Today is January 28. Two of my friends have their birthdays on this day, and it's a Monday. My baby brother's driving around somewhere in Detroit, and I am thinking about joining a gym and getting a puppy, in that order.
We had another hilariously fun winter weekend. On Friday night we went skiing, as we seem to do every week these days, and on Saturday we went to a 'winter party' where some friends shovelled out a rink on their pond and my hubby went ice fishing. There was a bonfire and red wine was enjoyed. There was food, and nice bunch of new people to hang out with. There were also 4 lovely dogs, bounding around in the snow getting to know each other, which sent us over the edge in our dog/no dog debate. Yesterday hubby went ice fishing again, and I stayed home to clean the house, which was much less heinous than you'd think on a nice sunny winter day.
Winter is funny. I always feel like I hate it so much when it's happening, but I can't imagine not having one. I think it would screw up my biorhythms completely. I am a person who needs four perfect seasons: spring for new flowers and exploration, the smell of wet dirt, seeds sprouting in the basement and the sound of running water in the gully by our house. Summer for snorkelling in clear northern lakes and making friends with the bass, cold beers and late afternoon barbecues on docks, bare feet and fresh veggies from the garden. Fall for putting everything to sleep and working like the ant in Aesop's fable, cooking up comfort food for the wood stackers, getting itchy knitter's fingers and pulling out the warm clothes like old friends from the steamer trunk. And now we have winter, which means firewood, shovelling fun paths around the yard, deer tracks all over our property, that clear clear light that you get at no other time of year, skiing, and looking forward to nothing more in the world than a cup of hot chocolate and a rented movie. I don't even think I'm a person who really needs to go south during the winter, though certainly a week of beachcoming, diving for shells and coral, and a poolside bar does sound easy enough to take.
We're getting through this winter. It makes us feel tough and secure to see the end in sight, to start noticing that the days are getting longer and we're still ok. We're not depressed yet. When depression starts to creep in, it's easy enough for us to dress up, load the skis into the car, and outrun it on the slopes. Also, skiing is on t.v., as is hockey, which are the only two sports I can stomach watching (the former more than the latter).
Another sign of spring: I bought my vegetable seeds the other day. I found this terrific local seed company - Greta's Organic Gardens - which offers a good selection of organic heirloom seeds. I ordered them online, and POOF! they were at my house in 24 hours. It was a miracle. I've never seen such fast service. Check them out at www.seeds-organic.com. I am still looking for kale seed, and I still need to buy potato sets and onions, but I've got the bulk now and most importantly, I have the things that need to be started soon (tomatos, peppers). So soon the grow-op will be put back together, I will clean out the kitchen in the basement, and get going on those early birds. I am going for rows in the garden for the first time this year, and I'm trying to use companion planting to squeeze in as many things as I can in my short-ish season. I need to find another spot for squash and melons, though, because they take up more than their fare share of space. I also have a long, short, plastic greenhouse that hubby brought home for me one day by surprise, which I'll use for the peppers, tomatos, basil, etc. to get them out into the dirt a bit earlier.
But for now I'm happy to be without the gentle pressures of gardening, renovations, and week-end getaways. I'm happy enough with the cleaning and the skiing and the winter parties and the hot chocolate.
1/28/08
1/17/08
Food Report
Wow you don't hear from me for months and then I'm here twice in one day. Feast or famine I tell you.
Speaking of feasts, I thought I would update on all of the culinary adventures I've had since October. It's been a productive little time and I've learned a lot, so onwards. But I really have to stop this habit of mine of tackling huge food production projects every time I have a holiday, because it's really not relaxing in the least.
1. Apple Cider
We were like a couple of little kids with our cider making this fall. When we finally were able to take it out of the bucket and put it in the carboy, it became a singular obsession. We checked the bubbling several times a day and were obsessing over its clarity. We didn't need to obsess, in the end, because it became abundantly obvious when it was ready to bottle. Bottling was fun, but we didn't get as much cider as I'd expected - about 10 x 750 ml bottles. I was expecting 12 litres. Anyway, the cider is delicious - nice and smoothly fizzy (like champagne!) and strong as hell - but it has a slight metallic taste, likely from the early pressing in the metal cider press, and it is super powerful so it means an instant drunk, with a nasty headache afterwards. I dubbed it "De Dronken Maker" - the drunk-maker. Eric calls his "I'm the D-Cider" as in Dubya's "I'm the decider! I decide!" Hardy har. Anyway, homemade cider is a fun party trick.
2. Cheddar Cheese
I finally worked up the courage to do a farmhouse cheddar just before Christmas. It was a hell of a lot of work, mostly trying to figure out how to press it with the correct weight. It was also very expensive, as it requires two gallons of milk, which is about 9-10 dollars' worth where I live. Once it was pressed, it was beautiful, but I think I may have wrecked it by cutting the wheel in half BEFORE waxing it. It oozed all over the place, and this during the time where I had the stomach flu, and I now have absolutely no appetite to ever eat cheddar cheese ever again. I'm kidding I love cheese. Once it was waxed (now THAT was fun) it was beautiful - so red and glossy. I gave it as gifts, but it's only edible after Jan. 20 so we'll see what the report is.
3. Venison
My little (well, younger) brother shot a deer this fall, and gave us some venison to try. I appreciate it. I appreciate the local-ness of it, the ethics of it (I've come a long way since I was 16), and the health benefits, for sure. We ate steaks first, though, which may have been a mistake as venison is something of an acquired taste if you're not really much of a red-meat-eater to start with. My stomach reacted violently, though it could have been the stomach bug on its return voyage. Also there was a bit of fur stuck to our steaks. Hell, only two or three hairs, but it was enough for the effect. Later on, I made venison ravioli out of the ground meat he gave us, and that was totally delicious. We also had it on Christmas eve at our first-ever fondue party (make that FUN-due party!) and New Year's eve in chili. My verdict: I love it in stuff. Plain steaks, maybe not so much. But in chili, pasta, stews, etc. - bring it on.
4. Duck
I was petrified to cook up a duck for the first time, since all I'd ever heard about it was that it was super fatty, had less meat on it, blah blah quack quack. Hubby had bought three free-range-type ducks from his colleague/farmer, for a pretty penny (many pretty pennies), and I was under contractual obligation to cook them up. He harrassed me for weeks with his guilt campaign. I finally invited my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and did duck à l'orange, Julia-Child-style. It was fussy and finicky, and yes very fatty, but all in all not that difficult or unpleasant and it ended up being delicious. I apologize to the ducks of the world, because my brother decided that night to become a duck hunter as well as an everything-else hunter.
5. Goat's cheese
I bought goat'$ milk ($$) with the intent of making delicious crumbly goat's cheese at home. It was easy enough to make, initially, though took a long time and was messy to press (2 days of dripping in the sink). It was delicious the one time I ate it, but it went bad really quickly. We admittedly didn't eat it soon enough so next time, I'll only make it if there's a reason and a chance to eat it all at once. And I learned something! There's nothing in the world that smells worse than rotten home-made goat's cheese!
6. Real French Artisanal Bread
This wasn't as much work as I expected. Lots of waiting around. I made a starter first (again, not as dramatic as I'd expected) and let that sit for 16 hours or so. Then I made three baguettes, following the recipe in the second-last Martha Stewart magazine. Easy! Great! Delicious! Only don't forget the salt like I did!
I will try most of these things again soon. I will eat all of my goat's cheese, I will remember the salt, I will marinade my venison steaks, I will NOT cut the cheese (ha ha), and I will drink the remainder of my cider in moderation.
Speaking of feasts, I thought I would update on all of the culinary adventures I've had since October. It's been a productive little time and I've learned a lot, so onwards. But I really have to stop this habit of mine of tackling huge food production projects every time I have a holiday, because it's really not relaxing in the least.
1. Apple Cider
We were like a couple of little kids with our cider making this fall. When we finally were able to take it out of the bucket and put it in the carboy, it became a singular obsession. We checked the bubbling several times a day and were obsessing over its clarity. We didn't need to obsess, in the end, because it became abundantly obvious when it was ready to bottle. Bottling was fun, but we didn't get as much cider as I'd expected - about 10 x 750 ml bottles. I was expecting 12 litres. Anyway, the cider is delicious - nice and smoothly fizzy (like champagne!) and strong as hell - but it has a slight metallic taste, likely from the early pressing in the metal cider press, and it is super powerful so it means an instant drunk, with a nasty headache afterwards. I dubbed it "De Dronken Maker" - the drunk-maker. Eric calls his "I'm the D-Cider" as in Dubya's "I'm the decider! I decide!" Hardy har. Anyway, homemade cider is a fun party trick.
2. Cheddar Cheese
I finally worked up the courage to do a farmhouse cheddar just before Christmas. It was a hell of a lot of work, mostly trying to figure out how to press it with the correct weight. It was also very expensive, as it requires two gallons of milk, which is about 9-10 dollars' worth where I live. Once it was pressed, it was beautiful, but I think I may have wrecked it by cutting the wheel in half BEFORE waxing it. It oozed all over the place, and this during the time where I had the stomach flu, and I now have absolutely no appetite to ever eat cheddar cheese ever again. I'm kidding I love cheese. Once it was waxed (now THAT was fun) it was beautiful - so red and glossy. I gave it as gifts, but it's only edible after Jan. 20 so we'll see what the report is.
3. Venison
My little (well, younger) brother shot a deer this fall, and gave us some venison to try. I appreciate it. I appreciate the local-ness of it, the ethics of it (I've come a long way since I was 16), and the health benefits, for sure. We ate steaks first, though, which may have been a mistake as venison is something of an acquired taste if you're not really much of a red-meat-eater to start with. My stomach reacted violently, though it could have been the stomach bug on its return voyage. Also there was a bit of fur stuck to our steaks. Hell, only two or three hairs, but it was enough for the effect. Later on, I made venison ravioli out of the ground meat he gave us, and that was totally delicious. We also had it on Christmas eve at our first-ever fondue party (make that FUN-due party!) and New Year's eve in chili. My verdict: I love it in stuff. Plain steaks, maybe not so much. But in chili, pasta, stews, etc. - bring it on.
4. Duck
I was petrified to cook up a duck for the first time, since all I'd ever heard about it was that it was super fatty, had less meat on it, blah blah quack quack. Hubby had bought three free-range-type ducks from his colleague/farmer, for a pretty penny (many pretty pennies), and I was under contractual obligation to cook them up. He harrassed me for weeks with his guilt campaign. I finally invited my brother and sister-in-law for dinner and did duck à l'orange, Julia-Child-style. It was fussy and finicky, and yes very fatty, but all in all not that difficult or unpleasant and it ended up being delicious. I apologize to the ducks of the world, because my brother decided that night to become a duck hunter as well as an everything-else hunter.
5. Goat's cheese
I bought goat'$ milk ($$) with the intent of making delicious crumbly goat's cheese at home. It was easy enough to make, initially, though took a long time and was messy to press (2 days of dripping in the sink). It was delicious the one time I ate it, but it went bad really quickly. We admittedly didn't eat it soon enough so next time, I'll only make it if there's a reason and a chance to eat it all at once. And I learned something! There's nothing in the world that smells worse than rotten home-made goat's cheese!
6. Real French Artisanal Bread
This wasn't as much work as I expected. Lots of waiting around. I made a starter first (again, not as dramatic as I'd expected) and let that sit for 16 hours or so. Then I made three baguettes, following the recipe in the second-last Martha Stewart magazine. Easy! Great! Delicious! Only don't forget the salt like I did!
I will try most of these things again soon. I will eat all of my goat's cheese, I will remember the salt, I will marinade my venison steaks, I will NOT cut the cheese (ha ha), and I will drink the remainder of my cider in moderation.
Virtue
So it's a new year and I haven't been on this site since October of last year. That's nearly three months, if I have my math right (you never know).
I am trying my best to start my year off right. Last year didn't end so well - I had a few typical Gennyland mishaps towards the end there. I got the stomach flu in early December, was shitfaced sillybuggers at work for a few weeks, then once I started my three-week vacation, I got a cold and another stomach bug all over again. I was worn out - mentally, physically, emotionally, the whole lot. I also had a silly accident.
We've had a lot of trouble with ice dams on our roof. The insulation is ridiculous in our house - the house was designed for California - so every year it's a new battle with the ice dams. For those of you in more southern climes, an ice dam is.... well it's just bad. Google it. Anyway, I had a curtain of icicles (all of a sudden I don't have the first clue how to spell that) hanging down and went outside to wage war on the ice. I had the intention of hammering off the ice dams, but first I started knocking off the icicles with my snow shovel. While looking up and moving along sideways, I hit the one spot where we have a 4" wide gap from a missing board that we'd meant to fix, and my leg went through. To the thigh. My legs, for those of you who don't know me in person, are not 4" wide. More like 5, 51/2. I was stuck - I couldn't pull it back out. I thought I might have to chew myself out, coyote-style. There was nobody around to hear me holler for help, as it was the middle of a weekday and everyone was at work. I was stuck there for a half hour, until I knocked the hammer from off of the barbecue and used it to chip the deck away enough to slide my leg out. Now it looks like someone tried to eat the deck, but we temporarily replaced the board so at least it's safe. r.
I went inside and checked it out - the leg was black and blue and shaped like the deck. I wailed, standing there in my underpants, and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the futon watching "Elf" with a bag of frozen peas on my leg. When hubby got home, he wondered why there were peas all over the house, because apparently I'd been too shocked to realize that the bag was open. I was beyond caring. When my mom called, it was a pivotal scene in the movie (hell! When Santa's sleigh takes off because everyone sings! Damn that gets me every time!) and I was a bit....teary.... and I said (voice catching, unable to hide the crying): "I h-h-had a acci-d-dent!" My mother, in her infinite patience, said "well I'm not going to come over if you're just sitting there blubbering over some stupid movie" or something equally sympathetic. Hmph.
So injuries and illness aside, 2007 is now down the toilet and I get to start over anew. Only I don't feel super refreshed, so I'm working on that currently. I have all good intentions for the beginning of the year, and thought I might make a list so as to impress you with all of the virtuous things I've done so far in 2008:
- Cut off my hair. OK that's not so much virtuous as refreshing, but I feel like a better person.
- Had a massage (nice in the moment, but no real lasting effects).
- Started a pottery class
- Started a new semi-diet
- Started menu planning for the entire week on the weekends. So far so good.
- Been to the dentist, had a filling taken care of.
- Made all new doctors' appointments, for my fertility and my foot (bunions are a bitch).
- Skiied. Twice.
- Been ice fishing - don't laugh it's good exercise.
- Seriously considered joining the gym at work.
- Bought tickets to the theatah, and even made plans to go with (gasp!) friends! Other humans! Who aren't even related to me!
- Had a dinner party. Made duck for the first time.
- Have begun to stop working abruptly at 5 p.m.
- Booked a vacation for myself and hubby to visit friends in B.C.
- Upping my vegetable intake.
I may even consider taking up flossing. I don't know - it's still under consideration. Other things I need to work on (but am not yet committing to) include: talking to friends on the phone, going to see movies at a theatre, not procrastinating at work, and being nice to my husband. When summertime comes I will have a whole new list of things to work on.
I also set to work on a plan for the future/further renovations of our house. See? I am all about planning. My plans usually go immediately off the rails, but you've gotta start somewhere.
So, here's to 2008. May it truly be a Happy new year, because if it isn't, I'm going to want my money back.
I am trying my best to start my year off right. Last year didn't end so well - I had a few typical Gennyland mishaps towards the end there. I got the stomach flu in early December, was shitfaced sillybuggers at work for a few weeks, then once I started my three-week vacation, I got a cold and another stomach bug all over again. I was worn out - mentally, physically, emotionally, the whole lot. I also had a silly accident.
We've had a lot of trouble with ice dams on our roof. The insulation is ridiculous in our house - the house was designed for California - so every year it's a new battle with the ice dams. For those of you in more southern climes, an ice dam is.... well it's just bad. Google it. Anyway, I had a curtain of icicles (all of a sudden I don't have the first clue how to spell that) hanging down and went outside to wage war on the ice. I had the intention of hammering off the ice dams, but first I started knocking off the icicles with my snow shovel. While looking up and moving along sideways, I hit the one spot where we have a 4" wide gap from a missing board that we'd meant to fix, and my leg went through. To the thigh. My legs, for those of you who don't know me in person, are not 4" wide. More like 5, 51/2. I was stuck - I couldn't pull it back out. I thought I might have to chew myself out, coyote-style. There was nobody around to hear me holler for help, as it was the middle of a weekday and everyone was at work. I was stuck there for a half hour, until I knocked the hammer from off of the barbecue and used it to chip the deck away enough to slide my leg out. Now it looks like someone tried to eat the deck, but we temporarily replaced the board so at least it's safe. r.
I went inside and checked it out - the leg was black and blue and shaped like the deck. I wailed, standing there in my underpants, and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the futon watching "Elf" with a bag of frozen peas on my leg. When hubby got home, he wondered why there were peas all over the house, because apparently I'd been too shocked to realize that the bag was open. I was beyond caring. When my mom called, it was a pivotal scene in the movie (hell! When Santa's sleigh takes off because everyone sings! Damn that gets me every time!) and I was a bit....teary.... and I said (voice catching, unable to hide the crying): "I h-h-had a acci-d-dent!" My mother, in her infinite patience, said "well I'm not going to come over if you're just sitting there blubbering over some stupid movie" or something equally sympathetic. Hmph.
So injuries and illness aside, 2007 is now down the toilet and I get to start over anew. Only I don't feel super refreshed, so I'm working on that currently. I have all good intentions for the beginning of the year, and thought I might make a list so as to impress you with all of the virtuous things I've done so far in 2008:
- Cut off my hair. OK that's not so much virtuous as refreshing, but I feel like a better person.
- Had a massage (nice in the moment, but no real lasting effects).
- Started a pottery class
- Started a new semi-diet
- Started menu planning for the entire week on the weekends. So far so good.
- Been to the dentist, had a filling taken care of.
- Made all new doctors' appointments, for my fertility and my foot (bunions are a bitch).
- Skiied. Twice.
- Been ice fishing - don't laugh it's good exercise.
- Seriously considered joining the gym at work.
- Bought tickets to the theatah, and even made plans to go with (gasp!) friends! Other humans! Who aren't even related to me!
- Had a dinner party. Made duck for the first time.
- Have begun to stop working abruptly at 5 p.m.
- Booked a vacation for myself and hubby to visit friends in B.C.
- Upping my vegetable intake.
I may even consider taking up flossing. I don't know - it's still under consideration. Other things I need to work on (but am not yet committing to) include: talking to friends on the phone, going to see movies at a theatre, not procrastinating at work, and being nice to my husband. When summertime comes I will have a whole new list of things to work on.
I also set to work on a plan for the future/further renovations of our house. See? I am all about planning. My plans usually go immediately off the rails, but you've gotta start somewhere.
So, here's to 2008. May it truly be a Happy new year, because if it isn't, I'm going to want my money back.
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