» The sisters

6:00 am

The alarm started ringing at the ungodly hour of 6 am and virtually reached a fever pitch before I realized that is was ringing for me. It was launch and likely sellout day for the new Marni for H&M collection and my friend Andrea and I decided that we needed to be one of the first in the store.

Neither of us had engaged in anything like this before, so a few weeks ago we devised a plan to divide and conquer. During the weeks leading up to Thursday we conferenced on which items where must haves and which were maybes and finally both compiled lists of our top picks. Our strategy was to split our lists into one of two categories, clothing or accessories and then on the day of we would each take one of the categories and grab everything on both lists. With no idea what to expect on the morning of, it only seemed like the logical thing to do. However, at 6:00 am the whole idea of lining up to go shopping didn’t seem very logical at all.

We arrived out in front of H&M both not knowing what to expect, but holy is H&M organized. Upon arrival in line we were immediately given colored wristbands with a designated shopping time of 9:15 and sent off.

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The fitting rooms was really the funnest part of the whole experience in my mind. Everyone was checking out the items that the person in the room next to them had selected, people were trading sizes and items that they didn’t want for items that other people didn’t want. I came into things expecting mayhem and other sandbox like behaviour but, the whole experience was over in a flash and surprisingly pleasant. I got a lovely silk color block dress and a set of bracelets.

All and all a good time and totally worth the 6:00 am wake up call. Thanks for going shopping Andrea!

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Pizza Pizza

So it turns out that I might be a sucker for the Bon Appétit cover recipes. And while taking on cover recipes is always a little daunting, it’s been a rewarding experience overall! The recipes are always delicious although my presentation tends to be a bit off! March’s pizza issue was no exception. When it first arrived in my mail box a few weeks back, I knew we’d be having pizza.

Actually, the timing was pretty good. Last winter, I had a bread starter going, inspired by this amazing book, so most weekends I’d be baking bread. And as noted in the book, pulling off a little piece of dough for a pizza is almost a requirement when you’ve taken all of that effort to make the bread. And not one to take pizza lightly, I have some fun extras – a great pizza stone, a pizza peel and cutter. Anyway, no starter is brewing this winter and there has been some general dissatisfaction noted about the lack of pizza.

This recipe looks easy and it is. Really, all you need is a little time, so make sure you’re planning ahead of your pizza craving! Oh, and this is a good recipe to read all the way through, but isn’t that always the case. If you don’t have a scale to measure the flour, make sure you measure carefully – I find that the softer the dough, the better the pizza. And, this recipe makes enough to feed a small party of friends, or yourself for several days! Either way, it’s all good.

No-Knead Pizza Dough

From the March issue of Bon Appetit

7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough
4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups of water

Measure and mix the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. I prefer to get my hands dirty, gradually adding the water and stirring by hand. Continue gently mixing the dough until it comes together and forms a rough ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and tuck it in a protected corner or warm spot in your kitchen. Let the dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) until the dough has more than doubled and small bubbles cover the surface. This will take about 18 hours, but could vary depending on temperature, etc. Once the dough is ready, transfer it to a floured work surface. At this point, you’ll want to work carefully with the dough to preserve all of those amazing little bubbles. Gently shape the dough into a rough rectangle. Divide the dough into six equal portions. One at a time, gather the four corners to the center to create four folds. Turn the seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour and set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Continue shaping the remaining dough.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest for about one hour. If you don’t plan to use all of the dough at once, wrap individual portions in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Before using, bring to room temperature for two to three hours.

To Make the Pizzas

While the dough rests, prepare the oven. Arrange a pizza stone on a rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to its hottest temperature, ideally 550°. Let oven heat for one hour.

Handling one ball of dough at a time, dust generously with flour. Use your hands to gently shape the dough. Try as I might, I never get a circular pizza, but it always seems to turn out OK. The dough should stretch out into a nice thin shape, circular or not!

When you are ready to bake, increase the oven heat to broil. Sprinkle your pizza peel or other transfer surface with flour. You could use a rimless baking sheet or even a piece of clean cardboard. Place the dough on the peel and prepare with toppings. Simple toppings are usually the best – see below for a few ideas.

Using quick motions, slide the pizza peel back and forth so the pizza slides onto the hot pizza stone. Broil the pizza until it looks done – the cheese should have melted into bubbling goodness and the crust should be crisp and blistered. This should take about 5 minutes.

When the pizza is done, use the peel to transfer to a clean work surface for slicing. If you are making multiple pizzas, allow the stone to reheat for about five minutes before baking the next one.

Topping ideas:

My favorite topping has to be one of the simplest. Top the pizza with mozzarella and once baked, finish with lightly dressed fresh basil or arugula. I like to toss the greens with a little olive oil and some spicy pepper flakes.

A little homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella can’t be wrong, either. Consider topping with a few more of those greens, or some thinly sliced prosciutto, or other meat of your choosing.

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Eat Rice

Interestingly enough I spent most of my university years eating sticky rice and soy sauce for lunch. Rice is delicious after all, so it seemed like a good idea. Since then my palette has matured a little or perhaps I have just become more interested in nutrition. Who’s to say really.

Rice Bowl with Lemongrass, Tofu and Cashews
Adapted from The Kitchn | Serves 2-4

8 ounces extra firm tofu
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons flavorless vegetable oil, such as grapeseed
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons grated lemongrass (white part only)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 teaspoons lime juice
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1/4 cup cashews, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Drain tofu and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Place the sliced tofu between layers of paper towel, place a heavy object like a cast iron pan on top of the tofu to press out excess liquid. Once excess liquid is removed (about 15 minutes) cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. In a bowl, toss tofu with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Spread tofu onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Flip and bake on the second side for an additional 10 – 15 minutes. Tofu will be toasted and chewy.

Add oil to a pan, heat over medium heat. Once oil is hot add onion, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook stirring often until onions are translucent and the lemongrass is fragrant.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and lime juice the pan. Stir in the rice and tofu and heat through. Add the cashews and cilantro and remove from heat.

Eat Rice! As my roommate used to say.

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A Little Spring

As it turns out, spring is trying to make an appearance around here. It is not too apparent yet, but here and there, a watchful eye will catch a few glimpses.

I found these wild plums just beginning to bud. I trimmed a few wayward sticks off and brought them inside. They are already beginning to break out into blossom, so I know spring can’t be far off. All we need is a few more warm days. And just a ways down the road from the plum trees, I found a patch of snowdrops off in a little patch of wild.
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I always love to find flowers blooming in the most unexpected places. Especially so early in the season. I hope the changing seasons bring you delight.

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Brows eyes lips

Part of the main reason behind the giant slow moving closet cull that has been creeping around the house, taking over one closet after another and then depositing dribs and drabs of stuff all over the house, was to simplify. No simplification has happened yet. So again, to feel like I’m making progress, I’m turning to an easy project.

Like virtually every girl, looking nice and put together is important, at the same time I would like all that to just come together effortslessly. And when I think of effortless I really don’t think of makeup. I guess that means it is time to reevaluate my beauty routine. The problem is that I love makeup. If I had the time, I could spend all day just messing around with my makeup. Trying this, trying that, reshaping my eyebrows, doing a mud mask, you name it, it would make me happy to do it. However, I know that on an average day spending a hour on my makeup is a luxury that I can’t afford.


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To remedy my makeup problems I have turned to Jason Wu, Altuzarra and Jonathan Saunders for inspriation. Jason Wu for his impossibly bright red lips, Altuzarra for fantastic brows and Jonathan Saunders for the dramatic cat eyeliner. What I love about these three looks is that on their own each is easily acheiveable in a fairly short amount of time, which means, that all I have to do in the morning is apply my basic makeup and then choose one of these three looks to compliment my mood. Simple & effortless, if I do say so myself!

* Note to self, your life is not a runway, remember to tone it down!

 

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Another grey day, another pot of soup

Lately, I don’t quite know what season it is. The weather will look promising, with slightly warm temperatures and the small promise of sunshine, only to turn flighty and snow a day or two later. In this kind of weather, I need soup. When I’m not sure what to expect, soup seems like a good solution!

I have my standard soups, ones that I can make without thinking or looking at a recipe. They are the ones that I count on week to week. Then there are the clean-up soups, the ones that I make when I need to use something up. Sometimes there is a recipe, other times it is more of a frantic need to use something up before it goes to waste. Last week it was a small basket of potatoes, sending out spindly sprouts. So into the pot they go, with a little of whatever else I might find that sounds complimentary.

But sometimes, I want a soup that I don’t want think about. I don’t want to worry if the flavor of the spices is balanced against the vegetables I’ve already added. These soups are a little fancier than what I make every day – maybe they have toppings or additions, or better yet, dumplings!

Doesn’t everyone have a favorite food memory involving dumplings? I don’t exactly remember what kind of soup my mom would make with her dumplings, but I do remember the dumplings – the soft, steamy dollops of dough, one per bowl for Tina and I. I’m pretty sure we’d both eat around them, slurping up the soup, savoring the dumpling for the very last. Tina always was a better hold out for her favorite part of the meal, so I’m quite sure her bowl would have been perfectly clean except for the dumpling. I never had that much resolve. And while I would make efforts to save my favorite bits for last, I know I would have dug into my dumpling long before Tina.

I can’t quite say when the last time I had a dumpling was, but when I found this recipe with cauliflower and dumplings, I was already on my way to the stove! There is always a head of cauliflower buried somewhere in my fridge. And everything else in this recipe is pretty standard. But what I loved most was the dumplings – they were tiny, almost like little spaetzle. Irresistible!

This soup comes together quickly and the tiny dumplings cook in a flash, perfect for a weeknight meal. And while I think you could likely swap vegetables for what you have on hand, the cauliflower as the main element is delicious! And the paprika adds a delicious warm flavor to everything. Just don’t wait too long to try it!

Karfiolleves, or Paprika-Spiced Cauliflower Soup

From Andrea Németh’s recipe in Saveur

Serves 4

1/3 cup flour
½ tsp. salt
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1 egg
1 ½ tbsp. Hungarian hot paprika
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
1 small head cauliflower, large stem removed, cut into bite-size florets
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, stemmed and finely chopped

 

1. To make the dumplings: In a bowl, mix the flour and salt, then add 2 tablespoons butter. Use your fingers to rub the butter into flour until pea-size crumbles form. Gently whisk the egg and stir it into the flour mixture until a dough forms. Pop this mixture into the refrigerator until ready to use.

2. Heat remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add paprika and onion, and stir, cooking them until soft, about 5 minutes. Add vegetable stock, cauliflower and carrot. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

3. To make the dumplings, use a ½-tsp. measuring spoon to portion out the dough. Drop all of the dumpling dough into simmering soup and cook, stirring gently, until the dumplings are cooked through, about 3 minutes.

4. To serve, ladle soup and dumplings into serving bowls, and garnish with parsley.

 

 

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Dutch baby

Growing up, breakfast wasn’t exactly my favourite meal. My mom was pretty adamant that Ginger and I needed to have a nutritious start and on most days that meant oatmeal, with the occasional bowl of Cheerios. But every once in a while we would luck out and my mom would make Dutch Babies.

Not only are Dutch Babies easy to make they are also delicious. But, the best thing about them is the 20 minutes you end up spending sitting in front of the oven watching them bake.

Dutch Babies

1/4 cup butter (cut into cubes)
3 eggs (room temperature)
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1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

With a 9×9″ ceramic pan or iron skillet in the oven, per heat to 425 degrees. I like to let the oven heat for a good 30 minutes. Once the pan is good and hot and the milk and eggs have warmed, add the cubed butter to the pan in the oven.

While the butter melts blend together eggs, then milk and finally adding the flour, cornstartch and salt. Blend until just mixed, about 30 seconds. Once the butter has melted and is just starting to brown, quickly pull the pan from the oven, add the batter and return the pan to the over. Bake for 20 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately topped with maple syrup or fruit.

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Once upon a sick day

Blaise and I took a sick day today. Actually, it was more of a sick afternoon, but that has an awkward sound to it! Anyway, we ended up curled up in the sunshine with some time for a little relaxing and a little reading. As it turns out, Blaise is not keen on napping. However, he responds quite well to the notion of relaxing. So, relax we did! We built some blanket tents, got a few stacks of books and a couple of treats. We were set.

Lately I’ve been stuck in a spring cleaning mode. Thanks to Tina’s closet cleaning antics and a few other articles here and there, I’ve been feeling the urge to reduce the clutter around here. It turns out I might be a little bit of a hoarder, but I’m working on it. I still have a few too many boxes that have not been opened since I moved – that scares me just a little! Just the other night, I was trying to sort through some tightly packed book shelves and I found a special book from my childhood.

I am not sure if my memory serves me correctly, but I think this book came as a gift to me. Maybe from an aunt?  Anyway, it is a sweet book about three kittens and their mother. Each of the kittens have little adventures and it just so happens that one of the kittens is named Ginger, likely the reason why I received the book in the first place. Anyway, I remember it being a favorite and I was happy to see it again. Blaise has been stuck on the notion of being a little cat, so I think he might have some interest in this story.


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I have such happy memories of my reading adventures as a child that I can’t help but want to share those with Blaise. Whether it was our evening tradition of bedtime stories, trips to the library or encyclopedia reading over the lunch hour, they all stand out as special time where adventure and intrigue were always close at hand! Already I have a small collection of several of my favorites, including Tintin. There is still more time to build the collection, but I might need another bookshelf! But back to the kittens, they were quite the hit!

George gets up on the wrong side of the bed, Ginger wanders off into the world and Gigi decides she does not to share. And apparently, Mother takes care of Mother-Cat business! Reading the stories again, I feel like a kid, sitting in my childhood room alongside my sister.  But instead, we’re laying out in our little blanket tent with pillows and more blankets so we’ll be cozy. We’ve got treats, not to mention a stashed box of French Pims! Hoarder tendencies, what can I say! And suddenly, a sick afternoon is not quite so bad.

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Elbow power

I like elbow patches. They give a sweat a nice cozy feel and as I recently found out they are cushy under the elbow too. Funnily enough, even though I like them so much I don’t have a single sweater, jacket or anything for that matter with elbow patches. So, I sewed some leather patches onto one of my favourite sweaters.

As it turns out, the whole process was rather easy and my elbows are thanking me.

You need: 

  • Scrap leather
  • Thread (if you are fancy you could use a contracting colour)
  • A leather needle
  • Paper (to make a pattern) 

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Instructions:
Grab your paper and sketch out an oval. Once you are happy with the shape, cut it out. Lay your pattern on the leather and cut out two oval patches. Remember not to pin your pattern onto the leather because it will leave permanent marks. If you are a perfectionist you may want to pin your paper patterns onto you sweater and try it on to confirm that you are happy with the patches location before you begin sewing. Using your needle, hand sew the patches onto your sweater. Once the patch is securely attached knot your thread, clean up any loose bits and that’s it, your done. Aren’t your elbows happy now?

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Reading list

I have a stack of books in my room, just waiting to be read. It seems the stack is always getting taller, never smaller. But that is OK with me – I can’t help but add more as I see books that interest me. That stack also spills over online, with a list of all of the books I might read a review on or hear about and be interested in.  Let’s just say that I have a lot of reading to do.

Somewhere around the beginning of the year, a few ideas were gelling for me. First, there was my Dad talking about his standing resolution to read one book a month. It sounded manageable and like a reasonable amount of reading to fit in. Then, I heard a podcast on Radio Lab, which has to be one of my very favorite radio shows out there. Anyway, one of the things featured in this show was a mention of this guy, Nicholas Feltron, who makes an annual report of his life each year. He captures all of the details of his daily happenings. Long story short, all of the details, the minutia, are charted and graphed every year. It’s beautiful in a detailed and organized sort of way. But before I get further off track, I’d encourage you to take a listen for yourself.

Anyway, back to my books, I couldn’t help wonder what my reading list would look like over the course of the year. What do I really read? What category would win out, books, magazine, online? I have my sneaking suspicions, but I am really not going to track them all. But books, I might be able to track those books. And I can’t help but think that would be an interesting thing to look back on year to year.

The main cause for the irregular erections made by the man are firm enough and also satisfying enough for the person and their cialis overnight partner. generic cialis without prescriptions It is quite easy, isn’t it? What you need is a lot extra raised. Pelvic floor exercises might have long been utilized in Chinese and additional civilizations interminably. cialis no prescription mastercard learningworksca.org There are also some side effects such as headache, flushing, indigestion, nasal congestion, muscle aches and tenderness, hair loss, stiffness and swelling in the joints, mastercard tadalafil cracked skin, rough skin, trouble breathing, changes in the food & lifestyle that keeps up the Vascular And Erection Health The benefits of chiropractic therapy are many because it manages to act against scoliosis, disk hernia, cervical and many other. But as we move closer to the end of February, I’ve got to say that what I am finding challenging is actually getting to reading. January was hard – I picked a book with some emotionally weighty issues. It was a bit of work to finish that up. Next up, I tried to focus in on something I’d really love and what better than a foodie memoir. And while I love it, I still have some reading to get to before I can add it to the list!

We’re all busy, right, so I know I am not alone in feeling like it is hard to make time for the things that I really want to do. But what I notice now more than ever is that I am becoming a skimmer. I don’t know if it is a function of lack of time or time spent as a online reader, but somehow it seems harder to focus in on words on a page. I noticed it online first, flying through my reading list of favorite sites. But after that, I realized I was skimming everything. Anyway, this reading project is helping me slow down, take my eyes off the screen and focus on something else for a little while. Can’t hurt, anyway!

*These pictures are from a recent road trip where only magazine skimming took place!

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