On a Depressive White Unicorn Who Makes Me Laugh

Last night I was spending some quality time on FB, as per my usual end-of-the-week excitingness, and I came across YouTube's 50 best Videos, which of course I had to watch! I've since realized that just because 50-odd million other people enjoy a video, I won't necessarily agree. But most of the time people like some funny stuff!

I did spend 1 hour & 16 minutes watching an inspirational lecture by Randy Pauch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, who died in July 2008. It's great & I recommend watching it when you have an hour or two to spare.

That said, the video that captured my heart & funny bone was the one about a low-key White Unicorn named Charlie, who is dragged on senseless adventure after senseless adventure by two incredibly annoying and weird fellow unicorns, one pink and the other baby blue. This is the stuff great comedy is made of.

But don't take my word for it! Check out this link for yourself:

Charlie the Unicorn 3

Leftover Beef Chuck Roast & Goat's Milk Mac & Cheese

Tonight I had much of a leftover beef chuck roast to use up. The roast itself had been slow cooked the night before in a 325 degree over for nearly 5 hours, and was in a perfectly shreddable state. Here's what it became:

Leftover Beef Chuck Roast & Goat's Milk Mac & Cheese

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 red onion, julienned

3 small orange peppers, julienned

Leftover Beef Chuck Roast

3/4 cup BBQ sauce

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cup goat's milk

1 cup cow's milk

1 cup extra-aged white cheddar cheese, grated

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon tarragon

10 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly

Cooked whole-wheat macaroni or pasta

I julienned the red onion & small orange peppers, frying them in some butter, then adding the teaspoon of brown sugar to help caramelize them. Once the onions began to turn golden, I removed them to a bowl and began heating the shredded beef in the frying pan. I added 3/4 cup of barbeque sauce and 3/4 cup of water and cooked the beef on medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until the sauce began to boil (about 10 minutes). Then I added the onion & pepper mixture to the meat, and left it to cook another 5 minutes.

I also had a small chunk of extra-aged white cheddar cheese kicking around my fridge & Miles had a friend over. I figured now matter what I made, kids like mac & cheese, so I planned to make a regular mac & cheese. I made a roux, grated the cheese & looked in the fridge for the milk.

It turns out we were almost out of cow's milk, though we had half a liter of goat's milk & another half liter of cream. I didn't want to make the sauce with cream (too rich), so I opted for a mix of cow's & goat's milk. I added the milks to the sauce, then added the grated cheese along with some salt, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon each of tarragon and thyme, and a large clove of garlic, minced. I brought the sauce to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk until the sauce began to thicken, then reduced the heat to low and let the sauce simmer. I served it over whole-wheat macaroni or pasta (or in my case a mix of the two, since I didn't have enough of either).

Lastly, I fried some shiitake mushrooms to sprinkle on top of the dish (for those of us in the family who like mushrooms).

To serve, I placed the goat's milk mac & cheese in a bowl, added a generous scoop of the meat on top, and sprinkled the dish with the mushrooms.

The result was a delicious combination of creamy, tart, sweet, and earthy flavours. The sharp cheddar cut nicely through the tart goat's milk, balancing nicely with the sweetness of the meat and the earthiness & crunchiness of the fried shiitake mushrooms.

Garam Masala - Spice Mix Recipe

Garam Masala - Spice Mix Recipe

2 parts ground cardamum

5 parts ground coriander

4 parts ground cumin

2 parts ground black pepper

1 part ground cloves

1 part ground cinnamon

1 part ground nutmeg

Mutter Paneer

Last night I made Mutter Paneer for dinner. A few nights earlier, I'd been wandering through Stong's Market with Miles on a hunt for the fixings for lasagna, Miles's preferred dinner request for the night, and had seen paneer on sale. Always a sucker for the "sale" sign & a long-time fan of palak paneer, I just couldn't resist buying the cheese, though even then I knew I'd be cooking with mutter rather than palak.

Mutter paneer is a north indian mild curry, made of peas, tomatoes, and paneer, a mild-flavoured fresh pressed cheese, and one of my favorite dishes when I eat Indian food. I love the creamy flavour of the cheese, mixed with the rich tomato sauce & the sweetness of the peas. But before I could begin cooking, I had to remedy a certain lack of ingredients: I had run out of my homemade recipe for garam masala. So I measured & mixed & sifted & poured the spices together & was soon ready to cook Mutter Paneer.

Except that I had no recipe for Mutter Paneer. So, I searched online, reading several recipes, until I found a recipe that didn't involve pouring Mutter Paneer out of a jar, one that I liked. The recipe I found here for Mutter Paneer is very good, though as with any recipe, I couldn't resist making a few tweaks here and there.

The end result was delicious and didn't taste remotely like the Prego pasta sauce I used. The recipe made a quick, healthy, and tasty meal, one which I will make again.

Mutter Paneer

1 package of paneer - about 500g, cubed into 1-inch cubes
2 medium onions chopped finely
Roughly 3-4 cups pasta sauce
2-3 cups of frozen peas

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 tsp dried red chillies
1 tablespoon of curry powder
2 (heaped) teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
3 (heaped) teaspoons garam masala
1 and a half teaspoon of haldi (turmeric)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 pinch of cumin seed if you have some

Heat up a couple of tablespoons of veg oil in a frying pan until hot and then add the cubes of paneer and fry until golden brown - turning over frequently to ensure even browning. Then place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Fry onions in butter/oil until browned. Add spices and cook for several minutes. Add tomato sauce/diced tomatoes & a few cups of water & bring to a boil. Add the cheese & peas, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat, simmering for 20 minutes.

While the curry simmers, I cooked the basmati rice, as per the usual directions. To add a little flavour, I added some cumin & anise seeds to the rice.

A few minutes before you are ready to serve, heat up some naan or roti.

Twilight

So, I've finally succumbed to the "Twilight Craze." I had a feeling it would happen eventually, since I've always had a thing for Vampire stories and movies, but I was rather passive-agressively avoiding this particular story because, and as a connoisseur of Vampire stories I can say this, too often they are deeply, unforgivably dumb. This one, given its pre-teen and teen-centered marketing, had great potential for dumbness. Thus, I was avoiding it; as I browsed through Chapters, I would choose not to thumb through one of the thousands of copies on the table, and I avoided the movie-reviews (okay, maybe I don't really read movie reviews anyway).

Still, I sure do love a good Vampire story, and I always have, ever since I started reading Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles when I was young. But, like I said, I knew the movie was teen-focused and was worried that it would be fully of angst and silliness, done badly. Surprisingly, and I believe due in large part to the simple, clever writing of S. Meyer, the movie - which is undeniably full of angst - does not seem ridiculous, but is a very sweet and moving story of abstinence. I watched it with Adri and Mark, and knew I wanted to read the books. I knew there was more to the "longing glances" in the movie (okay, so some of it was kind of cheesy), and I wanted to understand the characters better. So I bought the book and read it. Yesterday. All of it. (For only $8, how could I not?)

Turns out, it's a good book, and I can say that because I bought and read the 500-page book in just one day. It has everything one wants in a book: love, humour, action, death. And the movie remains surprisingly true to the book. While there are some notable changes between the two, I was impressed by how skillfully the movie brings the characters to life.

So now I, too, have caught the Twilight fever, and I suppose I will be buying the sequel(s), so I can find out what happens to these truly endearing characters without having to wait for the next movie to come out.

Week of Surprises

The end of this week has been full of surprises, and that has made me feel a bit like a princess. But I will get to that in a little bit. First, I'll tell you a little story about the beginning of this week.

Monday was its usual self: I had to organize a few final details for a lecture we were hosting on Tuesday. Tuesday rolled around, and things seemed all set to go for the lecture. Everything was going well; I had half an hour to explain all the instructions for set-up/clean-up to the bartender, and then I would leave him to it.

So 4:30, his ETA, rolls around, and no bartender arrives. "How odd!" I think. "And unprofessional," I think, and I continue to set up the glasses/tables. 4:50 rolls around, the bartender shows up, and he's very relaxed about the whole thing, rolling back on his heels as I'm talking to him, and nodding slowly as I'm explaining what needs to be done. He doesn't even apologize for his lateness, but I'm not too bothered by that, because I'm focused on launching into my schpeel, now condensed from 30 minutes into 10, because at this point I'm still deluding myself that I can leave at 5:00.

Over the next 10 minutes, I get progressively more and more upset as he stumbles about place, grinning vaguely, nodding with out looking when I show him how to lock the doors, and leering into me with beer on his breath and a blank look in his eyes. At some point he decides to put on his apron, twirling it around several times in front of him - in some queer preparation that may or may not have ended with th eapron tied around his waist. I don't know what he did, because I stormed into the copyroom to throw a little swearing fit in front of the copyroom staff (whom I like very much), one of whom offered to stay and bartend in the bartender's place. After I had calmed myself down, I went to talk to Jay and he checked the guy out, saw him tetering around in the kitchen, and asked him to leave. We were behind schedule then, so I stayed an hour longer to help set up, and left a very responsible, sober guy to tend bar and lock up.

The next day, I spoke with the catering company who arranged for the guy to come serve, and they apologized profusely for his behaviour. Apparently he has been going through some tough times of late (no, really?), and he felt quite badly about his behaviour. The the basket of chocolate from Urban Fare arrived, and seriously! this basket was HUGE!. I shared chocolate with everyone who helped with thta night, and still brought home two big boxes of deluxe belgian chocolate. Also, they didn't charge us for the food that night. Decent, given the circumstances and the amount of money we spend with them.

The next day, roses arrived for me. My mom sent me (and our family) a beautiful bouquet of Easter roses (rainbow mix) to my work, and they are now sitting on my counter, looking wonderfully springlike!

Yay for gifts! Huzzah!

BBC's 100 Books (Old List, I think)

Apparently the BBC believes people will have read fewer than 100 of these novels.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen --x
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien --x
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte --x
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling --x
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Bible -- x
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte--x
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell -x
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -x
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -x
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott --x
Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy --x
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Complete Works of Shakespeare -- x
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien -- x
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger --x
Middlemarch - George Eliott --x
Gone with The Wind - Margaret Mitchell --x
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House - Charles Dickens --x
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck --x
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll --x
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame --x
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy --x
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis --x
Emma - Jane Austen --x
Persuasion - Jane Austen --x
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis -- x
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -- x
Animal Farm - George Orwell --x
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins --x
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery --x
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood --x
The Lord of the Flies - William Golding --x
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Life of Pi - Yann Martel --x
Dune - Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen --x
Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens --x
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley --x
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez --x
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck --x
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov --x
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
On The Road - Jack Kerouac --x
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding --x
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker --x
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett --x
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson --x
Ulysses - James Joyce (half x… have started it several times)
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath --x
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Germinal - Emile Zola
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray --x
Possession - AS Byatt
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte’s Web - EB White --x
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle --x
The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad –x (excerpts)
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Watership Down - Richard Adams --x
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole --x
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet - William Shakespeare --x
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl --x
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo --x

53.5 (plus about another 15 that have been on my "must read before I die" list for years!)

First Born: A Survey

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
No.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
No.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Shock. My first instinct was to turn to drugs and hard alcohol. But I didn't.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
Yes.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
20.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
Pee test.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Amanda.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
Yup, but couldn't.

9. DUE DATE?
April 19, 2002

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
Yup. My worst moment was stumbling off of the SFU bus to puke on the sidewalk.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Strawberries, and other fruit.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Having to sleep with a pillow between my legs.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Male.

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
Yes, I had sort of hoped Miles was a girl, but I think I always kind of knew he was a boy. Now, of course, I love having a boy.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
25.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes, that's where I learned how to diaper a baby in oven mitts, a skill that served me well with Miles throughout the diaper years.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
No, just during the birth. The cord was wrapped around his neck three times.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Peace Arch Hospital.

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
8 hours?

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
My mom. We went through the McDonald's Drive-Thru to get coffee on the way...

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
My mom.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Nope. Just oxygen.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7bs 11oz.

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN?
April 20, 2002.

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Miles Antoine Alexander.

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
An aged 7 years old...

I've Got a Secret to Tell

It turns out I am a football fan. Wait, strike that. I am a Superbowl fan. I don't love football--exactly, just so we're clear: I will on occasion stop to watch a decent football game, though I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a fanatic--but I shore do love a good Superbowl game.

I love

1. The game, the way the footballers fling their bodies across the field and the sportscasters are so serious and devoted to their coverage of The Game.
2. Watching the Superbowl with other people. This year it was Miles's friend and his family who came over, even though they know probably less than I do about football (which is precious little to begin with). Good times.
3. Serving fun Superbowl food: homemade cheese pizzas, chips with guacamole, roasted red pepper cheese dip, salsa & refried beans, and pepperoni sticks. Oh, and cheesies, whcih are a veritable must for Superbowls.
4. And who can forget the half time show, with its potential for possible wardrobe malfunctions, over blown pyrotechnics, and sure-fire stardom? This year, the Boss performed with all his tight black-jeaned, cheezy & aged Glory, and it was good, perhaps even great.

The great question on which I am left hanging in the wake of this supreme sports extravaganza is, Who'll join us next year? Maybe you?

Thank you, Superbowl XLVIII. You done good.

...And With Autumn Comes Change

Yesterday's horoscope for Virgo according to Georgia Nicols strikes me, yet again, as quite accurate:

"Everything is up in the air today. Just let things flow naturally. Don't push the river. Don't sign contracts or agree to anything important. If you're having important discussions, just kick ideas around. Ironically, your creative thinking is very good."

I check my horoscope almost daily, because it comforts me to think that, maybe, someone else can predict how my day will go. I've been feeling very much like letting things flow naturally lately perhaps because I've been sick, and being sick usually pushes me back on my heels a little bit. I came down with some horrible flu, which led to an infection, on Wednesday. I started running a fever and had an awfully sore neck & throat. I woke up on Thursday feeling like I could barely move, popped some Advil and a throat lozenge, and staggered off to work. I left work a few hours later, came home, slept, woke up, felt even worse and decided to drag my butt to the doctor. The doctor gave me antibiotics, I rested, drank a potion of ginger, lemon & maply syrup, and woke up the next day a woman revived!

Miles has been adjusting to school, well, actually we both have. Today he went to birthday party for one of his new classmates, and as I arrived a little early to pick him up, I could see how challenging it is to join a group that has already been in school together for one school year. Not that he isn't doing great; Miles is one of those fortunate boys who makes friends easily, I think because he isn't terribly shy, and he just really likes to have fun with other kids. It still shows that he doesn't know the kids as well as they know each other, though, and that I a new to the parent "group," too. I just realised today that this is Miles' fourth year of adjusting to a new class of kids, and I think such an upheaval every year is hard on him.

My 3-month probation period expired on Thursday, the day I went home sick. My boss joked that I missed all the champagne & celebrations when I went home. Very casually, he sat me down and told me that all was well at work, that he was happy with me, in his state-of-the-union kind of way.

My computer broke last weekend, and I've spent the last week trying to have the data on my hard-drive backed up. I have a new-found hatred for Staples tech & customer service departments, and am deeply indebted to Simply Computing for their prompt service, or at least I will be once I can figure out how to get my computer to read the disks they burned for me. I've reinstalled Windows on my computer and will be slowly downloading all the programs I used to have on my computer.... Lots to do there!

Things I Like About my Job: Dressing Corporate & Lunch Time

My favorite things about my new job are the dressing up I get to do and spending my lunch hours downtown.

When I was first hired, about a month and a half ago, I went on a bit of a (budget) shopping spree: I spent $75 on about 12 items of clothing at a really good Sally Ann near my house. That gave me about a week's worth of clothing to wear and meant that I didn't have to wear the same thing more than once in one week. But still, I was left trying to mix and match outfits so that I didn't end up with stock monday, tuesday, etc. outfits. It was an adequate strategy in the short-term but one that lacked serious long-term potential.

Then, Mark's aunt, who recently retired from her job as a corporate secretary, donated a whole bunch of clothes to my cause, giving me some very beautiful, very expensive clothes to wear to work. She owned a number of nice blasers/jackets that I could pair with my skirts, and a couple of matching dresses and jackets. Mark's mom also bought me a lovely present when we were in New York, a thing that I have been wanting for a while but have been unable to afford and/or find second-hand: a black suit-jacket. We went shopping at Saks and found an absolutely gorgeous DKNY jacket that had been rather conviently marked down 70%. So I am now the proud owner of a $350 designer jacket. Kinda fun.

Lastly, I have started making use of working in one of the Pacific Centre towers; this week, I thought to myself, "Dude! You work in a mall... there's no excuse to not shop occasionally!"
So, on one of my lunch hours, on a day I forgot to bring the book I was reading, I went down to check out the sales. Tristan was having a 70% off sale, and I bought a few things for $20 each. I'm still not an avid shopper, I would say, but I like the ease of wandering down to the mall on a whim. I will do more.

My lunch hours downtown are entirely enjoyable. If I'm feeling social, I can sit up in my office's cafe/loung area and visit with co-workers or watch TV in the lounge. If I'm feeling reclusive, which is most of the time, I can head down to the street and go for a walk in the bustling streets (anonymous in a crowd, my favorite way to be). I sometimes use my lunch to run errands downtown, because everything I need is there and because the area is so dense that I don't often have to walk far. I'm also planning to buy a membership to the art gallery ($35 for students) and to spend some of my hours wandering around there. I think I will spend rainy days there.

But right now, my favorite place to take my lunch on a sunny afternoon is to the art gallery steps. There I sit, with usually only 15 other people, eating my lunch on the warm concrete steps and reading. It's kinda like being at the beach, tanning in the sunshine and my 5-foot space bubble to myself with still people nearby, but with the trees around Robson Square and a somewhat less comfortable seat - concrete gives less than sand does. Having that hour to myself really helps me unwind, to forget the business of work for a while and to spend time doing only and exactly what I want. "Me" time. It's good.

Moving Along

Just a quick post to say I have a new job. I start on Wednesday. It's a full-time high-level admin position with a law firm downtown. I'm really excited because there is potential to advance within the company. The job itself is quite varied and will be challenging for me over the next few months as I learn the ropes. I will be assisting two people: the company's Chief Operating Officer and its Director of Associate and Student Recruitment. Also nice: benefits after three months.

On the Miles front, he had his first Purple Dragon Martial Arts grading last week, and, for his sparring, advanced to Bar One White Belt. He was fantastic and even won his sparring match, and if I can figure out how to post videos on this thing, my blog, I will post the video I took of him. He tells me he wants his Yellow Belt next grading, and I think with some hard work he will do it.

I am also trying to navigate a smooth transition for him from Kindergarten to a new elementary school and childcare for September. Right now I have him registered in a French Immersion school and childcare, but have no way to get him from point A (school) to B (after-school care).

What else? I am starting to get excited about our trip to New York in July! Lots of planning to do! It seems like there are SO many different New York experienced to be had, it's hard to decide which one we want to have.

There is so much more happening, and I will update again soon, but not now. :)

Yummy Dish

Soft Tomato Curry

¼ cup butter
¼ - ½ onion cut into thin slices
1 cup coconut
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
pepper
chilies (optional, I just added more chili powder)
1 large can whole stewed tomatoes
½ cup frozen peas


Melt ¼ cup butter in pan
Saute onion slices in butter
Mix coconut and spices together
Add to onion
Cook for a couple of minutes until butter is absorbed and flavours meld
Add canned tomatoes and peas
Let sauce simmer down/reduce

Serve over rice, and/or with tuna. Really easy and delicious.

Fixed some of those pictures...

Various Happenings

Also, some of you may know that Miles has started taking Karate lessons. Last Friday, his Karate school held a fundraiser, and Miles and I sang a little ditty--the Dixie Chicks' "Long Way Around"--as per Miles' request. Miles was very brave to go up and sing, especially since the morning of the performance he kept saying he didn't want to do it, that he was very nervous. But when the time came for him to go up on stage, Miles wiped his mouth free of crumbs, asked me, "How do I look?," then performed his little heart out on stage.

This was by far one of the best talent shows I have been to, owing much to the fact that there was a seriously delicious desert buffet and that our table was located conveniently close to the aforementioned buffet. Mmm.



Miles turned 6 (!) and we celebrated! Here are some pictures from both his school and home parties. (Note the giant chocolate spiderman in M's hands as I present him with his cake. It was his "pre-cake" warm-up.)




Lastly, Nana bought Miles a new bike for his birthday. It is green and fabulous and everything a boy could want in a bike.

Just a Little Hitch

I read my most recent training post and was surprised to see it's only been one week since I've run. I was convinced it had been TWO weeks, because it's felt like FOREVER! After that Thursday, my right foot became very sore and it's taken a whole week for it to start feeling somewhat back to normal. I'm still slightly wary of running, since I still feel the occasional twitch in my toes, but I think I'm going to try a short run sometime this weekend. I'm putting it off, since I'm dreading the pain coming back. If it does, then I probably won't be able to do this marathon, though I will run the half if it kills me! But I will be disappointed. So I'm taking it easy, though I've kept up with yoga, swimming, and a few leg exercises to keep in shape. I'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. I'm heading to Montreal from Tuesday to Sunday to visit Tally and present a paper at Concordia, and I will likely try to run a few times while I'm there. I think I'll try to run shorter distances more frequently, rather than long runs--and make use of my child-free week to train more efficiently, and in Montreal, no less!

Whipped Cream and Rice Substitute

I loved the dinner I made last night! I have been experimenting with cooking Quinoa [pronounced keen-wa] for about six months now, and it's quite a fantastic food: not actually a grain, but a protein (seed) that cooks like a grain. It cooks similar to arborio rice, so I often use it to make risotto.

Last night, I started with a small, diced onion, fried in becel, then I added the 2 cups of quinoa, rinsed. To that I started adding 2 cups of simmering chicken broth, 1/2 cup at a time. I followed that up with another 3 cups or so of water, until the quinoa was soft and the germ separated from the seed. Then I added two cloves of garlic, minced, a can of diced green chilis, some velveeta cheese needing to be used up, about 1/4 cup parmesan, and a can of lentils, rinsed. Complete comfort, steaming in a bowl! That said, it didn't look much better than brown mush mixed with something looking dangerously like bugs. Miles said it tasted good but didn't eat all that much. As ever, my presentation needs work.

For dessert, I made low-fat cheesecake with blackberry sauce. Mmm! And with that I included my favorite new (comparatively) low-fat discovery: whipped evaporated milk. It's not a perfect substitute for whipped cream, but I'm willing to forgive its failings. The trick to whipping the milk, which doesn't thicken identically to cream because it has less fat, is to chill the bowl of milk in the freezer for about half an hour before whipping it. I also leave it in the freezer after I whip it to prevent it from melting/softening. To this I add 1/2 cup of icing sugar and about one to 1 1/2 inches of vanilla bean for flavoring. And don't worry about leaving it in the freezer too long, because it just turns into delicious, frozen vanilla iced milk. My only caveat is this: just because whipped evaporated milk is healthier than vanilla whipped cream, doesn't mean I advise eating a bowlful of the stuff, though in my experience it's good enough to do just that!

Sick to Kick

We're coming out from the underbelly of one nasty, nasty cold/flu. Miles has spent two and a half days home from school, with me, being sick, has had his chest x-rayed, and has been given a prescription for antibiotics with orders not to fill until we hear back from our doctor. Mark, too, has been sick with the flu, but somehow he's managed to work through it all. I seem to have had the easiest round of the sickness; mostly, I've just been sleeping a lot more than usual and have cold-like symptoms.

I'm a little upset about the fact that the cold has interfered with my marathon training. Still, through it all, I've managed to clock 32.5K this week, but that's significantly less than last week's record thus far, 46K. Today, I contemplated taking another day, in addition to Tuesday, off, since my nose was pretty congested. But I did some research on the internet, and most people say that if your cold is keeping you from your everyday routine/cleaning/hygiene, then you shouldn't run. Mine, as I had just chauffeured Miles to school and was working rather effectively, was normal albeit somewhat unpleasant. So I decided to run. I plotted out my 26 kilometers and started running. When I set out, the weather was rather nice, with the sun sometimes peeking through clouds and the birds singing in the trees, but the weather got progressively worse as I ran.

Three hours later, some ominous black clouds were lurking on the horizon and the wind was gusting off of the ocean, as I ran up NW Marine Drive. I used my powers of mental persuasion (You can do it, you can do it--just like Thomas the Tank Engine) all the way until I hit the 20K mark, when I was shivering and tired of being gusted to and fro by an awfully chill wind. (My original plan had been to sweat out my cold, but fat chance of that in today's weather.) Because the end of my route out me running around UBC, right next to the ocean, I decided to bail on my planned route. Instead, I rerouted myself onto roads that would provide me with shelter from the wind, and I ran straight home. The worst part is that if I'd dressed appropriately, I probably could have continued. So I've learned a lesson: next LSD, I check the weather forecast before I leave home.

I can feel the wear and tear of all this training on my body. I now run rather gingerly so as not to put undue stress on my knees and ankles. But I also feel so amazingly great the day after a long run--there's something about stretching the limits of your physical endurance that makes me feel a little more alive, energized. I can also now say that I have experienced the runner's high. I think it usually hits around 16K, or about an hour and a half into running, and it's quite exhilerating: I feel like running is the best thing on earth and like I can run forever. I'm sure I look like quite the goof, running along the sidewalk with a grin for every person who I happen to pass, but at that point I feel really great.

School is also quite good. I see much marking in my future. I'm also getting very excited about heading out to Montreal after Easter to visit with Tally and present a paper at a conference. I'll be gone for only 6 days, but during that time I hope to visit with many french relatives, eat many crepes and much poutine, and generally have a grand ol' time.

My Victorian Lit class quite simply rocks! I am spending ridiculous amounts of time reading novels, but that is exactly what I signed on for and I love it. The theme of the course, Victorian ways of knowing, is one that fascinates me, and I find that the literature we are studying engages so many of the same questions that contemporary literature raises. In this class I'm learning that the questions, in fact, aren't new, and we're still searching for answers to them. All very good. I have even figured out a routine for getting through the class (Monday morning, 9am), that involves 2 cups of coffee in advance of the class and 1 large cup of green tea during the class.

Miles is taking Karate now, too. We are having some issues about when to punch (ie class) and when not to (ie not at your family and friends). But we're working on them, and he really loves the class. I think it's a great outlet for him to let go of some of the physical energy he keeps pent up much of the time.

Still in Training

I've been running quite a bit lately. Last week I clocked 46K, closing off the week with a 23K run. I thought this was quite the achievement because before my run I began to psyche myself out. I started to get really nervous for no concrete/good reason, and felt "funny" before I left. But as soon as I began running I started to feel better. I've been having some trouble with my right ankle, which I bunged up sprinting up a hill (stupid!). This week I'm sick with a cold, so I'm going to take it easy on all my runs but the long one this Thursday, when I will run 26K.

As I increase my mileage and get closer to the big 3-0, I have begun to realise the important role that mental training and stamina play in training your body to run a marathon. I am working with positive thinking and visualization--which really work--to get me through the rougher patches, when I feel like I can't go on. You might notice a decided absence of time in this post: I am running very slowly. Right now I am just focusing on successfully running a marathon without injuring myself. I will try for time with another race. And I do think I will continue to run longer distances, as I quite enjoy running all over the city with only some music and my thoughts for company.

80th Oscar Night

I just watched my first Oscars presentation in probably 10 years. Obviously, if I've let 10 years pass without motivating myself to watch, I am not a huge fan, but tonight, to slow down the production speed of my homework, I thought watching the Oscars would be fun. Now, I can safely say I am still not a very big Oscars fan. I get irritated by the one "great" movie that wins several awards--it really doesn't seem fair, I don't know half of the movies that were nominated, and the horrendously cheesy acceptence speeches make me feel physically ill, though that may have been the after-effect of eating too much raw cookie dough (It's hard to tell.) But the truth is, I didn't hate the Oscars as much as I remember having hated it. It's always fun to see the beautiful dresses, and I like seeing the stars being interviewed by Regis and crew, especially the occassional star who is incredibly clever.... oops! Forgot I was posting this and was distracted by my homework, probably for the best.