While I was away late January/first 2 weeks of February, I got a message from my co-host Donna asking if I had a copy of that old classic: The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, that she could borrow. I knew I had bought a copy once upon a time (as part of my longstanding yearning for creating a Hippy Dream FantasyLife (HDFL)* but I couldn’t remember if it had made the cut when I was packing to move to Vancouver Island or not. Well, when I got back home I went straight to the living room book case and yep, there it was! (Of course it had made the cut, being integral – in my mind – to the HDFL! 😁)
By this time, Donna was able to source the cookbook from another friend so it was no longer needed but I decided to flip through it anyways, just for old time’s sake. I couldn’t for the life of me remember a single recipe I had actually cooked out of this book and I couldn’t find any of my scribblings on any of the recipe pages either. Huh? This must be corrected!
Based on my inscription on the inside cover, I bought this book in 1994. That sounds about right as at that time I was mentally struggling to fit into managerial life and its values (a lot of which clashed with my own), hence the HDFL.
I found a recipe that sounded good and – after asking Donna if it was OK that I cooked out of the same cookbook as she had done (it was) and checking that I had all most of the ingredients – I set to work!
Apricots and almonds together? Yes please! Something sweet but not too? Also, yes please!First step: cooking and cooling the apricot mixture. Still no backsplash…sigh. But I did contract Home Depot to just get the damn job done once I came back home. Now I wait…Wet and dry ingredientsOrange peel, ready to go into the batterLoaf ready to go into the oven. Already looking and smelling good!Eating the peeled orange while I impatiently wait for the loaf to bake. It was delicious.
I decided to check on the loaf at the 1 hour mark, because 90 minutes seemed like an awfully long time at 350 degrees. I was very glad I did. Sorry Molly, but I think something must have been wrong with your oven when you made this.
Completely done at 1 hour. Next time I will check at 50 minutes.Exactly as promised: sweet but not too. This recipe is a keeper!There! Now I have marked up this recipe (and the book) as mine, officially! Thank you, Donna! You get the blame credit for this.
Changes I made to this recipe: I used gluten-free flour, so my daughter could enjoy it as well. I only had slivered almonds in-house, and not enough, so I improvised by completing the almond quotient with some almond meal. As noted, I cut the baking time down to 1 hour.
So, what’s on your plate this month? Have you ever revisited an old cookbook and wondered why you haven’t actually cooked out of it, or cooked MORE out of it? Please join myself and Donna in this month’s challenge and let us know in the Comments or the Link Party, below.
*Hippy Dream Fantasy Life: a term I coined to express my longing for a life that is slower, richer, more artistic and meaningful than the one I was currently living. It is not historically accurate as it encompasses a lot of things I found meaningful not just in the actual hippy time (mid to late 60s) but also the 70s. So don’t come for me, historians. I was just a tad too young to be a hippy in the 60s (to my parents’ everlasting relief) but NOW I am working on making that dream a reality. Fantasy life no more? I think so!
*Riffing off of the Rush song: By-Tor and the Snow Dog. The first time I listened to this album was when I was introduced to tequila shots, at a friend’s house. I don’t listen to this album anymore nor have I done tequila shots since (Does this even need further explanation as to why?!? 🤣).
This album came out in 1975 so that means I was tossing back tequila at 16 years old 🥴. Kids of today, don’t follow my lead. Do better!
It snowed this past week.
The sun tried desperately to break through.Bowser says: This is snow problem for me, Oma!The snow was so heavy, it bent over all the bare trees.It was a gorgeous day to be out in the falling snow.Bowser: There’s horse poop under here somewhere. I remember from yesterday. I want a poopsicle! (Spoiler: I didn’t let him dig any poop up.)Bowser quickly doubled his weight with the snow he was carrying on his legs 😉.It didn’t seem to affect his enjoyment of the day at all, though.Nope, not one bit!Bowser wasn’t the only one enjoying our snowy day outing.
We hope you are enjoying your weather, whatever it happens to be.
Some of you may have surmised from Bowser’s complaining recent posts on ye olde blogge that I have been away on a holiday. Yes! For the first time since the pandemic started in 2020, I left Canada once again for Barbados. But first I spent a lovely bunch of days with my friend Joanne in Ontario. Who graciously lent me full use of her closet and laundry facilities so that I could travel with only carry-on luggage despite needing to dress for full-on winter as well as full-on summer temps.
My whole world is in these bags for the next 3 weeks.
Of course we hiked!
How I have missed this view! 😉Two colourful rascals, together again!Good adviceWhere our feet are was definitely where we were!
One of many exciting things (to me, anyways) we did while I was at Joanne’s was drop into her local library to get me a Toronto Public Library membership. I’ve been wanting one for years, ever since I saw what my Barbados buddy (CJ) could borrow online.
Wheeeeeeeee! Best $120 ever spent.
As a non-resident of Toronto, I had to pay (gladly) yet also appear in person in order to get my card. Which makes no sense to me…why couldn’t I just subscribe online since I am paying for the privilege anyways???? Why do I have to show up and prove where I live?!?! Just SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY. Hopefully now that I have the card I can renew online since the volume and access to digital items far surpasses what my local library has on offer.
All too soon my time with Joanne was over and I headed out to meet up with CJ, to catch yet another plane, this time to Barbados!
View from our patio. Our room was on the pool deck level of our hotel this year.There is nothing like that first icy cold Banks beer. Taken at Mama Mia’s, the delightful Italian restaurant across from our hotel.Sunset on our first night.I immediately fell back into my Barbados routine of sunrise and sunset walks on the beach.The full moon at 550am.Moon behind the clouds on another early morning walk.Sunrise with palms.Sunset with palms.
New this time: a decrepit, abandoned hotel along the boardwalk had been taken down and the property cleared for redevelopment. The privacy fence along the property has been turned into a beautiful, beachside outdoor art gallery. Which provided me with inspiration and additional food for my soul every morning.
Sign explaining the galleryApproaching the gallery
Unfortunately, one week into our two week stay CJ needed to fly back home due to a medical emergency involving a family member. I offered to fly home with her but she wouldn’t hear of it. (Thankfully the crisis passed and the patient was successfully discharged from hospital after CJ returned. Still, CJ was glad she cut her vacation short to be in attendance and provide support.)
This left me on my own for the 2nd week of the vacation. I kept myself busy with snorkeling, beach walking, exploring, and plenty of people-watching!
Wading into the ocean daily to swim and snorkel.Walked to Pebble Beach early one morning to see the racehorses take their sea bath, as I do every trip.I chatted up the friendly visitors to our catio patio.
Another visitor to the patio:
Whistling frogs – not native to Barbados. Who knew?This little guy was about an inch long.
And just when I thought the whistle frogs couldn’t be any tinier, this guy showed up:
That’s my index finger for size comparison.Here’s the same frog, with an ant in the frame too. The white spots on his back and legs are grains of sand.
After seeing this guy, I was very careful to watch where I walked, lest I accidentally step on one of these frogs (who look a lot like tiny pieces of debris!).
I had a very good second week. Except for all the rudeness I witnessed from hotel guests directed at hotel staff. I don’t remember so many people being so rude and such whiny ass entitled complainers from previous visits. Perplexing, to say the least. You’re on vacation, people! CHILLAX.
Readers who have traveled since the pandemic: have you noticed the same thing? I let it suck a lot of the joy out of me (my bad). I can’t even imagine how the hotel staff put up with this shit. These workers all deserve instant sainthood.
At one point I was able to actually intervene on behalf of a manager being treated abominably by a guest. I knew she couldn’t say anything but I certainly could AND DID. I told the man he was being rude and asked him where his manners went, and he slunk off. I was kinda proud of myself because I am usually slow to react when these things happen around me, due to shock and surprise.
I was primed this time by all the rudeness I had been witnessing I guess, and when he barged into our conversation to make his stupid remarks about the manager’s long braids (Is your hair real? Is it a wig? If I tug on it, will I pull it off your head?) I let him have it. Definitely not sorry about it, either.
Here’s a couple more pretty beach pics to take the bad taste of that guest away…
Colourful sunrisePerfect sunset
Overall, it really was a wonderful 3 weeks! Two days of plane travel back to back (and 4 time zones) on the way back home proved to be quite exhausting though. I haven’t been that tired for a long, long time. So tired that I noticed my thinking was impaired enough to make me afraid to drive my car for my first couple of days at home.
It was great to go away and also great to come back home, even if I traded the warm sands of Barbados for this:
Walking with Bowser after a late February snowfall on Vancouver Island (and more predicted on the way!!!).
Have you resumed travelling abroad? Have you seen people who have apparently forgotten decent behaviour and manners like those I encountered on this trip? Let me know in the Comments please!
Oma is back! When she walked through my door, I was so excited Mommy said my tail looked like it was going to spin right off my body. Oma picked me up and I never wanted her to let me go. But she did let me go, because she had to go to bed at her house. That was OK because it was me and Mommy and Daddy’s bed time too. Soon it was the next morning and I got to go over to Oma’s house. And now we are walking on the logging roads again!
Oh boy, oh boy! Am I ever ready to go!We’ve had a lot of rain while Oma was away. The ruts in the road are big puddles again.The creek is low and fun to splash through, though. Even though it has been rainy.Hurry up, Oma!Oma keeps stopping to ooh and ahhhh at these green things that sprung up while she was away. BORING!I, on the other hand, am doing interesting things like sniffing bushes.Here is Oma. She says to tell you that she is not drunk; she is just exhausted from her trip. In case you wonder why she can’t open her eyes all the way. It’s so much fun to run around the roads and play in the creek with Oma again.
We hope you are having fun this weekend (and Oma says “getting some rest too!”).
Mommy says Oma will be home in a few more sleeps. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I am remembering fun walkies with Oma. Here are some pictures Oma took of one where we crossed the channel and explored a spit of land between the channel and the big creek.
Peekaboo, Oma!You found me!That dang yellow harness gave me away. Otherwise Oma wouldn’t be able to see me against these rocks!Oma says “Don’t even think about going into that water!” Silly Oma. I would never do that (on purpose 😉).
See you soon, Oma! I hope everyone else reading is having happy memories too.
Mommy said I could take over Oma’s blog while she is abandoning me on vacation. Oma forgot to tell you that Mommy and Daddy got me a thing called a raincoat, for Christmas.
At first I thought the tag was the present.I love my new tag but I am not sure about the thing attached to it.I guess I can tolerate wearing this if it means “walkies”.On second thought, talk to the butt because the face don’t care much about this raincoat thingy.
I hope you are having a good weekend, and that Oma is missing me as much as I miss her.
By the time most of you will be accessing this blog post on Feb 1st, I will be on a plane to Barbados after being kicked out by spending some quality time with Joanne in Ontario, first. I have been looking forward to this trip since my last one, in February 2020 – just before all hell broke loose and Canada went into lockdown.
One of my goals for this trip (besides relaxation and exploration) is to leave healthy, vacation healthy, and come home healthy. So far I have been “Novid” for Covid, and I’d really like to keep it that way. Thanks, Donna for teaching me this term! To that end, I’ve been super vigilant with hand sanitization and masking leading up to now and I have packed a lot of N95 masks and sanitizer in my carry-on to assist with this goal.
Imagine my dread then, when about 2 weeks ago now my daughter informed me she woke up with the worst sore throat and a fuzzy head. And my son-in-law wasn’t feeling good. Eeeek!!!! Luckily we had not spent much time in close contact in the couple of days prior to them falling ill, and now we agreed that they would isolate from me (and everyone else). Multiple negative covid tests later, it turned out to be either a bad cold or flu but regardless, not something I wanted to experience.
Still, I wanted to help them during their illness so I continued to walk Bowser every day and I did make them sustenance (dropped off just inside the door, with me in a mask). It was Ed’s Soup Shack to the rescue! Ed’s Soup Shack is a Vancouver Island business that makes gourmet soup mixes. I am a big fan, as you might infer from the photo, below.
My stash. Still no backsplash in the new kitchen…sigh
I made 2 batches of soup, to keep them nourished as they dealt with this virus. Firstly, it was Chicken n’ Wild Rice to the rescue.
This was my first time making this soup and I will definitely be buying it in the future. Very flavourful, and the addition of those mushrooms? *Chef’s kiss*
Once they finished this soup, a request came in for Mulligatawny – a family favourite.
Delightfully chunky soup (I don’t blend) with a little kick of spice.
Of course, I didn’t send ALL of the soup next door. I did reserve a couple of bowls of each for myself, purely for research and quality control purposes 😉. Ahem! Anyways, both kids are back on their feet and I am (knocking on my head wood) still virus-free.
So what’s on your plate this month? Do you have a go-to packaged mix (or two or more) that you turn to in times of desperation need? Do tell, in the Comments! And please join Donna and myself in blogging about What’s On Your Plate.
Here’s the invite to the Link Party. Hope it works because I won’t be able to fix it from however many thousands of feet in the air I’ll be…who am I kidding, I wouldn’t be able to fix it regardless 🤣
Oma has gone away. Mommy says she is ON VACATION. Mommy explained what vacation is, and how vacation IS my everyday life. I am a lucky dog. Still, I miss Oma. I hope she comes back soon.
Me and Oma in the Together Times.Oma, please come back soonest.
I had a close call a couple of weeks ago, where I couldn’t find Bowser’s harness and leash next door when I wanted to take him for a walk. I imagined that it was in my daughter’s car, parked at her work. It wasn’t. Her hubs had hung it up in a different place from it’s proper home usual spot, so I had to make do with his baby leash and a collar.
That prompted me to do some looking around for a harness to keep at my place, so I wouldn’t have to worry about a cancelled walkies anytime in the future. I didn’t need a leash as I had found a really cute (and high quality) one on one of our walks.
It was hanging up in a tree just off the logging road, and we kept walking by it every day. After a full week, I decided whoever lost/left it wasn’t coming back for it so it came home with us. Now my son-in-law is joking that I will be posted on neighbourhood crime watch Facebook page as a leash thief…
Anywhoodles, here is Bowser modelling his new harness:
Somebody be stylin’!It goes well with the found leash, doncha think? Of course I had to buy my own poop bag purse and poop bags. Don’t want to be caught without those. And yes, Bowser likes to carry this one around in his mouth too. Weirdo.Bowser took to the new harness like a champ.Note “grab handle”, so handy for hauling pups outta icy creeks….ahem!Yeah, I’m talking about you, Bowzie.
And in case you were wondering about me in all my sartorial splendour on that rainy walk?
Well, at least the dog looks put together!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, what’s left of it!
Waaaay back in mid-December, Donna and I found some time to dive into the last Universal Yums box in my gift subscription of 2022. Donna wrote about it, here. Pardon my tardiness in posting! Mid-December to mid-January is usually a time when I “hibernate” both socially and in terms of projects (and become even more introverted and introspective than I already am) and I am just starting to come out of this period now.
So, without further delay: I give you the Italy box!
Donna and I had high hopes for this one. Italians are so good at making delicious food, amiright?!
We started off with the world’s tiniest cookies (to my knowledge 😉): Amarettini Almond cookies.
The story behind these cookies is that they were an improvisation by a young couple who wanted to make a treat for a visiting cardinal (a man, not a bird although I am sure cardinal birds would enjoy this also) and so they whipped these up out of apricot kernels, egg whites, and sugar. Now you know.What they lacked in size, they made up for in flavour I am happy to report!
Next up: Pizza-flavoured corn rings.
Hmmm…looks interesting. Pizza is only about 300 years old, according to the booklet that came with the box. Should pineapple ever be considered anything other than an abomination a fit topping for pizza? Let’s discuss in the Comments. She just had to go there 🤣. These were more fun to play with than to eat, clearly.
Another savoury treat followed – Paprika potato chips aka the main ingredient in BBQ chips we learned by tasting, as that is pretty much what these tasted like. Universal Yum’s writeup on this chip stated they had never tasted a chip seasoned like this before. Seriously? BBQ is an OG Canadian chip flavour, as I recall. It was around even before ketchup chips!!!
Italy’s favourite brand of potato chip, apparently.
After all that salt, we tried the Chocolate Tiramisu Cream Cake. The name tiramisu means “carry me up”, and the booklet assumes this means “to heaven”…LOL!
I thought it was OK, but Donna wasn’t too impressed.
After that we tried the chocolate bar with hazelnuts. I think everyone can imagine what that would taste like. (Nutella, that you still have to chew.) Apparently containing hazelnuts from the Piedmont region of Italy.
After all that chocolate, I was relieved to taste something different – the Italian fruit jellies. I am not normally a fan of fruit candies but these were quite tasty and delicious! Made with real Italian fruit juices, apparently.
Donna was not a fan which meant more for meeee!!!!
Finally, we came to the last treat in the box – Milk chocolate popcorn bites. Sounded intriguing but nothing extraordinary or exciting in flavour.
Donna says these taste like a candy you can buy in Canada called a Whopper. I don’t remember ever eating one, so I’ll have to take her word on this. Score sheet.Your happy tasters.
This gift subscription was a whole lot of fun – and the most fun when I got to share it with Donna and all of you lovely readers! Donna and I are going to put together our own box – the Canadian version of a Universal Yums package – we have all the goodies picked out already.
That probably won’t happen until later in February though as I am leaving the island next week. First, to spend some shenanigans IRL time with Joanne (of the now quiet blog My Life Lived Full) in Ontario, and then to join my practically life-long friend CJ for our annual 2 weeks reading books under the palms and drinking Banks beer enjoying the sea and sun of Barbados. YES! After 2 long years, I am getting on a plane and heading out of Canada to a tropical destination again, universe-willing!
