Spring

I am one of the lucky ones. Four day weekend. We throw off the jackets and ride our bikes, no destination, just the pleasure of feeling sunshine on arms, legs, necks, the pleasure of warm wind, of sweat. We indulge in naps in the afternoon and leave the dishes in the sink for another day. In the evening – games with friends. Wizard. Balderdash. Taboo. Someone writes something so absurd during a game of Balderdash that we all laugh so long and so hard our cheeks ache.
Flowers. I will soon have red bunches, like fireworks, bursting in colour on my windowsill. I am surprised at how happy the thought makes me. Even more so, the realization that I've had the plant for over a year, that it thrives and lives and that I took care of it.

On Saturday we climb, shop, and spend the evening with friends. Fondu – cheese and chocolate! Oh the sinfulness, the decadence, the calories, the laughs. Like children we delight in dying some eggs. I dip mine in a vibrant blue and suddenly remember Kiev. Years ago. Brown, onion skin dyed eggs surround a fresh pass-ha, a kind of sweet raisin bread. My grandmother brews me some strong, lose lief black tea, and I eat my egg, watching the dusk settle on the city outside the large bay window of our communal kitchen.

On Sunday I spend the day on my own. Remembering the freedom it offers, I explore the city, have dinner in my favourite place, eat ice cream and lazily pick a recipe to try for dinner. This time, some deconstructed sushi from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

Our first really warm day since October of last year. Winter, what passed for winter this year, seems to be on the way out. I can't be happier. I am reunited with my bicycle.

It seemed urgent that we enjoy the sunshine, that we spent the day outside, on the move. It was equally imperative that I complete an assignment for school so between those two very urgent needs there was no crafting, gardening, or cooking this weekend.

We did however pick and purchase the fabrics for the the sad black chair, and soon to be couch pillows. My mother's sewing machine is finally here and I will be venturing in the world of sewing on my own, with no previous experience and very little guidance.


We let the cat out for a bit. She is still skittish, afraid of the sounds. I sat with her in a sunny patch of the deck finishing up the Carl Sagan book I got Michael for his birthday. The book is wonderful, it made me feel quite overwhelmed with my own brief burst of life. I needed to feel like I was doing something with this tiny moment I get in such a very big universe.

The owl sweater is on hold, as I am knitting some gloves/mittens for a coworker. The timing is poor and I have taken to long to get to it, but at least she will have them for next winter.

Tonight, I feel happy. Michael leaves for an overnight shift and tells me that my face is flushed, my cheeks are red. I feel sleepy, like I spent the day at the beach. I'm ready to curl up with a new book, to have some tea, and get a good nights rest.

Quickie

Just a short update on the cooking and plant front.

I made this delightful Qunoa with apricots and raisins.


I'd try a different dressing though. The onion just wasn't my kinda thing. Supper easy to make. As always, make your own with a recipe right here.


And we have a new addition to the plant family!


I saw this little guy outside the store and just couldn't resist. Haven't had time to put it in proper soil though. I hope it will survive till I get back from Camping.

Pages and Pages

Oh Toronto, my love hate relationship with you is about to intensify in the 'hate' direction.

30 Years after its inception, in the ones strange and obscure Queen St. W, Pages bookstore is closing its doors. Pushed out by rising rent prices in the now uber-hip Queen St W. with its overpriced boutiques, and shoe stores - a mall without a roof. Pages was a great little store, with a great selection of independent press, books on politics, art, and friendl staff who always ask you first if you are a student so they can give you a discount. Pages was wonderful and I'm devastated that it will be gone at the end of August. We payed our tribute last weekend by giving them some money for some books. Once again, even in its last days, Pages does good by me by pulling me out of my reading slump and delivering to my greedy eyes these new books.


Russian Fairy Tales translated by Norbert Guterman
I Am Cat (Three Vol in One) by Soseki Natsume
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World by Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

I will be starting I Am Cat first. It sounds lovely, and will be perfect as a read for my week long camping trip.

We will miss you pages.

In other news of reading, I also visited Labirynth, the comic book store in the Annex and procured


Vol 1 of award winning Queen and Country,
Ex Machina by Brian K Vaughan Book 4
and
Tom Strong by Alan Mooore Book 1

Plant Mutilation

Sad news in the Green Thumb of my life. My Natal Plum is doing awfully. I had to hack away at the dry and dead parts, which, as you can see, was most of them, to give these young ones a chance.


I think I need to replant it maybe. I can't tell if I over watered it, under-watered it, or didn't give it enough sunshine or maybe it's just too hot where it is. I'll have to take it to the ladies at Wilbebloomin to see if they can advise anything.

Also the littlest seaberry sprout died from too much sun. It's been scorching here for a few days. The other two, however, are doing well.


I still don't have a place to plant the one that will become an outdoor tree, though I think some friends of mine who just moved have an ample backyard. We'll see. All the other plants are doing more or less ok. The recent heatwave and their exposure to the sun did some damage so I am keeping on eye on all of them and keeping them out of direct sun for the time being.

Sunday Food Adventures pt 2

Finally had enough time to make food this weekend. Nothing too exciting, and I'm not too happy with how one of these turned out. There was a recipe without instructions on this website. They looked and sounded wonderful. Keeping in mind here that I have never, ever, baked a pie or made pie crust.

I followed the ingredient amounts, but added strawberries to the mix (locally grown of course!). I had a lot of issues with the dough, and the lack of a rolling pin in the house as also less than a benefit to the final product. In the end, these little pies taste like pie. The roommates like them, but as with all pies, I find the crust is just too much crust. They also took me way longer than expected to make, as I had to make another batch of dough to use up all the filling. I was exhausted when it was all over.

They are yummy, bur require an ample glass of milk or tea to wash down the crust. If you're a more experienced baker, I definitely recommend this recipe. You just can't go wrong with Rhubarb and Strawberries.

My actual dinner, which I got to after two hours of baking, was a baguette with vegan cream cheese and roasted red pepper spread, available here.


I like it because it require no cooking, and after the long day of baking I had I was happy to just mix and eat. It does require a bit of fine chopping, but it turned out wonderfully well. It is garlicky, be forewarned. I'm not vegan, but I went with the recipe as is because I'm an inexperienced cook and am too scared still to get things wrong, but now that I've made it if I were to make it again, I would go for regular cream cheese. We'll see how it holds up after a night in the fridge.

Outside In Socks

Sock knitting continues with the completion of one Outside-In sock. I must say that Socks that Rock always looks so yummy in a skein, but I find myself not always as delighted at the pooling in the finished product. I also absolutely have to figure out the right needle size for me for socks. I've had the hardest time knitting in the right gauge, always either too big or just a tad too small. I'm also quite sure that I'm done with sock knitting on wooden double pointed. At size 2.25 my needles start to look like tiny bows, and I've lost more than one needle in the process. So I am exploring some other options. Plastic just seems evil, so I'm on the look out of some metal needles. Romni is having a sale and I have yet to make use of it. I'm doing my best to keep myself at bay until I knit up all the new yarn I've bought over the last three years. Which, before you stare at me agape, is not actually that much.

I'm also pondering a little feature to add to here. I'll see how my time goes, but I'll keep it to myself for now. It's knitting related, I cant tell you that much.