May 7, 2010

  • Find fun fabric online


    I just found a clever way to go fabric shopping online
    . It's even fun to just try out, to see what comes up, even if you don't buy fabric. You just choose a colour spectrum and it shows you fabrics with those colour combinations that happen to be on sale at Etsy today.

    I just passed a few minutes looking at some lovely designs. If you are a quilter, tailor, or have any other reason to collect fabric, give it a try!

    CG, who is amazed at the fun you can have online these days

April 2, 2010

  • Sixty-five roses

    Photo244

    I want to write a little entry about a beautiful, talented
    young Canadian named Eva Markvoort, who just died at age 25 from cystic
    fibrosis
    .

    Over the last four years, she helped CF sufferers and inspired thousands of others with her open and honest blog. An award-winning
    documentary
    was made about her perilous, months-long wait for a double lung transplant in 20
    07.
    (If that link doesn’t work
    for you, you can still see a trailer for it on YouTube.)


    I discovered that, because CF is a childhood disease,
    often its victims learn about it when they are too young to pronounce the name.
    Instead, they call it “sixty-five roses.”
    Eva was a writer, an artist and an actor, and with her
    looks and talent she should have gone on to be a star of stage and screen. What
    she wanted more than anything from all of us is for us to get up right away and
    to make sure that we are all registered organ donors. Please consider doing this right now, in memory of lovely Eva.


    evaheart4c


    CG


    P.S. I sometimes write about the greatness of the Canadian healthcare system, which certainly has saved my own life while preserving my financial wellbeing. Here is Eva's own take on it, written in her blog on September 6, 2009:

    As a side note to my American friends....I met with my CF social worker
    who has already spoken with the social worker in Toronto and
    pre-arranged to have all the paperwork sorted out for me, I can do it
    online and am never without coverage. The docs willingly send me with
    more than enough free meds with additional supplemental antibiotics
    just in case and are more than happy to send me more meds in the mail
    should I require them.
    If politicians tell you that public
    healthcare in Canada doesn't get the patients the treatments they need
    when they need them...they are LYING! Even switching from being on
    disability in BC to having a fulltime job with coverage in a different
    province hasn't been difficult at all although I will keep you posted
    on how it goes once I get there.
    [...]
    I feel so
    grateful that decisions regarding my healthcare are made by deciding
    what is best for me as the patient and not by who pays them or what
    insurance will cover. All the doctors here are paid by the government
    and therefor there is no denying care and there is no stealing patients
    or hiding information or any form of non-compliance in sharing
    information. We are all on the same team working as hard as we can to
    keep me healthy and I find such great comfort in that.
    There is no stress in my life to pay copays or medical bills.
    I have been on disability since before transplant which meant that the
    months where I wasn't able to work the government provided me with
    enough money to pay rent and groceries, and if I was able to work then
    they assured I made enough, making up the difference if my pay was
    lower. And if I did make more then enough that month then I didn't
    receive the supplemental income. It was a safety net. And even now
    moving to Toronto for this full time job I am giving up my disability
    file in BC but I checked with my social worker and if it doesn't work
    out, if I get sick and have to move home, my file is easily re-opened
    and my medications are instantly free again.
    I am ever grateful to be Canadian.

March 30, 2010

March 23, 2010

  • Optimism, Pessimism

    This blog has never settled down to have a particular, specific theme or tone. It always reflects my thoughts and feelings of the moment, but beyond that, it could focus on anything from the flowers in my garden to my experiences as a mature student, even on world events happening far from my front door. I do have a great interest in the United States, as do most Canadians, quite logically.

    I was glad, in a measured way, to read that about 59% of Americans are willing to say that their new healthcare initiative is "a good thing" overall. I even believe that, over the next couple of years, many Americans will benefit from the new rules and come to feel more positively about them. It does not contain some elements that I'd hoped for, but if some Americans who would otherwise have faced financial ruin are helped by the new plans, then that is all to the good.

    But when I read about the results of a recent Harris poll showing that 24% of Republicans surveyed (particularly those without college educations) believe that Barack Obama may be "the AntiChrist" . . . I am afraid I have no idea what could be in the future for America.

    This article also marks the first time I've seen the neologism: hatriotism. I knew exactly what it meant the instant I saw it.

March 11, 2010

  • A Sunny Day at the Toronto Zoo

    We strolled about, luxuriating in the warm sunshine of early spring. This Victoria Crowned Pigeon enjoyed the sunshine too, calmly spreading wings and tail to catch every ray.

    vcp

    I hope you are getting some sunny days!

    CG

March 6, 2010

  • How to Make Fresh Cheese: Easily, Quickly!

    If you haven't yet realized how very simple it is to make your own fresh cheese, then you've just got to try this great experience.

    You need:

    • a pot and wooden spoon
    • 4 tbsp white vinegar
    • 2 quarts/litres whole (homogenized) milk
    • colander
    • 4 layers of cheesecloth about 24" by 24"

    What to do:

    1. Pour milk into pot.
    2. Boil milk while stirring to prevent scorching.
    3. Turn heat to low, add 4 tbsp. vinegar.
    4. Stir while curds separate from whey.
    5. Put 4 layers of cheesecloth in colander in the sink.
    6. After maybe three minutes, pour mixture into colander.

    Okay, you have done 80% or more of the work. Now you have some options.

    If what you want is soft curds, then just wait for the whey to drain out of the curds for maybe 10 minutes, and you're home free. If you want a patty of cheese that's firmer (for slicing and frying, or cubing to put in a recipe), then you can gather up the cheesecloth ends, twist them closed, squeeze more whey out of the cheese with your hands, and even put a weight (like a cutting board with some cans on top of it) on the cheesecloth-wrapped cheese in order to drain it further. Then the patty can go in the fridge or right into your recipe.

    You can also flavour your new cheese. When it's still in the soft-curd stage, you can mix flavourings in with your fingers and then either use the curds immediately, or press the cheese as I've described. I just made such a flavouring from peppercorns and toasted cumin and sesame seeds. It was perfect for making an Indian-flavoured cheese (paneer) that I could stuff into naan bread. You can also use this cheese wherever you would use cottage cheese, ricotta, bocconcini, that kind of thing.

    Just think. Your very own homemade cheese, in less than half an hour, for the cost of two quarts/litres of whole milk. Give it a try and you'll feel like a kitchen genius.

    CG

March 1, 2010

  • Halfway through FARCH

    (I call these two months "Farch" because up here in Canada where I
    live, it's the interminable period between the depths of winter and the
    possible beginning of spring.)

    Congratulations, everyone!

    I'm looking forward to something like this in my backyard:

    P6120007

February 17, 2010

  • Inspiration

    I love how the Web can reveal how we are all thinking and
    reacting in our various ways to images and ideas, every day.


    For example, here is a beautiful photograph of sweet little
    birds (couldn’t track the original source of this):


    wXRne 

    One person felt moved to grab a sheet of paper and create little birds of their own.


    And here's another great creative response:




    And why not? They are irresistible wee puffs, aren't they. Many thanks to whoever took that sweet picture.

    Later edit: All over the Internet, people have been trying to decide what kind of birds these are. Many people have thought they might be snow buntings or McKay's buntings, but their beaks are very tiny, so that can't be right.

    Although these little birds look mostly white, they are in fact long-tailed tits (here's a side-on example, and here's another photograph). These particular ones don't have much black on their faces, and so they are a colour variant that is commonly found in Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Russia.

    CG

February 16, 2010

  • Happiness

    “Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”

                             ~Margaret Lee Runbeck

February 3, 2010

  • The Definitive Yorkshire Pudding

    Believe me, this is the real thing, passed on to me by my very own personal English mother.

    The most important thing to remember is that underneath it all, the Pud, while very simple and unassuming in its ingredients, is actually a sensitive soufflé. Yes. Therefore, once you have it in the oven, you shall tiptoe about and hope that it will make a big dome (or at least a series of little hills) for you to admire. If it doesn't rise at all, it will still be tasty and edible, but not quite the same culinary triumph, of course.

    Also, do not believe anyone who claims they have made Yorkshire pudding in a bunch of little muffin shapes. Bah! Imposters.

    NEEDED:

    • blender
    • rubber spatula
    • 9×9 metal or glass pan

    INGREDIENTS:

    3/4 cup all-purpose flour
    1/2 tsp salt
    2 eggs, room temperature
    1 cup milk, room temperature
    3 tbsp hot fat

    INSTRUCTIONS:

    1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
    2. Put 9×9 metal or glass pan in oven to preheat.
    3. Mix flour and salt together with a fork.
    4. Break both eggs into the blender and blend for 15 seconds.
    5. Add a third of the milk and all the dry ingredients to the blender. Blend for 1 minute.
    6. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and add remaining milk. Blend for 1 minute on high until totally smooth and a bit frothy.
    7. If your "hot fat" is butter, heat it in the microwave until you hear sizzling. If your "hot fat" is from your roasting pan under the beef (extra points!) then just make sure it's hot.
    8. Remove hot pan from oven, add hot fat to empty hot pan and tip it around briefly.
    9. Pour batter into pan.
    10. Bake 20 to 30 minutes (remove before end if it starts to turn really dark all over).

    Extra family sekret tips from me to you:

    • Do not open or even touch oven if possible during cooking time.
    • Regard vision of splendor through window before it collapses at the end of cooking. Take pics, post here, in Facebook, &c.
    • Divide up by number of people eating.
    • Pieces will seem too small no matter how few of you there are.
    • Ignore the inevitable "he got more than me" squabbling and carrying on.
    • Pour copious amounts of your richest beef gravy on your piece.
    • Enter realm of bliss.

    You heard it from me. This is the best Yorkshire Pudding in the world. If it doesn't rise properly, blame this on the altitude or the barometric pressure and offer to eat everyone else's piece if they don't like it. Works for me.