew some of those in our garden and used them mixed with Catherine's beans and some Mayan beans from UBC Farm to make a diasporic dish with garlic, jalapeno, and olive oil. I steamed the beans first and then fried them in the garlic and pepper adding purslane at the last minute. Cousin Otto grew sunflowers from seeds mom send him and sent photos of his Canadian Sonnenblumen. Sadly, Otto passed away this spring. He must have died shortly after sending us those "King of the Nekkar" beans.  We ate them with spaetzel and roast chicken.

For dessert: ricotta, peaches, and anise hyssop florets.

I am creating a hummingbird project proposal and saving seeds. It's that time of the year when you can see me with my paper bags surreptitiously shaking or snapping seed pods in gardens around the city. Let me know if you see any worth swiping.

Beach Glass Combers

 For those of you who like beachcombing, this might be the site for you. Sarah Goodyear writes about a former trash dump in California has turned into a dream place for those seeking beach glass.

Person after person comes down to the shoreline, picks up a handful of sand, starts sifting though … and then just sits down in place, fixated on the multitude of glistening, rounded fragments, hundreds of pieces in any random sample, thousands within a few inches. You can’t stop looking. What treasure might surface in the next handful? Plenty of people load their pockets with the glass. It’s like a reverse dump, now.


http://grist.org/living/nature-reclaims-a-trash-strewn-beach-inspiring-hope-and-its-opposite/

In Writing Mode

I have finished my workshops for the summer, so now I've got to re-organize thy house and write my new performance piece. I will be having a real yard sale in the yard this summer so stay tuned for deets. In the meantime I am brushing up on the history of misogyny.

We are in the middle of yet another full on heat wave. Most of my garden time is spent watering and cutting flowers. Seed saving has kicked into action and I will be collecting seeds and seed pods for fall projects and workshops. At the city hall garden I saw a hummingbird feed on sweet peas--never noticed that before. I got good advice from a gardener who said that watering in the morning is best because it prevents rot and fungus. I got help from a kind soul waiting for a meeting at city hall and wanting something to fill the time. The school garden at city hall has been very good with regards to a pollination station: strawberries, borage, calendula, cornflowers, fennel, goldenrod, violets, beans, buckwheat, marigold, anise hyssop, cerinthe. The wool carder bees are still at it in the wooly lamb's ear and they like the dragon's head flowers. Sunflowers are great because they catch the very last rays of sunshine so they are the final flowers that bees forage on in the day's cycle or pollinator's flower clock. The fennel, on the other hand seems to catch the earliest morning sun.

Summer reading: Phil Rickman's mysteries set near the Welsh borderlands.

Summer viewing: Trial and Retribution--another Lynda La Plante series with fully rounded strong female characters.

High on Summer

I am feeling sated these days with gardens and fresh berries and trips to UBC Farm. It's nice to have a break from giving workshops to revel in high summer. As I was picking flowers yesterday my garden was so thick with bees I thought I might inhale one by mistake. Summer is healing. I feel more grounded and content. I treated myself to The Acorn last night, finally. Sat at the bar and inhaled their mushroom main. It put me in a new happy place. All I could think was "I wish I could cook like this." You know a dish is good when every bite has a slightly different nuance of flavor. I am hooked.

The Bridge

 I have fallen down a rabbit hole, as I got hooked on the Danish Swedish series called The Bridge. Amazing writing, great acting, fantastic soundtrack, atmospheric art direction, and the theme song is haunting. You  can watch it on YouTube with the English subtitles. I'm not going to tell you anything more. Just watch it.

It's Finally Sizzlin'

Now we have sun and beautiful mauve sunsets. It FINALLY feels like summer. I am happiest early in the morning and late at night when it is cool and breezy. My plants are so happy and when my plants are happy, I am happy.

I bought a giant half a watermelon today, which is fun and we are planning a dinner tomorrow night with friends in the garden, so I'll make a big fruit salad. I am obsessed with crossword puzzles. It's the only thing my brain can do in the midday heat. I had a very pleasant evening prepping bamboo on the front steps today for some workshops I'm leading.

We are really strapped for cash this summer so I am lunching on mac and cheese from the box and plain old grilled cheese sandwiches--with salad greens, of course. Pinching pennies is exhausting. Soon those will be gone too and in time, the expression itself--except in obscure crossword puzzles.

Our hops vine is once again full of lady bugs. I watched the ladybug larvae munching on aphids. It's hard work for the little larvae.

I had three sightings of anise swallowtail butterflies today. Who can say if it was the same one?

Roses for Remembrance

I just have to remark on the fabulous fragrance of roses that permeates our neighborhood right now. It's kind of uncanny. Many of the cottage garden flowers are blooming right now: roses, delphinum, lavender, snap dragons, foxgloves, etc. I sure miss Daphne's garden. It is so hard when something truly lovely is destroyed. Well, I must take comfort in the plants that made it into other neighbor's gardens. But a moment of silence for her heritage roses.

 Who is that tall, skinny kid that keeps running downstairs to grab food and then disappears into his lair to consume it at an alarming rate? We're going to have to take another mortgage out on the house to feed him when he turns into a teenager.

I am off to bee the Queen Bee at a Canada Day event in Coquitlam tomorrow. I hope I get good transit karma. It's a loooong trip, especially on a Sunday.

This makes me so happy I could cry. Shaktea, Mobius and The Acorn, my trifecta of joy.

More Crumble!

It is so good to finally be cooking things from the garden! Tonight I whipped up some turkey meat balls with garlic and Vietnamese coriander growing in a pot in the back yard. I made quinoa for moi-meme and rice for the boys. (Luckily we had a surprise guest who helped me eat the quinoa.) Then I braised some peas, kale and mustard greens with garlic. We also had a bowl of avocado with a squeeze of lime. Condiments on the table: soya sauce and Korean sweet and spicy sauce. I also made a crumble with oats, hemp, flax, and coconut oil with our strawberries and Catherine's rhubarb. I got the sweetness bang on with a bit of brown  sugar and some Sweet Cicely leaves. Now it really feels like summer.

I am going to go on a crumble bender and make some nice custard to go on top.

Kung Pao Tofu

I was craving Kung Poa Tofu and luckily we had all the ingredients in the house: approx. a tablespoon each of white wine, chili sauce, crushed garlic, soya sauce, plus scant 1 tbs corn starch dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water, 3 tbs green onion, 1/4 cup peanuts, one tsp each sesame oil, rice vinegar, and brown sugar. Sauté, add 1 package tofu (cubed) and simmer until sauce is thickened. I also added in chopped spinach at the end.

I have found my favorite chai recipe. I now make it with crushed cardamom seeds, fennel seeds, black tea, almond milk and rose water. After straining the tea, add 1 tsp tsampa (roasted ground barley).

Today I gave the garden club at my son's school a tea party and tried to teach them etiquette. They were in a very silly mood and full of beans, but it occurred to me that we really do need to teach children etiquette so they develop a sense of the rituals of respect. Some of them act like little beasts. And these kids are ten years old. (Do I sound like an old biddy?) We had chocolate cookies, lemon verbena cookies and Paris toasts with cream cheese and edible flowers.

Dreaming of Italy

I have been indisposed with back pains and so I stayed inside yesterday and read two mystery novels based in Italy in the summer. It's fantastic to read about oppressive heat when you are huddling under a pile of wool blankets in June. I nestled down with Aurelio Zen in Michael Dibdin's Medusa and Commissario Guido Brunetti in Donna Leon's Question of Belief. Both were highly satisfying novels full of good coffee, pastries, and fantastic little restaurants in out of the way places. Good summer reading, especially since it doesn't feel like summer.

I also struggled though Martha Grimes'  Rainbow's End, aka The Novel that Drove a Woman Crazy. So many loose ends, annoying extraneous characters, and a very tenuous plot. By the end I wanted to toss the book out the window.

My new favorite salad: papaya on greens with fresh snow peas, pumpkin seeds and Little Creek Dressing.

My new smoothie: papaya, ginger, lime, coconut water and kale.

We had a fun time at Car Free Days on Sunday. Tacos every two blocks! Fantastic made-to-order funnel cakes at Mobius. Mergues on a bun at the French Table.

There's a new restaurant opening on the corner of Main and 24. I am so glad they are painting over the green trim with brick red paint. Yay! Rumor is it will be vegetarian. I hope it's good, but my gut feeling it's just going to be a clone of another existing vegetarian restaurant aiming to cash in on this part of Main Street.

Cheesecake report: The last time I looked Mobius had Blueberry, Strawberry White Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cheesecakes.

Junuary

It is the middle of June and I am in my long underwear. What gives? The sunny days that punctuate this cold spell are savored with frenzied enthusiasm. But we have another forecast of a rainy and cold weekend. It's crazy making.

This week was a culmination of much gardening activity for the school which saw the building of many funky trellises, weeding and transplanting. It was also the wrap up week for our choir, singing our final concert at a senior's home. I will miss the gals who sing around me and are great to giggle with. Now I have to get back to the uke!

My aunt who is 87 years old flew from Saskatoon to Vancouver to go to an Amnesty International conference. She was in very good form. She has become even more enthusiastic as she ages, and cares deeply about social issues. I made her a lentil curry on brown basmati, knowing she has been having teeth/denture troubles. She scarfed a huge plate and was very appreciative.

We are expanding our curry repertoire and Peter is downstairs making chapatis right now. The aroma is awesome.

I was at Whole Foods yesterday and there was this group of three people at one of the tables. They made themselves right at home to the point that one of them was sitting on the big communal table. I was incensed at how rude and stupid this was and really had to exercise a great deal of control to make a snarky comment. Arghhhh. I think I've been around too many people with big egos lately and I need a retreat.

It was also the week of amorous insects. I asked the students to meditate and observe bees and they saw copulating flies and ladybugs all over the school yard, making hay while the sun was shining.

Rumor has it that a vegetarian place is going in where Cipriano's used to be. Fingers crossed it will be good. The Nutella cheesecake at Mobius is awesome. Butter Bakery is now selling fudge. Shaktea is going to update their menu with more snacking plates. The garlic soup at Trafalgar's is to die for. Chai restaurant is now open on main after six pm. There is an amazing upmarket bakery in the DTES called Cadeaux. We've sampled some of Lucky's doughnuts and my favorite so far is the coconut bismark, but I think if they put the meringue from that doughnut on top of a lemon bismark that would be a most amazing thing. I'm also loving Organic Lives lemon coconut macaroons. (No, that is not a spelling mistake.)

Spring Cupcakes

Well yesterday was our choir's big spring concert, which was a lot of fun. I made cupcakes to take to the reception. We had some overripe bananas hanging around, so I made banana chocolate cupcakes. I experimented with coconut butter for the icing, and used 1/2 butter, 1/2 cocoa butter, cocoa and a bit of icing sugar to make the texture fluffy. I also ground chai spices and added them, then put the icing in the fridge overnight. I made tiny flags with some text from the songs and things like "I love you" in several languages, including Esperanto. Then just before we left for set up I placed fresh viola blossoms on top.

I also dug into my several tickle trunks to bring out hats for the ladies to wear for our red hat song. I was very pleased to be able to take my burlesque lobster head dress out for a spin. Fun times!

Oh, and I didn't have toothpicks so I went to borrow some from Catherine and ended up making them out of black bamboo trimmings. Eat your heart out Martha!

For Ma Sis

Because she is the coolest!

Diamond Jubilee Coronation Salad

I am not a monarchist. I think too much time and money is wasted on the royals,  but I do have a soft spot for coronation salad, so today I mixed a tbsp each of sour cream and yogurt with two teaspoons of mayo, some Dandy Pack Madras curry powder, salt and turmeric and added raw peas, spinach, green grapes, mango, fresh curry plant leaves, cucumber and radishes and garnished it with cashews, lox and avocado slices. This is one of my favorite lunches.

Oh Transit of Venus, will you bring the sunlight back into our lives?

Weekend Salad

A great Swedish-inspired salad for the weekend is smoked salmon, capers, fresh dill,  cubed cukes and radishes and fresh peas. I put in a couple teaspoons low fat sour cream. I also made a  burdock dish--not a salad but good for a main dish: mushrooms, grated burdock (rinsed), asparagus pieces sauteed in olive oil, finished with sesame oil, salt, and sesame seeds. It's a very calming dish.

Put in some quality gardening time yesterday. The weather today is not co-operating but I think I might go out and putter around anyway.

Mango Salad

Wednesday's salad was just strawberries and orange segments. Thursday's salad was mango with cardamom and mustard seeds sprinkled with lime juice and finely flaked coconut.

The rain has been great for the garden, but we are ready for a sunny weekend. The late lilacs are in bloom, the early oriental poppies are finishing and the irises are blooming in the rain. I am amazed at how many varieties of irises there are in Vancouver in shades of purple and mauve. The mock oranges are also filling the moist air with their heady jasmine scent.

Tuesday's Salad

Tuesday's salad was purple cabbage and cucumber garnished with cashews and pumpkin seeds, drizzled with peanut dressing. This morning I made oatmeal cookies with spelt flour, hemp seeds and flax for Ules.

I spent the morning drying oregano we dug out of Catherine's garden to make room for more bee plants. It will do nicely in bathtub teas with rosemary and eucalyptus oil for flu and cold season.

Ullie and are are giving our seal of approval for the cheesecakes at Mobius. My intel says the next flavour will include bananas. Peter is cheesed off he can't eat them because he is lactose intolerant.

A Week of Salads

In an attempt to get back on the healthy eating wagon I am going to make a special salad every day this week. Monday's salad was mango (I picked a really good sweet/tart one from East/West), cubed cucumber, peanuts and mint leaves with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Easy peasy pumpkin squeezy.

I tried another recipe for puffed grain cake: 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup raw agave, 1/3 cup hemp, 1/3 cup chia, 3 tbs cocoa, 3 cups puffed millet. These proportions make it easy to remember, but I am going to keep cutting back the sugar and see how low I can go and still make it stick together.

Grab Some Kleenex and Watch This

Full Tilth

We're getting right into the full swing of gardening season. Oh soil and sunshine, how I have missed you! Had the pleasure of watching Catherine's new doggy napping in the sun by her busy beehive. Pure bliss! Looking forward to a manure run tomorrow--never thought I would be writing those words. Choices is having a big sale on garden soil and amendments. I've got to get some soil to get my tomatoes in pots. Planted bean seedlings yesterday in my garden beds and bean seeds at city hall with the students.

Today I made a refreshing blend of lemon verbena and black tea. Have been snacking on ancient grains bread from North Van and Choices' hemp humus. Very grounding. Oh, and have I mentioned the gorgeous chocolate cheesecake at Mobius coffee shop? The crust is one of the best I've ever tasted AND it's GMO free, which is very cool.

Offical Puttering Day

I love days when you can just putter around the house--potting up plants, ironing fabric for a workshop, and making puffed amaranth squares in your panties. I think I have the proportions right: 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup corn syrup, 3 tbsp cocoa, 1/4 cup chia seeds,  1/4 cup hemp seeds, 1 cup puffed amaranth and about 2.5 cups puffed millet. Moreish.

A Relaxing Soak

I spent the day prepping for my herb workshop at Sunset Community Centre (between 10 and noon tomorrow). Tonight I made myself a bathtub tea sachet with epsom salts, rosemary, sage and lavender. What a nice way to relax and soothe aching muscles! Thanks to Jean and Catherine for their special contributions to the ingredients. I like the sachet because it means you don't have to clean little bits of flora out of the tub, as you do with bath bombs. One of my tips is to use butter muslin, not cheesecloth, because cheesecloth can be very cheap and fall apart when you wash it and the muslin keeps the small bits in, but is woven loosely enough to let the ingredients steep.


I've just read a piece of Australian crime fiction--a book called Truth by Peter Temple. This is prose peeled back to the bones. It's very macho, POV driven, hard core fiction. You'd think I'd hate it, but the plot did propel me into the novel and it took some work, but I gradually was able to enter into his prose. There are parts of the story I love: the image of the protagonist's father taking a stand to protect his home from a raging fire. He's joined by his sons for some thrilling action. I also like the part where he visits the mother of a murder victim and helps put in her vegetable garden, then he gets pissed off when her rich neighbors help themselves to the fruits of his labor. There is a vulnerable core to the main character that makes the story very human and the way he sees and describes the essence of his surroundings is very powerful.

The boys are playing Magic downstairs.

Chocolate Trip

Well, Peter is in Belgium getting us some chocolate. People are asking what else he is doing there. Do I really care? Kidding. Ules is freaking out about his homework. I keep telling him to break it down into smaller tasks. He seems to feel better after verbal describing what he has to do. I have a daunting couple of days ahead myself. Gardening, teaching, talking, singing: all my favorite verbs besides eating, reading and sleeping.

I have been watching episodes of the Swedish Wallander (not the Brannagh version) and really enjoying them. One of the main actors actually committed suicide before the series was over--a huge tragedy. She was suffering depression and trauma after being in that tidal wave in Thailand a few years back. She played Wallander's daughter.

I also have developed a fascination for the Kathy Reichs produced show called Bones. I'm not a big fan of her books, but the tv series has grown on me. I think it's amazing how much you can tell about a person from their skeleton and I like the comparison between the psychological and anthropological methods of solving crimes. I enjoy the character of the geeky artist/computer programmer. I also like the humor and the sex!!! Oh, and did I mention the cute outfits the women get to wear?

What have we been eating? Green kale sausages from Whole Foods (fail), turkey sliders, asparagus, and a Bananas Foster milkshake which Ullie is researching for French class.

The big red oriental poppies are blooming and our neighborhood smells of lilacs.

Purple Basil

Every time I have to go to Welk's for something I am tempted to buy a little plant. Today I bought a little purple basil plant for a couple of bucks. He has some new canning jars in the store. They are beautiful.

Smoothie of the day: purple kale, kiwi, ginger, coconut water and orange.
Breakfast: eggs scrambled with goat brie, wilted kale, and turkey sausage
Lunch: Shaktea's Firenze baguette and Assam (Dumni)
Dinner: Peter's pasta
Snack: Matcha Buzz cookies--a recipe I am working on

Potting up marigolds in the back porch, the scent of wet potting soil in the air and CBC comedy on the radio: that is my happy place. Stephen Harper celebrates one year in majority government: that is my sad place.

Writing: Four recipes from my childhood and how I have adapted them with a little help from my friends.

Watching: Callan--Engaging cold war spy drama from Britain, complete with a boss who is oddly androgynous and rolls his r's a lot.

Reading: a cookbook my mom made for me with my grandmother's recipes and photos.

Thinking about: Do teachers have a right to scrutinize what children do on the weekend? Is this the new Big Brother?

Business and schools are structured with a bias to extroverts. Will we look back on this as a form of institutionalized prejudice?

The Motorcycle that Floated

Lots of motorcycle-related news today because they are changing the laws to try to prevent deaths on the road. A mother spoke eloquently about the loss of her son who died on a bike.

In another story, a man found a rusty Harley Davidson in a floating container and traced it back to Japan.

Did Blim

I had fun at Blim today and thanks again to the friends who came out and supported my commercial venture. I sat next to a lovely potter and sipped Michael's awesome sangria all afternoon. It was fun watching everybody set up and seeing how the pros carry and display their stuff in efficient and creative ways. Now I'm back to an intensive bit of writing for my next gig, which is a talk about my prairie culinary roots at Stone Soup on May 12.

My mother just told me that the neighbor's spaniel was lost for 5 days and they just found him trapped in a granary. He had survived by eating mice, but was severely dehydrated. Poor mite.

Lemon Meringue Pick-Me Up

I've just read another Icelandic novel by Arnaldur Indridason: Arctic Chill. This novel contains fascinating insights into the island's culture and attitudes towards racial difference and suicide.
Top notch.

Today I felt like my body was in a different atmosphere from my mind, which happens quite a lot lately. I was brought out of my spring torpor by a lovely slice of lemon meringue pie, much appreciated. The strong black tea and a matcha latte were also part of the chemical lift.

I made kale pesto with sunflower seeds instead of nuts: kale wilted with garlic, sprinkled with lime juice and salt whizzed in the food processor with toasted sunflower seeds. Simples! Served on whole wheat spaghetti.

Two sleeps until Blim Market!

Taming the Wild Alberta Rose

It infuriates me that an ultra-right wing party affiliates itself with such a beautiful fragrant flower. I guess that's supposed to cover the stink of b-shit. Thank goodness they didn't get voted into power. As Christie Clark runs around in a panic trying to paint the NDP party as rampant communists she seems to be trying to form a fake alliance with the PC's saying the free enterprise parties must stick together or the sky will fall in? Whose sky? And whose sky is it anyway when American Space Cowboys proclaim they're gonna go out an lasso and few mineral-rich asteroids. Those idiots will start a global war--or an interplanetary battle.

These are the thoughts that nag at me as by back muscles convulse and send pain messages to all parts of my body. I've been burning through books: The Vault, by Ruth Rendel (I enjoy her deft sketches of characters), She Felt No Pain by Lou Allin (set in Sooke),  and the epic A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (fascinating history).

Tonight I made lentils and spaeztle like my mom used to make, only substituted a smoked turkey leg for a ham bone and the little red lentils which cook more quickly than the brown ones. Needs Riesling!

Getting Attention

I've decided that "getting attention" is considered very important to an artist's personal success these days. Presently, I feel attracted to solitude and privacy as an artist. There's always a push-pull going on there with revealing and concealing.

My recent baking projects have included chocolate chip cookies and homemade crumpets. I think the crumpet recipe I used needs buttermilk and baking soda.

I witnessed a lovely interaction between a mother and her toddler at the bus stop. The toddler was screaming and her face was bloody. The mother was completely silent, but calm. She sat on the bus stop and fished in her pocket for a paper napkin and wiped the wee girl's face which made her cry even harder. Then she held her close and rocked her. The rocking motion gradually calmed the girl down. I was fascinated that the mother was completely mute. So unusual. A woman came by in a uniform. I thought she might be an EMT. She winced in sympathy at the girl's bloody face. The mother explained her child had fallen on her face on the cement. I thought the EMT would offer some help, but she just said, "Oh, that's a right of passage," and walked brusquely away.  The mother rocked the child until the girl suddenly just snapped out of her distress and then starting pointing and chatting at the buses and cars. I just smiled sympathetically and let the mother take control of the situation. Her body language was very closed in and self-contained, so I intuited that she wanted privacy.

The Dailies

I've been thinking a lot about habits recently, the negative and positive things we do daily. I think now that spring has come, gardening will shape my daily habits and rituals in a dramatic way. I've got to do a bit of weeding and edging the lawn every day, along with at least one garden project per day. I've got to stake the raspberries this week, attack the lamium and gout weed and finish planting my indoor seeds. Today I planted carrots, beets, and radishes and put in the pea starts I bought at the market. I also watched and listened to the bees in the azelea blossoms for fifteen minutes. I think I'll try to put in fifteen minutes of bee time every day.

I've also done a lot of sketching this week, finding it immensely satisfying, so I'm going to do one sketching project per day. Baking has just about become a daily ritual for me and the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I made this week went down a treat. As my friends have just returned from Vienna I think this week I'll tackle the Sacher Torte. I'm also getting interested in making truffles again.

What are your spring dailies?

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning I went to put my photos of Easter weekend on my hard drive and the cable jammed out on me. I lost the photos. I walked Ullie to school, weeping. It was a bad morning. A really bad morning. I was so looking forward to sharing the images with friends and family and there was a lot of love in those photos. Of course the way my mind works I immediately associated this with other losses in my life and I crashed.

Well, I am such a lucky woman. Dr. Peter to the rescue! He ran a program that revealed all 3000 photos on that disc. As a reader of mysteries I know that IT forensics can uncover files that have been erased, so I did have a faint hope that those photos would be there. They are not on my hard drive yet, but pray to Jesus that which was lost will be found again.

I went and had dim sum with Peter in the DTES. Watching people stick their fingers in the sidewalk gaps for lost traces of spilled crack makes you realize how insignificant your problems really are. We have memories. We have love. We are blessed.

The Sugar Challenge

My beloved has challenged me to give up sugar for three weeks. Ha! This will not happen, but it is a wake-up call to cut back, way back. It's going to be hard because lately I've been baking almost every day because I find it so grounding and it does save us money in the long run.

Soooo, I just baked a batch of Thomas Haas's Chocolate Sparkle cookies. I even had a jar of blackberry honey which is precisely what the recipe calls for. The deeply satisfying smell of baked chocolate is permeating the house right now. And I only ate one. These cookies are also gluten free, so my I can make them for my friends who don't eat wheat.

I finally sowed some salad green seeds into my garden bed and yesterday I spent two full hours gardening--in our garden and Catherine's. My back was hella stiff this morning, but I do feel good now that I'm back working in the soil. I moved my rhubarb to a sunnier spot and replanted some tulip bulbs I dug up last year and overwintered in the porch. I also spent an hour cleaning out the back porch in preparation for planting seedlings. It's a beautiful sunny day today too! Yeehaw!

We've been watch a cop show set in Manchester called Life on Mars. I find it repetitive, contrived and flat, but I'm still watching it. I guess I'm indulging in the nostalgia of it, as it's set in the 70's.

The Ghost Ship

There is an abandoned Japanese squid fishing vessel wandering the coast of BC after becoming unmoored by the tsunami.

A man who walks his two schnauzers in our hood looks a lot like Freud. He even dresses like him in a tweedy sort of way. However, today he was wearing a raincoat and mountie hat, which was quite shocking after seeing him dress in camel's hair jackets and suits for years.

Okay, so now maybe I'll get a smart phone. Folks in Liverpool are scanning their Fair Trade food to see where it comes from.

Don't Be a Fool!

Don't forget today at 3pm Anakana Schofield launches her new novel Malarky at the People's Co-op Book Store on the Drive. There's gonna be honey blondies made by yours truly!

An Uncertain Place by Fred Vargas

For those of you who haven't discovered the French writer Fred Vargas, get thee to a library without delay! I've just savored her latest Commissaire Adamsberg mystery and it is absolutely fantastic. I absolutely HATE vampire stories and I loved this book, which has a vampire story at its heart. That's how good it is. It is surreal, funny, and infused with the writer's particular brand of sardonic pathos. If you made a movie of this book, you'd want to hire Edward Gorey and make an animated version.

Migraine Ritual

When I can't ignore the pain, I run a really hot bath. As hot as I can stand it. Sprinkle on a few drops of Eucalyptus oil and feel the pain drain from my head immediately as my feet hit the water. Luxuriate in the warmth of the water, wash with lovely puffy soap suds, feel the shoulders drop and the neck relax. Go to bed.

Then get up, cook supper, eat supper, tune the uke and practice, practice, practice!

Dinner: ginger garlic turkey meatballs and rice with greens and nuac cham dipping sauce.

The Grammar of Happiness

After reading this Boing Boing Article by Avi Solomon, I really want to see the documentary about Daniel Everett's life-changing study of the Pirahã people in Brazil. These people have an intriguing way of communicating that moved Everett to change his world view in a dramatic way. Please let me know if you hear about a local screening of The Grammar of Happiness.

Transition Weather

It is truly transitional weather--the kind where you need to wear one kind of outfit in the sun and another in the shade because the temperature difference is so extreme. Also, it is migraine weather, so I am riding the uneasy space between wellness and being bedridden with a throbbing head.

Spring break is coming to a close which means a mountain of homework suddenly appears on the dining room table. This time it's a detailed poster on submarines.

Last night I found more online episodes of Mankell's Wallander with English subtitles, which provided distraction to the mal a la tête.

Off to the Blim market. Michael's doing Mexican food for lunch!

Happy Spring 2012!!!

It's been a spring teaser of a day, cool and cloudy, then sunny and cool. Our neighbors picked today to start framing their old/new house and the noise woke us up. Although I did wake up very happy, having dreamt I won a CSA for the year from UBC Farm. What a fantastic dream! Thanks to whoever put that in the psychic pipeline.

The baking project today was a batch of gougeres which Peter called "little buns." They are NOT little buns. They are gougeres!!!!!!! He likes them because they taste like Yorkshire pudding. Ules and I made cajeta paletas today. Pics will follow on the other blog.

I worked for an hour and a half in my friend's garden today pulling nettles, transplanting perennials and removing the mulch. It's fun taking off the winter cover and finding all the new tender shoots underneath the leaves.

I am having a blast playing campfire songs on the ukulele with the five chords I know so far. Ukulele, where have you been all my life????? We will have to have a real campfire sing along this summer with home made s'mores. Can we get some cajeta into them I wonder?

Craving orange and chocolate. I might make a cake with ricotta and orange and coffee tomorrow.

In my spring cleaning today I unearthed a bottle of port Ules' grandpa gave him to open on his 21st birthday. I had completely forgotten about that. The years 2000--2003 are a total blurr. As are the years I first fell for Peter. Must have been the endorphins. Or something.

Spring Break Projects

We are having a staycation this spring break, so I have been taking on daily baking, cleaning and artmaking projects. I have made blood orange sticky buns, grapefruit ginger curd, lime curd, banana chocolate chip muffins, orange carrot muffins, buckwheat brownies and tonight Ules and I made pretzels from Alton Brown's recipe. I have been cleaning the kitchen one bit at a time, starting with the fridge which we are going to replace soon. Yay!!!!!!!

I have been writing songs and finally strumming the uke. I am going to try to learn how to play it by ear. Next week I have to start adding gardening projects to the agenda and tackling my reluctance to go to the pool.

We've been watching Season 3 of Medium. LOVE IT!!!!! I also reread a Ruth Rendel Mystery.

Did anyone else catch environmental activist Vandana Shiva on the Current on Friday? She is my hero.

The Problem with Pinterest

Well, the problem I have with Pinterest is that is seems to be designed by airheads and used by airheads who fail to grasp the importance of image attribution and only want to collect pretty pictures and consume pretty things. No one seems to be addressing these issues, except for people like Bug Girl who cites this article from webpronews.com. The article talks about the sneaky ways Pinterest gets around copyright issues.

Debris Detectives

Interesting article in the NYT on people searching for debris from the tsunami in Japan.

Mr. Baty is one of a ragtag army of unofficial seaside detectives who provide useful information on the patterns and whereabouts of ocean garbage to government officials and environmental groups. “You walk up to something on the tide line,” he said, “and you scratch your head and think, ‘Now where did that come from?’ ”

--On West Coast, Looking for Flotsom of a Disaster by Malia Wollan, NYT

Forward Momentum

Suddenly, ideas that have been grounded for weeks are starting to take flight again. Travel is so good for my creative process. It is really a worthwhile investment. It's like my psyche needs to fly in order to dream again.

Over the weekend I read two novels set in Sicily. I love that it's so hot in Sicily that every time the detective needs to think he simply jumps into the ocean for a swim. So casual. I had a cab driver that I thought was Italian, so I forced him to listen to the 16th century poem in Italian we are singing in choir. Turns out even though his brother lived in Carrera, they were actually born in Palestine. I will perform anywhere.

Be vigilant about bed bugs in libraries. A friend of the family just got infested from library books.
This upsets me to no end.

Save the Dates: Malarky Reading

My dear friend and colleague Anakana Schofield is launching her new novel called Malarky. It is a fascinating exploration of the inner life of an Irish woman who is fearlessly working to try to understand her son's past. If you are in Vancouver you can hear her read at the Vancouver Public Library on March 21. or you can attend the book launch at the most excellent Co-op Bookstore on April Fool's Day from 3-6 pm. If you are in Toronto, you can catch her on Wednesday May 16th, 2012 at the Northern District Library at 12:30pm or later that evening at the North York Central Library at 7:30pm.

Anakana is also one of my favorite bloggers and whenever there is a weather event like the wind storm we had in Vancouver this morning you can bet she will give her report!

Wearing the Pants

Happy International Women's Day. Celebrate by wearing pants!

I am in my birthday week of celebrations which is taking me to my happy place. However, I have a warning for you. Never go bathing suit shopping on your birthday. Talk about bursting the bubble! Oh la la. Anyway, I now have no excuse for avoiding the pool.

I'm very excited to be going to Saskatoon for the weekend to see family and friends and eating at Weczeria. Yayyyyy!

Back to Grains

It was a very domestic day here on the home front because of the teacher's strike. I cooked, cleaned the kitchen floor, did laundry and worked on my taxes. I am back to eating more grains since trying to cut out most starch. I found the diet didn't give me enough energy and hello, I gained weight instead of losing it. How did that happen? Also, I developed weird shooting pains in my legs--maybe a lack of a vitamin or mineral. So today I embraced the starch, baking buckwheat scones and making spaetzle with a wheat and spelt flour mix. I also made ginger grapefruit curd with an excellent recipe by 101 Cookbooks. It's destined to become a classic hit in the blogosphere and by using her technique I immensely improved the texture of my curd. I used two tablespoons of ginger juice instead of one, because I love INTENSE ginger flavor. Bring it on!

Dinner tonight: turkey meatballs, whole grain spaetzle, paprika fried oyster mushrooms and Transylvania style saurkraut from the market.

I have been watching episodes of Waking the Dead (BBC). Season 4 had three exceptional double episodes--really good plot lines and character development. I am on Season 5 now, which was not as strong. I also read an Irish noir mystery: Elegy for April by Benjamin Black. It really bugged me that there was no mention of the year or decade of the story. It is very writerly, somewhat macho, and sometimes gets bogged down in its own miserable tone, but otherwise I quite liked it.

Reply Girls and Boys: Rampant Misogyny

So my son is a huge fan of the Yogscast and apparently there has recently been a huge kerfluffle about "Reply Girls."

This is the definition of a Reply Girl from knowyourmeme.com.

“Reply Girl”, often spelled “Replygirl”, is an Internet slang term used to identify female YouTubers who mainly upload videos as a “reply” to an already popular or trending video in an attempt to capitalize on the high view counts. They typically use sexually suggestive thumbnails, often with prominently exposed cleavage.

This particular kind of performative spam has unleashed a storm of backlash videos fueled by adolescent (regardless of the age of the dude) male hormones. This video represents a well-produced humorous satirical reply video by the Band Area 11 and their fans. Most of the Reply Boy videos are just adding their own performative spam into the toxic stew tube.

This is definitely going to be fuel for my next performance piece.

Nat King Cole Floats my Boat, and Flies my Space Ship

This is the extremely mellow version with an intro I had never heard before.

Auditioning Anxiety

Yes, it's finally over. It was okay--kinda wabi sabi. I rushed things because I was nervous and I just wanted to get out of there. One person on the jury seemed happy. The other two, seemed underwhelmed. Anyway, I survived without loss of body organ or limb and I am SO relieved it's over. It's been twenty years since my last audition--I'm a lot older and wider now. (No, that is not a typo.)


The trick is not to go all low status, which I think I accomplished. But can you believe that I was waiting outside in the cold, locked building for my audition and a dude from another theatre company comes along and wouldn't let me in? Dude, I hope karma bites you in the ASS.

She's a Hipster

This Blossom is incredibly fresh and timely. She's really got great comedic skills.

Sensuous Singer: Julie London

This woman knows how to speak Body Language.

Sensuous Singing

I think that one of the best things about singing it the pure sensuous pleasure. I love the sounds the voice can make, but also the sounds of the languages we sing. Today we immersed ourselves in Italian, and mio bella, I could just dive into those words. The harmonies are gonna really resonate too. It also gives us the privilege of singing and memorizing poetry, which is a lovely pastime. It feels like a decadent guilty pleasure to me.

I sometimes regret I didn't study languages and singing at University. I loved singing in some contexts, but truth be told, I wasn't a big fan of other musicians I met. They were even more introverted and geeky than I was and I found some of them immature and irritating. I KNOW I'm making horrible generalizations, but it just wasn't my tribe at the time. I just haven't found my tribe of musicians and I do long for one, pray for one and dream of forming a band and touring off into the sunset. It just hasn't happened. Yet.

Singing as a hobby is great. Less pressure, different expectations. Singing for pleasure. Singing for the soul. Music does tend to take over my mind and haunt me, so that also might be a reason I never became a pro. It might have literally driven me mad. I'm serious. And I'm not naturally musically intelligent. I really have to work at it, even though it is a labor of love. Becoming a classical singer requires great feats of stamina (emotional and physical) reading and memory skills that I really never have had the capacity for. Sometimes it's good to be realistic about your limitations.

The great thing about being part of a choir is team work, fun, harmony, and the satisfaction of performing the more difficult works. It's humbling too, to be a small part of a giant human musical organ. Keepin' it real, yo.

Untouchable Wimmin

I LOVE these women! I want them to adopt me! We watched the documentary on them called "Untouchable Woman." The "Catering Corps" from the clip above makes me roar with laughter. And they are such good singers too!

I am in AWE.

Holy Weather System, Batman!

Wow. That is a cold wind out there today. If it had been back home, it would have been a February blizzard for sure. Not as many folks at Seedy Saturday. I feel bad for the vendors who come all this way to sell their wares. It did snow at last year's Seedy Saturday IIRC, but it wasn't this windy.

We had a good sectional rehearsal today. We are singing in Italian, so we're practicing getting our voices around the words. It is the best language to sing in. Lovely open vowels.

For my Saturday lunch treat I headed down to the buffet at Saravana Bhavan and it was really good today. There was this coconut vegetable dish that had those long green beans cut up into tiny bite-sized pieces--It was so awesome with their tomato chutney. One of their soups was so spicy it just about blew my head off--I was suitably impressed. I had gulab jaman for dessert with their frothy, milky chai. I think they use evaporated milk. I've had some disappointing, watery dishes at SB, but today the quality was very good. There were a lot of families enjoying a Saturday meal out on the town.

Wednesday Rituals

One thing that's good about hobbies is the weekly and daily rituals they add to your lives. Having choir on Wednesdays means I have to 1) do laundry and 2) take a bath. We get a lecture at the beginning of the term to practice good body hygiene because we sing so close to one another. It's a good point and now I am totally paranoid, so I try to make sure I am not offending anyone I'm singing next to with my BO. Today I worked up a sweat working in the garden so I had a nice hot bath to get clean and relax my spasming back muscles.

It's also a day to work at the new music, pronouncing the unfamiliar Latin and going over tunes and rhythms. Some songs are already firmly planted in my head so I am already avoiding rehearsing them so I don't get sick of those ones. We don't have a real Ipod, but we have an Ipod Shuffle, which I've finally figured out how to use with the choir tracks our conductor uploads on our choir's website. This is already changing my life and putting a new spring in my step.

First honey bee sighting for 21012 at noon today, and the crocus blooms are open.

The Storm is Passing Over

Okay, so we'll be singing this song this term. We ain't never gonna sing it like these folks, but we can dream! This must be one of the most beautiful vids on the net.

If We Only Have Nana

This is so nostalgic for me. I grew up listening to Nana Mouskouri and I think I have to start listening to her again. She's timeless. We are singing this in our next choir concert. There's some good songs comin' up!

Happy Heart Day to Yooz!

Stocked up on Valentines treats from Beta 5. I am beginning to like the strange journey into the semi-industrial land that they occupy. It would be a great place for a destination eatery. There's one building down there I so want to restore. Such good bones. I love the way they used to orient buildings with the entrance on the corner. Someone will snap it up and trendify it.

Some of the food truck commissaries are down in that area.

I haz two new songs!!! Now I needz me a band. I spent a lovely bit of time at Shaktea with the dueling harpists. I loved hearing and watching them tune their strings. I could listen to that all day. There must be a modern harpist that deconstructs the whole saccharine harp thing.

Experiments with Chocolate

Since it's close to V-Day I decided to try to create a new brownie recipe using buckwheat flour. Well, it wasn't a complete disaster, and P said "Well, it's not the worst thing you've made . . . ." But let's face it, they kinda sucked. The icing I created was delicious--more like a caramel sauce, which is better than icing any day. I mean, I liked the brownies because of the earthy flavor, but they were on the dry side. However, the feedback from my household was clearly rejection. So, back to the drawing board.

Spent a good day channeling the writing geist inspired by viewing episodes of The Closer and Wire in The Blood. I am a huge fan of both series.

What is my destiny?

Another day, another search for what I am supposed to be doing on this earth at this point in time. Spent the afternoon with a really lovely woman. Faith in humanity restored once again. The fog lifts momentarily and I choose yet another rabbit hole to plunge into.

Saw two very tired musicians lugging large instrument cases on the bus. So very world weary. I thought musicians led a charmed life, but perhaps I am mistaken. Yet another vocation that you need another vocation that pays for the first vocation. All I know is I have a lot of vocations but need at least one paycation.

Eat Kale and Prosper

Spent a fun afternoon convincing grade four/five students why they should eat kale. I've worked with this class for years and it is so fun to watch them grow up and express themselves, even if they choose names like Chef Farty Pants. It's so rewarding to see the shyest kid in the class get up and improvise, with the challenge of working the word "kale" into the conversation as many times as possible.

While I was hanging out in the gym at noon one of the autistic kids I love was draping me in colored gym shirts with the instructions that I was to perform "a daisy in the sunshine" as the floor hockey team mascot. Her imagination is incredible.

Dr. Agus on CBC's The Current

Dr. Agus is an oncologist with refreshing ideas about how we need to treat cancer with preventive medicine. He's the only person to ever present a convincing argument for getting the flu shot.

Characters We Fall in Love With

Just watched Prayer of the Bone, part of the Wire in the Blood series based on characters created by Val McDermid. Tony Hill is one of my favorite fictional characters, especially as acted by Robson Green. He's a character that gets under you skin at first in an irritating way and then you don't want to let go. What happens to these characters we cling to? Do they call out to be re- imagined in dreams and other forms of fiction? Do we seek them subconsciously as we travel through life?

Yesterday I read Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. Inspector Gamache is another of those characters one wishes they could "adopt" somehow. As I get older I find myself more and more attached to fictional characters. What does this mean, Dr. Hill? Daily interactions with humans leave me cynical and unfulfilled so I turn to fictional characters who have the capacity to empathize, to care and care for humans.

Are Cheerleaders Hysterical Mimics?

Fascinating story on The Current on CBC Radio about a group of cheerleaders in upstate New York. A group of girls are exhibiting turrets like symptoms and it is being called a case of mass hysteria. Celebrity lawyer Erin Brockowich is getting involved, to try to determine if the girls have been subjected to environmental poisons. A doctor from London says that this is the worst thing that could happen, as this kind of attention breeds the hysteria.

Those Who Love Themselves a bit too Much

I'm thinking a lot about how narcissism manifests itself in the new social media/technology. I think that technology can incubate narcissism so that it has the potential to become pathological.
Please discuss.

I am also thinking about the erosion of dignity in terms of every day interaction and how that has something to do with technology as well. Being kind to the person you interact with is no longer a part of people's job description, especially in the field of medicine.
Please discuss.

I get the sense that people are developing a kind of insensitivity or blindness to as sense of the "other," not as in someone alien to you, but literally in the sense that there is another person in the room besides you, the subject.

I am thinking on these things and maybe I should conceive a performance around these thoughts.

Post Gig Stupor

Choir concert was fun with an audience of over 300 people. Feeling hungover/burnt in a post-gig stupor today. Went to Aphrodite's for sustenance and regeneration, which was forthcoming. I made apple sauce yesterday before the rehearsal which was very grounding. We had Oyama duck confit with Anne's blueberry sauce for dinner. Real mincemeat pie with port for dessert. After being on the kale diet for a month it was like a dream from a land far far away on a planet in a distant galaxy.

I have a real job interview this week and am wondering what the hell I am going to wear. Argh. In a moment of insanity I thought I should make something to suit the occasion.

The witch hazel is blooming all over the city. Delightful.

Warm and Fuzzy

Feeling very warm and fuzzy after the storytelling gig last night. I so enjoyed everyone's contribution, felt honored to be a part of it and it SOLD OUT. Fabulous! Please support Raincity Chronicles. They are awesome. More, more, we want more.


Went to have my humus at lunch today at choir practice only to find it was moldy. WTF! I went to the service station to see if there was anything there I could eat, but I wandered around muttering like a mad woman and shaking my head. WHY cannot we have decent food available before 10 am in Vancouver? WHY is there not a law against the shit they sell at gas stations? I think someone should do an art piece where they turn a gas station into a destination snack bar. What would that look like? Answer: France.

Why cannot we give art and food the proper respect it deserves? TELL ME WHY!!!!?

TISIIWOT: tweets I'd send if I was on twitter

Tickets are sold out for the storytelling event tonight at the Salt Building! Just chillin' until the gig.

Looks like there might be a food truck nearby at 6pm. Smart! Is there anywhere to eat in the Olympic Village besides foraging in the ditches beside the Athlete's village? See, I'm too wordy for Twitter. Fail.

The Mary Tyle Moore theme song in French

OMG! I have to learn this and sing it with mah uke.

Pretty is as Pretty does

The Sphinx and the milky way discovers an awesome quote by Fran Lebowitz.

Street Food City

If you are down at the VAG in the next couple of days check out the gathering of the food trucks at Street Food City. Hopefully the lineups won't be too long!

Monday Monday

Happy Chinese New Year! Hope you get to have a big feast to celebrate. Me, I'm on prison rations these days. Winter greens and kale soup. This is the third week, the novelty has worn off and I am grouchy and craving apple pie. Yesterday I made miso kale soup. Big whoop.

Anyway, Catherine and I went to the premiere of my play which was fun. The actress did such a good job. I was thrilled! The small theater was packed out, and I'm glad the event was such a success.

Thrilling news: I have a monologue about my love of dairy that's gonna be published in an anthology. Yeah!

In the meantime I've got to practice for the big concert coming up on Sunday and the storytelling event on Friday. No notes for the storytelling, so I have to memorize my bullet points. And I have to make sure I don't go over seven minutes which is way too easy for me to do! So many stories, so little time.

Glaciers of Nice

Glaciers of Nice Blog.

These folks look cool. I am intrigued by the Sumi Ink Club idea.

Burdock Kimpira

Oh how I love the woody, earthy nuttiness of burdock. I made kimpira today, grating the burdock, rinsing it twice and then sauteing it in olive oil with a touch of sesame oil. I added fresh oyster mushrooms and about 2 tbsp soya sauce mixed with honey (in another saucepan). Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and wow, it is delicious. I think I'm going to try putting burdock in the next batch of kimchi as well. The kimchi turned out really well and I've been putting it in borscht, on tofu and on my red cabbage cole slaw. I think next time I'd make one batch without ginger so that it's a bit more versatile. Ginger tastes weird in borscht to my taste. That's taking fusion a step too far!

I'm really looking forward to a 4 hour workshop today with the Push fest. Fun!

Amarillo was a lively piece of physical and visual theatre. I enjoyed the layered imagery and the physical rigor of the work.

Balance, Push, Pull

I was given a free ticket to the show called Amarillo at the Push Festival tonight and I'm really looking forward to it.

My ten minute play is also showing this weekend at the PuLL Festival, which I'm stoked about. It's at the Carousel Theatre on Granville Island, tickets are only five bucks and drinks are a toonie!

And this big announcement: I am telling a story at the Raincity Chronicles event called "What Feeds Us "on Jan 27. The tales will focus on the theme of eating local. Cool!

And then there's our High Spirits Choral Concert on Jan 29. Busy Bee!

The Flower Duet: The Oliveira Sisters

I feel that this is one of the best versions of the duet we've found a video of so far. The soprano has that lovely light soprano of the ingenue and her sister has that lovely mature sound with a darker tone. There's also a real warmth and connection between the two women which is missing in other performances of the "park and bark" variety.

We celebrated Art's Birthday at W2 today with tea by Trolley Bus and a "digital" cake. Had some really interesting conversations, then came home and made a curry with tiny brussel sprouts from the market. Coconut milk, tomato paste, mango, fresh garlic, ginger and tumeric, onion seeds and a generic curry powder. I had a hankering for curried popcorn so I made a big batch to share with Ules. I also made salmon cakes and potatoes for the boy. I had a nip of Catherine's raspberry vodka for dessert. It is her summer garden in a bottle!

The Dublin Quartet: The Flower Duet

This is a lovely instrumental rendition of the song by Delibes. It's peaceful to look at while imagining you are in the sunlit room with those women.

Kimchi

I'm gearing up to make kimchi this weekend, so headed to Granville Island to pick up Korean chili flakes. Also picked up some fresh lime leaves for Thai soup and they are on sale for two for one right now at Seven Seas. I bought some awesome chocolate sables at PICA. They are so chewy and chocolately, and have a nice hit of salt so they win the cookie of the month prize. Yee Haw!

If you are near GI, check out the show at Gallery Jones. They have a couple of brilliant Leonara Carrington pieces.

Meteor Sighting Confirmed

Looks like other people saw the meteor, some with quite dramatic descriptions. There is a website called Lunar Meteor Hunters where you can enter what you've seen. I saw the meteor when I was looking due west from Vancouver.

11JAN2012 Mike Helena MT 1950 MST 3-5 seconds ESE-WNW Green turning white in fireball brighter than moon or Venus none observed Observed while driving westerly on cloudless evening; arcing downward so ruled out fireworks due to trajectory; disappeared behind mountainous horizon

11Jan2012 Gary lockhart Port Angeles, WA USA 2145 2 SSE-NNW Brilant White light moon none streak then ball flare. Appreared to burn up over northern British Columbia, Canada

1/11/2012 Jessica Macgregor East Sooke, Sooke British Columbia,Canada 21:40:00 5 to 10 sec Came from behind me south and went down in front north in the bay Started off white like shooting star then the head got bigger and the tail was white moving to the head was bright orange with red like a little fire ball with a long tail and green just b4 it disappeared was beautiful Brighter then the moon No As it got closer to the water got bigger and brighter and then it was gone no noise at first I thought it was a shooting star but the way it fell and how bright it was was like nothing I've ever seen

11jan2012 gary maccormack victoria bc canada 21:43:00 2 sec sw-ne very large brighter not apparent at first i thought it might be a flare but it was moving much too fast

1/11/2012 Hilary Canty Olga, Washington, USA 21:45:00 5 seconds NW, direct drop Bright white center, orange flame like surrounding Moon Looked whole and on fire Sure was a wild sighting and made the dog walk memorable!

1/11/2012 Erica Seattle Wa., USA 21:40, Pacific 2 sec Northwest, and fell straight down Blue green very bright none none

1/11/2012 Diana Port Angeles, WA USA 21:30:00 3-5 seconds straight downward trajectory Heard a loud roar, then from my living room window, saw a huge white ball of light falling straight down toward the Straight of Juan De Fuca, about a mile from my home on a hill above town. As bright or brighter than the moon and looked from the distance about half the size of the moon Only saw the huge bright light then it fell out of view behind trees. I don't know if the huge roaring sound just before that was connected, although I opened my door and there were no planes in the sky, then right after that I saw the meteor.

1/11/2012 Brooke Whiterock/South Surrey, BC 21:49 pst Maybe 5 - 10 seconds by the time I was asking the rest of the people with me if they were seeing it or saw it it was done It came from behind me over my head in a Northwest direction No sounds it was bright white and than seemed to get brighter and than disappear As bright as a sparkler Yes as it passed over my head it looked like sparks were flying of the tail of it It was the most coolest thing I have ever seen.

Heavens to Mergatroid!

I was coming home from choir tonight and I saw a ball of flame falling from the sky. Weird or what?

The Secret Lives of Books

Something to lift your spirits: an animation shot and created in Type bookstore in Toronto.

A Picnic Invigorating

Someone's just sent me a link to a story about French Beekeepers occupying Monsanto. Yes, that's who the kids should be occupying. The article was probably translated by Babel Fish so it has some lovely weirdness. I'd like to go to a picnic invigorating--sounds like beaucoup de fun! Ooo missus!

If I Won the Lottery

I would buy my friends the outfit of their choice from this echt collection of art deco inspired Ralph Lauren Collection from Fall 2011. Then we'd all hop in vintage cars and go to Gastown for cocktails.

An Italian Sense of Time

I watched this animate with my son. It describes cultural and personal differences in a sense of time and he has some interesting insights on the difference between cultures in Northern and Southern Italy.

I've just read Willful Behavior by Donna Leon. So far I think it's my favorite book in her series about a Venetian detective. The writing style is elegant and the pacing is excellent. I also love the way she describes the food culture in Venice and the big family lunches that Brunetti's wife Paula cooks when she is not teaching. This is very satisfying armchair traveling. It wouldn't surprise me if this series is filmed for television.

I picked up some lovely winter greens at the market and have been chopping the kale and bok choi and mustard greens into really small pieces to make them edible while they are still raw. Add to this a mustardy lemony dressing and roasted almonds or herbed walnuts and this is so good with bits of blue cheese and some buffalo sausage on the side.

Hot Tweets

This is hilarious--the Calgary Philharmonic orchestra warming up with tweets sent in by Calgarians.

Paint it Black covered by Supercute

I love what these girls are doing. They rock the ukuleles!

A Tyrant's Palate

The Way to Understand Kim Jong Il was Through his Stomach. A fascinating article from The Daily Beast about the "malignant narcissist" and his love of gourmet food.

A really nice product: Pacific Northwest Calendar.

P's sick in bed so I went to the market on my own to pick up the usual suspects: a bag of Galas, bag of Yukons, bag of greens, buckwheat brownie, loaf of Chris's bread, package of bratwurst, as well as High Crow's breakfast bars and blondies. I also picked up some macarons from French Made baking--surprised to see them at the market since they now have a cute little storefront location on Kingsway near Broadway. The Coma food truck was there for the first time, so I indulged in some Bulgogi tacos. I am so hooked on this Korean/Mexican fusion truck food. Love it! I think I may have to learn how to make kimchee. Anyone out there who can teach me?

I Shall Be Released

Joni Mitchell and Mama Cass? I love it.

Cloud Seeding

Das Boot Camp has begun and we are being productive. We have been writing until our fingers are cramped and can work no more. We have been cooking whole grains and chopping cabbage until the wee hours of the morning. We have been eating grapefruit whether we like it or not. We have been singing and learning our choir music, even the ones we despise. Moohoohawhawhaw!

And yet, there has been room for laughter, small pieces of cheesecake, a few of Michelle's awesome cookies, and a piece of Aphrodite's pumpkin pie. We are sore and stiff, but comrades, we are doing this for the good of the family, the city and the nation. We march on in the dim light of the sad, rain-drenched city that cares nothing of its artists in the front lines. Vive le revolution!

Remember to take your vitamin D, sisters.

Oh and I am researching cloud seeding for a performance piece. The subject seems to drive the conspiracy theorists crazy.

Mel Torme Sings Nocturne for the Blues

Written in 1939 by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers. Originally an instrumental, I'm not sure if Torme wrote these lyrics. He does a lovely job, but I'm not sure about the use of the strings as this song was made for the sax, don't you think?

A nocturne for the blues played on a bro - ken heart string
It's wailing out the news my baby is gone from me.
Dark shadows in the rain, a tel - e - phone that won't ring
Just mem - o - ries re- main of lovers that used to be.
I miss the laughs and the fun, my spot in the sun
When I was the one one and only.
The music and lights, those wonderful nights
The morn - ing is the time we'd kiss.
The laughs and the fun, my days in the sun,
They're over and done, and I'm lonely;
Don't ask me to hide the heartbreak in - side
The gleam - ing spark is gone, the light went dark.
This nocturn for the blues took all and left me nothing
Nothing but the blues 'til baby comes back to me

Moves Like Jagger: A Cover

Sweet, funny and oddly sexy. I found this via Cover Me Songs.

2012 Year of the Boot Camp: Not for Sissies!

This is the Year of Discipline. No whining and whinging! This is the year to Get Things Done.

This is the year to develop recipes for Abstinence, Sustenance and Decadence.

This is the year of Playing Hard and Working Hard!

This is the year of the Ukulele!

This is the year I write, sing, make art on a regular basis.

This is the year of the Regime, the Program, the Schedule.

This is the year of the Upgrade.

This is the year of finding a job that allows me to keep volunteering and giving to the community while keeping body and soul together. A year of giving to the friends and family who support me.

"You cannot dream yourself a character, you must hammer and forge yourself one."

--Henry David Thoreau

But first . . . I have to get over this wretched cold. This is my second day in bed with sinus pain. I made some hot tea with rose infused honey and lemon and Peter made me nourishing rabbit soup from the bunny he braised for dinner last night. We popped the sparkling mead he bought me for Christmas and toasted the New Year.

This year I am really going to focus on the idea of stocking the pantry--having foods and condiments on hand to help us be more creative with our everyday cooking. Let's start with pickles! I love having pickled veggies with my meals.

But first . . . I have to create a space for the foods in the pantry!

Have a fantastic 2012 and let's hope there's another Mayan calendar buried somewhere that carries on where the old one left off!