My camera is in the Canon county lock-up, ie. the repair shop, for the next week or two. I've become so addicted to having a camera with me at all times that this separation is way harder than expected. Anyway, you can probably anticipate somewhat sporadic posts from me in days to come, at least until I'm with camera once again.
Here is what I've been up to over the past week (just pretend there are accompanying photos):
- Went to a free music festival at the old port on Sunday past
- Ran errands, including a trip to my favorite new leather shop, collecting materials for some consignment items I'll be making special for Nokomis and Victoire (stay tuned over at Ursa Minor)
- Saw Casablanca in a special showing on the big screen (still such! a! good! movie!, Bogart is a total babe)
- Drove out to Wakefield QC for a visit with R's mom and brother and watched The Burning Hell play at the local venue
- Drove into Ottawa for lunch and *finally* met lovely Regine at the beautiful new location of Katie's and her store, Victoire.
- Entertained R's mom as a guest at our home and went on various long walks everywhere until our legs fell apart
- Attended the AIDS Wolf CD release party and got drunk and chatty with a new friend
- Ate a lot of food
I know, I know, the details of my life are just fascinating. Ok, I'm going to go look for my old, broken digital camera now or, perhaps, invest in a disposable. Tiny attention span! Must have pictures!
9/13/10
9/9/10
9/2/10
LOVELY BIRTHDAY BRUNCH
I threw a small birthday brunch for a girlfriend last weekend and it was my favorite sort of simple food. I then followed it up with the richest most ridiculous cake I could think of from a Tartlette recipe and an afternoon at the Vancouver flea market. I love days off.
9/1/10
GLIMPSES OF THE HOME LIFE
Wednesday morning in our living room, enjoying early coffee with Marilyn and the cat. The weather in Montreal is so hot these days that my laundry will dry on the line within minutes. This makes waking up early imperative for getting any work done. I think an afternoon of reading in the park sounds nice, maybe underneath a shady tree.
One day soon I'm going to buy two little wire chairs to put in our living room, I already have my eye on them. And then someday, when the time is right, a kitchen table will find me. And another day, very much in the future, I'm going to recover all my furniture in shades of grey.
8/31/10
THE PERFECT GREY
Zac Posen called grey 'the most elegant neutral', a statement with which I wholeheartedly agree. Long one of my favorite colours, I thought that perfectly pale dove grey would be the ideal shade for our new bedroom.
So I bought a color called 'twilight' (so lame, I know) and brought it home to try it out. Of course when I painted a sample patch both R and I found it way too dark (I forgot to follow my own rule of ALWAYS go a shade lighter than you think you should). Anyway, I ended up mixing the colour I had with some white paint we had sitting around until I found that perfect grey. Genevieve's BF Jon was kind enough to help me paint the bedroom (along with the studio, raymond's studio and a wall in our living room, what a trooper) and voila! my dream dream-shade.
Of course, like much of the rest of our house, there's still a lot to do. I don't have a dresser so all my clothes are presently piled in a trunk on the floor. A chair would be nice, a half-curtain over the window is essential (hello high-density living!) and I hope to hang some more art (maybe a mirror?) soon. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
8/30/10
THE NEW FESTIVAL CITY
My friends Carli-ann & Mike and their daughter Astrid were visiting from Victoria this weekend and we all took advantage of the lovely weather on Saturday to check out two Montreal festivals.
The first was Pointe a Calliere's 18th century public market down near the port in old Montreal. Costumed vendors sold bread and cheese, wine, fruit, pottery, vinegars, wool, woven goods, etc. It was my first visit to old Montreal and the setting could not have been more perfect.
I love how their jackets part at the back to reveal their red tail-feathers.
Later on that evening we trekked north to La Tohu, the national circus school and home to Cirque du Soleil. We went to watch the burning of La Falla, a giant 10 metre high sculpture created by a team of local artists and signifying the end of summer.
The first was Pointe a Calliere's 18th century public market down near the port in old Montreal. Costumed vendors sold bread and cheese, wine, fruit, pottery, vinegars, wool, woven goods, etc. It was my first visit to old Montreal and the setting could not have been more perfect.
Later on that evening we trekked north to La Tohu, the national circus school and home to Cirque du Soleil. We went to watch the burning of La Falla, a giant 10 metre high sculpture created by a team of local artists and signifying the end of summer.
First, little fireworks went off all around the sculpture.
Until the entire thing exploded into light.
And eventually caught fire.
And we watched as the whole creation burned to the ground.
It reminds me of something out of Spinal Tap.
And finally, when there was hardly any sculpture left to burn, a giant fireworks display lit up the sky above.
Fun, fun, good clean fun.
Fun, fun, good clean fun.
8/27/10
BASIL OVERLOAD
Basil is so cheap right now it's hard to decide what to do with it, but in the spirit of preparing for the winter I figured I should freeze (in mass amounts) one of my favorite foods: pesto.
If you have been living a very terrible life and have never made pesto before don't worry because it is so simple. Yesterday I made a large quantity in the food processor, but I have also used small blending attachments for my immersion blender, a mortar and pestle, and I have pre-chopped and then mixed in a bowl -- all approaches worked just fine. The ratio depends on your own tastes but a good starting point is:
-1 large bunch (like one of the two shown above) basil
-juice of half a lemon
-1-2 garlic cloves
-1/3 cup olive oil (more or less as necessary)
-1-2 Tbsp lightly roasted pine nuts
-3-4 Tbsp roasted walnuts (optional, but you should really add them, they are delicious and nutritious and a staple in parts of Italy. I like to add them at the end so they are a bit bigger and crunchier)
-salt and pepper
-Parmesan, finely grated (optional)
(The amount created in my food processor below was from using three and a half bunches of basil)
Then you could make a meal something like this one, or you could use it on potatoes, or on sandwiches, or on top of soups instead of cream/yogurt. Or with poached eggs for breakfast....
...excuse me please.
If you have been living a very terrible life and have never made pesto before don't worry because it is so simple. Yesterday I made a large quantity in the food processor, but I have also used small blending attachments for my immersion blender, a mortar and pestle, and I have pre-chopped and then mixed in a bowl -- all approaches worked just fine. The ratio depends on your own tastes but a good starting point is:
-1 large bunch (like one of the two shown above) basil
-juice of half a lemon
-1-2 garlic cloves
-1/3 cup olive oil (more or less as necessary)
-1-2 Tbsp lightly roasted pine nuts
-3-4 Tbsp roasted walnuts (optional, but you should really add them, they are delicious and nutritious and a staple in parts of Italy. I like to add them at the end so they are a bit bigger and crunchier)
-salt and pepper
-Parmesan, finely grated (optional)
(The amount created in my food processor below was from using three and a half bunches of basil)
Then you could make a meal something like this one, or you could use it on potatoes, or on sandwiches, or on top of soups instead of cream/yogurt. Or with poached eggs for breakfast....
...excuse me please.
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