Easy Chicken

I love making chicken.. but an issue I always tend to have is that it dries out. So... I came up with this.

Double handful of mushrooms
1 red onion

1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp sage
4 cloves garlic
splash lemon juice
couple glugs of Red Wine Vinegar

Chop up the mushrooms and onions, toss them into a mixing bowl.

Throw the coriander, sage, garlic, and lemon juice into a mortar, and bash it all together with a pestle. Once it's good and mashed up, toss it into the onion and mushrooms. Drizzle some vinegar on top, and give it a good toss.

grease your pan with some olive oil, and put the mushrooms in. lay the chicken pieces on top.

Get some wax paper wet, and lay it over the chicken. Put it in the oven at 350 for about 20 min.

Smells SOOOOO good when it comes out! Serve with roasted potatoes and carrots.

Easy Peasy Pickles!

I got an amazing deal the other day, greenhouse grown Ontario baby cucumbers for 2 dollars a pound. I sent my boyfriend to pick up 3lbs.

Then.. I had to pickle them. I was slightly worried because I've never actually made any kind of pickle before. It's something my dad does almost every weekend, and while I know the theory.. I've never done it in practice. So here we go. Basic Dill Pickles.

3lbs pickling cucumbers (cut a small slice off both ends)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 tbsp pickling salt
1 tbsp sugar

for each jar:
2 tbsp dried dill ( I used seed)
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp mustard seed

Basically, put your seeds and garlic at the bottom of a (still hot) sterilized jar, pack your cucumbers on top, and fill with boiling brine. Put a sterilized lid on top, and wait for the POP of success.

The garlic apparently normally turns blue.. I thought it was the strangest thing to see. But apparently it's normal, so I'm sticking to it. Make sure you wedge the cucumbers in such a way that it prevents them from floating and poking out of the brine.

Wait about 4 weeks before sampling, to make sure they've pickled properly.

Considerations

It's slightly awe inspiring how many eggs I'm going through now that I'm trying to eat healthy. I can't keep them in the fridge, and I used to watch them go bad on a regular basis!

My attempts at improving my diet are going really, really well. I've got 3 jars of pickles all set up, my garden planted, my spinach just beginning to pop out of their shells. I'm normally not a huge fan of spinach, and it's not a food I remember my parents regularly shelling out when I was a kid.

But.. I find I really like baby spinach with a bit of salad dressing, and I'm sure it'll taste great braised a little bit. They're growing so well, and I'm so proud of them. The only difficulty is keeping the kitties away from what looks like a litter box!

The basil.. Oh the basil. One of my favorite fresh herbs to cook with, and one of my greatest growing defeats. Turns out it's pretty delicate, and couldn't handle how cold the nights got here in Toronto last summer. As soon as I moved the plant indoors however, it did just fine. Never quite exploded like the mind though.

I bought this plant for 2 dollars yesterday from a little greenhouse down the street, and as usual, I'm in love. Fresh basil has a flavor that really pops out of a dish, and as such goes great with flavors like tomatoes, cinnamon, or even just the leaves tossed into a garden salad. (planted my garden mixed greens yesterday.. Can't wait for them to grow!) The stalks shouldn't be wasted, stir fry them into any dish for a nice basil flavour with a crunch.

Basil is a delicate herb, as I've already mentioned. The one I'm growing is a "Sweet Basil, or Ocimum basilicum, which lends itself beautifully to pasta, salads, or pesto. This is the variety most of us recognize from the grocery. The flavor is so much more intense if you raise it for yourself, the ones the supermarket raises are never really exposed to the elements, and don't develop the same flavor. Mine grows quite well in pots, and it LOVES some heat. The nights NEED to be above 13C, or the plant will suffer.

Don't cook it for very long! Or the flavor will be ruined! The flowers have a lovely scent as well, and should be planted next to tomatoes to provide their neighbor with some aphid protection.

My personal favorite basil recipe is a Jamie Oliver creation, and it just never tastes the same unless made in summer with fresh basil.

Slice up a red onion, and saute it with a bit of olive oil, a tsp of cinnamon, and the couple stalks of basil, with the leaves set aside for later.

When the red onion smells wonderfully sweet and have gone transparent, add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tuna (if you can, used the tuna that's packed in oil)

You're done! Let that simmer for about 20 min to develop the flavors while you make your pasta of choice. Just before serving, sprinkle the reserved basil leaves on top of the dish.

Magnific. Best way to enjoy basil.

Thinking

I had a lot of thinking to get done today. I'm coming out of it no further ahead then I started.

I woke up alone today, even though my boyfriend had told me he would wake me up with him. I didn't make it to the tech office, so I haven't gotten the tools I needed to work on a personal project. Oddly enough, a project I wanted to undertake to make something beautiful for him.

I woke up alone today, and I couldn't find my glasses when I did. My eyesight is so bad that I spent a good half hour crawling around on my hands and knees before I finally broke and called my boyfriend. He knew exactly where I'd left them, as well as the location of the metropass I couldn't find. Needless to say, I feel stupid.

I woke up alone today, and felt like my world was falling apart. My boyfriend and I had a fight last night, and he was angry, or indifferent, enough to break his own rule about always giving a kiss goodbye. I can't help but think that he simply didn't care. My cell phone isn't ringing at all, while normally he texts me constantly during his shifts.

It's a day to sit and reflect. Study, learn, and apply. I learned how to make mayonnaise today, although I'm not sure how I'll be able to go through a cup of it in a week. I pondered finding a local egg farmer, and getting some of those beautiful eggs I remember buying up in mennonite country. I thought about my meat selections, and how hard it was to find locally raised meat. I dreamed about deviled eggs.

In the end.. Nothing has changed. I have my glasses, but I'm still in trouble with my boyfriend. I learned that making mayo would be relatively easy for me, and would save me some money, but I haven't made any. I'm making said mayo out of non-local eggs. I'm still meat starved.

And now I'm heading to work, a bit early because I don't want him to come home and have everything be so quiet and awkward. At least at work I can put on a fake smile and feel like it's worth it.

Inspiration

I've spent a couple of days trying to find my inspiration for. well. life. I know what I want in the end, and I've started funneling money into a savings account to try to get there. Unfortunately, putting 20% of your paycheck into savings means that money starts to get a little tight. I have no need to panic, I can pay my rent and all.. But I still worry.

I'm stressing a bit more because of a new jewelry design I'm trying out. I'm cutting apart a bunch of antique spoons I have lying around, and trying to make them into something new.

The picture to the right is one such bracelet, the silver chain was handmade by myself, and has been soldered so the rings won't EVER spring apart. The silver spoon was found by my father, and has since been curved to match my wrist.

I love it, but I have no idea if I'll be able to market it or not. It's a lovely bracelet and moves easily on my wrist, but I don't know if I'll be able to sell it at all. The thought really worries me.

I'm having trouble remaining inspired right now, because I'm really stressed about my money situation. I shouldn't be, but I can't help it. My savings are going great, but my spending money is tight. Why does it have to be so hard?

Not only that.. my hours have been cut lately. Whoo hooo.

What is Love?

This is a question that I don't think I'll ever be able to answer. I used to think that love was that butterfly feeling I got in my stomach every time I thought about my lover, or the pride I felt in telling people about him. I came to feel that love was accepting all of my partners flaws, and working around them. Never expecting them to fix themselves.

For a while, I thought love was being able to share my lover with whoever he pleased.

Now, I'm neck deep in another relationship, and I still don't think I know what love is.

V-Day has come and gone, as well as the change to commercially prove how much I'm 'loved'. My partner and I didn't really exchange gifts, and we stayed in that day. Shared a bottle of wine, cooked my first stew and baked bread to go with it. Ended up having a fight over a pair of pants I was trying to expand, and I went to bed early. He came in an hour later, and spooned me until we fell back asleep.

What is love? Can it all be wrapped up in a butterfly feeling that disappears after a few months? Is it accepting your partner's flaws and trying to fix them? Is it simply doing whatever your partner wants, personal reservations aside?

I'm a very monogamous person. Similar to a sparrow actually, I'm loyal to my partner, but if my first love is lost, I can learn to love again. But that can't be all that love is.

But then, I can't accept the definition that love is all forgiving and happy. I look at couples that never have an argument, gush all over each other at any given opportunity, and sacrifice their social lives for each other and I just think it's sad. Or is that my jealousy speaking? Is that what love is?

My partner and I argue over stupid things. I can't remember the last time he gushed on about how much he loves me and how perfect we are together, in fact, I don't think he ever has. I have a fully active social life outside of him, although I'm always up for combining the two.

I find when I'm at school, I hope I have enough time to stop at home before work so I can see him. When I'm upset about something he's done or forgotten, I can't help but think about how sad he looks when he knows I'm upset. When I'm cleaning up the kitchen and wish I didn't have to do it, I remember how yesterday he cleaned a lot of the apartment without me asking. When I'm in bed angry and alone, how he comes to bed and pulls me close for a hug before we fall asleep.

What is love? My partner hasn't sworn his undying love for me, he hasn't promised me that we'll always be together, there's no word of a proposal on the winds. Everything that my former lover said to me, hasn't happened in this relationship. Yet, somehow, it feels so much more real to me, so much more possible then what I had before. I worry sometimes, if maybe I'm a little bit more emotionally invested, if maybe I should stop counting my eggs before I count my chickens. Maybe my love of self reliance will prove to be too much, and he'll leave me for a beauty queen who only wants to afford her next bottle of shampoo. Anything could happen, yet I'm always hoping for the best.

Anything could happen. We could go anywhere at this point. But I really just hope he lets me stay on the ride long enough to get the picture near the end.

Is this love?

On Clothes and Thrift Stores.

After multiple conversations with my girlfriends, I've decided to break out my old sewing machine and actually learn how to use it properly.

That being said, I'm on the look out for fabric I can use to sew Tibet-style pants for summer. I'm going to grab some fabric tomorrow to add some side panels to a fav pair of pants I have, so I can wear them again.

My mind is full of sewing ideas. http://www.giannyl.com/ Really didn't help with the fascination.

Might just end up going to Kensington, and buying a crap load of oversized Tshirts to rip apart.