….do you have photos of soft pastel colours? …..check out Cee’s fun foto challenge
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Soft Pastels
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Category Archives: Food
Real “Baby” Carrots
….and all their lovely imperfections
Last weekend we pulled the remaining carrots from out garden. It was difficult to see the fruits of our labour amidst all the greenery that grows above ground.
After a thorough washing, I removed the leafy stems and put every tiny misshaped carrot to the side. There were red, yellow, white and orange carrots in the mix and some were smaller than my baby toe. No matter. They were sweet and tender and when I put them into the measuring cup I had almost 8 cups of a very edible and nourishing vegetable.
Tonight some of those carrots made their way into our stir fry. Tomorrow I’ll probably take some to school and eat them raw with some humus dip. Yum!
Over at Colline’s Blog, Colline wrote a similar article about food waste and included a video called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables. I thought it was excellent and decided to share it with you. This is how France tackled the problem of food waste. Ingenious!
A Fruitful and Musical Day
….ran 4.4k, walked over 11,000 step, and enjoyed the Junction Market and Music Festival
I started my day with a trip to my daughter’s house and we both walked to the Railpath and started to run for 45 minutes. Next week we’re both doing the Railpath Fun Run. I was hoping to run at least 5k in 45 minutes but I only managed 4.4k. For those of you living in Toronto there’s still time to register.
All proceeds from this race will benefit The Stop Community Food Centre.
After our run we got in the car and drove over to the Junction to meet up with K who rode there on his bike. I actually didn’t even know that the music festival was on. Nice surprise but it did make it more difficult to find a place to park. We luckily found a spot on a side street and we walked over to the Farmers’ Market.
It was a gorgeous day but for some reason the wasps were everywhere, especially around vendors with food. I’ve never seen it quite so bad. We sat in a cafe by the window and the wasps came right into the coffee shop. We decided to ignore them and luckily none of us got stung.
The market was very busy and we bought some beautiful kale and green and purple peppers from Wheel Barrow Farms. One of the unique things that we saw on Saturday was a mobile cafe. I wonder how much one of those cost? I should check out the website on the side of the truck.
A few musical acts were set up on the side streets but the big show didn’t take place until later in the day. All in all it was a great day.
Share Your World – Week 36
…..another great set of questions from Cee’s Share Your World
Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?
I really enjoy looking through coffee table books but I love reading fiction.
What is your biggest fear or phobia? (no photos please)
I don’t know why but I have an unexplainable fear of bears. I’ve never encountered a bear and I don’t want to. Two years ago a family of bears swam across the bay to our island and have lived there ever since. I will not walk by myself through the woods anymore. Luckily the island is very large and very few people have even seen the bears but there is evidence that they’re around. I think my fear may have come from reading a book my aunt gave me over 30 years ago about bear attacks.
What is your favorite cheese?
I love all types of cheese. I don’t think I can just pick one. My favourites include old cheddar, brie and Emmenthal.
What is your favorite month of the year?
Right now I’ll say August. Usually it’s the best month to be at the cottage because the water has warmed up and the mosquitoes are almost non-existent. It’s also the month when I celebrate my anniversary and my birthday.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I’m grateful for all the help that I got from the parents and students who helped me organize the library. It’s not quite finished but it looks 100% better.
Next week I’m looking forward to getting together with friends from high school. Some of these women I haven’t seen in over 40 years.
Things That Can’t Be Carried on a Bike
….I follow a blog Urban Simplicity that regularly posts Things That Can Be Carried on a Bike
Well last week we discovered something that definitely doesn’t travel well on a bike. As you may know it was my birthday and my husband was in charge of the meal and the birthday cake.
The meal was a fantastic five course Indian spread that K made completely from scratch. It was fabulous and there was enough left over for another meal for two. The only problem was with the cake. My husband is also a good baker but time ran out so he rode his bike to the local Italian bakery to buy a German Black Forest cake. I know….Indian, Italian, German?
Anyway San Remo makes wonderful birthday cakes and it’s always our go to place when we don’t have time to bake. K didn’t think carrying the cake would be problem because he has a flat carrier on the front of his bike and he was able to strap it in place so it wouldn’t slide around.
I guess the ride must have been a little (or a lot) bumpy because when he got home and opened the box this is what he saw:
As you can see he was a little embarrassed. No need. It was delicious just the same.
Have you experienced anything that CAN’T be carried on a bike?
Two Different Ideas of a Good Time
…..this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary
Last Friday we loaded up the car with our doped up little dog in the back and headed up north for a nice quiet weekend at the cottage. When we arrived it was slightly overcast but the rain held off until later in the evening. The next day (our anniversary) it poured rain for most of the day.
We decided to not let the weather interfere with our time together or prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. My husband was bound and determined to get out on his mountain bike this weekend and come rain or shine he did. As it turned out it rained on Saturday but he enjoyed his soggy trip through the woods anyway. He returned covered in mud and his clothes were drenched with rain water. Today it didn’t rain but when he returned he was still covered in mud from all the puddles he rode through and he came back with some new scratches from riding next to the thimbleberry bushes. This is my husband’s idea of a good time.
Look who’s wearing a helmet. Yeah!
Scratches from today’s ride.
Look how happy he is.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love to ride my bike as well but I’m more of a city rider.
My idea of a good time is baking in the rain. As you may or may not know, we don’t have electricity at the cottage so all my cooking is done on the BBQ. Every once in awhile I like to bake and seeing I had 5 very ripe bananas and it was our anniversary I decided to create a new recipe using what I had in my cottage kitchen. I really wanted the recipe to be gluten free because I wanted to share the banana bread with my neighbour (outhouse hole digger) who has a gluten intolerance problem. The final product turned out quite well and I will share the recipe with you later this week.
Baking in the Rain.
The finished product. Yummy, oatmeal banana bread.
As you can see our ideas of a good time don’t always go hand in hand but we both enjoyed the banana bread and after 39 years we’ve learned to let each other pursue our individual interests and hobbies. Later in the day my husband played his mandolin and then read his book while I sat down at the table and worked on some drawings of birds. I’ve never done this before but it was part of an assignment for the on-line summer art camp I’m taking. I really enjoyed the process and I think I will work on my drawing skills some more. I honestly didn’t think I could draw birds. The second assignment was one I’ve done with my own students and it’ll be nice to have a couple of samples to show them if I decide to do this with them again.
Harvesting the Garden
….we’ve had a bumper crop of lettuce this year but today we picked beans, peas, zucchini and jalapeno peppers
As I was weeding the garden this morning I noticed that the purple beans and the sugar peas were ready to pick. Looking at the garden the night before I didn’t notice anything hanging from the pole vines but in the light of the morning sun they stood out like a sore thumb. 
We’ve been keeping a close eye on the zucchini and picked three the night before and one more this evening. The jalapeño peppers were also ripe for picking. 
Three of the four vegetables made it into our stir fry tonight (will save the jalapeño for another time) and to our surprise the purple beans turned a dark bright green. Everything was so fresh and delicious.
Fruits of my Labour
….overhanging branches of sour cherries netted me 5 jars of jam
Thanks to my neighbour’s sour cherry tree I was able to pick enough cherries that were hanging over onto to our side of the hedge to make jam. I’d never really noticed the tree before, probably because I would have been at the cottage when the cherries are ready to pick. This year I’ve been home more than normal because of a family situation.
I knew the cherries were ready to pick because the neighbourhood squirrel was feasting on them a couple of days ago.
I found an easy recipe in the cookbook, Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan.
Sour Cherry Jam
6 cups of pitted and crushed (I left mine whole) sour cherries, 3 cups of sugar and 1 packet of liquid pectin (3oz/85ml)
Combine the cherries and sugar in a large pot and boil for at least 20 minutes. Add the pectin and boil for another 5 minutes.
Ladle into hot, clean canning jars. Apply the lids and rings and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
The jam is a bit loose but it jells up more when it’s refrigerated. Delicious.
Thanks Nancy. Your jar is on its way.
School’s Out but I’m Back Next Week
…..just couldn’t finish in the library
Normally the children are finished with school one day before the teachers but this year everyone had to stay in school right up to Friday. The last day for teachers is usually a clean-up day where teachers put away as much as possible so that the care taking staff can do a thorough cleaning in the summer.
Many of us found it very difficult to get our rooms to that point and despite staying for a couple of hours after the children had left some of us need to come back next week to continue with the purging and tidying. In the library I had one extra job that needed doing this year. I’m having new carpet tiles put down and in order for the workers to move the free standing shelves and the book carousels I had to empty them all and box the books again (same job as last year). I had children in all day who tried to help me with this task and we still didn’t finish.
As I wrote earlier the last two weeks of school have been very busy and stressful. I’ve mentioned before that stress and weight gain go hand in hand for me. Not only that but all week children and parents have been bringing in chocolates, cupcakes and cookies. We had a pizza lunch with the book club, a BBQ with the grade 5s, our staff party and our principal treated us to breakfast (muffins, Danishes, bagels, croissants) all in the same week. 
This morning I put myself on the scale thinking that I had gained back all the weight I had lost recently plus more. I did gain four of the five pounds that I had lost but I was relieved that it wasn’t more. Now that most of my stress has been lifted for the summer I’m hoping to get back on track and drop all the weight that I’ve gained this winter.
I started the morning with a healthy breakfast and then went for an eight kilometre bike ride.
For the rest of the day I’m going do some gardening, get out for a walk and drink lots of water. I’m also hoping to get up to the cottage this weekend to open the place up and then I’ll come back to finish up in the library. With any luck I should be able to get the job done in one day.
25k on the Bike Today
….and I can barely keep my eyes open
It’s been a long and productive day today but now that I’m ready to work on my report cards I find myself falling asleep over the computer.
Early this morning my husband and I set off for the Junction Farmer’s Market. It’s about twice the distance to get to this market compared to the one we went to last weekend. We were able to get there largely on bike trails and the city streets that we had to use were mostly through quiet neighbourhoods. It was a beautiful day again today so there were a lot of people out on their bikes, rollerblades and on foot. The one big mistake we made today was not bringing water with us. When we got to our destination the first thing I did was buy a bottle of water.
The Junction Farmers’ Market was crazy busy. We bought some bread and squares from a fantastic baker, dips and sauces from a woman who was into ‘good food for good’ and wine from one of our favourite wineries, Tawes. Before getting back on our bikes to visit our daughter a little further east we stopped for coffee and water at Full Stop.
We rode for another 2k to get to A and J’s place. We sat out in the backyard and enjoyed some light refreshments and great conversation with our daughters and two of their friends who just happened to be visiting at the time. After an hour or so we hopped back on our bikes and started on the long ride back home. It was a little easier going back because there were more declines than inclines but I was really starting to feel it in my upper thighs and knees as we got closer to home.
http://www.strava.com/activities/150644364
Once we were home we made a lunch and then I got in the car and drove around to buy things I needed for my next art project. When I got back we both worked in the garden for a bit and then we got changed and walked up the street to our favourite Indian restaurant, Bombay by the Lake. It’s been awhile since we’ve treated ourselves to a restaurant meal and being able to walk there was a bonus.
After dinner when we were walking home we noticed a sign for a garage sale that is taking place tomorrow morning. The thing that caught our eye was the list of items that are going to be sold and in particular the mandolin. My husband has wanted a mandolin for some time now. When we passed the house where the sale is being held we saw the owner outside working on his porch so we walked up to him and asked him about the musical instrument that they were advertising. He told us that the mandolin is his wife’s and he had no idea how much she wanted for it but he did go into the house and brought it out for us to look at. It’s a beauty. When we got home K got on the internet and researched the value of that particular model. I think he’ll be heading back there tomorrow morning to make a deal.
Well I’m amazed that I’ve been able to write this much without falling asleep. I am really physically tired. Maybe I’ll try entering my marks tonight and get up early to finish writing my comments. Here’s to a great day.
Cheers!
Mama Cormier 