… and sorry for being out of touch. I’ve also been knitting again (and even did a PayDay run to the LYS after months away!) but the kitties have hidden my camera. The kitties have also done their best to stop me from knitting by slurping up yarn as if it were spaghetti, by the way…

When I find my camera again (or when I figure out how to download the photos from my new iPhone to my computer, whichever comes first!, I will post photos of my newest creations, for what they are worth.

In other news: I’m preparing for Hallowe’en and will certainly have to come up with a decent costume or funny post or both before that point. And on that topic, one photo to offer you from the Globe and Mail:

I’m also frustrated with our current government/s and railing against them – there is lots of talk in our province these days about profligate government waste, calls for public enquiries, etc… but that’s nothing new (neither my frustration nor the waste, sadly enough).

I end this brief post with a tribute to JJ, who says “If yer not gonnae put a photo of me, lassie, at least put somethin’ Scottish”. I observe his wish half way, as the actor depicted in the photo below is actually no’ Scottish, but English:

Cheers and see you soon!

kb

Those few readers still left will remember my glowing descriptions of my newish twins, formerly known as Fric and Frac and now known as Cleo and Patch:

So, before I make my embarrassing admission, here is a photo of Cleo:

…and here is a photo of Patch:

(And please don’t ask why the rocking chair is stocked with books.  That is just the Brouhaha way, really.)

So, what is the embarrassing admission?  Well… we thought that Cleo and Patch were both girl cats.  However, today when I took them to the vet for their first shots, I learned that Patch is, in fact, a boy.

To be fair to myself, I had questions about this issue a couple of weeks back when Patch waved (then hers/now his) backside in front of me and … ahem… well.  I spoke with JJ and JJ said “Dinna be ridiculous, they are both gerrrrrles”.  The high irony: when C & P first arrived and we thought they were both girls, JJ kept calling Patch “him”.  I kept correcting him, and he learned to say “her”.  Now he has to relearn the whole situation.  Oh well.

Funnily enough, when I look back on my past blog posts, I did identify Cleo by gender, but not Patch.  So, perhaps Patch is a boygirl.

Anyway, although the vet told me this mistake gets made all the time (and although I spoke with the person who gave us the kitties and she said she’d thought she’d given us two girls!), I still feel @@&!*@(#&*(!&@#*(@& stupid.  I suspect, however, the kitties themselves don’t worry as long as they get fed and catered to.

The problem is more in my head, really.  I have to shift from “guid girls” to “guid girl and boy” – and so does JJ.  But really, why should it matter?  The problem, really, is only in my brain.  I imagine the kitties do not have the same gender hangups as we humans do… they just live out their situation.  As should we all.

Anyway, here is my latest video of Patch being a wee bugger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFtKo8DCn0A

And here is another photo of the pair of them, just because they are so bloody cute:

I wish that everyone got along so well, really.

Happy August. 

kb

This was the first photo we could find of my grandmother (yiayia) Tessie after she died on 24 April 2009.  I’m not certain how old she was at that point, but she was 92 when she died – a ripe old age. 

Her full first name was Anastasia, but she was known as Tessie.  She was born in Brantford, Ontario in 1916 but was sent to school without speaking any English.  This must have been hard for her, especially in small-town Ontario.  

This is the first photo that we have of her whole family:

… and this might give you a sense of how she grew up.  She actually wanted more than anything to become a teacher, but in her time and day she was not allowed to go to teachers’ college by her parents.  So, she got married instead… and raised three children who all became teachers.  

Also, as a married woman, she became a leader in the Greek Community in Kingston, Ontario – not only did she help the women in her Greek-Canadian community, but many of the Greek-Canadians currently in Kingston were allowed to stay in her house, rent free, for a few months until they got on their feet.  She and her husband helped them find jobs and places in the community.  

I only really learned (or rather, only really appreciated) the full extent of Tessie’s contributions to the Greek community in my hometown after she died.  To me growing up, she was a beloved grandmother but also sometimes a pain in the @$$… I joked about her perusing all the flyers and driving all over Kingston for deals on food.   I brought high school friends over to her house to go through her cupboards and joke about the past due dates on food… (yiayia was, to be fair, a bit of a hoarder.  Probably for good past reason, but I didn’t get it then).  

As a teenager (and before call waiting and all that jazz) I was also not all that happy that she would phone and keep my mother on the line for an hour at a time – cutting off my quality time with my friends on the phone!! Her big thing when she used to call (and this was well before the days of mobile phones) was whenever someone (my mother or I) picked up the phone she would say “you’re home, eh?” LIKE… where else would we be?!?!?!  Big laughs and jokes about this phraseology in the house at the time. 

As I grew older, I started to appreciate yiayia’s qualities – especially the fact that she read the papers (Toronto and Kingston) every day and could quote you line and verse where she had read something.  This in her mid to late 80s, when she was still going to the pool to swim!  And she was still doing the daily crosswords in the paper (something which I can’t accomplish today!)

Unfortunately for us and for yiayia, she developed Alzheimers and had to leave her house for a care home – Trillium Lodge in Kingston, where she was cared for very, very well.   She lived a few comfortable years there, and now she is no longer with us.  

I don’t have any more recent photos of yiayia than the above in computer format, but if you’re interested in seeing my favourite photo, just scroll to the end of the video below.  It’s at 8 minutes 5 seconds in the video.  (The video, by the way, was made by the Robert Reid Funeral Home in Kingston ON. http://www.reidfuneralhome.com/ They selected the music.   I put into order the majority of the photos and also provided the captions).  Perhaps if you have some time, you can look at the video as well.  It is, I think, a chronicle of a live well lived).  

Na pas to kalo, yiayia! (all the best to you, grandmother!).

I read some very sad news yesterday in the Toronto Star.  Apparently the Queen …

… is in need of some money! 

(Kind of ironic given that her picture is on so much of it, no?

But, alas, already I digress.  Back to the main rant programme.)

In fact, according to the article, puir wee Lizzie had to dip into her very own bank account to the tune of $11.5 million last year. 

The $15 million provided to her and her family by the UK government to pay expenses didn’t quite cut it, apparently.

Now, this begs the question (yea, it begs a LOT of questions for me): where did the £££ in Lizzie’s wee piggy bank come from anyway? 

…the Queen took $11.5 million over the past year from her own state-funded reserve account [emphasis added]…

You guessed it – the good old taxpayer (plus probably a few hundred thousand serfs, seven or eight hundred years ago)! 

But seriously, I really should show some compassion.  I mean, if Lizzie needs to keep hitting the piggy bank at the rate of $11.5 million a year, apparently she will be out of money by 2012!  (Never mind that if I were to hit my piggy bank at the same rate, I’d be broke by… um… well, less time than it took me to type this sentence, really.)

Besides, her house…

… or, rather, her houses…

… are falling apart and need millions of dollars in work.

Hey!  That gives me an idea!  The Queen should phone up Mike Holmes!

I bet, given her dire plight, that he’d do repair work at Buckingham and Windsor Palaces for cost. 

Another fundraising idea for the Queen: apparently she spent three quarters of a million dollars this year relaunching her website.   It shouldn’t cost all that much more to stick a PayPal button up there and ask for donations!  Hell, I’d even shoot her $10 just for the pleasure of sending in that donation receipt to Revenue Canada…

Then again, maybe I wouldn’t.   I mean, take a look at some of the ways they’ve been spending their money!

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall spent £33,400 on a private jet to visit the Bushmills whiskey distillery and other engagements in Northern Ireland; the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent £14,515 to travel one way from Euston to Liverpool on the royal train – a journey that costs £74 first class when booked in advance on Virgin Trains; and Prince Andrew spent £55,269 on a one-way flight from London to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to co-chair the World Economic Forum.

I mean, really.  You’d think they could afford a couple or three cars to drive around, no?

Oh – I forgot, they’re broke. 

Heartbreaking, isn’t it?  The more I think about it, the sadder I get.  So, I’ve gone around the office and taken a collection.  However, this is all that my hard-hearted colleagues would come up with:

I guess every little bit counts.

JJ, being a proud Jimmy   wee guy from Glesga  Scot, did not wish to contribute any cash to the Lizzie Fund.  This was his reaction when I asked.

Marginally better, mind you, than his reaction to reading the article about Lizzie’s plight in the first place.  The only publically printable words I could glean were:  cold day, Hell, inbred wankers, and Sassenachs.

When he calmed down, he did, however, have a couple of useful suggestions for Lizzie:

Sell the bloody palace to that al Fayed bloke – him who bought Harrrrrrods.  Or tha’ Gates computer guy wanker in America.  Ah reckon one a them wuid snap it up in no time.  Also, did ye know that if ye catch a sturgeon in the UK the Queen has first dibs on it??  Mebbe she should just start keepin them and set up a stall at the fish market. 

(Lest you think the sturgeon crack is a bit out there… (a) it’s true; and (b) we were watching Iron Chef America: Battle Sturgeon at the time.) 

Anyway, I’m now off to consult eBay to see if I can pick up any discount tiaras   check the Landlord and Tenant Board Dockets to see if Liz Windsor or Philip Mountbatten are scheduled for eviction hearings today  do some work. 

Cheers,

Kristina

When we saw the orangey glow in our apartment just before the storm this evening, we thought that this might be the end of life as we know it.

But then, when the sky darkened and the rain started… for the second time today, we just acknowledged that we live in Canada and the climate is very, very weird.

Having said that, the humans in the household were more bothered than the kitties:

… and I’m still here to tell you the tale of the Day the Sky Went Red… so it’s all guid.

Happy Monday! (and please give a wish for us up here in Toronto that the temperature does not change up and down 10C/34F in the space of two hours. It is all very, very confusing).

Guess who this is (circa … ahem… I don’t wish to say.  Suffice it to say that I am turning 39 this year August.  Yes, I will really be 39 for the first time.  But I may stop there for a few years.  My mother, may I say, is quite peeved this year as now technically she can no longer say she is 39… heh heh). 

Yup.  Me in full Grik drag.  And let me tell you… I HATED this costume.  That would be the costume that my puir wee beleaguered grandmother in Greece probably stayed up many, many nights sewing for me.  Now that I’m a crafter, I can appreciate the effort.  Back then, I completely despised having to wear this bloody thing (including, by the way, the organ grinder monkey cap which weighed at least 3 pounds… no word of a lie) in June every year at the $&#(@$*&(#*$@#& Folklore festival… AND dance in it.  

I would have traded it in a heartbeat for a Brownie or Girl Guide uniform.  Alas, when you were Grik-Canajan in Kingston in the 1970s    1980s well I can’t really get away with being 10 and under in the 1980s anymore, can I?   1970s, you were not allowed to go to Brownies or Girl Guides.  There was some law about it, I think.  Or rather, we had to spend what seemed like every *($*)#@($*)@#($ night at GREEK SCHOOL.  

But now that I see the costume again, 30  ahem, many years later… it actually looks kinda cute.  

The fake-o wood panelling behind me… now, that’s another story.  I guess I managed to give away my age just through that image alone!!!

Happy weekend!

kb

Introducing: Cleo and Patch (aka. Patra)!

Patch is the bolder one standing to the left.  Cleo is the lazier calmer one lying to the right… I’m told that the calmness (in addition to her propensity to jumping to the highest heights in the apartment) mean that she is the boss.

And no, despite the fact that we have named them, they haven’t been baptised, despite my best efforts…

Funny… I thought they’d rather like Father Grackle’s vestments.  They certainly seemed to like them enough last night when the vestments were prized from some hidden corner and left on top of JJs shoes for nuzzling purposes!

In fact, despite the fact that we have purchased every cat toy known to… ahem.. catkind… they prefer old human favourites for play.  For example:  God(dess) bless IKEA…

… or, if it’s too heavy to hang on your wall, don’t worry – you haven’t wasted $19.99.  Just put it on the floor for the cats instead.  Hours (and hours, and hours) of amusement.

But if $19.99 seems too steep, here is another kitty favourite:

Ye Olde Paper Bagge.  A very fun toy for kitties, apparently.  As was this variation which was left on the floor somewhere in the house inadvertently…

The “green” grocery store bag.  You know, the one that they sell you for 99 cents now that the City of Toronto has told them to start taxing us 5 cents for plastic bags.  I have about 5 million of these bags as I keep forgetting to take them to the store.  Now that the new tax has kicked in, I’ve been made to feel like a criminal asking for plastic bags.  Hello?!?!  I’m PAYING for it.  But I digress.  The kitties love this bag and in fact fight for dominance over it:

They also seem to love these knitted items:

(And no, they didn’t destroy this rug.  I did so myself by freaking out and putting a hot saucepan on it some time back)…and this one:

(my Liquorice Allsorts sweater.  It never fit properly, so I felted it.  At that time, I thought it would make a funky handbag.  However, Cleo and Patch have now claimed it as their own.).

They have been very busy exploring, and have even found a separate level on our dining room table that we had forgotten existed:

They have also been sunning themselves out on our patio:

… and enjoying the hell out of another blankie of mine:

In fact, they have inspired me to start knitting again!  And no, no, no, not cute little outfits.  Just cute little blankies:

This one was made from some Fleece Artist acrylic blend I had left over.  Funky shape, eh?  I wish I had a photo of one of the kitties on it, but they were too busy celebrating by themselves when I brought it out…

So, I’ve started another blankie, given their excitement level:

This one is, again, courtesy of Fleece Artist – their “Curlylocks” blend.  I think that the above will be for Patch, who very much appreciates fuzziness.  So that Cleo does not feel left out, I’ve started her a sleeker Twilley denim log cabin:

And, just in case you wondered whether I’ve become so obsessed with the kitties that I’ve given up everything else – fear not. I’ve also been canning!

I saw an interesting and easy recipe for barbecue sauce the other evening on “Chuck’s Night Off”. Chuck is a very endearing french-canadian chef who has a show on the Food Network up here. He offered up the following very simple recipe for BBQ sauce: 1 cup each of apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and ketchup. I of course had to add a few things… and also to can some of it because there is no way that JJ and I can polish off 2 litres of BBQ sauce in the near future.

So, how am I, you ask?  Well, I’ve had a couple of days off work now… going back on Thursday.  In the meantime, I’ve been doing a LOT of this:

Happy summer!!!

PS. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments. I will be in touch personally in due course.

Hi all five readers or so who are patiently waiting for updates:

My apologies for not posting for so long.  I’ve been a bit out of the mood.  One of the reasons: I was (apparently) expecting!

So, allow my to introduce our new twins:  Fric and Frac.

I apologise for the photo quality.  F&F arrived here this morning, and immediately took up residence underneath the TV cabinet.  They have only emerged since to check out some salmon flakes that I was trying to offer… after about 10 minutes they deigned to lick them off my finger, then disappeared again.

JJ and I are hoping that they will emerge shortly if only so that I can actually see what colour they are, properly.  You see, bad mother me, I was at work this morning when they arrived. Because of that, when they did arrive they headed immediately behind the fridge, and then underneath the TV cabinet, where they have been residing since.

But guid mother me, there is no shortage of food in the house for them!

Here is a photo of Fric:

…and a photo of Frac:

Worry not, this is not going to turn into some daily update blog on the status of Fric and Frac.

I should note here that Fric and Frac will not be the real names of these kittens.  Rather, they are placeholder names in the long Grik tradition of not naming babies until they are baptised.  Seriously.  Many Griks refer to their new human offspring as “bebi” or “beba” until the priest dunks them into that cold, cold water in the baptismal font.

JJ is now glaring at me, perhaps deciding what I have been writing, and perhaps trying to remind me that these kitties are half Grik and half Scots).

In actual fact, we have not decided on names yet.  JJ rather sensibly suggested that we should meet and see the kitties first before deciding on names.  I begged to differ… I’ve had many, many ideas since we decided to get these kitties, as you can imagine.  Fric and Frac was the first idea.  I’ve settled on one name, Cleo, and JJ gets to pick the other.  (My mother, by the way, suggested “Cleo” and “Patra” when we were visiting her this past weekend.  JJ rolled his eyes and said to himself “Och aye, not another crrrrrazy perrrson!)  But I digress.

Anyway, I think that F&F, despite being puir wee nameless souls at present, are actually owed a little announcement.  So, here’s my stab at it:

Brouhaha and JJ proudly announce their new arrivals!!! Two little twin girls!!!

Names:  TBD

Age: approx. 9 weeks

Weight: n/a – but estimate 9 oz for Fric and 10 oz for Frac

Fingers and toes: n/a – but paws and claws appear to be all there.  Teeth have come in as well.  My, aren’t they talented???

Voices: quite loud and plaintive at present, especially when JJ turns the TV channel to “The Dog Whisperer”.  Right now there is a Scottish program on TV and they seem to have settled down, though.  A guid sign.

Proud grandparent: [mother of Brouhaha who shall remain nameless]

Proud aunt: Mipou II (cat daughter of mother of Brouhaha who shall remain nameless)

Oh, and for those knitters out there… yes, I have hidden all the yarn.  I haven’t been knitting all that much lately as you might have gathered, but I still had to gather errant pieces of stash and throw them into a cupboard put them away safely.  I have probably, however, defeated my own purpose in keeping any future knitting safe by acquiring this toy:

If you know me, you’ll know that I couldn’t resist it.  Explanation, not excuse.

Anyway, please do wish us all well.  I was concerned that the new arrivals would not get on so well with other denizens of our household…

… but now that they’re on top of the BILLI bookshelf, I reckon they’re safe for another couple of months at least.

Cheers,

Brouhaha and Company

Now, I’m a pretty smart person, and fairly good with using words, wouldn’t you say?

So, why is it that I cannot come close to finishing a cryptic crossword, even with cheating??? (More about how to cheat on cryptic crosswords later this week. However, don’t lie awake waiting for that update even if you’re as obsessed as I am, because I’m here to tell you that cheaters don’t prosper. Sigh).

I have just spent an entire evening solving perhaps 12 clues total in the past two weeks of Globe and Mail cryptics. You can see the results of my hair-ripping here:

Kidding, actually. Instead, I just had a visit to Telly the Barber (my new favourite – I only have to go once every six months!). I gave up on hairstylists a long time ago (and wouldn’t you, if you had ridiculously fine and ridiculously curly hair?)

Instead, I just go to the barber and say “Cut it off – cut it all off.” And, as you can see from the newly-short photo above, even this doesn’t get rid of the stubborn curl. I blame my parents, really… given that this is how I came into the world:

See that piece of hair sticking up? I was doomed from the womb, really. And by the way, all of you straight-haired gods and goddesses out there who say “I wish I had curly hair…”??? No, you don’t.  You are far, far better off with that straight floppy/glossy/wonderful hair than with little errant bits going all over the place.  I have tried every overpriced hair product known to personkind and also some way too high-priced hairdressers to help me with my little problem… to no avail.

Which is why I now just go once every six months – whether I need it or not – to the barber and say “cut it all off”.  He (because I have yet to meet a female barber, or indeed a male barber without a heavy and familiar access) always says “are you sure/what are you doing here/etc.”.  In fact today I was wearing my pink puffy coat when I hit the barber shop and they tried to pass me over because they assumed I was waiting for my boyfriend!

The other thing I like about going to the barber: I don’t have to engage in idle chit-chat.  20 minutes in and out of the chair… we pass some pleasantries, but I don’t need to be freaked out about “abandoning” the barber if I decide to go to another barber the next time.  This contrasts with what I have heard from some friends about not liking their hairdresser anymore, but not wanting to “betray” the hairdresser by going elsewhere.  It’s a haircut, not a relationship!

Well, enough about my new ‘do.  I may bore you with it again in weeks to come because, for the first time in many, many years, my hair is now its full natural colour.  This is not a problem from the front, but there is some weird patchy grey activity at the back.  I don’t mind going grey – I just would have liked it to be that nice salt-and-pepper look.  It isn’t.  It’s actually a “sick, tired and undernourished skunk” look.  So, it will be disappearing as soon as I get my act together and spend an hour to stick that $10 L’Oreal haircolour kit onto my head.

So, now that I’ve bored you completely, let me prove to you that I am still, in fact, knitting.  I’ve almost completed a sweater by Norah Gaughan:

I know, I know – it doesn’t look like much right now. I am convinced that it will look completely fabulous once it is done – although I am suffering the dreaded “second sleeve syndrome” right now. I am actually enjoying working on this but just about the time I was ready to start the second sleeve I managed to burn my right index finger while making sponge toffee for JJ. This put paid to knitting for a week or so. I’m hoping that the sweater will be done while I can still wear it this season… please send me guid vibes!

More later regarding my cryptic dilemmas.  For now, if you want to see how I entertain myself during the Canadian winter, go to this website: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/advanced.html, put your name in and see what anagrams you come up with.  I figure that one of mine will be the title for my autobiography when I ever get around to writing it.Heh heh.

Cheers,

Kristina

Well, it shouldn’t be unlucky – at least not according to this guy:

This, by the way, is my great-uncle Spiro. And he believes the unlucky day is actually TUESDAY the 13th.  Oh, but the old skool griks also believe that 13 is a lucky number – or so I’m told by http://www.greekspider.com:

Tuesday is considered the unluckiest day during the week for the Greek people. It was on this day on Tuesday May 29th 1453 that the unimaginable happened and the city of Constantinople fell to the Osman Tribe, the “Ottoman Turks”.

It is often said that businesses that open on this day have a black mark against them, and many Greeks who believe in this superstition will not venture into a new business on a Tuesday.

The number 13 is considered lucky by Greeks in the setting when it stands alone as can be seen from the previous weeks writing, see The Number 13.

However, when Tuesday and 13 are placed together they are considered unlucky in the Greek culture. So Greeks will watch out for Tuesday the 13th not Friday the 13th. It is the combination of the date “Tuesday” with the number “Thirteen” that is considered very unlucky to the Greek people.

Damned griks. Nothing is straightforward with them!

Happy 13th!

I know, I know – it’s been a very, very long hiatus this time. And after all this time away, I only have two – well, three, really – words for you:

It’s ()*()#$*@#()$*#()@ cold!!!!!!

And I mean, really $#)(*@)(!*@)( cold.  Something like minus 27,010 degrees C (or minus 40,897 degrees F – plus or minus 10,000 negative degrees or so). 

So )(*$)#(%)#$(%* cold, in fact, that I’ve had to resort to this sort of gear – in the apartment!

Even puir wee JJ, he of hardy Viking stock and all (or so he has led me to believe, although every time I ask him for written proof he tells me that the bloody English burned it all about 300 years ago!), is feeling a chill:

(And WordPress is apparently feeling the pain – as these photos appear to be frozen to the left side of the screen.)

“So what’s the big deal?” I imagine you’re all thinking by this point.  “She’s been too lazy to post for a month or so, and all she can whine about now is ‘It’s so cold… and it’s January!’  WAH.  Someone should remind her that she lives in CANADA for ()*)%#)($*)@#(’s sake!!!  What is it with these Canajans, always moaning about the weather?!?”

Well, welcome to my increasingly irritating world.  Because, dear readers, last night what do you think the top stories were on the evening news?  Curious?  No?  Well, I’m going to tell you anyway:

1.   It’s cold.

2.  It’s going to get colder.

3.  I mean, it’s going to be REALLY cold tomorrow.

4.  Don’t forget about that windchill effect – which makes it feel as though it’s even colder.

5.  Don’t forget your gloves, because it’s going to be SO cold that your fingers could start freezing off in 15 minutes (I am NOT making this up, by the way).

And so on, and so forth.  I thought I had actually turned on the Weather Network by accident, until around 20 minutes in they mentioned something about that guy Obama south of the border … ah, so there really IS some news going on?  Oh, wait – that’s not actually going to be news until next Tuesday.

(I also had flashbacks to public school days where we were forced to read books like “Call of the North” and learn that if you spit in the air at 50 below zero Fahrenheit, it freezes.  Funnily enough, this is some of the only information from those halcyon days that seem to stick in my brain – I wish that I could remember arithmetic classes instead, really.)

Am I the only one who is driven crazy by the evening news?  Or am I just frostbitten between the ears?

Anyway, it’s all enough to drive someone to…

So, what have I been doing with myself anyway?  Well, one of these days when I manage to get the batteries for my camera charged, I will come back and show you.

In the meantime, I leave you with the following:

1.  Stay warm!; and

2.  Did you know that for only $3.29 per day (or less than the price of a mocha soy chai latte at The Evil Coffee Multiconglomerate Which Shall Remain Nameless), you, too, can sponsor a puir wee snowbound duckie?

Send your cash or certified funds to Brouhaha today – for January and February to start, please.  You’ll have to do the math.  I trust you.).  For more information – well, you know where to find me – somewhere in front of a space heater in Toronto.

Happy Wednesday!

Q:  What do you get when you combine “that time of the month” with PayDay, and factor in a recent $$$-hemorrhaging move plus the holiday season fast approaching?

A:  A food spending orgy.  At least if you’re Brouhaha!

I blame this man, really.

I picked up his book last week while on a pre-PayDay mini-bender.   If you don’t have a general resource cookbook that you find useful, buy this one.  He has EVERYTHING in this book.  
“Everything” includes a recipe for no-knead bread (which I first learned about from Chef Michael Smith).  I started it last night, and by this morning when I went to work it looked like this:

However, it turns out that to make this bread in the best possible way, one requires covered pans (something like a Dutch oven).  Now, even though I have a Dutch over, I decided that today I needed some fancy yuppie-style ones, so headed over to Winners on the morning smoke break. 

And I scored!!!!

Le Creuset and all… for a third of the price.  Man, I’ve achieved true yuppiedom now (even though I’m not really all that “y” anymore.  Sigh.) 

Not just one… but two!!!

I thought photographing it on this table with the matching can of Pledge was a nice touch.  Plus, it might make you think that we’re actually doing some cleaning around here.  Heh heh. 

And, just in case you doubted the real credentials of this pot:

And – I bought some (almost) matching silicone oven gloves!

But even all this bread-baking orgy was not enough for me on this Day of the Month Days, as I decided when I had to run over to the grocery store for tampons and milk.  And only tampons and milk, mind you. 

Until I saw some other baking ingredients, of course, and then decided that I just had to try to make a yeasted coffee cake from Mr. Bittman’s magnus opus.    Here it is in progress:

I must warn that I’m sure this is doomed to fail.  Why?

(a) I can’t bake.  I’ve never had any luck working with yeast. 

(b) I think I broke my food processor mixing the dough for this.  Smoke coming out the back of it is not a guid sign, right?  

(c) I’m fooling around with the recipe, which probably isn’t the swiftest idea given that I haven’t the slightest idea about how to deal with yeast. 

Oh well. If I don’t post here tomorrow, you know the whole thing went over the balcony.  

In the meantime, I did have some baking success already this evening with dinner: chicken pot pie!

Looks lovely, no?  

Alas, I can’t tell a lie.  I did not make the pastry. However, I did an over-the-top thing – combining pie crust and puff pastry in the same recipe!

And it was GUID. 

For dessert?  Did I mention that I now live about 100 metres away from a Dairy Queen?  And that they have a 1/2 price cake sale for the month of December?

Well, I think that’s enough of a food orgy for the time being.  Time to go grab a beer. 

Happy 15th of December!

kb

PS.  Oh, let’s not mention my other food acquisitions today… 

WARNING/ATTENTION: there will be some political content in this post. I know, I know… it’s been a long time. However, the media here in Canada keep telling us there is a political crisis…and if you stick around you might find something of interest in the post…)

An open letter to all Canadian federal non-Conservative politicians: that is, the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois and most especially the Liberals:

Get it together, people.

First of all, you try to overthrow the government that was elected not even two months ago. And believe me, I’m not a big fan of that situation.

So, you come up with this coalition thing. The Liberals and the New Democrats got together, got the support of the BQ, and were making a guid effort to overthrow a government just recently re-elected. Hats off to you.

Until, that is, it came time for the Prime Minister to address the nation on this the other night. He showed up on time. He spoke. He didn’t say much, but it wasn’t contested.

Why not??? Because this guy, the Leader of the Opposition, didn’t make his appointment for the media address:

Wow, Stephane… the one place you had to show up on time, and you didn’t!!

But why was that? My thoughts… because these two guys, who are fighting for Mr. Dion’s job…

…oh, I’m not allowed probably to say what I think. Suffice it to say they made sure Mr. Dion didn’t show to address the nation.

So now our Prime Minister has had Parliament suspended until January 2009. This in a time of supposed economic crisis, mind you.

Meanwhile, the two guys above, (right) Mr. Michael “I lived outside Canada for 28 years and am a publically known intellectual” Ignatieff and Mr. Bob “I was the socialist Premier of the Province of Ontario who opened the door to the arch-conservatives, and then became a Liberal because NDP wasn’t where it was at” Rae have found some big long knives and are using them to vie for the next Prime Minesterial position, without an election.

Confused? So am I. I actually like the idea of a coalition overthrowing the Harper Conservatives, and it could work… if the Liberals could actually figure out who is supposed to be in charge.

So, Coalition people, just know: THE DUCKIES ARE WATCHING!!!!

And, by the way, this situation has taken its toll on the Matriarch of my wee duckie family. Remember Daisy?

She was the silver one to the left of the yellow vase. The silver variety of duck, I should let you know, is among the most rare and prized.

Well, in the stress of all of this, she has clearly turned yellow, as you can see when you look at her sitting next to the yellow vase in the photo above.  Here is a new photo of her…

She appears to have lost some weight as well.

She is faring OK health-wise, just in case you were worried… but only through some serious nurturing and caregiving from her silver-haired colleague and mentor:

So, all this to say, fair politicians: you guys are hurting real live Canadians with all of this nonsense.  Get your house in order.  I have, although I’m not willing to show you any photos yet. 

Yours very truly, 

Kristina

Barrister, Solicitor, Big Mouth, etc. and so on and so forth, B.A., LL.B , B.la B.la B.la

I went looking for JJ this afternoon, but he had disappeared.  I guess he was stressed out from the move, which lasted 10 plus hours.  And which, more importantly, cost… ahem… well, slightly less than one month’s rent at the last place).

Actually, JJ hadn’t really disappeared, but this is what he looked like when I found him:

Puir wee JJ.

And who could blame him for retreating?  This is what the second bedroom (a.k.a the stash room) looked like just after the move:

And, I should clarify that these are not all stash.  I wish.  Instead, quite a bit of our furniture was buried under the pile, including JJ’s favourite side table on which he likes to station his whiskey glass.

JJ also had to put up with my very bad mood last night.  You see, I had to deal with the following crises in addition to the rest of the moving grief:

(a) in an extreme moment of weakness, allowing myself to get conned by hearing the (Rogers) cable guy tell me that he couldn’t hook up the cable, then telephoning three different people, all of whom had a different response (and Daphne from Rogers, if you’re reading this, you were by far the most helpful);

(b) deciding not to smoke in my new home – and then wanting nothing more than several cigarettes in front of the television which was not #(@*&#($*!&@#(!* working.  So, instead, I got to traipse out to the balcony in sub-zero weather… and here was the view:

The highway!

And actually, that’s not being honest.  It’s actually quite a lovely view during the daytime, and probably more so if you’re not sitting there saying “Why, oh why, don’t I just smoke inside?  I can’t smoke inside anywhere anymore! The last place I could smoke inside was in my house, and now I can’t even do that… wah wah wah and bla bla bla”.

But back to the main story.  I was very worried that JJ had turned into a gargoyle, so I invoked the powers of Marina:

You can’t see it in this lame photo, but she is actually gazing upon the gargoyle.

While this was happening, I went up to the Sobeys grocery store – less than a five minute walk! how exciting – and when I came back, this is what I found:

Hey!  Is this what we crossed the river for?!?!?!

Anyway, I was glad to have my JJ back… and he has spent the day washing the 1,234 dishes, glasses, etc that we didn’t quite realise we had until we moved.

When I locate my stash and my current project, I’ll be back with more information.  And maybe even some daytime photos of my new place… and maybe even, in a week or two, my brand new log cabin!

I hope all is well with you and yours.

Regards,

kb

Posted in Uncategorized

… but please don’t think this means that you get any wonderful photos. In fact, what it means is that you get to see some bizarre photos from the past month or so.

This is JJ’s new computer which I bought him about a month ago

This photo is the computer surronder by the detritus of moving.  However, here is an action photo taken about a month ago:

Now – JJ still says he can’t use the computer.  But he looks OK there, no??? Any takers as to how to how to teach him to use the computer?

And here is a duckie photo.. just before the duckie in question was packed!

This is the cold callous mother of the duckie modelling JJ’s stetson from his work as a Commissionaire:

(In actual fact, since I located this hat, I haven’t really taken it off.  I like the way it fits me.  I asked JJ to model for a photo with it, but he refused.  I’ll have to dig one up and post it!)

I should note that I did locate the Hallowe’en photos as well, but they are all sideways – I also have a disc at work with some of me so I will have to do a belated Hallowe’en post.

And finally, a photo taken this evening just before I sat down to write this.  I’d like to think of this photo as the end of an era at the Valleyview… but I suspect that it won’t look too different to other photos I’ve taken inside my place.  Just realise that I have taken this photo just before the movers arrive tomorrow…

…and below is the stash room…

The stash is there… but well hidden.

And I know I said “Finally…” but here is one last photo of JJ in our old place:

I would have taunted you all with a photo of my log cabin, but it too is packed.  Plus, WordPress just screwed me when I tried to post a new photo.  So, hey.  Stay tuned…  

kb

I know, I know, I know… I’ve been very remiss about posting. My apologies.

My further apologies for what will be a very boring post indeed, as I have either packed or thrown out the little connector cord for my digital camera. SIGH.

Anyway, I have several explanations (NOT excuses) for my blogging delinquency:

(a) I’m stressing about becoming an ex-tenant as at 2 December. I know that this is weird, given that I spend my work life fighting landlords. But being a “tenant” has become an identity for me which is actually hard to give up for some reason. Hmm.

(b) Because of all the #%$*(@(#*$&(#@*$&@#* landlords out there trying to screw tenants, my work life has erupted. It’s good, but it’s busy busy busy.

(c) Did I mention that we’re moving? The decluttering effort alone has taken weeks. Now we’re into the packing bit. Mind you, despite JJs strong hints (“D’ye really NEED all that yarn, lassie”), my most prized collection is more or less intact and packed.

(d) The duckie family is really stressed about the upcoming move, and I don’t have the parental skills to console them.  In fact, I’m sure I’ve made it worse by separating them during a binge packing session last weekend.  I could show you some startling photos of forlorn and bereft baby duckies, but guess what – I lost my camera cord!  Coincidence…???

(e) I’ve been busy trying to finish my log cabin blankie because my mother expects us to set up the second bedroom in the new place as what she calls a “pethara suite” (“pethara” meaning “mother-in-law” in Greek).  I reckon that when she comes to visit us at Christmas and is faced with the same old cheapo blow-up bed and a cheapo cotton knitted bedspread, she’ll decide that it’s not a good idea to come live with us after all.

Anyway, the blankie is almost finished, and at present measures 4 1/2″ by 5 1/2″.  I look forward to posting photos when I manage to locate my $#*&($#*($&#($&@# camera cord.  And at that point, you can also look forward to Hallowe’en photos and so forth.  Yes, I’ve been delinquent.

If anyone is still checking into this blog, kindly send some good vibes for the condo closing (which takes place officially tomorrow.)  Today we had to go and hand over a ridiculous amount of $$$ to a lawyer, who had us sign about a million pieces of paper and then told us “oh, I’ve got the keys here [dangle dangle], but you can’t get them until tomorrow when the bank has sent over the rest of the money”.   $&#*($&@(*#$* lawyers!!!!!

Anyway, thanks – and I will be back with more pictures than you will care to look at once I’m settled in and locate my camera cord.

The subject line is a bit high-falutin’, really.

All I really wanted to say is that I did a bit of public knitting for the first time in a long time.  I was at a Toronto legal clinic conference for a couple of days, and it was a cool bunch of people so I thought they wouldn’t be thrown off too much by the knitting.

Au contraire.  In fact, I met a whole group of conference knitters (from one clinic in particular… in fact, I was asked why I didn’t work at their clinic!)

And, I made a lot of progress on my log cabin blankie project:

What I managed to do over the two days: finish the green, add the dark brown on the right side, and start the blue.

I managed also to make everyone jealous at the conference, because the meeting rooms were (very) cold but I was knitting and covering myself with a blanket while knitting.  I assure you all that this wasn’t planned… but it did work out very well.

I also managed (inadvertently) to inspire some envy regarding my very cool Ecco boots (a gift from my mother, who works at Ecco Shoes in Kingston, Ontario).

I got to wear both boots at the conference today, which to be honest felt more like wearing slippers – that’s how comfortable they are:

Wish me luck with the log cabin: I’m not quite sure about the colour choices yet.  I do hope that they meld a bit better.  It has been suggested to me that the brown/orange combo was a tad too reminiscent of the A&W Root Beer Bear:

…which is quite funny as I can’t remember the last time I ate at A&W.  To give you a tip, it was when they still had drive-in restaurants (and now I’m dating myself).

However, I’m hopeful that this blankie will still work out.  And I managed a good chunk of it during this conference, for which I am grateful.

Happy Friday and a fabulous weekend to you all!

Well, JJ got very perturbed at the fact that I have started foodie content on the blog without consulting him.

And JJ, when he gets perturbed, is a fearful character indeed…

So, I’m forced to reproduce his brand new sandwich recipe here.  However, despite my telling him that he needs a catchy sandwich title in order to capture the interest of the Food Network, he didn’t want to play.  I warned him that if he left me to my own naming devices, he might be in some trouble, but – more fool him – he trusts me.

So, here is the bored Scottish pensioner See You Jimmy Sandwich (drumroll and bagpipe whine, please).

1.  Take a fresh Scottish bap and cut it in half.

(No, we don’t usually store them on the oven burners.  And for those who have never seen a bap, it is simply a soft roll with flour brushed on top.  Use any bun or bread, but don’t tell JJ I said so, eh?).

I’m also not including instructions for cutting the bap/bun/other bread in half.  I reckon you’ve got that covered already.

2.  Slice some old cheddar cheese.

You know what the lovely part of this is?  Don’t bother buying the expensive cheese, especially if you live near a Loblaws. Try your no-name old cheddar instead.  I’m a bit of a cheese snob, but this one is better than that other Ag-ed brand that starts with “B” and costs twice as much.  Really.

3.  Slice some leftover ham.

Yeah, yeah, I know – that photo doesn’t look so fabulous on the burner.  But it was guid, really.  This was the rest of the Thanksgiving ham that my mommy made us.  JJ says that in a stretch, you can go with Black Forest ham or even that plain old cooked ham.

4.  Spread some of this liberally on the bap, on both sides.

What is this, exactly?  It is Greek sour cherry preserve.  I came back from the Greek deli with this last week all excited, and told JJ “what you do is put a spoonful of this in ice water, let it sit, eat it and then drink the water which is then flavoured with the sour cherry”.  He looked at me and said “Lassie, why wuid ah dew that if ah have whisky in the hoose???”.

But apparently he got all excited about it today and decided to use it as a sandwich spread.

5.  Layer the sliced cheese and ham on top, and eat.

That’s it.  Now, luckily this delicacy was made and consumed while I was still at work.  I must confess that I’m not in a hurry to try it.  However, it is imaginative and perhaps we can actually sell the concept.

And if we do, we’ll be millionaires, I suppose.  Goddess alone knows I’m not getting all that far with my endeavours!

So, where did the name come from for the sandwich?  From this guy:

Who is he?? A marker of the guy in Glasgow who was told “See you Jimmy…” (but not in a guid way… something like “See you Jimmy… yer gettin a kick up the arse”.  “Jimmy” is used as a generic name in Scotland, much like “buddy” in the US or “guy” here in Canada – or so ah’m telt.

In this regard, they sell “Jimmy bonnets” as joke gifts both in Scotland and here.

Hmm… now I’m hungry… mebbe ah’ll jest try one a them Jimmy sandwiches now!

Ahem… well, mebbe not.  But if you do try one, let me know how you found it!

Cheers,

Kristina

This is my plate of makarOnia me kaftO vOUtiro that I made last night.  Well, I must confess… I didn’t eat the entire plate.  And, I had to make a separate version for JJ, but more about that later. 

All this to say – this is, in my estimation, the best “less than 30 minute” recipe that one can have in their arsenal.  So, I’d like to share it with you.  I don’t want to turn you off, but the Greek literal translation is “macaroni with burnt butter”.  However, read on… if you like butter and cheese, you’ll love this.   And it’s quick and cheap. 

Instructions

1.  Get out your favourite Greek cooking beverage before you start, as you might get thirsty.  Here are my recommendations: 

Lux orangeade and/or Lux sour cherry pop.  However, you can divert from this instruction and pick your own beverage, such as this one:

2.  Put on a large pot to boil water for pasta, then find your pasta:

(Note: you don’t need this yuppified pasta to make the recipe with success.  However, as much as I rail against consumerism, I do love my Italian pasta.  This one is called “spaghetti alla chitarra”, meaning “spaghetti guitar-style” – meaning that it was double length spaghetti and was bent in the bottom of the package.  I, of course, broke it in half.  Go figure.)

For this purpose, use 250g (just under 8 oz) for two people or 500 g (just over a pound) for four. 

3.  When you have put your pasta in the boiling water (with lots of salt, and without any oil – you don’t need oil in the boiling water as long as you give the pasta a good stir while it is still boiling), get out 1/2 pound of butter (or 1/4 pound if you are making the recipe for two people). 

You can use either salted or unsalted butter – but if you’re not a salt addict like me, think about buying the unsalted.

Put the butter in a heavy saucepan as you see above, on low.   

4.  Grate some cheese to put on the pasta. 

You can use any grating cheese for this, to your taste – parmesan, romano, etc.  However, if you want to be authentically Greek, try to get your hands on some dry mizithra.

You can find this at most Greek stores, and I imagine you could find something similar at any Middle Eastern shop.  It is a dry version of ricotta cheese made with sheep’s milk.  The closest easily available equivalent is romano cheese, but romano is a bit more tangy tasting.  Still guid, though. 

Anyway, grate up a bunch of your cheese – this is about the right amount:

Let’s say 120 g/4 oz worth. 

5.  By the time you’ve grated your cheese, the butter should be getting along.  It takes about 10 minutes over low heat to get to the “burnt” stage.  First, it will start foaming and look like this:

Then, it will start even more foam and look something like this.

Don’t get scared – let it foam.  It needs to start looking something like this in order to be ready:

When you see the browned bits start to appear at the top with heavy foam, take it off the heat. 

6.  Drain your pasta (which, by now, has cooked).  Put a bunch of the cheese on the bottom of a big serving plate.  Grate some nutmeg over it:

…not very much, four or five gratings worth will do.  Put some of your hot pasta over all of that. Repeat cheese/nutmeg/pasta until you’ve run out. 

7.  Pour over all of the brown butter, mix a bit and serve.  Make sure you have some of this on the side, though:

Easy as pie!!!

Except, of course, that JJ had to complicate my recipe because today one of his girlfriends on the Food Network did spaghetti with burnt butter and a twist:

That recipe also included this:

… and this was the end result:

Not too bad either, if you can ignore the baguette buttered with margarine on the side (this being a very odd household, I bring in butter as needed and typically only for burnt butter spaghetti!)

The recipe for the variation: 

- 4 T burned butter, as above. 

- 1 heaping T balsamic vinegar. 

- parmesan cheese to taste. 

It was also quite lovely, I must admit.  However, being Greek, only the original spaghetti with burnt butter recipe will do. 

Anyway, try either of the recipes.  You won’t regret it.  I’ve put many people here onto the Greek burnt butter one and they have cursed me afterward because they are now eating too much.  Always a good sign for a little Greek Canajan like me!

Happy weekend!

Yes, yes – I know, I know.  The last time I was here, I said that I was in the midst of stashbusting.

However, this morning the gloom of the grey sky and the fallen dead leaves…

… plus the completely foreseen (but no less crippling) bad mood engendered by Tuesday’s election results…

…led me and my iron will (HA!) regarding PayDay purchases astray.

It all started off rather innocently.  In light of my stashbusting goal – which involves the winding of approximately 5 kilometres of Super 10 cotton yarn – and a recalcitrant JJ (“Who do ah sue if ah get that carpal tunnel thingy from doing all these yarn balls??? Eh??? Eh???”), I decided to break down and buy a ball winder and swift.

A very economical purchase, really, considering all of the labour costs (which, at present Legal Aid lawyer rates, comes out to approximately… er, never mind.  And which, at JJ rates, led to too many whisky empties!) I will save.

Or would have saved, had I not come across this at Romni, where I bought the ball winder, at the same time:

This is brand new laceweight stuff!  It’s called One of a Kind (indeed!) and made right here in Canada.  The price, at $7.95 for a 600 yard skein, was actually quite reasonable (it’s a wool/angora/nylon blend).

Plus, the colourway is called Kaleidoscope.  How could I resist, really?

When I got back to the office after this little lunchtime foray, imagine my surprise to find this waiting for me!

This is the latest instalment in the Year of Lace 2008 club series which – horrors! – I had forgotten was on its way.  And Handmaiden cashmere to boot!  I must say the colourway is not one that falls within my preferred range, but I’m sure I’ll find someone who would like a shawl made with it.

I also rediscovered this lovely yarn that fellow blogger extraordinaire Clarabelle had winged my way from the UK back in the summer… (please do not think me ungrateful, C. – I had left it in my office to show everyone and it ended up as a decoration in my new office):

Now, one would think that all this largesse would have kept my @$$ in the tram seat on the way home instead of popping off to hit Lettuce Knit (notionally, in search of a swift).  But no.

Why, oh why, Handmaiden, did you have to come out with silver Sea Silk yarn?!?!?

Sigh.

After all of this, of course, my former past true love Super10 looks…er, rather dull.  But here is an in-progress shot of the Election 2008 Log Cabin quilt:

My goal: to finish it off before the US elections.  Given that the finished size should be 60″ x 50″ or so, I may well have bitten off more than I can chew.  Nothing changes, eh?

Well, off to make dinner… the easiest Greek pasta recipe ever.  Stay tuned!