I like movies!

I like movies! I don't go out a lot to see movies in the theatre, but I do watch them on Hubby's super cable pacakage at home.

Movies I've seen lately:

You've Got Mail - I've probably watched this movie about 20 times. I used to own a VHS copy. For me, it's a girlie romantic movie I can 'watch' while I clean or bake. Last night it was on one of the super cable channels. I'd forgotten how romantic it is. I even cried a little at the end.

Terms of Endearment - Complete tear jerker. A full box of kleenex tear jerker. Also watched on the super cable. I love it.

Miss Potter - Surprisingly a sweet and inspiring movie. Also a bit of a tear jerker because of the twist of fate that Beatrix experiences.

New Waterford Girl - Love this Canadian movie! I stayed home in my pjs on Monday and watched this instead of going out to a weekly gathering. I found out afterward that there was a birthday cake and gift waiting for me at the gathering - oops!

Margot at the Wedding - I saw this at Canada Square. Nicole Kidman, Jack Black (LOVE Jack!), and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The story is so well written, acted, and so completely twisted that it made me uncomfortable. Great movie, but I don't think I could watch it again. Other movies I hold in this category: Seven and Boys Don't Cry.

No Country For Old Men - I can't say enough about the Coen bros! Love 'em! I saw this with Hubby in Winnipeg recently.

American Gangster - I liked it, but I don't think I would see it again. I also saw this with Hubby on an earlier trip to The Peg.

I'm looking forward to watching more over the holidays. Any suggestions?

Handkerchief

I use handkerchiefs. If you haven't figured it out already, 2D Girl has one eye. The other eye is artificial. My right eye socket, the one with the prosthesis, has always been a bit snotty and runny. In order to save some trees, I switched from tissues to handkerchiefs several years ago. I have some plain old white ones, but mostly I use some tie-dyed, funkified handkerchiefs to make things interesting. I always carry one in my left pocket.

I ended up on a bus this morning on my way to work. I usually walk or ride my bike, but it was just too icy and windy. I can't afford to fall and break my arm just before the holidays - I have too many cookies to bake!

I digress. I was lucky to get one of the last seats and like most Torontonians, I sat my butt down and stared straight ahead. As the journey dragged on, I noticed the man sitting to my left (my seeing side). I glanced over and something caught my eye - a huge drip of fluid on the tip of his nose. I realized that he must not have any tissues and I wondered why he didn't just surreptisiously wipe the drip on his sleeve. He just sat there and let the drip get bigger and bigger. By the time it reached his lip, I had clued in that he may not be in the best of health (general and otherwise). I reached into my pocket, pulled out my clean hankie and offered it to him. He wiped his nose and we had a brief conversation about how he was feeling a bit better today and that he got new boots just in time for the snow.

I'm happy my hankie has found another home.

Busy = piles

How does it happen that I find myself in the middle of two weeks with absolutely every evening jammed packed with things to do and places to be? Mostly it is pleasure and some of it is obligation. No matter what is scheduled the result is the same - I get behind in ALL my domestic needs (making nutritious lunches, washing dishes, ironing, doing minor cleaning, keeping up with the mail). Things start to pile up. I end up eating out more and more because I am never home to prepare a meal. Then I stop feeling like I want to go home because there is so much bloody crap to get done before I can allow myself to sit and rest.

Strategy: get up a little bit early tomorrow and get a few things done.

Easier written than done, but I shall try my best.

Cellophane update

I feel like I made a little bit of progress today on losing that cellophane wrapping. At work today I shared one tidbit about my weekend that I would consider personal. I shared it with my closest friend at work. Not all of my tidbits with all of my work pals. Just one tidbit and one work pal.

Progress.

Chillin post monstrual attack

I'm home alone tonight even though Hubby is in town. He's out with a friend having boy drinks and industry talk. I'm always welcome to join them, but I had another Monstrual Attack this morning and I need some quiet time. I didn't write about the monstrual attack I had two months ago - brutal. I'm a little surprised that I had another one so soon. Until September 2007 I had been monstrual cycle free for one year.

This morning's attack had a little less bite to it, but only because of Hubby's quick thinking and action. The second the cramping started he rushed to get the heavy duty prescription pills and a glass of milk. I was able to get it down and keep it down for a good 10 or 15 minutes. I think a little bit of the pill's magic was able to reach my cramping uterus.

I had an hour nap, took a shower, and treated myself to a latte and french toast at the end of my street. I was able to walk half way to work before I needed to get on the bus. I planned to leave work early, but I made it to 5 o'clock.

Cellophane

I notice when I am being too transparent. I notice it right in the moment when I am saying the words that I should just not say. I hate it. Immediately after the words have left my lips I want to grab them all back. I want to be more clothed. I enjoy being nude; I don't enjoy being naked.

As I get older, I feel like there are more things in life to hold precious, to keep close. I haven't had a lot of practice at that. I know how to change habits. I explain to people everyday how to change habits. I've done it in my life before. I want to change this habit of being a piece of cellophane.

Less cellophane.

More clothing.

Habit changing commencing.

Post Script on Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I took the cookies to a pumpkin carving get-together last night. They were a HUGE hit!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Cookie number 4 of the Cookie Challenge is a success!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies



These were fairly quick to make, if you don't mind the 30 minute cooling time in the fridge before you roll them into balls.
Good texture: slight crunch on the outside, yummy chewy on the inside.
Not too sweet (thumbs up!)
Nice and chocolaty (thumbs up!)
I would make them smaller next time, as they spread a bit more than I expected.

I will make these again for my Holiday gifts.

ho hum

I'm not really sure what this post is about. This morning I've been feeling ho hum one minute and optimistic and energetic in the next minute. My weekend seems like it will be nice a mix of chores and socializing, which is good. I like getting domestic things done, but it is so much work. It's good to break up the chores with fun stuff, little rewards.

It just occurred to me that perhaps my ho hum feeling comes from only having had a cup of coffee so far this morning. My cook, my favourite person, my Hubby is out of town for many months. I have to rely on my Self getting me fed now. If I don't eat regularly, I develop ho hum-ness.

[pause for nourishment break]

I just realized that I may have started choosing my meals based on what concoction uses the least amount of dishes. You see, we don't have a dishwasher. Dishes, dishes, dishes, every day, even after a simple snack. This everyday chore starts becoming a bore, especially when more than half of your house is still waiting to be cleaned up from the insulation installation that happened over a week ago. (Some clean up already has taken place, only to become covered in insulation dust all over again - sigh.) I feel sometimes I can barely keep up with the everyday chores, never mind the big jobs like cleaning up after a renovation type project.

On a brighter note, another baby has arrived in the world and I'll be packaging up a handmade blanket and card to send off to my friend, the new mother! I know she will love it and that her little ladybug will look gorgeous wrapped up nice in Italian cotton. I chose the catherine wheel design from a book and developed the pattern for the blanket myself (thanks to some Stitch N' Bitch women for their ideas and tips). I'm already working on a second blanket and getting the kinks out of the pattern. Sorry no picture just yet. It's too early on a Saturday morning to figure that out!

Progress has been made on the turtle baby; the tummy and shell are complete and the first little leg is started. Not sure if it will be together for next weekend, but I'll try.

Dough issue

I tried the Chocolate and Prune Cookies on page 171 today. These are rolled cookies. I've never had a lot of success with rolled cookies, so I tend to shy away from such recipes. At least I am consistent - I wasn't successful with these rolled cookies either.

Here is how they are meant to look:




Perhaps I did not let the butter get quite to room temperature before creaming it with the sugar. Perhaps the flour amount listed in the recipe is one cup too much. Not sure. The dough just didn't come together. It was much too dry. I'm leaning towards the flour as the problem. When I sifted the flour and cocoa powder on to the creamed butter, I immediately thought that the dry ingredients were going to overwhelm the wet.

I decided to make bars from the recipe. This is what I got:





They don't look bad, but they are dry'ish', crumbly, and tad too sweet for me. I can tell that they would be quite yummy and unique cookies, if I had been able to get the dough to come together. As cookies, you would be eating less dough at once and I think this would address the 'too sweet' issue.

I've decided to try again (not right away) and follow the recipe exactly. If the dough issue happens again, I will try the recipe a third time with less flour. In the mean time, I shall do a little research on rolled cookies to compare wet and dry ingredient amounts.

This recipe calls for 2/3 cup butter creamed with 3/4 cup sugar, add 1 egg yolk. Then add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 2 1/4 cups flour. Any thoughts?

Luscious Lemon Bars

Finding time for the Cookie Challenge has been challenging. I'm home today getting insulation blown into our walls, so about the only place I can hang out and amuse myself is the kitchen. Perfect time to make these:




Luscious Lemon Bars
Not too sweet (thumbs up!)
Not lemony enough (thumbs down!)
My dough didn't form into a ball like I thought it might. I think I let the butter get too soft. It is still delicious and I could use it for many other bar recipes.

I would make them again with more lemon rind.

Turtle babies

I can't make a blanket for every new baby who will arrive in the next few months. There are just too many babies coming! Yippee!

Cutesy turtles will have to do. I picked the pattern from The Best of Woman's Day Crochet published in 1971 and bought by me in BMV on Bloor St W.

Thanks to Mezzodiva for help with picking out the colours. You rock!

That was fast!

The first cookie is baked!



Chocolate Chip Cookies on page 28
Sweet & delicious. Light & buttery texture.
Recipe made 20, even though it stated 12.

Items I need to buy in order to continue The Challenge:
parchment paper
golden caster sugar
self-rising flour

New windows!

In order to appreciate the new windows, you have to see the old windows.

This used to be our front window. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it still installed; the window guy was just too quick!



Here's the scary office window. We don't even think the glass was the right size. Can you see how it is resting at an angle?



Look closely at the precarious putty job the previous owners did.




Our new windows are almost completely installed. The actual windows are in, but the finishing touches won't happen until next week.

Stay tuned!

#19 on the life list (a.k.a. Cookie Challenge)

A while back I wrote about starting a life list. Back then I had only six items on my list, or perhaps only six that I was willing to share at the time. I'm up to nineteen items on my list now.

Number nineteen started brewing this past Sunday. I was having a wonky day. I dropped a thirty dollar cake in its box onto our living room floor and had a bit of a freak out over it. (The cake tasted fine that evening. It just didn't look as beautiful as it had in the store.) Anyway, after Hubby did his best at comforting me, making me laugh, and talking about how my freak out had very little to do with the cake face plant and more to do with other things, we decided to go to The Annex for a stroll.

I just love that stretch of Bloor St W! Music stores, book stores, clothing stores, furniture, food, and coffee all in one lovely five block strip. We went into BMV Books to poke around the shelves for kitchen design ideas. There's nothing like a little book store browsing to perk up my mood. Before diving in to the architecture and design books Hubby and I browsed the cookbooks. Hubby found this:



I love to bake! This book is like a gold mine for me! Since it was only nine dollars, it felt like an extra sweet deal. We bought it (along with two kitchen books).

I took a closer look at the book once I got it home. The first sixty-five pages is dedicated to discussion on ingredients, tools, technique, storage, and presentation.




The remaining 160 or so pages is recipes. Everything from fancy to savoury.




I was reading up on ingredients when our friend arrived for dinner on Sunday night. We started talking about the book, my love of all things related to baking, and it dawned on me that I could actually make every cookie in the book. Our friend pointed out that I'd better start an exercise program if I didn't want to gain 100 lbs in the process. That is an unfortunate side effect of having a sweet tooth and loving to bake.

After sleeping on the idea for a few nights, I've decided to take on my Cookie Challenge. I'm going to make every single cookie recipe in The Cookie Book - that's over 200 different cookies, according to the book. The Cookie Challenge is now number nineteen on the life list.

I do not think I will make the cookies in the order they are in the book. There's an entire kids' cookie section, so I'll have to work my way through those as occasions arise.

Train cookies:




Name cookies that could be used as place cards:




As a means to gather opinions on the cookies and avoid out growing my clothes, I shall share generously with co-workers, friends, and neighbours. One of my co-workers is already quite excited about this. Perhaps a little rating card will be developed to track my results.

The big question is: what cookie will be first?

Home ownership = less blogging

Well, it is official. Since we bought our house in January, I've blogged a lot less. I don't even know if I've shared pictures of my recent crochet projects! What has come over me?!

Sad news for me, but happy news for my blog readers: Hubby is leaving the province for five or six months to work on his television show (his very own television show!). I think his absence will translate into more blogging on my part.

Blog entries I have in mind:

update on the life list
update on crochet projects
my planned cookie challenge
pottery update with pictures
likely many pathetic entries on how lonely I am

Stay tuned!

RMR

I'm Canadian. I'm a typical Canadian. When I see a celebrity I tend to poke the person next to me and say, "Hey, look. It's what's her name from that movie." I consider it rude to approach someone in a restaurant for an autograph. I may take a second look if I see a celeb in Yorkville, but I'd never try to chat them up. Firstly, I wouldn't know what to say and secondly, it's just got to be so weird for them. I'd make a fool of myself and they'd have to suffer through yet another awkward fan moment.

Having stated the above, I behaved a tiny bit like a star struck fan on Friday night. Hubby took me to see the Rick Mercer Report. I just love Rick Mercer! He's funny and intelligent. He seems humble. He looks fantastic in a suit. He can laugh at himself. He's adventurous and seems to have a good heart. Even though he plays for the other team, I do have a little kissy face fantasy about him.

Here's me and Hubby in line and me with my ticket:





I was pretty excited!


Here's Rick at his desk during the taping!




After the taping of the show, Hubby and I waited around to chat with the director (a business acquaintance of Hubby's) and we were the last guests to leave the studio. We stood in a line that we thought was for the elevator. Along came an assistant who asked us if we wanted an autograph. Hubby immediately answered, "No." The assistant told us to follow her to the elevator. (We'd been standing in the autograph line.) Before I knew it, I was about to step on an elevator and miss my chance to meet Rick! I took a peak over my right shoulder and saw Rick signing autographs and having his picture taken with fans. I wanted a picture! I wanted a autograph! I turned to Hubby and sheepishly told him that I wanted to get back in line. Even though I had to put up with Hubby teasing me, it was completely worth it!

Everything New

Ever have one of those days when everything around you seems fresh and new and lovely? It's one of those days when just about anything seems possible. I had one of those days today. I had an appointment with my new family doctor - he rocks! People I passed on the streets of Toronto just seemed more open and friendly. The bus driver even seemed to be in a good mood! People on my street waved and said hello as I passed by.

I love days like this. I feel like everything I have to get done will get done easily and happily. I can even see the gifts and possibilities in things that don't go according to plan. Time seems to go by at just the right pace.

I like today. Today is a good day.

Nice morning

I love getting up on a weekend morning when the rest of my street is still asleep. I get to putter around quietly. I think. I do a few dishes. I make coffee and frothy milk. I crack open the newspaper.

Nice morning.

Old recipe is good comfort food

I felt a little blue off and on today. If I don't feed myself properly, my blues always get the best of me for a few hours. So, before leaving work today I put my food-thinking cap on and focused myself on nourishing myself tonight.

Great Hubby usually does the cooking around here. He had lots of practice making delicious food from almost nothing in fridge in his previous incarnation as a starving artist and short order cook. Since his television show has taken off, Hubby has had less and less time for nourishing the Good Wife. I am not complaining, just admitting that I am out of practice and a wee bit lazy in the food department.

I thought I would make a simple shrimp salad that I found on Epicurious.com. On my way to the fish monger it occurred to me that I used to have quite a few delicious and easy recipes that I prepared for myself all those years ago. A specific recipe jumped into my mind - White Bean Pasta Sauce. Incredibly, the ingredients came to mind right away and I was able to pick up a few required items at the No Frills.

I am now a happy gal with a tummy full of yummy pasta with white bean sauce. I'm not blue and I'm not hungry.