still barbequeing in late October, which I know is normal in most parts of the world that are not Alberta.
not actually spying on neighbours, getting ready to look at that night's moon
the potato harvest, not awesome, but still better than a poke in the eye. Also, purple.
saskatoons and raspberries, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.
I was complaining to Liz, a fellow Flickr-er who lives in my area, that we almost never get any saskatoons and what little the bushes produce, the birds eat. This is the first year I have ever seen them in any abundance - I think partly due to the rain, partly due to a large hawk that has taken up residence in our green strip. I haven't seen the usual numbers of small birds that are resident here, normally clustering around our feeder, then moving on to the bushes.
Saskatoons are quite small at the best of times, but they're larger than usual this year, and actually look kind of juicy.
I roasted eggplants and made baba ganoush the other day. It would have been a lot better if I'd realized that the 4 garlic cloves the recipe called for was meant for three eggplants, not the two I actually used. Whoops.
Tuesday, October 20
We're all still under the weather, so we made some chicken soup. Actually, wonton soup, with homemade turkey broth and wontons stuffed with chicken and the carrots from our garden. Saturday, October 17.
place holder for the film version, taken on Film Friday.
Despite the cold late spring, this turned out to be a great year for potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and beans. But the frosts have finally come, and we can't run out every night to throw blankets over the beds. So today we harvested everything, and Stasha and Tim started preparing the peppers to freeze and dry for the rest of the year. Not sure about the tomatoes. None of us really want to can them, so we might just end up saucing them and freezing the sauce. Oct 2.
I've had this dodgy relationship with dairy for a while and so have avoided ice cream for nearly six years now. After realizing that I can eat yogurt no problem, it dawned on me that duh! frozen yogurt is fair game! Even better on top of warm white chocolate chip cookies and topped with hot fudge sauce. Triple happiness! Friday, August 28.
too bad I don't actually like beans, because they're coming on like gangbusters in our garden. Tuesday August 25.
textures from Boccacino and Rita at the Coffeeshop
I admit I got carried away with the processing here. If the day was so busy I didn't have time to *take* a decent shot, then why do I have time to spend processing it as a salvage operation?
The pea crop is very, very sad this year. We each got to eat a few of these first pods, but it's doubtful we'll get enough to actually cook a bowlful. On the plus side, the tomatoes, potatoes, and beans are still going strong, and the peas are still rather pretty to look at. August 17.
More peas:
Theo has asked for a long time if we can make pickles, so since it was a rainy August day, we headed out to the farmer's market, to buy cucumbers and dill from the Hutterities (and also, some very nice deerskin work gloves).
Tim figures on a pound of young cukes per quart of pickles. I'm just recording that now, in case we decide to try it again. August 15.
Butter chicken with peas and tater tots. This is Cris' special recipe. I mocked her when she told me about it, but when I had it at her place this summer, it was ridiculously good. Just, you know, embarrassing to admit to eating tater tots. May 25.
trying out a new recipe - not the filling, which we have down pat, but the bread dough. It's from a book called "Artisan breads in...uh, not very much time" (I can't remember the real name). The premise is that you can keep dough in the fridge and pull it out whenever you need it. It's not as good as real cinnamon bun dough, but it was worth experimenting with. May 18
The Christmas holidays have begun, and there is much rejoicing. However much we may enjoy judo and dance, it was wonderful to wake up and realize we did not have to go anywhere, much less in -26 C weather.
Here is where I plan to spend most of the holiday, as does Stasha, obviously:
all the while eating such things as these,
made on the new kitchen island Tim just completed this week, in time for my Book club party yesterday.
The run up to the holidays was hectic as it always is, with Christmas performances for both Ukrainian Dance, as well as Theo's inaugral Band Concert. I have renewed appreciation for my parents now that I, too, can enjoy the sounds of preteens just learning how to play their instruments.
Theo and Stasha are in the same dance group again, and Stasha gets to look like a cream puff:
Theo again gets to wear a tunic with pink trim, but I'm still working on his pants, so he just wore a plain white tunic for this one. Either way, he gets to stand like a cossack.
He's also playng percussion in concert band, and really loves the snare
drum and the cymbals, which, as he says adds extra awesomeness. His
band is huge, considering it's only the grade six kids:
He's way in the back next to the blue bass drum, tapping away on the snare, looking verrrry serious:
All in all,everyone in the family has earned slacker day. Long may they continue, for the next few weeks at least.
I am thankful for being able to come downstairs to coffee made by the children:
It is great to take a break from an increasingly busy routine. School has been busy for the kids and myself, Tim of course never stops being busy at work; judo, dance, school meetings, and teaching yoga all continue to keep us on our toes. So taking time out to relax, eat turkey, watch movies and hang out with each other is especially delicious this weekend.
Thanksgiving dinner also gave us an opportunity to teach the kids an important lesson in Circle of Trust. You can't tell interesting anecdotes and stories without some reassurance that the kids won't immediately run and tell the subject of that anecdote, innocent as it may be. Thus:
I'm grateful for kids who can grasp the concept of discretion.
Let's see - other things I'm grateful for?
It's been a fairly warm fall and we got away without having a severe frost early in the year, so the apples got really nice and red. Even after giving bushels and bags away to friends and neighbours, and even strangers walking past the tree in the green strip, we have tons for ourselves to use through the fall. If I wasn't so crummy (ha) at making pastry, I'd make more pies.
And of course, I'm grateful for having a sweet daughter. I would have a picture of Theo too, if I could get one without him crossing his eyes or delivering some similarly moronic "I am cool" expression.
I still have to study this weekend. Normally I try to get as much work as I can done at the university while the kids are in school, but there's so much more material for what I'm taking this fall, and besides the texts are the size and weight of coffee table books. We moved the sofa from the family room up to the living room, and now it makes a cozy place to sit and study - almost too cozy! But I like it.
It's tomato and crockpot season. Thus we have fried green tomatoes and baked beans for breakfast! Mmm. All we're missing is the pork chops.
We are enjoying Sunday morning a lot more than we enjoyed Tuesday morning. The view from Stasha's door at 7 am:
Cooking and sharing food is an essential part of our daily lives and family gatherings, as Iron Chefs Cris and Isabel demonstrate:
It's been a few years now since we compiled recipes for the first family recipe book, Don't be Shy. Now that many more meals have been cooked, shared, stored in the freezer and recipes requested, it's time to start collecting material for Don't be Shy 2: The Next Generation! I'd like to see if we can get enough to put out by Christmas. They don't even have to be full recipes, especially if you cook on the fly. It would be good to even put things we think are "obvious" like barbeque marinade, because not everyone in the family does it the same way. Or just a general technique, like your favorite way of making sure pork ribs are tender. It would also be great to put in ideas for kids lunches to take to school, quick and easy snacks, that sort of thing. Or things your kids like to cook. No recipe is too sugary or fatty to include!
If you don't remember the first edition of the cookbook, you can download the file here: Download BOOK.doc
Please send your recipes to my g-mail address with "recipe book" in the subject line and I'll start putting them together right away. Cutting and pasting from websites is not cheating, either. It's just efficient.
Good eats, everyone!
Easter week has been great. Though the weekend itself was blustery, the rest of the week has finally convinced us that spring is here. The kids have been outside everyday, riding bikes and playing in the backyard, and occasionally making themselves useful by helping Tim rake up grass thatch or paint the new planters for the raised beds.
But first! Pictures of the most hideous desert ever!
Tim's Jello Delight, made with ginger ale for fizz, and marshmallows for....whatever it is marshmallows are for. Inducing a sugar coma.
But wait! There's more! In case there isn't enough sugar in that, you have to put it on top of a big slice of pavlova, and then add strawberries and Cool Whip! Give that pancreas a workout, kids!
At least they've been working it off. It doesn't show in this picture, but they're often practicing jousting on their bikes, with their swords. I'm not sure whether to quash their imaginations in favour of child safety, and am just too tired for a detailed risk assessment. So, I just go back to studying (last final is next Tuesday ) and pretend it's not happening.
We also managed to do some small trips. on Easter Monday we went out to the tiny little village of Stirling. This little place makes homemade meat pies and cookie dough, among other things. And giant lollipops.
Also, after much nagging, we finally made it up to Drumheller. Stasha had gone up there last June for a field trip with her Kindergarten class, and hasn't stopped talking about it since. So after months of "Can we go to Drumheller" we also endured 2.5 + hours of "You're going to just love it, Theo, you'll just love it". Fortunately we all loved it, despite the John Acorn overload.
We also found what was clearly the inspiration for the Mouth of Sauron. Freaky, eh?
Back at home, Tim continues to build stuff, all without a plan. Here's the new raised beds.
More pictures (there always are) at Flickr
I gave up potato chips for Lent - honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. In past years I've done this thing: "give up wasting time (such as on the computer) and take up meditation" or something like that. But this year, I knew I would be too distracted, so I just figured it would be easier to give up chips. I was so so wrong. Oh, how I miss plain Ruffles! So the next best thing: Latkes!
In the random complaint department, Theo's school sends home these stupid forms where you record that you've read with your kid for 15 minutes. I guess it is to promote literacy at home or some lame thing like that. Considering that around our house I'm always yelling "Quit reading and get off the toilet, already!" I find this sort of incentive rather superflous.
In the random "I have a sweet daughter" department, Stasha is a born essayist. She just likes to archive her everyday life. In this case, it's a photo of our judo class, glued onto paper she's writing on. Her inner archivest bloometh.
yeah, I know this is a week late. But mom was visiting, we were busy, and any available computer time was spent trying to figure out Skype. We got Skype working, by the way, and I highly recommend all of you trying to get this program uploaded and running. Long distance chat, for free! I am going to try to talk to Dad in China.
Anyway, the night before Theo's birthday Stasha and I made little mini-pavlovas. This is now a tradition - I started bringing them to his class on St. Patrick's Day, garnished with kiwi fruit and chocolate gold coins. I couldn't find the coins this year, so compensated by sending along an aerosol can of whipped cream instead.
Six in the freaking morning! Theo gets to open one present before school:
There's really no reason that five people should be eating a cake this large, but we did anyway. Here it is in all its fiery, sugary goodness.
The weather gods apparantly consider it a tradition to send snow the week of Theo's birthday.
It really was a great visit with mom. We dragged her to judo practice, went out for ribs and sushi (not on the same day) and knit, knit, knit. It's funny to think that Mom first taught me to knit when I was a little kid, then we sort of worked on those condo sweaters when I was in university, and now she's picked up the needles again and churning out ponchos like they're going out of style. Um, they're not going out of style, are they? Not for the second time?
We also made tiny hats. I'm sure you will see some of them at some point, and Ithink I'll continue to work on them now and again. Wait - don't I owe Rosa some blue slippers, now that I think of it?
So much for spring in Alberta. After being deceived by weather so warm you could go about wearing not much more than a cardboard box and running shoes,
we are once more having fits of on-again, off-again, slush and snow.
It's good too because I've been really busy with school. I love being back in university and have the most part gotten over my grumpiness. Two courses is just perfect; enough to get into a routine without being overwhelming. It's enough to get me back into the habit of writing regular assigments and keeping up with the reading. Not to mention getting back some sense of examship - on my first quiz I realized I'd forgotten rule number one: read the test all the way to the end, and rule number two: read every word in the exam. I've been leaving all kinds of points on the table, but as Cris has wisely pointed out to me, it does take a while to get back into the game.
This is what we are having for dinner, because you need to stay well insulated in Alberta.
And here is more progress on Tim's kitchen project, the broom cupboard and recycling cabinet. I am really happy about this, because this way nobody can tell just how much pizza we've gone through in the last month. If you look carefully you can still see an empty sea monkey jar, despite the fact that they've long since joined the choir invisible. Why do we still keep it? One day, I am going to get more eggs and once again have my little sea monkey circus.
