1.25.2011

Titles are for sissies and brightly coloured links are for people who have fallen off the potato trunk. I banish you both!

1.20.2011


















For the last four months I have been working on a sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project. Yesterday I finished my book. On my way home from work I popped into the post office and placed it into the loving hands of CanadaPost. Four months worth of work, delicately wrapped in bubble wrap and slathered in AirMail stickers. Hopefully it arrives in one piece.

1.17.2011

Do You Deliver?


I'm toying with the notion of having groceries delivered. What can I say I'm a little lazy.

But I'm also picky. I don't want cans with dents, apples with bruises or wilty lettuce. Nor am I thrill the idea of a stranger randomly grabbing produce and throwing into bags for me. But what a time suck groceries can be. I would rather not waste my own time wandering around the store searching for things.

However, considered this: personal grocery shoppers! I would be totally down with that. This is how it would work. You would go to the store, meet your personal shopper, shop together a few times until they gets the hang of what you like and your standards. And then all of the sudden he just does all your shopping for you! Maybe he calls you every monday and says "We just had a few new shipments come in and I have have put aside a few things for you." Then on your way home from work you would stop by the store and buy it! Easy.

I think this would work really well for me! I need to tell someone about this ideal. Unless I win the lotto max this week and move to France. Then I would be happy enough to do my own shopping.

1.15.2011

In The Bowl


For Christmas I ask for kitchen things and boy did Santa deliver! I probably should have made some sort of New Years resolution about cooking instead of winning the Lotto Max. Although winning the Lotto Max would likely afford me a lot more time for cooking.

This week I made my second meal out of my new Melissa Clark cookbook, In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite. I must say that I have enjoyed this cookbook even though I haven't cooked much out of it yet. The cookbook is a good read, the recipes are fairly easy and quick and don't make enough to feed an army. Which I am happy about, because sometimes you want leftovers but you never want THAT many leftovers.



I made Red Lentil Soup With Lemon, which did not disappoint. In fact Scott, who agree to having soup for dinner only because I wanted it, announced that the soup was 100% better than expected. And this announcement brings me to the second dinner surprise, the sunflower encrusted soda bread which was pretty controversial. Who knew that seeds on bread could turn into roasty, crunchy, yummyness!

1.07.2011

Decanted


I have a notion stuck in my head that in order to fully become an adult I need to begin following a few simple rules.

The rules:
1. Buy wine by the case. There really is no need to be messing around buying a bottle here and a bottle here. If you find something you like buy a case of it.
2. Set up a home bar. Something simple is all I really want. Maybe a tray with a couple of nice tumblers and a few decanters filled with brandy and gin. I'm just a simple girl after all.

I am fairly certain that once I start living my life by the aforementioned guidelines I will become an adult.

But as I'm sure you know the transition isn't an easy one. And due to my current storage realities the first step towards becoming an adult is really not an option for me. However, I really have forged ahead with the whole bar notion. Luck for me I have trays galore and a set of lovely iittala aarne tumblers. The whole bar project was half finished before it even began!


And on Friday with the purchase of two terrific decanters I officially (at least by my standards) became half adult!



1.06.2011

Fancy Pants



Charlie is a very fancy jumper. He is also a bit or a risk taker, he really prefers to land his jumps as close to the edge of the counter as possible. As you can see from the above photo his little front paws are barely hitting the edge!

The flip side to his "living on the edge" tendencies is that he often crashes. With claws drawn and paws flying he tries to hang on to the granite. Knocking over glasses and bringing everything in his reach crashing to the ground. Poor guy. But, it is all very funny for me to watch.

1.05.2011

Winter Panzanella




Bread salad, sounds delightful don't you think? It is something that has been in the back of my mind for a few years now, I just haven't gotten around to making it happen. Until two nights ago that is. Here we are in the middle of winter, (if you can call it that) and all I really want is a panzanella salad!! So I made one, a winter one, without a single slice of tomato. I will warn you, this may be the most delicious salad you have EVER had and, it may take you 2 hours to make.

My salad deviated a little from the recipe. I had half of a french country loaf that I used in place of the Panettone, I added a few dried cranberries to make up for the missing fruit. Boiled brussels sprouts have never really appealed to me but I do love them roasted, so mine were roasted. And finally I used mixes spring greens instead of the radicchio. Oh and also I think I changed my proportions a little. Mine was a little more salady and less bready.

The salad ate like a meal and I'm totally making it for dinner again tonight.