Farewell Summer

Most of the sun is gone from our deck, now. With the onset of cooler temperatures and grey skies, fall is making itself known here. I must say, it was a gloriously warm and sunny summer. All of July (although I was in Calgary for most of it, it was boiling there!) and August felt a bit like paradise. It was so nice to have it hot when family was visiting, too! Sometimes the grey skies are a bit daunting, and although I do like the cool walks in the neighbourhood, and it's not like it's getting COLD here, it's just...definitely not summer anymore. So I'm posting these pictures to remember the warm days, to remember strolling the neighbourhood in a summer dress, to remember when light filled our north-facing living room and when the sand was hot. Farewell, summer. 

Cooking, Baking, Etc.

What are your favourite cookbooks? Whose recipes do you use? Do you just cook what you feel, or from things your mom or dad or grandparents taught you? Do you look up a lot of recipes on-line? When I first started cooking more after TJ and I got married, (before that I worked at a restaurant and ate mostly things with melted cheese on them for over a year) I came up with the weirdest concoctions. I had this attitude that I knew how to cook, when really I didn't. Then a bit later I started using cookbooks and following recipes. That helped! For me, I had to get a grasp of the basics before I could get creative, you know? And now, I still use mostly recipes, but can venture out now and again.

One of my all-time favourite cookbooks, as almost any friend of mine already knows, is More With Less, and I know it's a favourite of several of my friends, too. Lately I've been thinking a lot about eating cheaply, simply, and...just....healthier. Ugh. Although I know healthy doesn't always have to be....gross? Just jokes, actually, healthy is delicious! But I get on these unhealthy kicks, and they turn into ruts.....

On another note, I made crackers a while back....from an online recipe. They were good with cheeses, and would definitely be better if you spiced them up a little. The reason I like on-line recipes is because you can read the reviews, which really helps.

Oh, and I made use of free and cheap berries and made two blackberry chocolate pies, two triple berry pies, and a blackberry cobbler last week. I had one HECK of a time rolling out my crust, and I'm about to try a different recipe now! The one pie I sort of cut out of the picture (top left) was the ugliest pie I have ever made...it kind of looked like a crime scene. Anyways, we ate the cobbler and it was alright, and I froze the pies. I just have such a domestic twist in me, sometimes!

Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Cookies

This afternoon TJ said to me, "Remember when you used to make those cookies in Medicine Hat, that were kind of a drop cookie or something?" In fact, they were brown sugar cookies, and they are an old-fashioned recipe. I haven't made them in years, so I instantly went into the kitchen and got started on them (not much impulse control going on today). I just love the way the recipe is written, because I think it comes from the time of wood burning stoves! I got the recipe nine or ten years ago from a website that I can't find anymore.

Anyways, if you like simple, plain cookies that go good with coffee or milk, here is the recipe. I have added some of my own comments (in brackets), because they can be a little tricky to make 

the first time.

Brown Sugar Cookies

2 cups brown sugar (I used Demerara)

1 cup melted shortening (I used to always substitute butter instead of shortening in the past, and in my opinion, butter is better. Today I used shortening because I had it on hand, and they were not quite as good)

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon soda

Flour to mix stiff (I used whole wheat flour this time, but they are better tasting with all-purpose flour)

Mix ingredients in order given.

Add just enough flour to roll. (This is actually quite a lot of flour! Add it slowly by the half cup, and when it is getting less sticky but too hard to mix with the spoon, you must simply use your hands! Also, they roll out pretty nicely, just remember to dust your surface and rolling pin with flour)

Cut in shapes as desired. (I used the screw band from a mason jar lid)

Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake in a moderate hot oven. (I have figured out, I think I remember a phone call to my gramma about this, that the right temp is about 375 degrees. There is no baking time on the recipe, but they are cooked within 7-9 minutes, no longer or they will dry out)

Enjoy! They make quite a few - I had three large cookie sheets full, 

with a few scraps left over for Ares.

Pie update...with a cat rabbit trail.

Well, I can't resist the charm of baking pies, and I finally made a blackberry pie! I went blackberry picking on Tuesday with a friend, and we found a great spot in an industrial area parking lot. It's amazing to me how these berries are an invasive species here, and crawling over the entire city.

For the pie, I used this recipe from Allrecipes. It's an extremely simple and easy recipe. 

I decided I want to get better at making pie crusts, so I watched a few videos before trying my crust (I'm still using the same Crisco crust recipe). I really want to achieve that light and flaky crust.

Unfortunately, I didn't add enough water or something, because it was really hard to roll out again, and I had to kind of patch the bottom crust together...although TJ commented the crust did seem lighter.

I followed the reviewer's suggestions to add lemon juice and dot with butter.

I also followed the reviewer's suggestions to coat the bottom of the crust in egg, so that the berries don't make it soggy (which seemed to work!). And then, my first attempt at lattice crust. It probably wasn't the best time to try, considering my crust was falling apart, but I love the look of it. I got some great instructions from here.

Random story: I insisted on having coffee with the pie last night, and ended up not being able to fall asleep later. I finally got up and googled how to sleep after drinking coffee. I did some running on the spot while I heated a cup of warm milk in the microwave, ate a crust of bread, and did some progressive relaxation. Worked well...until we were woken up by a cat fight outside our window, that is. It would have been fine, except that this cat kept moaning and moaning. TJ and I were concerned it might be badly hurt, so we decided to get up and try and find it. What kept running through my head was that we needed to find a cardboard box, in case it was injured, so we could keep it in that.

Sure enough, there were two cats on the other side of the fence by our window. There was a black cat that belongs to our neighbor, but the one that was moaning was a big orange tabby. It didn't appear to be hurt, and when TJ shone the flashlight on it, it just moaned and looked at us. I think the two cats were still fighting. I remember laughing when we went back inside and TJ said that it was kind of anti-climactic. He was worried that we would find a hurt or mangled cat, but all we ended up finding was this big orange cat that just stared at us! Strange night!

 August has been a pie-month, actually. In addition to the berry pie, my sister and I tried out a lemon-meringue! My sis did the meringue, and I did the pudding part - I must say it turned out pretty tasty!

After the lemon meringue, I had a spare crust to deal with, so I made a chocolate mocha chiffon from the company's coming pie book that Lori gave me. It turned out okay, but I let one part of the pudding sit too long in the fridge, and it got stiff and hard to mix with the rest of the ingredients, so the smooth chiffon-esque appeal was kind of lost. Ah well. 

Bees & East Van

I've been thinking a lot about beekeeping again. I had contacted a local beekeeper and was invited to go and check some hives with him last night. The hives are in the Cottonwood community garden in east van. It was so awesome. The gardens themselves are unbelievably picturesque, plus it was so nice to be around some bees. I found the below picture on-line:

I didn't take any pictures of the hives last night, but I have taken a few of others here and there:

I have so many good things connected with beekeeping. For one, beekeeping is very connected with my dad, because we kept hives together for a few years. And I love the fact that my grampa (dad's dad) also kept bees. Last night I was reminded of the interesting generational mix that beekeeping is. I also connect beekeeping with a very peaceful vibe. You have to be fairly gentle around bees, and in reality a lot of what you are doing is watching the bees do what they do. I always come away with a good feeling and smelling all smokey. I hope I can find some way to keep a hive next year. Last night I learned how much longer the season is here.

Also yesterday I went to east van twice, once to pick up a veil from this new store, which is pretty amazing, and the only place you can buy beekeeping equipment in Vancouver. And secondly, later to the community gardens. Although my job was in the downtown east side, I never spent a lot of time there outside of work. I found myself approaching the area with a totally different perspective yesterday.

Sun Times

The last while has been a bit of a blur. After celebrating mine and TJ's anniversary, I flew out the next morning and got to see my family and friends and attend my nephew's first birthday in Camrose! And I'm looking forward to a relaxing August. But for now, I have left TJ in van-city and am in Alberta, with two weeks left of my summer institute.

My mom and I watched the fireworks on July1st, from the field by their house. And I ended up getting one of my papers in very early that morning. And now....I'm in Calgary, baby. I have been loving the big prairie skies here.

School has been busy and it's been awesome to interact with my classmates in real life. It's funny how on-line interaction is so different than real life. It's so one-dimensional. I'm glad to see that all my other classmates are human beings, just like me. That may sound strange, but I'm not going to rephrase it! (Frankly, I've been doing enough of that lately...)

Also, I got my first pair of sunglasses in a few years, bit the bullet, so to speak. And I am proud of them, thus the cheesy self-portrait. There, how's that for a random blog post?

And to leave you with more randomness, here's the words to the song I am listening to right now:

Oh very young, what will you leave us this time?
You're only dancing on this earth for a short while
And though you're dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your daddy's best jeans
Denim blue, fading up to the sky
And though you want 'em to last forever, you know you never will
You know you never will
And the patches make the goodbye harder still


Oh very young, what will you leave us this time?
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see better days
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you ride the great white bird into heaven?


And though you want to last forever, you know you never will

Colour

The flowers here never cease to amaze moi. It appears to be rose season, well, that and weird and wonderful season. Some flowers here make me want to sing "undah-tha-sea..." I remember, as a kid, being amazed at the big leaves and pine cones my cousin from BC collected and gave to me, along with seashells you could "hear the ocean in". Apparently flowers are huge here, too.

To be honest, I haven't been outside too much lately. Today I did get dressed, but quickly changed back into more comfortable sweats and literally sat on the couch for hours doing homework. Then, I got a bit of energy, did some rebounding, and started my paper-mapping --> this weird new way that I write papers. I make the planning process kind of like an art project, and use mr. sketch smelly markers, etc.

Also, I've gotten the chance to do some art work, because of the self-study art therapy modules I'm working on right now. I love it to pieces, and am especially reminded of how I need and want to increase my art-making skills. Even though being an art therapist is not about helping people make a perfect product, it is still necessary for me to have some artistic skills. The willingness and adventure: I already possess. The discipline and skills: I need to work on. Okay, time to get back to school, I suppose.