Tenacity.

As I sit here in my sunny living room, the sound of chirping birds just outside the window reminds me that spring is technically here. Nevermind the incongruous detail that we had a snowstorm on the first day of spring and another small one two days later. It still looks like winter, but there are whispers of spring. Those tenacious birds confirm that winter will not last forever.

I probably should be working on one of the many projects I am in the middle of right now. I am getting ready to enter week four of a very busy four-week period. But I saw this article ("This is what 80 Looks Like") on Gloria Steinem and wanted to share it. So here I am.

Here and there.

• I bought vacuum cleaner. A Miele. I love it. It's black and silver, though I chose it for other reasons. However, it coordinates very well with my home's color scheme.
• I vacuumed the whole apartment the day I brought it home. There are no longer little rocks on the floor in the 3-foot (half) radius around front door. And Booboo was pretty comfortable around it, which is a huge change from how he was with the previous vaccuum.
• At the store, the registration process for the 10-year free warranty (!!!) asked for the reason for buying a vacuum. There was not an option for "My ex left me for another woman and took the vacuum cleaner with him." So the guy at the store said I should just choose "Replacing a broken vacuum."
• My new Miele rolls behind me so easily, like a happy little puppy following me around. It was on sale, plus I even got an extra $40 off because I took one that had an almost invisible scratch on the bottom. Honestly, I probably did more damage to it on its maiden voyage around the apartment the other day.
• You know the risk I talked about in the last two paragraphs of this post?

My possessions are staging a rebellion.

So. My laptop broke on Monday night late, and I had to buy a new one on Tuesday because I have a freelance translation contract to finish for Friday. It was supposed to be delivered Wednesday, but it was not.

On Tuesday I came home and walked in the door and the lights wouldn't work. I thought it was the light bulb. I tried two and determined that it wasn't. Then I thought it might be the fuse. (The fuse box is a mystery to me because it is the old kind of fuses because the apartment is 100 years old.) After someone else checked for me (and I made notes of which fuses do what!), I know that all the fuses are fine.

The process of elimination revealed it is a problem with the contact in the lamp itself (for one of the non-working lamps) and a timer explained the other non-working lamp. The timer is now adjusted and that lamp works now.

Wednesday night I tried to go to meet someone to borrow a laptop to use until the new one arrives and to see if there was anything to be done for the broken one. I got in my car and turned on my windshield wipers. They started up then stopped in the middle of the windshield on the first swipe. So I couldn't drive anywhere because driving any significant distance without windshield wipers in winter in Québec is just not wise.

Winter stuck like molasses.

Things improved after my last post, and just when I relaxed into a new, pretty positive state, those same disappointments have boomeranged around again.

Winter. I don't see any magic in it right now. Winter is looking out my kitchen window onto my part of the snow-covered balcony and seeing lots of piles of poop from the neighbor's dog, along with some yellow snow for good measure.

At least it is sunny today. And I made some cinnamon rolls. (And I am happy to know that I can make brown sugar by adding molasses to regular white sugar. I often can't use up brown sugar before it goes as hard as a rock, so my new plan is to do this from now on, every time I need brown sugar. Did everyone except me know this?)

I know I can recover from these disappointments; I've already survived the worst. (And Booboo is here for a while visiting, and he's being particularly sweet right now so that really helps.)

Boxed In and Other States of Being



Credit: Adventures Along the Way

Ah, Booboo. This is Booboo's favorite spot. He has several preferred spots, but he spends more time here than in the other ones. It cracks me up when he squeezes all the way in like this.

In other news, spring seems to be here. By that I mean that the snow has stopped (well, our last snow was a week or so ago) and they have just today cleaned all the rocks and dirt out of the streets in our neighborhood. Now there are only a few patches where the snow/ice has yet to melt. It is lighter coat weather (which, by the way, is what I used to consider a "winter coat" until I moved out of the south). Cafés are starting to prepare their outdoor seating areas.

I find myself thinking about planting some herbs and flowers on the back porch, but it is still too soon to actually get started. I am interested in sewing some hanging bags to attempt to get them off the ground so that they will stay cat-poop-free. I am inspired by these (scroll down to see the "smart wall pouch"), but have a different design in mind.

I made the best lasagana I have ever made on Saturday, using a former college roommate's recipe. And on Sunday I made the worst muffins I have ever made. I was trying to salvage some not-very-good cream cheese icing by mixing it into the batter, and the muffins were a disaster too.

As for pursuing dreams, my continued efforts to pursue my artistic career have had some return. I've had a couple of opportunities so far and have two more lined up. Life is feeling less splintery. I am ready to welcome spring.

Rice balls.

Photo credit: Adventures Along the Way

So mine definitely were not pretty like the ones in the photos on 101cookbooks where I got the recipe. And they were a less healthy version because I made it with ingredients on hand. But I put avocado chunks inside and they were tasty.

Photo credit: Adventures Along the Way

Breakfast burritos with homemade tortillas.

I made flour tortillas on Saturday for first time. They were easier than I thought they would be and turned out well. I decided to make them because I was craving breakfast burritos and was too lazy to go to the store to buy tortillas. Conclusion: I will definitely make them again. And maybe the second time around, my rolling-them-into-a-pretty-circle abilities will be more consistent?

Yum.

I used to make this easy meal often, but I had forgotten about it after I moved away from Chicago and my favorite grocery store where I used to regularly buy fresh feta. The other day I was staring into the almost-empty fridge and brainstorming what I could do with some feta, pitas, and a tomato. I remembered this meal and grabbed the olive oil. After it was baked, I cracked some pepper and added some fresh basil off the back porch. So good...and ready in only a few minutes!

Fried Green Tomatoes (aka, my recipe for Southern-style Fried Tofu)

The last two summers, I've grown tomatoes on our back porch and have had access to green tomatoes, which inspired me to experiment with making fried-green tomatoes, a food that takes me back to my childhood and Southern roots. I find that since moving to Canada, I have had the urge to make more traditional Southern foods much more than I used to, and thankfully, S really likes cheese grits, biscuits, peach cobbler, etc. It's been a lot of fun learning how to make these things and introducing him (and his québécois family) to Southern foods.

Apple Pie

This apple pie is one of the results of the apples we picked a while back. It was my first attempt to do a double crust and I was pretty excited to try it. It turned out well and we both liked it, agreeing that it was just sweet enough and not too sweet.

Oatmeal Bread

I have been making bread the past few weeks with this recipe. On Saturday, I decided to make a double recipe because we go through it so fast. This bread is delicious, but here's the best part: It is quick. Yep, a yeast bread that doesn't take lots of time to make. It only needs 30 minutes to rise and about that same time or slightly more to cook. So if you need a bread recipe that you can decide to make at the last minute...check this one out!

Summer

This is what became of the second tomato off my tomato plant this summer. Yum.

They may not look pretty...

 

I used to buy veggie corn dogs in the freezer section of the grocery store in the U.S., but since I haven't seen them anywhere here in Canada, I hadn't eaten corn dogs for close to two years. Recently, I ran across a recipe for corn dogs and got excited about the idea of making my own veggie corn dogs at home. 

I bought veggie dogs for me and regular hot dogs for S. The process with the batter was a little messy and involved frying- so this is definitely not a health food- but I think they were the best corn dogs I have ever had. We put two servings in the freezer for later because I wanted to see how they freeze and reheat, but they were so good that we have already eaten them! (And they tasted delicious too.)

I miss you, Cheez-its.*

Isn't this little Cheez-it family adorable? The large box is a normal size box, and the other two are the cutest little baby Cheez-it boxes.

They were all equally delicious. And rationed out. Cheez-its are the food I miss most from home.

*And I am really, really hoping that the arrival of Target to Canada will also bring original flavor Cheez-its to Québec.

Yum.

I am a new fan of sweet potato tacos. YUM.

Homemade Buns.

Recently I baked brioche buns for the first time from scratch. (I recommend this recipe...mmmm.) I also made sweet potato fries, broccoli, and tuna burgers to go with the brioche buns. (Yep, I have started eating a little meat here and there because I am trying to increase my protein levels.) Anyhow, the other day S mentioned them while we were grocery shopping and commented on how good those tuna burgers and buns were, so I am thinking it is time to make them again!

Improvised lunch

 

I had some leftover potatoes decided to "recycle" them into this enjoyable lunch. A tortilla topped with potatoes, black beans (sauteed and seasoned with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and lime juice), fresh cilantro, and salsa. It was so flavorful I didn't even miss the cheese and sour cream I decided to skip. The lime juice was key.

Difference.

 

Does anyone else notice the way a particular packaged food sometimes tastes different in various countries? I strongly believe that Fanta is way better in Norway than in the United States. And this Snickers above? S brought it home from Japan and I happily ate it last week. My conclusion: Yum. But what I most picked up on was that it had more of a peanut-y taste, and less of a caramel-y flavor than a U.S. Snickers. Good, but noticeably different. 

I get a kick out of exploring international grocery stores and seeing all the new-to-me foods. I like to do this when I travel abroad, and when I find stores where I live that happen to carry good selections of international foods. One of my favorite grocery stores in Chicago seemed to be Greek-affiliated, and they had some delicious food in the deli and interesting stocked items from all over the world. And there was a Hungarian grocery store in the Chicago area that I wanted to check out, but sadly, I didn't get there before I moved. Thankfully, there are international grocery stores in Québec too. In Montréal, there are all sorts of fun places to explore. Last spring, I went with a friend to a Bosnian grocery store/diner-restaurant and had a tasty Macedonian Fanta (that made me think fondly of Norway) and a delicious vegetarian sandwich the cook made especially for me since pretty much everything on the menu included meat. Don't worry- he is the one that suggested the idea, all with a great sense of humor and slight aura of disbelief at my seemingly-odd-to-him preference of not eating meat. I was going to attempt to be low-maintenance and just get salad or fries or something on the menu, just to eat at this fun little grocery store/diner-restaurant, but he wanted to improvise a veggie sandwich for me on the spot. Experiences like eating that meal with my friend in that Bosnian establishment are something I value.  This desire to connect with people from other cultures, both in small moments, and in deeper relationships, is something that I appreciated from living and traveling in Europe and has now become part of my life. Last week I found an international grocery store in Québec, and after wandering through it to see all the interesting food it offers, I left with a new spring in my step and some fun food in my bag...feeling just a bit more at home here. I guess I was afraid that moving away from a large city like Montréal or Chicago would mean losing the international atmosphere I have grown accustomed to since my days in Europe, but I am happy to say that Québec also has its own international community which I am slowly discovering.

When I began living in Chicago years ago, I learned how to do that don't-make-eye-contact-with-me city attitude that is useful when you don't want to attract unwanted attention on the subway or while walking home alone at night. But then sometimes, I would stop and remember to be aware of all the people swirling around me as I make my way through life among so many diverse people, cultures, and languages. To concentrate on being present in my transitions. And when I was awake and open to the world around me, I was reminded of the overwhelming beauty of humanity in momentary, yet authentic connections with strangers. Quick almost imperceptible smiles, short conversations, shared subway seats, a exchange of a look of appreciation over a beautiful baby or adorable young child. A brief, friendly conversation in French, a second language for both me and the woman working at the international grocery store last week, and a promise to come back.

Those moments give me a quiet hope. These type of connections transcend differences like nationality, language, socio-economic or religious background, and a gazillion other cultural distinctions, and instead become a moment about recognizing and honoring our shared humanity. Though I may never know a person's story and how his or her journey through life brought them to that place, the moment itself has value and beauty. And sometimes those brief exchanges unfold into friendships. And slowly, a bridge is built by one authentic moment after another, and the lasting friendships that are developed over time. A powerful action of peace and love.

A healthy muffin that does not taste disgusting.*

Trying to use up some blueberries and one banana, I experimented in the kitchen and came up with a recipe for blueberry banana muffins.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup of buckwheat flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of sugar**
1/2 tsp. of salt

1 cup of oatmeal flakes
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of wheat germ***
2 Tbs. of flax seed

3 Tbs. margarine/butter melted
1 mashed banana
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup of skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup or so of fresh blueberries



I put all the dry ingredients on the first grouping together and mixed. Then I stirred in the more "chunky" dry ingredients and the wet ingredients one by one. The blueberries go in last and I stirred those as gently as possible to avoid breaking them. I used an ice cream scooper to get the batter into exactly 24 mini muffin molds. Bake 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees F.

*I consumed 6 mini muffins as my "lunch" after they came out of the oven because  I could not stop eating them.
 **I used white sugar, but next time will experiment with raw/turbinado sugar. Or maybe maple syrup? Heidi Swanson at 101Cookbooks.com talks about natural sweetners. I also learned about using buckwheat flour from her cookbook, Super Natural Cooking, which I love because it is teaching me about choosing healthier ingredients.
***Leaving out a couple of the things like flax seed and sunflower seeds won't have a huge impact on the overall recipe, just the health factor. Perhaps almonds could substitute in nicely?

Summer, or How I have been eating fruit recently.

Recent breakfasts of plain, fat-free yogurt, wheat germ, flax seed, blueberries, toasted almonds, and a light drizzle of honey.

Some buttermilk pancakes I made this weekend, topped with fresh blueberries and a dusting of powdered sugar. (These blueberries were not prepared as specified in the actual recipe.)

My first time ever making peach cobbler. I lowered the sugar amounts of the original recipe, and skipped some spices I don't have*, used raw natural sugar on top instead of regular sugar and cinnamon, and it was amazingly delicious. And I added vanilla frozen yogurt on top. Even S, who does not like fruit, really enjoyed this.

*I have no idea where my cinnamon is. Maybe I used it up before the move?