RED PEPPER SOUP

I had been looking at Martha's Meatless book, had a large jar of roasted red peppers in my cupboard, as well as a ripe avocado and quinoa on hand. I made this Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa Salsa for the first time hot, and took it to work, and I skipped the red onion for everyone else's sake. It was still good, but I found it a little thin. Still, with the garnish, and a generous dollop of quinoa, it was a good lunch.

When I had the girls over for tea, I decided to serve it cold and in small verrines. I still omitted the red onion, and it was very popular.

CHILLED ROASTED RED PEPPER SOUP WITH QUINOA
Meatless Cookbook
Serves: 4 (doubles) servings

INGREDIENTS
1 yellow onion (chopped)
2 T EVOO, for cooking
1 garlic clove (sliced)
1 cup cooked quinoa
4 red bell peppers (roasted with seeds, skins removed)  I rinsed prepared and removed seeds and doubled these.)
3 cups low sodium vegetable stock ( I doubled stock)
1 avocado
2 T chopped cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oil in a medium saucepan.
Add onion, and garlic stirring until onion is tender about 6-8 min.
Add roasted peppers, and stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Let cool slightly.
Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth, or use an immersion blender and puree soup directly in the pot.
Refrigerate to chill soup (at least 2 hours) or re-warm to serve hot.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with a scoop of quinoa, avocado slices, a few pieces of cilantro. Diced red onion would be good too, but okay to omit.

SESAME GRAHAM CRACKER SNAPS

My grandma used to make these simple crunchy cookies. I liked making them, especially using the recipe written in her handwriting, which she called "Mini Graham Snaps".

ROSEMARY (CHIVE) CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES

Makes 5 sandwiches.

From Cooking Light 2005

Ingredients

3 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound)
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped smoked almonds
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly
ground black pepper
10 slices whole-grain bread

How to Make It

Combine first 9 ingredients, stirring well.
Spread about 2/3 cup of chicken mixture over each of 5 bread slices, and top with remaining bread slices.
Cut sandwiches diagonally in half.

I used roasted chicken pieces from a bbq chicken.
I replaced green onions and rosemary with chives, chopped.
I replaced yogurt and light mayo with Hellman's original mayo (simple ingredients, mostly Canadian).
I used white Italiano bread I had bought by accident, cut off crust and halved into rectangles.

SOCIAL ECONOMICS I CAN GET BEHIND

I had a problem. Then I listened to Planet Money Podcast #844: Nice Game. It solved my problem and freed my conscience.

My schedule is killing me. I am stuck feeling bad though, because I am only available half the month with half my time dedicated to  shared parenting. I have offered ways to maximize this to my scheduler. I have offered every spare moment not accounted for to my job. I have cried over my failure to do more.

I now have been freed from this burden. This is what happened:

I gave every availability possible. I asked for 24-36 hours after night shifts, no more than 2 evenings or 3 days in a row, and ideally four shifts a week. I left my weeks open.

But instead of respecting my parameters, I got 2 shifts one week, 5 another, and 4 weekend nights in August, two in a row at a time.

The theory of economics that works the best, working from the prisoner's dilemma, is to offer to cooperate until you are taken advantage of. Then you are best not to cooperate, until the cooperation is offered back to you.

It may save missiles being launched in our current world climate. It helps me to stop feeling guilty about laying out my time as carte blanche. It allows me to insist that I don't get 5 shifts in a row, and that I may not be able to do as many shifts as my boss thinks I should be doing.

I like the idea of living in a society that you give your best first, but you don't have to be a doormat.
If it's good enough for avoid geopolitical disasters, it seems like a good way to live my little life.

MYSTERY TREE: Manitoba maple

I have spent the day battling my forest of "weed trees", mostly Norwegian maples and Hawthorns. I found a couple of other trees that I wondered whether they might grow up into something I might want to leave. It led me and the Princess Pirate to a bush I have tried to keep manageable for years, and then similar small versions in Terra Cotta forest. We looked up the leaf shape in Trees of North America and wondered if it could be a maple.

We were right! I finally found it in Ontario's database. The mystery tree in my yard is a Manitoba maple!

I MAY GO TO THE FOREST BUT YOU MAY NEED TO GO TO THE SEA

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused."

Rainer Maria Rilke

DAVE'S SANGRIA

Sangria mix 1L
Red wine (dry, Chilean) 1L
Gingerale 1L
Frozen lemonade 1/4-1/2 container per pitcher
Peeled orange slices, diced pears, apples and strawberries

LEFTOVERS

I wasn't sure what would happen if I froze everything and then thawed it. The rice didn't hold out the best, but the thing about leftovers is that they are always welcome when you don't have to make another meal! Red curry lentils and aloo gobi. 

ROASTED RED PEPPER PÂTÉ

I had a bottle of merlot I would never drink alone, and an expired package of cream cheese that I needed to use up, and years ago I ate this yummy app at a weekend in Tremblant at the JB club, and have been looking at this recipe ever since.

So I invited a couple of girlfriends, opened the package, which was just fine, and between my daughter's grad and during her party, I whipped it together and baked it, and cooled it in the fridge until supper. This is what is looked like, unfolded, flipped upside down.

Take a look at the after hours with girls for the decorated platter flanked by crackers and baguette slices.

Cooked and cooled. I think it would look great moulded in other shapes too. I forgot to grease the aluminium and it came out just fine. Like frosting a cake, a layer of basil pesto (I used premade) and a layer of sun dried tomato paste finished it off. I had bought water crackers and had triskets and ritz crackers on hand, but my friend brought fresh baguette which elevated it to another plane! 

I used a jar of roasted red peppers, and the goat cheese came in 300g, so I omitted the butter and cayenne and pine nuts  and did not miss them. Froze the leftovers for the next get together!

AFTER HOURS WITH THE GIRLS ON THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER

Prosecco and a picnic

Even when you invite girls for Merlot and Perrier, and provide roasted red pepper pate with crackers, olives, quinoa salad, strawberries, melon and cantaloupe, they bring Prosecco and veggie platters, baguettes, grapes, chocolate and more! What starts as a backyard simple supper becomes a feast with laughter, venting and plans for another event as soon as possible!

A BETTER TACO, BY PRINCESS PIRATE

Chive base, corn (not frozen), lemon thyme (2 leaves), red kidney beans, zested cheddar cheese, wrapped crepe style in a whole wheat tortilla, glued and painted with pesto

The cook gets the extra cheese!

SUMMERTIME!!!!!!

Lawn strawberries

mint, lemon thyme, oregano and chives

refreshing strawberry mint water

Flowers from the front garden

TIGER ICE CREAM

real vanilla ice cream, two scoops, skittles (don't think they are reeses or you will be disappointed!), magic shell, blue sprinkles, water cracker tail

JUST A FEW TYPES OF WEEDS IN MY GARDEN

Creeping Charlie, strawberry, grass, hawthorn trees, dandelion, dog violets, blackberry, bugleweed

NUTELLA CREPES AND QUEBEC STRAWBERRIES

BOOK REPORT: ENDURE by ALEX HUTCHINSON

It isn't everyone who gets an introduction by Malcolm Gladwell, but this author did. That is high praise, and, so far, well deserved.

Alex and Malcolm are both runners. More interestingly, they are both thinkers.

This book tries to break down to components all the elements of endurance. It's a puzzle of physiology and psychology.

It starts with the breaking of the two hour marathon, and revisits the more famous breaking of the four minute mile. Referring to "bridesmaids in sport", I was reminded that I didn't known the second man to break the minute mile was an Australian named John Landy. I had only ever learned the name of the "bride"/winner: British, soon to be neurologist, Roger Bannister.

Alex borrows from Samuele Marcora a "suitably versatile definition" of endurance. It is actually describing effort, but works for both.  Effort, and endurance are simply "the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop."

He also quotes Rudyard Kipling's poem  "If" to describe runners in a race:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it...

He notes that the science of how we pace ourselves is surprisingly complex. We "judge what's sustainable based not only on how you feel, but on how hat feeling compares to how you expected to feel at that point in the race."

He also explains the phenomenon of sprinter Usain Bolt, and how he differed from his peers. His greatest strength was not in running fast, but in his ability to "slow down less quickly" than the rest, once hitting the top speed and fading the latter half of the 100 meter race. This part of sprinting is euphemistically called, by John Smith, coach of former world-record holder Maurice Greene, the "Negative Acceleration Phase".

This is just the first chapter!

PRINCESS PIRATE GRADUATES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!

HIGH TEA

I am getting ready for a little get together to celebrate the beginning of summer, and I have been inspired by our anglophile gatherings of late, including the Netflix shows The Crown and Victoria. Needless to say, there was much talk of Harry and Meghan's wedding, and some perusing of Hello magazine.

So I have decided to have tea. It frightens me to call it high tea, because any one I have every been to was spectacular, and served in the most elaborate of settings. I think this is most of my foodie friends experiences too.

This high tea, though, will be much more humble. I don't have the proper tea cups, all unique and fine bone china. I will have a set of matching ones from a wedding gift, and that will be a gift to use them to serve such fine friends. I have a humble home, but I love the art on the walls and the comfortable setting, and if it is a nice afternoon, I hope we can do it outside in my garden. It will be at 5, which may even be the time the Queen would celebrate high tea. So now all that remains is the menu to be finalized.

Today, lacking currents, milk powder, whole wheat flour and an iron skillet, I had to reject Martha's cookbook recipes, but I did have butter and cranberries, so I made a first attempt at oven baked scones. Had I been able to watch (my oven light is burnt out), I would have taken these out a couple minutes earlier, because they are a little dark but they were still delicious. I'll let you know more as I continue to test recipes for the next two weeks.

Here is a taste of what is to come!

For recipe and all notes and pictures, press here.

FOOD MAGAZINE'S CRANBERRY SCONES

FOOD November 2005, p. 22

I estimated by eye to suit an 8" cake pan diameter. I didn't have buttermilk, so I thickened 1% cow's milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice at the bottom of the measuring cup. I was sad to omit it, but I didn't have the orange zest either. It's hot and humid today, but I did add almost a half a cup more flour to make the dough manageable, and keep it from sticking to the counter or knife on cutting into 8. I only used 1/4 cup of cranberries.

I flattened them after cutting to attempt to even the cooking. I used my handy dandy silpat, which I love to bake it on.

18 minutes at 400 degrees was a little too long.

The final product. Warm, buttery, slightly overcooked. Next time: zest of orange, currants and  16 minutes to try.

TRUTH TELLING AND OTHER LIES

The last two books I have read were nonfiction. Both of them were powerful stories. But I am left with the strongest impression that they were far from truth. Not because either author wasn't trying to explain the story, but because there were large blindspots in their vision in these highly personal stories.

The first story was a rough one about childhood sexual abuse by a trusted hockey coach, called: I am Nobody: Confronting the Predatory Coach Who Stole My Life by Greg Gihooly. It's a terrible story of grooming, betrayal of trust, manipulation, painful secrets and repetitive abuse, with its long-term consequences of shame, self-destruction, eating disorders and triumph. But despite it being written by a lawyer, and all his attempts to be fair to himself, and paint a picture of comeback, I was left with a gnawing feeling that the abuse was glossed over, the victim had not reached the relief of moving on from the abuser, and that he had no remorse that his prolonged silence led to multiple other assaults, victims and untold grief.  I am sure editing makes some of this impossible to avoid, but I wish I could say I have more sympathy for this story. It was brave and important. Strangely, there is little talk of why he kept going back, how it could have been avoided, and how he dealt with his part in the other victims eventuality by staying quiet.

Still, this is an important book of an important story that should happen to no one. Mr. Gihooly's unique perspective points out the important flaws in our legal system, being both a part of it and, in part, being betrayed by it with the eventual, decidedly weak treatment of his abuser's crimes. He states in his book:

“Make no mistake. We have a legal system, not a justice system. Justice is not guaranteed in a legal system. It is a system that yields legal results in a game played between prosecution and defense with its own set of rules that is in no way related to the reality of what did or did not happen...Once again, Graham had won. I was never going to get anything remotely touching on justice. Not only had he defeated me, but this time he had absolutely destroyed me. Once again, I was a nobody...Simply stated, child sexual assault is the killing of the victim’s sense of self, taking the child’s life as he or she knew it... A life has been taken. It should be recognized as such a crime, and it should be penalized as such a crime.”

Oddly, and hard to reconcile, two other players had already written books: Sheldon Kennedy's Why I Didn't Say Anything and Theo Fleury's Playing With Fire.

I am glad to see that there is some atonement and victory in all of this. I don't want to criticize a victim of a crime that never should have happened. I also think it's telling that male victims are the ones writing and publishing their stories. Is it because they were famous or male that they were recognized? Is it because there are too many stories of female based sexaul assualt, or is our culture somehow not listening to female victims? I think I am frustrated in that my hope in reading the book was to better understand how to prevent, recognize, and disclose these things so that it can be less common at worst or avoided at best.

The second story was "There Are Things I Want You to Know"about Stieg Larsson and Me.

I read the Stieg Larsson trilogy, surprising myself. Not for the faint of heart, the violence in the series would have normally caused me to avoid it, but the main character was so riveting that I read all three. I only understood later that the books were part of a larger vision, not meant to be a trilogy at all, but a series of five or six books. I was unaware at the time that the third book was not completed before Steig's sudden death. Later, I remember some controversy about the books that followed the trilogy, with his common-law partner and family being in dispute over his estate, including his intellectual property.

The title of this book by his partner Eva Gabrielsson is from a letter Stieg wrote to her, thinking of his death on a journalistic trip to a dangerous place, and wanting her to know some things in the event of his death. It is also a tragic book. It was a frustrating read, but it did hold some insights into the places and characters in the books. His protagonist Lisbeth is likened to Pippi Longstockings, which is a comparison I like.

The difficulty for me in reading this book is that the attempt to speak her truth just does not seem believable. I know it was written with someone, and editing doesn't always allow for the truth, but the  thesis of how she deserves his legacy is not proven, and much doubt is shed on her arguments to the rights of his property, when so much seems to be poor assumptions on her part.

At the end of it, I didn't find her or Stieg sympathetic. She was often unemployed, justified illegal living arrangements to suit her needs, and he seemed like a self-absorbed slob with a tendency to be a work-a-holic.

Much like Quebec, non-married partners do not have automatic rights to their common-law estates. This seems to be one political weakness that Sweden does not advertise, as their fame as a social state   would suggest that this protection should be a logical conclusion.

In summary, I would still recommend both these books worthwhile to struggle though, but much like life,  and independent movies outside of Hollywood/Bollywood, there is no happy ending for either, but the struggle is an interesting read for both of these authors.

Finally, I would point you to an interesting podcast of Out in the Open on the ethics of lying. It's as thought provoking as the books above. Reading them in sequence has fed my imagination and I have lots to think about still.

GIVING AWAY DECADES

I gave my twenties to medicine.
I gave my thirties to marriage.
I am giving my forties to me.

POETRY WORTH MEMORIZING

DUST BUNNIES UNDER MY BED

I guess it's been a while!

POINTE CLAIRE POINT OF VIEW

My friend Susanne Strater was commissioned to do this amazing painting of Pointe-Claire. Thanks to her, we were able to convince the secretary to let us in to the conference room to see it in situ. It was perfectly hung to see on entering the room by its main door.

KID SALAD INSPIRATION

After making a series of salads in mason jars, Princess Pirate was inspired to mix up a few flavours herself. The trouble with the mason jar idea is that you really have to empty it out on a plate to properly mix it. So for this run, salads were made in a reused soup container, and you could mix and eat out of it.

Pesto gemelli and stirfried chicken, mixed greens, grapes, strawberries

POTLUCK AND THE CROWN

Smoked salmon on rye with cream cheese, spring rolls, avocado salad, Ina Gartner's eggplant spread

WIENERSCHNITZEL, PESTO RAVIOLI AND STRAWBERRY PECAN SALAD

MASON JAR SALADS FOR A PARTY

Inspired by a gifted recipe book called Mason Jar Salads by Julia Mirabella. 

We were having a potluck party, so I felt inspired to make a few that would work around different allergies (hazelnuts and pecans) and what I had on hand.

At the base of the jar, I used two of my favorite Kraft dressings: Asian sesame and Berry Balsamic.

Next, I was recommended to layer things that wouldn't soak up too much of the dressing. I choose carrots and peas, or carrots and corn. Next I used my favorite dried fruit and nut combinations: cranberries and hazelnuts, strawberries and sunflower seeds (nutless), and  strawberries and pecan. Finally, I topped the lot with baby spinach and arugula (roquette here in lower Canada) and some feta. These were hearty meal size salads, and no one complained, even when we had to mix it after emptying out on the plate.

Princess Pirate salad on the left: cheese stick, sliced, strawberries, pecans.

The next day, a welcome lunch. 

ADORABLE CALICO

INSECT PATTERNS ON OLD WOOD

GRANOLA WITH EMBELLISHMENTS

Hazelnuts, raisins and chocolate chips

ROOT BEER FLOAT AND STRAWBERRIES

I don't remember the last time I had a root beer, but when I ordered a trio, I thought I would save it for another day. The day come with sunshine in spring. Just drinking pop is so foreign to me now, that I had to clean some strawberries to rationalize the indulgence! Root beer and vanilla ice cream made a familiar float. I did forget, though, that you never drink a float by lifting it. I managed to make a mess when the ball of ice cream displaced. Remember just to use a spoon!

ELIXOR: AVOCADO ROLLS

This app keeps me coming back, but now I always bring a friend. They are so rich!
Served on a bed of crunchy rice vermicelli, these spring rolls are filled with avocado and hot pepper, with cilantro and a sweet dipping sauce that is incredible! 

A METAPHOR FOR HARDSHIP

A tree growing in the space left for it in a sidewalk downtown

BANANA PEANUT BUTTER WRAP

1 large tortilla 220 cal
1 banana 90 cal
1 T PB 90

400 calories

SOMETIMES I LIKE BEING MY OWN SUPER

I was cleaning the bathtub this afternoon, using the draining water from my bath to get it ready for Princess Pirate, but by the time I was half done, I realized the water wasn't draining. This was certainly not the first time, but usually it happens a little more gradually, and I have a chance to use baking soda and vinegar.

I grabbed the plunger, blocked the overflow outlet, and got a disturbing amount of debris, but the water didn't drain.

It's been a while, and, although I do love my plumber, I didn't need the expense, and Princess Pirate needed a bath, so I got out the snake and used my surgical blind skills, managing to get the length of the snake in. When it came out, the tub started to drain again, much to my satisfaction.

Many times in life, it is the simple pleasures that are the greatest.

SORROW CREATES ROOM FOR JOY

“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”

― Rumi

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Isaiah 61:3 King James Version

LA PLUIE ET BONNE FÊTE CARO

Today it rained all day. From inside, it might have seemed like any other rainy day, but I spent the morning outdoors, running a "sled" station in an outdoor event that was, like soccer games, on, rain or shine. It was truly a rain storm. The wind blew the rain in every direction, so that my umbrella was useless. My rainjacket kept me dry, but I had no regret of wearing the same layers I wear cross country skiing in the winter. My thick tights were soaked by the end, but I was so grateful not to be in shorts like a few red legged kids I saw running in the crowd. My gloves were soaked through but served their purpose. My brimmed hat kept my glasses fairly clear.

It was actually a lot of fun, once we were so saturated that it made no difference. I did have rainboots on, so it didn't matter that my extra pair of socks were damp by the time I pulled them out. When the kids finished, the three of us giving instructions and turning the metal hunks of metal around had a race. I won the first, because my competition hit a dip in the terrain. The last race, I was so far behind, I don't even known which guy won.

The day ended early. I guess the grade sixes voted against the rest of the school going through the same experience they did. Some came around and did it again, some gave it their all. My daughter "hated" it, but she didn't look so convincing with that smile when she finished the job. There is something satisfying about doing something physical and succeeding. It's just hard to get out and do it.

The last show I watched was  the Dallas finals of America Ninja Warrier where he is the first to reach the highest 18" megawatt. The ending was the best. Daniel Gill, an incredible climber, shows up and gets it done. It was definitely inspiring to think how often these Ninjas show up to train, months and years before the event.

On return home, I stripped off all the wet layers and put on dry. I pulled out a blanket I had stowed away when I thought summer had arrived this past weekend, and made myself a hot chocolate for the first time in months. I watched a movie called, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, a beautifully set musical in the north of France about a girl in a shop. It's considered a "melancomedie" and it's been compared, and rightly so, to La La Land. It was the perfect film to warm up to, finish a few mending projects and curl up with a kitty. I think I like this genre much better than the usual tragedy, if it can't be a happy ending in a romance. It feels more like real life in any case. Just blue enough for the melancholy of a cloudy rainy day.

I leave you with a favourite French poem by Paul Verlaine:

Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville.
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénêtre mon coeur ?

O bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits !
Pour un coeur qui s’ennuie,
O le chant de la pluie !

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s’écoeure.
Quoi ! nulle trahison ?
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C’est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi,
Sans amour et sans haine,
Mon coeur a tant de peine.

It Rains in My Heart (English translation)

It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town,
What languor so dark
That it soaks to my heart?

Oh sweet sound of the rain
On the earth and the roofs!
For the dull heart again,
Oh the song of the rain!

It rains for no reason
In this heart that lacks heart.
What? And no treason?
It’s grief without reason.

By far the worst pain,
Without hatred, or love,
Yet no way to explain
Why my heart feels such pain!

THE CHEMISTRY OF FIREWORKS