spring cleaning...

Before... looking a bit moldy after the long winter... she hadn't had a bath in a while... After... maybe a bit on the short side... but lighter, friskier, happier... and colder... the weather isn't cooperating...

I'm not sure who you are...

but.. it's "phew" not "few"... emoting via IM can be challenging

purty

she made me do it...

Long, long time ago, Jay had a job that required him to travel extensively... frequently to Florida. One time he came back with two mini citrus fruit trees. I gave one to my mom. Her little tree is crazy huge now, bushy and so luscious... ours is a sad puny little twig with leaves... One day a while back Jay asked her how she got her tree to grow like that... and she said "I cut it". Jay asked her how... and she said "I don't know, I just cut it."... and that was that...

A couple of days ago I was home by my lonesome... early in the morning... haven't had my coffee yet... I was tiding up... I looked up at my citrus tree, and I heard my mom's voice in my head "Just cut it."... and I thought to myself "Yeah... just cut it."... next thing I know, kitchen scissors in my hand I trimmed that sucker in three places...

Jay was at a loss for words when he got home later that night... he thinks I did irreversible damage, and our tree won't recover from my assault... I reassured him it will be bigger and better... fingers crossed...

claiming their spots...

it's a good thing they're small enough to pick up and move, because they won't budge for anyone... the cat is tricky though, she tends to hold on to the covers...

did you see this comercial...

it aired a few weeks back... and ended with 'login to our site and you can order your own salt and pepper shakers'... Well Jason was on the site like lightning... unfortunately so were several other late night tv watchers, and the site crashed. But next morning things were up and running again... they arrived a couple of days ago...

I saw an offer for them in a magazine as well... but it required proof of purchase of the product... we don't eat Knorr products... so it's just as well that he saw the commercial not the magazine ad...

it's just fun

When you were little, did you ever have one of those cutout paper dolls. You know the one whose wardrobe was attached to the paper body with some paper tags... I did, for a very brief time, paper has very little durability... and also the clothes didn't fit quite right... most likely because I made the doll and all her accessories myself... patience and scale weren't my forte at that time...

Well anyways this site brought the memory of that time back... you don't need to create an account to do this, although I'm sure you can if you want to save it. But you upload a photo of your face (I suggest a light background, hair pulled back), or you choose one you feel closest matches yours. Then you do a few tiny adjustments, and then you get to try on celebrity hairstyles, change the color of your hair, and try on makeup... it can be hilarious... I found a few things that look really pretty on me in the pic... next weekend I'll head to the mall to see how accurate it is...

6 months...

and fabulous... she's growing so quickly... she smiles and laughs constantly... at times looks so much like her daddy and then (like in this picture) so much like her mommy... too cute for words...

and in this picture she is about to chew on her own shoe...

Jason knows it...

the only drawback to drinking coffee with home-made almond milk... but it's a small one... taste always wins over sediment...

and it's kind of pretty to look at

dinner... a combined effort...

I know it's not from Ontario, but this red was divine... organic... It was thick, heavy, lots of body... I want to say viscous... but it had none of the heavy tannins, and it wasn't oak-y... and even-though we strained it and let it rest, there was still a bit of sediment in our glasses... it didn't dampen our enjoyment of it... Jay made black eyed pea fritters with assorted dipping sauces... so good, fried but not greasy..
I made (assembled) vegan nachos... which really turned into a vegan nacho lasagna... it's the way I like it (you need a fork to eat it)... we enjoyed it with with salsa and guacamole...

big enough for two...

another Whole Foods find...

organic dried strawberries. I splurge when I'm craving something really sweet, and a candy bar is just not good enough (I enjoy chocolate, I'm just not an addict... it's never my first choice); and as a vegan I haven't found one I'd be willing to spend money on that doesn't have milk products in it. These little gems are really, really, sweet... think strawberry jam... and at $5.99 for 100g... this petite handful cost me $5.09... yes it's a definite treat...

Revlon nail polish

...a huge disappointment. No matter how carefully I apply it, or how long I wait between coats, it always ends up bubbling. I don't know if it's because I use a different brand of base and top coat, but I don't believe so. I've used, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Sephora by OPI, Rimmel, Borghese, Zoya, and Essie nail polish, and I've had no issues. So I will not invest in anymore Revlon nail products. It's too bad, because they have a great color selection, but the quality is poor... the 5 shades I splurged on was money well wasted. As the youtube "beauty gurus" would say it's a definite purchase regret... in the trash they go.

Apologies to Karolina for sticking one in her stocking for Christmas... I didn't know.

pink

Ugh!

The washroom has only 3 stalls... but each stall has a working door... For crying out loud, why can't you close it?!

pretty

pickled tomatoes

A lifetime ago, when I was a kid still living in Poland, each year my mom and grandma would pickle and preserve the little that our small farm would produce. I had no concept of fresh produce in winter or of a supermarket until much later. What veggies we consumed each winter were harvested by us that summer and fall. Now, when I think back on it, I realize how much planning must have gone into making sure we had enough variety (veggies and fruit) to sustain us through the winter.

The first fresh veggie that we got each spring were cucumbers from our neighbor's greenhouse. I cannot describe the taste and smell of the first fresh cucumber of the year, they were heaven...

Well anyway one of my favorite things to eat were my mom's pickled vegetables. Each jar a random combination of onion, carrots, cauliflower and whole tomatoes. I remember fighting with my sisters over the tomatoes if the jar didn't have 3 of them. Pickled tomatoes are really good (or maybe an acquired taste to some), vinegar is the dominant flavor, and they are kind of mushy.

A couple of weeks ago I had a major craving for some pickled tomatoes. When we visited my parents over the Easter weekend I asked if they had some (yup my mom does some preserving here as well, just not on the same scale). The few jars they had were made with habanero pepper and are supposedly really hot... not something I would enjoy... but they had one jar left of just regular pickled tomatoes with onion... but jeez I guess she couldn't find a bigger jar... lol... I wasn't sure if Jay and I could eat all those tomatoes, but then Jay had an idea for a pickled tomato vinaigrette... now that's a winner. It is one of the best vinaigrettes I've ever had. I hope mom makes some more pickled veggies this summer especially tomatoes, now that I've discovered a different way to enjoy them... yum

.... and hmmm pureed they may be a good addition for a kickass Caesar...

favorite

it's wet and foggy outside...

so here is something sunny...

Squirrelly Bread

I love it, most of all because it tastes so very nutty... but all the breads made by this company are delicious, and I'm so glad I've found it on one of my biweekly trips to Whole Foods. Not only is this bread delicious but it is also made without flour and the bags are biodegradable... As Martha would say "that's a good thing" :)...

Side note: I don't buy a lot of things from Whole Foods, just the stuff I can't find anywhere else like Silver Hills bread, spelt pizza dough, and Sol Cuisine products... that store is just way too expensive. Especially the fresh produce... walking through the veggie and fruit aisles you might want to disagree because all the prices look reasonable.. but pay closer attention to the finer print below the listed price where it states that the amount shown is per 100g not per lb... yikes...

vegan chocolate cake....

with orange icing... Jason baked it... and it was worthy of any chocoholic out there...

sunset...

it's been a while since I enjoyed one... and it's the first for vol. 2...

faux chicken for dinner

from the bottom to the top: sauteed swiss chard with shallots, spaghetti squash, faux chicken breast (which I'm glad to say did not taste anything like chicken... it just tasted good)... and mushroom sauce...lately I've become obsessed with Ontario wines, it 's the only type I'm currently drinking... this as a great find at LCBO...
lovely...