We have to go to the Valley Zoo again!
I got to go to a photo op for a baby squirrel monkey this morning, and the zoo in the morning at this time of year is so quiet! I had a quick look around before I went home. The Arctic foxes were very active, and so were the alpacas. I imagine that the cold weather animals are going to be peppier at this time of year. The rest of ‘em are cosy in the winter pavilion.
Let’s go soon!
When our landlord was taking us on a tour of his house, one of the selling points was the pressure cooker. Not surprisingly, he also invited us to go ahead and use any portion of a very large stash of beans, lentils, and garbanzos stored in large jars in the basement.
What a wonderful offer! Of course, I am now an expert hummus-maker. But it is not until this week that I’ve worked up the courage to use the pressure cooker. What stopped me were imagined scenarios involving too much pressure exploding the pot into stainless steel shrapnel and scalding hot beans and liquid. I needn’t have worried. It’s not that way at all.
The most amazing thing is that I forgot to soak the beans (kidney and black) for the recommended four hour minimum. So I just threw ‘em into the pressure cooker and let it go for half an hour. Turns out, that’s more than enough time to cook beans properly! I can’t believe what I had been missing! It’s a whole new world!
So anyways, a chopped onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms into the pot for a quick sautee, throw in a can of tomatoes and the beans with cumin, chili powder and whatever else I could think of (in hindsight: easy on the cumin), and done. The pot lasted me a solid week of good eating, served with a side of corn bread, sour cream and chopped cilantro.
You shouldn’t be afraid of making a nice lasagna when you have a craving. Sure it’s an obscene amount of food for just one (or two), but really: you can freeze some of it, or eat lasagna for a delicious leftover lunch for several days, or invite some pals to share it. For not much more than $10, you have a massive amount of food!
There are two kinds of noodle. There’s the kind you boil ahead of time, or the kind that cooks in the pan. There’s nothing wrong with going for the easy, cook-in-the-pan kind, but you’ll need more sauce and I find it can be a bit runny. Anyhow, tonight I cooked some spinach lasagna noodles for a nice veggie lasagna.
I layered tomato-based sauce (sauteed onions, yellow and orange pepper, a can of crushed tomatoes, s&p, oregano) with some frozen chopped spinach (boiled quickly in salted water with a half jar of pesto in there for yumminess) and ricotta cheese. You could also use cottage cheese, but oh! Ricotta! Then I covered the last layer with some slices of mozzarella, then popped the deal into the oven. I’m waiting for it now, but when the cheese is melted and a little golden, it’ll be done. You can vary the vegetables, or put a meat sauce instead of spinach. I just decided to go meatless tonight because I had a Teenburger for breakfast.
Impress your friends! Be the envy of the potluck! But do it!
This dinner idea is so good it deserves ALL-CAPS. BURRITO!
It’s so easy and so good. I make it veggie, ’cause meat is kinda redundant here. You need some tortillas, a can of refried beans, and whatever you want in it. I like fried onions and peppers (an orange one, in this case), sour cream, salsa, chopped cilantro, a little rice, and some avocado slices. I warm up the refried beans (and yeah, I should totally learn to make it from scratch), put a dollop of each ingredient into the tortilla, then wrap ‘er up.
Too easy! And everyone loves them. EVERYONE. It’s barely work to put it together. It’s a PARTY!
This is adapted from a Stilton and mushroom pie from Meat Free Mondays, except I couldn’t get green peppercorns or Stilton from the store and used goat cheese instead. It’s so delicious!
I ignored the pastry recipe from the website, since I don’t have a kitchen scale to weigh my flour. I whizzed a quarter cup of butter together with maybe a cup and a bit of flour, an egg, and a little soy milk. Something like that; don’t hold me to it!
The filling is a chopped onion, about a pound of Crimini mushrooms, a couple spoons of tomato paste, a little soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer with a cup of veggie stock, fill the pie crust, add dollops of cheese, top the pie, brush with a beaten egg, bake.
Anyhow, it’s wonderful. You can make it vegan easily by using shortening and omitting the eggs and cheese.
I hate to speak ill of children’s entertainers, but the more I think about it, the more it bugs me: the science in Ellen Chorley’s The Tortoise and the Hare is terrible. So much so that it kind of ruined the good parts of the show (the performances, the dazzling effects).
In it, the hare is a high-maintenance businesswoman who is hellbent on finding the best fuel source for Storyland’s satellite launch. She’s going to do it by any means necessary, which in this context means toxicity and greenhouse gasses be damned. The tortoise is trying to find a renewable source. Fine, a good message!
However, when the renewable resource ends up being LIQUID SUNSHINE mixed– slowly, natch– into a mysterious photoshynthesis-making solution that creates AIR to propel the rocket, well… I kind of lost it.
Air is not the primary product of photosynthesis. In the simplest of terms, sugar is. Sugar, which burns. Or ferments. They could’ve gone the biofuels route. But AIR? Seriously? Compressed air? And they had to simulate photosynthesis to get it?
Here’s how they could’ve made it awesome: instead of focussing on the product of the research, they could’ve written it as about the process. As in, the tortoise follows proper scientific method: experimentation, followed by careful repetition to see if there are consistent results. Science is all about slow and steady, so it would’ve been perfect. They almost went this route, but no.
It’s a real shame. It’s not OK to lie to kids, even if you think that the message to your story is good. If the message of the Tortoise and the Hare is to be careful and accurate, well, it’s undermined by the sloppy science. It’s kind of disrespectful to fudge the facts so much, especially when the show is all about taking the time to do it right.
This party snack staple is sold in little tubs for way too much money. If you make it yourself, it costs, like, $2 a litre. Here’s what you do:
Either soak and boil a cup of dry chickpeas, or buy a can. If you use dry chickpeas, you’ll feel like a scratch-cooking hero, plus it’s even cheaper. It’s not hard: soak the peas in water overnight, then boil the heck out of them for about an hour. Throw ‘em while they’re hot into a food processor and process them with some olive oil, water (the stuff you cooked it in is great!), the juice of a lemon, a couple peeled cloves of garlic, and a spoonful of tahini. Salt to taste. In fact, everything to taste: more or less garlicky, lemony, tahini-y, according to what tastes right to you.
THAT’S IT. Crazy! And I don’t have to tell you how good hummus is for you.
When my parents lived in Indonesia, they had friends who were also Canadian ex-pats who were Pakistani. My mom got this recipe from them. It’s easy and really good– the chicken melts off the bone.
You take a bunch of chicken pieces (I used drumsticks) and brown them in a little oil. Remove them, then fry up a little minced ginger and garlic, add a chopped onion, and season with cumin, turmeric, and chili powder. I used spice rack pre-mixed curry since there was no chili powder. Add the chicken in again with a spoon of Better than Bouillon (or a chicken cube). Cook over very low heat, covered for an hour. Be careful not to burn it like I did. VERY LOW HEAT! Otherwise, that’s it.
In the last half hour or so, I put in some broccoli so I would have a vegetable. It got overcooked. I served the whole mess over Basmati rice (cooked perfectly!) and a spoon of mango chutney. Delicious!
So I spent 9 hours volunteering at the AGA today. It was awesome. Here’s why:
Volunteering is, overall, an awesome thing to do. People treat you like a superhero, and you get free pizza. People should volunteer more.
They started the tours on the third floor, where the Miller/Cardiff sound installation is. This means that people go to see the more conceptual media art first. This is good! And people love it! One dude said it was “As good as AC/DC.” I think that people are a little reluctant to see media art because it’s unfamiliar– they understand paintings and sculpture as art, but “sound” and “video” are intimidating. But once they see it, it makes sense. It’s stereo systems and TV’s, and we LOVE those things. AGA, take note! Don’t rely too heavily on old masters.
On the second floor, visitors had a chance to see the Storm Room, also by Miller/Cardiff. It’s a soothing break, and again, the subject of a lot of discussion. People said either, “We live on the prairies so a storm is no big deal,” which is sort of awesome when the idea of the room is simulated reality, or they love the experience of being in a storm, period. Kids love it, though!
I had a whirlwind tour of the Karsh in the last five minutes of the gallery’s hours. It’s gorgeous. And also, a great place to people-watch. My favourite? “Look, that’s Churchill. And Einstein. OOOOH! BRYAN ADAMS!” Or some kid: “Is that Einstein? How old is he?” People instantly recognize his most famous images.
Then, downstairs to the Degas and Goya. I didn’t have a chance to see the Goya, but the Degas crowds were fascinating. The security guard asked me if this was a famous painter. I told him yes, but less famous than Leonardo Da Vinci, who he did know. He was cool– recently immigrated from India, waiting to get landed immigration status to start his EMS certification. Anyhow, some people were put off by the idea that they were looking at casts from original wax sculptures, but I explained to them that sculptors don’t usually exhibit wax, that making bronze sculptures involves making wax moulds for castings anyways. The idea of “original” is kind of grey when it comes to sculptors (and printmakers, and photographers). I think the AGA could make this point stronger, to avoid alarmist “THE STATUES ARE COPIES!” articles like the one in Vue this week. Of course they’re copies. It’s not a big deal. The drawings, in pastel, are real. And some of the frames as original, as pointed out by a grinning Catherine Crowston, who took a shift protecting the artwork!
All in all, the reception to the art was as interesting as the works themselves. People looked in awe, intimidation, or boredom. All fair reactions. As crowds walked by, they would smile, or mouth silently, “WOW!” Some people would wait impatiently as their waited for friends to finish looking, ladies would discuss heatedly this or that photo. Gallery educators answered questions, and posed some themselves.
I hope people take advantage of the AGA. Memberships are relatively inexpensive, and they are planning once-a-month free admission (Family Day is the next one). Once the hype has worn down, free days are going to be awesome. You should go! Or volunteer, and get passes. See? Everyone wins.
PS they’re looking for volunteers for the chic Refinery party next Saturday. For $45 a pop, it’s out of a lot of people’s range, but you can go for free (and get a pass!) if you volunteer.
Dear Hollywood, more Paul Bettany please. Even in this, he’s quite lovely.
Legion is, I think , an attempt at the Christian-horror genre. It’s not good, but it’s interesting in its own ways. In fact, as Christian horror, it’s an utter failure, unless you think that the whole angels-as-killer-zombies thing is NOT blasphemous. If you can let go of that, you might have a good time, if you also let go of the fact that it’s deeply silly.
And oh yeah, there’s the whole sometimes-you-have-to-disobey-to-do-the-right-thing problem. I can’t imagine that’ll go over well.
In it, God is so ticked off, he’s wiping the slate clean. But the angel Michael loves us so much that he’s willing to renounce his wings and disobey his boss to help out a group of misfits in an isolated roadside diner. After all, the waitress is pregnant with the blessed child sent to save us all. Kind of like Terminator.
But there’s no flood this time, instead, He’s going with the very inefficient zombie massacre route. Apparently angels can possess the weakest-minded humans to do their dirty work, which give us the pleasure of seeing a little granny go all Exorcist on us, climbing the walls and spitting out hateful theology. The ice cream man even gets a little werewolfy, growing elongated limbs. And there’s a creepy child. There must always be a creepy child.
But really. If God wants to get rid of his most beautiful creation, why would He do it in a way that is so easily thwarted with machine guns? Or why not possess one of the people in the diner?
And the whole love-the-human-race-so much thing is done up much better in Wings of Desire. I would love to see that again.