Dear Heat,
I love you.  You know I do.  I need you in my life everyday, all the time.  I love how you envelope my body and I feel hugged and loved by you.
However, I also love to cook.  And I don't love air conditioning.  My kids (and neighbours) are begging me to bake for them.  I would love to oblige but I just can't bring myself to do it because you are distracting me with you awesome beautiful temperatures.  You see I love them too and it hurts me to see them in need (I know, right)
So I'm asking you from the depths of my love for you to please turn the temperature down just a little.  For me.  For your love... and her family and friends.
Here is a big kiss from me.... SMACK!
sincerely
w

p.s.  Thanks for the great tomatoes and beans this year... you're the best.

Sometimes these moods just come over me.  There are songs that I can't get outta my head.  I want to listen to music all the time.  I went through this phase where I didn't want to listen to my ipod while running.  I think it was because I was doing a half marathon and it just seemed really amateurish to see people running in a marathon with their headphones on.  LAME people.  So I went through about a year of running and not listening.  I still downloaded music but didn't listen that much.
Recently though a couple of friends and I went to Buffalo for a girls day, which means shopping.  Not my favourite thing to do but these are two of my favourite people and they promised me dinner and booze AND I didn't have to drive.  I was in.  They asked me to get a playlist together for the drive.  This is right up my alley.  I sat down and started going through my stuff.  I realized once again that I love my music.  I love listening to music.  Sometimes it makes me want to hit things.  Sometimes I cry.  Sometimes I just feel so happy that I want to jump up and down - I guess that's called dancing in some cultures.  Sometimes I just have to get up and wind my hips.  Needless to say I'm not dinner music kind of person. I'm all or nothing.  I have trouble compartmentalizing.  So, I get way too distracted when music is playing and I'm supposed to be chatting with people.
Ultimately, I don't know if they enjoyed the music or not.  There isn't much popular music on my ipod so it was probably 'educational' for them.  I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the back seat of my friends car and zoning out to some of my favourite tunes.  So since our trip I've been listening to music non-stop and started using my ipod while I run.  Ahhh - I missed it.  I think that music captures a time and an energy in your life - it's like a snapshot of sound (did that make sense).  When I listen to my songs I think of the people that were with me then, the situations we were in... you know.  It's an energy that creates more energy.
 I was shocked when my friends told me they didn't really listen to music at all.  Maybe a lot of people are like that.  I'm not going to come out and say that my life needs a soundtrack but I want it to have a soundtrack. It's important to me that whatever it is about music that touches me and moves my body and makes me cry and remember and love be a part of my life as much as possible.  Just sayin' and I won't bore you with my ultimate playlist or anything.


I made this pesto yesterday.  Coolest part?  Half of the leaves were from my own basil pot.  Sweet.  It's seriously and stupidly easy and if you make a couple of batches you'll have enough to get you through the year.  The best.


Pesto (adapted from all over the place)
makes about 2 1/2 cups of pesto

5 - 6 cups basil leaves
1 cup (or so) olive oil
1 1/2 cups walnuts (you could use pine nuts here - it's more traditional)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (I was using freshly grated)
6 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
2 tsp salt or to taste

Put the basil leaves and olive oil in a blender.  Mix until it's a puree.
Add in the walnuts.  Mix until it's a puree.
Add in the parmesan, garlic and salt.  Mix until it's a puree.
Taste to make sure it's all good.

Place in freezer bags and freeze in 1 cup portions.

I have peppers people... PEPPERS.  They're going to turn red at some point... hopefully.

It's amazing the amount of crap you can pack into a day really.  When I'm not at work I'm amazed at how the days roll along and what I can do in a day.  I can't always tell you which day of the week it is but who cares if it's a week-day or not.
For example:
You can watch a lot of movies in one day when you're motivated.
You can paint an entire floor of your house.
You can make jam and can it - a lot of it.
You can read an entire book in the right mood.
... Yeah... in 1 day.  That's only the beginning.
I haven't done all of them yet but it doesn't mean I won't.  I won't bore you with the stupid details of my day yesterday but it was one of those 'fit-in-as-much-as-you-can' days.  It's been a heat wave here for a while and it's continuing for another 'while'.  So I cooked as much as I could on the coolest day of the week.  Satisfied.
Now I have more time for movies, books, friends, trees, cool beverages and general lolling.

Random shot of my pansies... still playing with the new camera.

Usually once a week or so my Mother-in-law takes kid #1 and #2 for an overnight... maybe two if it's the summer.  Sometimes it's more stressful because we have to rush around to take them and pick them up and still get them to all of the extra crap that they are doing.  But in the summer.... it's awesome.  It's like a mini vacation really.
Today we dropped them both off and came home afterwards.  We watched a movie... at 3pm in the afternoon.  What?  I know.  We watched 'Orlando'.  I bizarre movie that I watched at some point in the 90's at 'Cinema de Paris' in Montreal, sadly now closed.  I can't remember how much tickets used to be... maybe $4 or $2 or something right in there.  It was primarily an english language repertory theatre when I was in Montreal.  It was amazing to go and watch a cheap film in between classes (which could explain some of my marks) with a friend or two and to catch some things that you would NEVER see in a normal theatre EVER.  'Orlando' is one of those movies.  I managed to catch it on Netflix and I just had to watch it again.
It's based on a Virginia Woolf novel (one that I need to read because I've only read 'A Room of One's Own') about Orlando whose life spans over 400 years after he is commanded by Queen Liz 1 to stay young forever.  Which Orlando does for his Queen... maybe I should say her Queen.  Orlando changes gender about 1/2 way through the movie and at about year 250 in his/her life.  It's a fascinating look at gender politics, roles and also the genderless being under our skin (so to speak).
Makes me think about my own definitions... of myself and the people around me.  What if our personality, our character has as much to do with our gender as say our body parts do?  What if gender doesn't even matter... what if it's everything and nothing?  Cool thoughts.  I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon.... and as a result didn't cook.
Plus it's too bloody hot.


What I did for you all though is take some stupid pictures of my food box.  Is that even inspiring?  Tomorrow the temps are supposed to be down just below the 30 degree mark.  That means I'll be in the kitchen cooking up a storm for the rest of the week which is going right back up into the mid-thirties again.  Not that I'm complaining about the heat... just don't want to heat up the kitchen any more ;-)

I just got a new camera... this one.  D bought it 'cause he knows I would never spend that much on my own.
I'm playing with it and it's fun.  I can take pictures again.
I wish that I could show you pictures of the caramel brownies that I made earlier this week... but I can't because I had no camera.

I just got a boat load of these...

and this...


and now I'm going to do something with them.

I'll take pictures.

I'm supposed to be talking about food and recipes here.  Most of the time I do or at least I manage to tie it in.  Sometimes, I fail miserably and just rant about something or other and then stick a recipe on the end of it.  I make you guys work for the food... you have to sift through all these words before you get there. Unless of course, you are like me and scroll through most of the sites that you check out to get to the interesting stuff.  I'm not sure where this post falls but either way, our neighbours have just had a baby.  Their second.  A boy.  Everyone is healthy and happy and it's wonderful news.  I would imagine that since this is a food blog that you would expect me to be writing you about all the tasty, awesome things that I made for them to get through the next month or so.  Well, I haven't made them anything yet.  I will make them stuff... but I haven't done it yet.
What I did do though is help them out with their own Kid #1.  We looked after him for a few hours here and there to help them have a little transition (sleep) time quietly.  Here's where my insecurities kick in.  I can run a marathon.  I can perform in front of a lot of people.  I can talk in front of a lot of people.  I can cook and bake and take risks.  I typically cannot deal with other people's kids.  I get all freaked out.  I don't know what to do with them.  I end up talking to them like they're babies (even if they're 10).  I might ignore them and let my kids deal with them... if I can get away with it but I usually can't.  I don't know why other peoples kids scare the &^%t outta me.  So, there I am agreeing to have their kid with us and feeling my anxiety levels rising as the words come out of my mouth.  What will I do with him?  Will he like us?  Will he get bored and only want to stay for 10 minutes and then cry to go home?
I got hot dogs for the kids to eat.  Wait... let me say that again for you.... HOT DOGS.  What the hell???
They watched some 'Diego show' that my kids never get to watch.  What?!
I took them to the park.
I never take my kids to the park.  NEVER.   I hate kids parks.  Unless it's the middle of the night and I'm with my friends and we're... I won't explain why I hate kids parks but I do.  There we were (D was good enough to come too)... at the park.
I played choo-choo train and airplanes with them... what?  And I was super paranoid that my neighbours kid was going to hurt himself.  Which he did when he ran into a tree.  That was cool.  I kissed it better and he was off and running... to grab fistfuls of dirt and throw it into his own face... that was cool.  Then when he said he wanted to go home I lied to him and told him that his Dad wasn't home yet (he was) because I knew his Dad only had 4 hrs sleep the night before.
While the kids were in the bath (I couldn't send this poor kid home with a bruised head, ketchup all along his arm and dirt smeared across his face).  I confessed all to his Dad.  They were cool.  The really exciting part for me was that he wanted to come back the next day.  Who wouldn't have fun doing all that stuff (including the hot dogs - both my kids looked at me wide eyed and then Kid #2 yelped).

These gorgeous babies are being harvested daily from our garden now AND guess who likes raw purple beans.... Kid #2!!!!!

On another note:  This recipe is from the archive so to speak.  D broke our camera and although we will hopefully be getting a replacement very soon... we don't have one yet.  So, I made this stuff last summer and it was RAD it was easy.  Go for it.


Raspberry Mousse
serves 4

2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/4 cup superfine sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Combine the raspberries and sugar together and set aside for about an hour.


After the hour, mash them together until they form a chunky sauce.  Set aside.

Whip up the egg whites in one bowl.  Whip until they form stiff peaks.
Whip the cream in another bowl until it forms stiff peaks.
Gently fold the two together.


Swirl about 3/4's of the raspberry mixture into the cream mixture.
Spoon into 4 serving bowls.   Top each with the rest of the raspberry mixture.
Refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 3 hours.

If feel like I've been a real downer for you all lately.  I gotta lighten things up a bit because even though I feel like it's the end of the world most of the time, we still need to laugh and live our life... right?  So, I'm trying to think of subjects that are fun and good for a laugh.  Things that people like and that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside... not like they want to contemplate their own demise.
I guess that I could talk about my kids.  Kids are always cute and funny.  Unless they're those annoying kids on airplanes or restaurants.  The ones that talk really loudly and tell the entire place that they want to go home NOW or that they don't want rice and they HATE mashed potatoes.  Most kids are fun though and mostly cute too... awwww.
I could talk about biking or running or yoga because I'm passionate about those things in my life.  I could tell you that I love getting up early every morning to bike or run to work.  I could tell you what a gas it is to run to work in the winter.  I would be lying though.  Most of the time it's hard and I just don't even ask myself if I want to do it because the answer would always be no.  But even when it blows hard it's still one of my favourite things to do... cool, so that paragraph ended on an 'up beat'.
I could talk about my friends because I love my friends.  They're the best... who else would buy me copious amounts of liver and gall bladder tea while in Germany.  Who else would make Sangria and invite me over to drink way too much of it with them.  Who else would take you to the King Edward for champagne AFTER you've been to the pub together.  It's the friends who are still friends with you after stupid-too-much-sangria-conversations.

I could write about summer and how awesome it is and how I would take 31 degrees C over winter any day.  I would much rather sweat than shiver.  I don't use air conditioning because I want to feel summer. I want to hear it... because my windows are open.  I want to feel the breeze or the lack of it.  I want to have the challenge of cooking outside or having cold food because it's just too damn hot to put on the stove or the oven.  I don't mind dealing with allergies because that means it's summer.  For me, it's part of fully embracing the seasons (running in the middle of winter being my way of 'embracing' that particular season as well)
See... I can do 'up'.  I can.



What I need to also tell you though is that this recipe makes a truck load.  I made it on a tuesday.  D left for Trinidad the next day.  For a whole week.  So that left 3 of us finishing the dish.  Two of us are under 10 years of age.  Now this dish is good.  It was really good but by Saturday we were so sick of eating the thing that we all groaned when I pulled it out again and I had to promise Kid #1 and #2 (and myself too 'cause... damn) that this was the last time and we would compost the rest (it wasn't much, really it wasn't).   So (to keep things on the 'happy side of life') I would recommend that if you want to make this and you don't have a family of say about 8 give or take then you might want to have a party.  Invite some of those friends to come over during the summer... maybe they could ride their bike or run to your place.... and bring their awesome, wayyyy cute and polite kids with them and they could all drink some sangria or champagne without any air conditioning.  It could be like a whole lotta 'happy'.


Creamy Meatball and Chard Pasta
serves 8 - 10

Seasoned Meat
1 1/2 lbs ground meat (I used a mixture of ground beef and pork)
1 egg
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or more) chopped fresh herbs (I used oregano, basil, parsley, chive and mint)
3 tbsp brown sugar or honey
dash of cayenne or pepper sauce

5 cups large pasta (rotini, shells - something big), cooked al dente
1 medium onion, sliced
3 large cloves of garlic minced (or use garlic scapes if it's in season)
1 large bunch chard or spinach (about 5 cups - it cooks down a lot)
1/2 cup minced fresh herbs (I used basil, parsley and oregano)
1 vegetable bouillion cube (dissolve in a little bit of hot water)
2 tsp salt
dash of fresh lemon juice and zest (if you have - I didn't)
800 ml ricotta
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup milk or cream
1 1/2 cups mozzarella shredded

Meatballs:
Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl.  Form balls the size of large marbles.
Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add a little oil (just to cover the bottom of the pot) and then add in the meatballs.  Turn frequently and heat all the meatballs until they are just browned and cooked through.  Remove from the pot and set aside.

Assembly:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using the same dutch oven (and save the grease so that you don't have to use any more) add in the onion and garlic.  Cook over medium heat until the onion is started to brown.  Turn the heat down to med/low and add in the spinach.  Cook until the spinach has wilted.
Add in the herbs, bouillion liquid, salt and lemon juice/zest.  Mix.
Add in the ricotta, parmesan and milk/cream.  Mix.
Turn off the heat and check the tastes.  Adjust if needed.

Mix the cooked pasta and meatballs together.  Pour into a large baking dish.
Add the vegetable mixture and mix everything together well.
Spread evenly in the baking dish.  Cover with the shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the mozzarella is just beginning to turn golden on the top (it will be bubbling)
Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes.