THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

 

SPRING!

In the end, it happened in just a couple of days. The back deck was clear of snow. Time to start the tick treatment, and wait for a calm day to let Cali out on a leash once more.

Crocuses always make me think of Saskatchewan hills in the springtime. These little flowers made the bees very happy too!

The ice storm aftermath was obvious on the streets, and in the parks.

These branches were driven with such force into the earth that I had to pull hard to get them out!

Sitting out on the front porch, with electricity and hot water, it seemed like a good day to celebrate and open my 50th birthday personal champagne bottle!

Despite my neighbour winning the biggest pile of snow all winter, I had the last laugh, with the last of the snow in evidence anywhere on our street!

Christmas lights finally came down.

Solar lamps came out, and spreading joy on the very first evening!

 

A LONG WALK ON A NICE DAY

I walked to my "nearby " Starbucks for a Saturday morning treat. It's a five kilometer walk each way, but the sun was shining, the snow was nearly gone, and I was dressed just right. I felt like trying a matcha Latte, but when I got there, this Iced strawberry oat version was advertised. I got the smallest version, special ordered the glass (this is the only place I can get this special treatment, and it's only just come back post covid restrictions). It was creamy and smooth, with the rehydrating strawberries not quite as advertised (floating in suspension, not clumped on top for a weird sensory experience). I sat in a sunny window and enjoyed the cold drink. Thanks, Nath! Always grateful that you keep me in Starbucks certificates!

 

POKE MONSTER VEGETARIAN BOWL

 

This is one of those meals that you think, if I was stranded on a desert island, and I would have to eat only one meal for the rest of my life, this might be the one to choose. 

It's delicious, complex, and layered with flavours and good protein energy still hard to find in the vegetarian fare of today.

I broke down the ingredients. Here's how to make it at home:

Fill the bowl with warm sushi rice, seasoned with sweetened rice vinegar. 

Sprinkle with black sesame.

Shred iceberg lettuce and carrots, and finely dice cucumber.

Layer them with some avocado in sections, to cover rice.

Drizzle with soya sauce.

Cook edamame and fry breaded firm tofu in strips. 

Layer the top with the tofu and edamame still warm.

Add a generous amount of spicy mayo. 

Add a generous amount of chilled seaweed salad (with black and white sesame).

Finish by sprinkling some strips of finely cut nori on top.

Delicious!

BACHELORETTE PIZZA

 They say that a married man lives longer than a bachelor, because his wife looks out for his diet more than if he didn't have her influence. A single woman is supposed to live longer than a married one, but sometimes I think my choices might land me in between. 

I thought I would try a frozen pizza instead of making too much pizza (homemade dough always make two!), or spending the money on takeout. I thought the mushroom coverage was pretty generous in the picture, and the alfredo sauce seemed like an interesting idea. 

All in all, the pizza cooked up yeasty and golden, like a good homemade version. I loved the mushrooms, but I still prefer them on tomato sauce. Not bad for four meals. I probably should have had salad with all them, but nobody's perfect!

GIVING THANKS WITH GREAT NEIGHBOURS

 We had the nicest day on Saturday, and my neighbours got their lawn furniture out and a few of us stopped in to join them and catch up with their dad who was there for the afternoon. Their daughter was away at a cottage, so they were cooking up a turkey that had made it through the ice storm, but they thought they should cook up sooner rather than later.

After these past three years of isolation, I was happy to be a social flexitarian and join them, and an impromptu group of neighbours for a turkey meal with all the fixings.

Here's my plate, and the lovely pair in their element.

BASIC GOURMET GIRL FARE

 It's been a long time since my Martha Stewart entertaining days. Good days are fast prepared meals, in the oven or stovetop, or a series of favourite sandwiches. Not much of my food is instagram worthy, and certainly not at home. But I do eat, and I try new things so I will use a few of my recent photos to get back to the original idea for this blog: Gourmet Girl, even if "gourmet" is not exactly what I am eating or preparing!

For example, while my daughter was away on a class trip, I decided to try something hot.  In the past, I had bought by request the Cheetos mild version, and it was pretty good. I decided to try the Flaming Hot Cheetos mac n' cheese, and it really looked so red that it was worrying!

While the result was much spicier than my daughter would ever have tried, there was this other flavour that didn't really suit me. Given that the vibrancy of the colour was not proportional to the heat, I thought it might be red pepper. Definitely fun to try once, but I will not need to repeat it!

CELEBRATING EASTER WITH AN EASTER EGG HUNT

 When you work shift work, you know that you won't be able to celebrate every holiday on the day. For me, better late than never. So when Princess Pirate was away for the holiday, I decorated anyway, and she knew as soon as she set her suitcase down that there was easter candy to find!

I remember fondly how excited she was in past years, not only to find the eggs and other treasures, but how delighted she was in making an Easter Egg Hunt for me in return!

There aren't a lot of decorations, but some go way back to former crafting days. It gives me great pleasure to put things up in celebration of new life at spring equinox!

2006

Precious child
Warm and heavy
Asleep in my arms
Smiling unconsciously
Toothless grin
Dreaming of your last drink
Nothing dearer, sweeter, more beautiful
Exhausted, red eyes roving
Stench of urine
Vomit stained shirt
Why, homeless man, do you seem less human?
My baby daughter wears your same perfume

FARMERS, DINOSAURS, AND THE EASTEND MUSEUM

 I started this blog over ten years ago, and it hinged on two initial places: my fangirling of Rick Steves in  his home town of Edmonds, WA, and an elevating visit to a friend and her family in Eastend, SK. I realize now that I should have celebrated that anniversary, and noted the 1000's blog entry!

Tonight, I am returning to Eastend, to piece together a story about a farmer who married my friend, his uncle, some dinosaur bones, and a little town museum called the Eastend Historical Museum.

I don't know what kid doesn't get a little obsessed with dinosaurs. Growing up in Regina, we had a mechanical roaring dinosaur in our provincial natural history museum. My parents took our family to Drumheller, AB one summer to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum near there. I have visited the New York Natural History museum and shown the skeletons to my daughter in various places, not least of which is an outdoor walk at the Granby Zoo.

Our favourite museum to house dinosaurs became McGill's Redpath Museum, a treasure trove of many curiosities, not least of which is a Triceratops skull called "Sara", that was discovered in Eastend.

When I visited my friend years ago, I enjoyed visiting the Eastend Museum a lot. There were two things were really memorable: a woman's group called the Rebekah Lodge (I had never heard of a sisterhood equivalent to all the fraternal lodges I had heard of over the years), and the discovery of dinosaur bones near my friend's farm.

I went to University with Krista, and we attended the same church, frequenting the College and Career Group many weekends. She moved to Eastend after she married Warren, a farmer with family who also farmed in the area. On the wall of the museum, there was a display including photos about the fossil find of a 60% complete skeleton of a Brontothere, a prehistoric animal that resembles a rhino with a split horn. Thanks to the local enthusiasm of an amateur paleontologist named Corky Jones, people in the area were inspired to keep an eye open for unusual finds in the area. One day in 1973, near the farm of my friend Warren's Uncle Bud, road repairs done by neighbour Ken Wills unearthed some bones. Bud, Ken, and another neighbour named Victor collected the Brontothere's bones. They are displayed in the museum, along with cast of a Triceratops skull and the "second shield" of a Torosaurus.

On following visits, we were able to visit the larger museum called T.rex Discovery Centre, opened in 1991 in part due to another discovery even more impressive of a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex that became known as "Scotty". 

What I have learned over the years is that fossils are incredibly heavy, too heavy to be displayed as a skeleton of a dinosaur. Most of what we like to see on display are casts of the fossils, allowing them to hang suspended from the ceiling, or stand impressively in museum rooms to be admired. 

The showstopper at Redpath Museum

If you do have the chance though, visit a dinosaur museum near you. Ask if you can hold a fossil and compare it to a cast, so you can feel the difference in weight. Notice what is a fossil, what is a bone, and what is a casting. And you can touch the coprolites without even getting your hands dirty! That is some heavy @#$%!