Larocque and Roll

That’s more like it July 23, 2007

After a longish week, I had high hopes for the weekend. And happily, everything went better than expected.

Saturday morning I biked down to the market with a fellow knitter and neighbour. After we got back, I turned right around and headed for the bike path along the waterfront - it was the best bike ride I’ve been on in a while.

I put handy circles around where I started and where I turned around to go home - the trail runs along a main road for a while before it hits the next dedicated bike path. My water was running low, it was getting close to noon and I didn’t want to run out of energy before I got home. On the way, though, I stopped and got an ice cream cone!

When I did get home, I did make the mango sorbet (tasty!) and did the three big chores I’ve been putting off for weeks - washing the basement floor, cutting the grass and weeding the garden along the side of the house. To be fair, I’d put off the weeding and grass cutting because it’s been raining for the better part of the month so far, so it’s not like I did it on purpose. I also finished watching “Freaks and Geeks” - it’s a surprisingly sensitive, funny and heartbreaking show. Too bad it only lasted one season.

Sunday was pretty great, too. I got groceries early, then ran to the theater to catch “Live Free of Die Hard” (geeky and action-y!). For dinner, I barbecued some salmon steaks, which were kind of boring on their own. Looking around to see what I had, I eventually threw together an improvised mango relish/chutney thing.

If my memory serves me correctly, it goes something like this: heat about 1 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat, then sprinkle dried chilies into the pot and let brown a little - don’t burn them! Finely chop about a quarter of a medium onion and throw it in, and let cook until the onion is soft. Cut a 1 inch cube of fresh ginger into small chunks and add to onions and chilies. Finely chop up 1 mango into tiny cubes, and finely chop a quarter of a red pepper, and add it to everything else. Stir for a few minutes, then add the juices of 1 lemon and 1 lime, and roughly 1 tsp brown sugar. Cook, stirring continuously, until the mango is soft, then serve! As with everything else, add more or less ginger and chili depending on how hot you like it. I will say that it’s pretty tasty, and I’m planning the rest of my menu for the week around it.

And thus ended a pretty good weekend.

Five July 17, 2007

1. Move Your Feet - Junior Senior

This is Carl at two months. It is quite possibly the most adorable picture I’ve ever seen. Look at it and try not to say “awwww!”

Thanks to my sister who took and sent me this picture, never expecting that I’d use it and exploit it in such a manner. I’m a bad auntie, I know.

2. Balloon - Royal Wood

This is my new set of wheels. I ride it to work and around. Tonight I went on a bike ride down to Main Street, then down to the waterfront, where there’s a bitchin’ bike trail along the lake. I didn’t get very far because I didn’t have any water or a wallet, and I’m going out tonight.

3. Sanssouci - Rufus Wainwright

Finally! A picture of the jam made on the long weekend! It’s strawberry, which is my favourite, although the jar in front is raspberry, courtesy of my sister. She’s got quite a few bushes beside her house, and there was enough to make a batch of jam and thensome.

4. Sunday Morning - K-OS

One sock down, one to go. There’s three weeks left, and I’m a little over halfway finished the foot on the second sock. It’s going much faster now that I know what I’m doing. with the pattern.

5. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon

The first pea plants are huge, and there are now a dozen pods on the plant. Not wanting any to go to waste, I’ve already snacked on the few which were fat and ripe, and there are plenty left. There are also ten more plants from seeds I planted in June, all in their own individual pots.

Your teachers lied when they said this wasn’t a popularity contest March 15, 2007

1. Go to the CBC website and search for “M a n s b r i d g e heat v i s i o n” (leaving out the extra spaces). Because the kind folks at This Hour Has 22 Minutes want that to be the number 1 search for the week. And because they (and I) told you to.

2. Also at the CBC - it was recently brought to my attention that North Bay was in the top ten cities to be Hockeyville Canada, and then we made it into the top five. Go us? (I’d be more excited, but like I said, I just found this out and haven’t been able to whip myself into a froth of civic frenzy.) This amuses me because Noelville is also in the top five, and it’s less than an hour from here.

3. Band Madness is so much fun. It’s a full-on, battle-to-the-death, ladder contest between a series of bands [1]. Some of the matchups confound me (who the hell are the Aphex Twins?) Some of the matchups tear me apart (Leonard Cohen or the Dropkick Murphys? I can’t decide!) Some of results amuse me (The Clash are kicking Little Feat’s ass). There’s still some time to vote in this round - it’s still in the first round, and they’re being done in pools.

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve voted for one of these three things on more than one computer - mostly my work computer and my laptop at home. But also a few of the circulation computers.

[1] Or, as we use to call them in fencing, repechages. But we were all snooty and French like that.

Friday night in the Big Smoke February 2, 2007

Yet another day of running around and doing stuff.

I forgot to mention I met Jen Wednesday night - I don’t think I totally freaked her out, but she did give me a deserved “And you are…?” look at first. Sorry about that. And today Jorge and I met for coffee, and had a lovely chat. Next time, I promise I’ll give you more warning and we’ll hit the pub.

There were other things, but it’s late-ish, I’m tired, and I have to pack. I’ll post tomorrow or later this weekend. How’s that for being vague?

It’s still Wednesday somewhere January 11, 2007

While this won’t be the most random post ever, it’s going to come close.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been enduring warmish, unseasonable weather here in the “frozen” north. This is my third winter up here, and there have been precious few days where I’ve thought to myself, “Colder than a witch’s teat out there, it is.” [1] So, Sunday night it starts snowing - big, fluffy flakes. It’s all pretty and winter-like outside, and I should be happy it’s starting to look and feel seasonal out there.

Except…

Sunday night I watched “Perfect Storm” on the Discovery Channel, and they were focusing on the ice storm in Montreal a few years ago, and what could have made it worse. Lovely! Now I’m looking at all that beautiful, fluffy snow on the branches of the trees, and thinking, “what if it starts to freezing rain? What then?” [2]
~

Looking back at my efforts to track what I read last year, again I failed miserably. At least I managed to make it to the June books before the end of the year. The problem is that I failed to record the books I read from October on. I have a quick list on a post-it note on the front of the notebook I use to track these things, but I’m sure I’m missing at least two, plus the one I read at the beginning of December, which I’ve totally forgotten, and the two I read over the Christmas holidays (The Time Traveler’s Wife - absolutely stunning; and A Brief History of the Dead - eerie and riveting). [3]

So I’m not sure what to do with regards to recording my reading progress. I could try and keep up with that blog, but only doing the books that really left an impression on me, and doing a complete, but brief, monthly list over here. That way, it feels less like homework and more like me telling you “you should read this! And here’s why!”

~

I’d like to open all my windows and blare Sleater-Kinney’s “Entertain” to the neighbourhood. However, it’s -26 out there at the moment, and my laptop speakers aren’t all that powerful, so it wouldn’t make that much of an impact. But it feels like one of those songs you need to play loud and throw the horns at. Then follow it up with Le Tigre’s “TKO.” [4]

~

Another thing I used to keep track of was what I was knitting. I know this because I was tagging my archives a few months ago[5] when I switched over to this site, and came across my works in progress updates. I should start doing that again, because I’m still knitting a lot, but just not showing much of anything. My most recent project?

This was supposed to be for my mother for Christmas, but I wasn’t finished. I’m well over halfway done the second sock now.

~

Anyhow. That’s enough randomness for one evening. Maybe I’ll do some more knitting stuff tomorrow.

~

[1] Yes, I talk like Yoda when I’m thinking to myself. Problem with that have you?
[2] All my fears are rational!
[3] I have a feeling there was another one in there, but it’s also been forgotten.
[4] Which I used to hate, but it’s really grown on me.
[5] Um, I’m still not done. I sort of crapped out during April 2005, I think.

Last post of the year December 31, 2006

Yesterday I was out running some errands, and I stopped in at Zellers to look for a plastic bin for my scarves, mittens and hats, but I didn’t see anything that tickled my fancy.

(…What? Where was I last week? I went home for Christmas for a few days. I took the train down, partied hard with the ‘rents and the sibs, and then took the train back. I had to work this weekend, so I couldn’t stay for long.)

So, finding no bins, I went to look at blinds, because I needed something for the window in the kitchen. My window looks into my neighbour’s kitchen window, and it’s kind of disconcerting at times.

(…Sorry? Where have I been for the last few months? I apologize for that. I’ve been busier than I expected, what with the new job, moving, NaNoWriMo, and the new job. Sometimes I compose blog posts in my head, but then I get home and all I can think is “……………..”)

Back to my story - I found bamboo blinds for the living room window, because the curtain there was falling apart. When I got to the checkout, I was told that blinds were on sale - buy one, get one free. Woo-hoo! There hadn’t been one that would exactly fit the kitchen window, but bamboo can be trimmed - good enough! And in a fit of ambition, I got both of the up last night!

(…I beg your pardon? What did I get for Christmas? A pasta maker and a ravioli press, maple syrup from my parent’s neighbour’s sugar bush, a set of frying pans, a ball winder (yay!), a knitting calender, a cookbook, fluffy sheets, a sweater, and some baskets. No, I couldn’t get it all back because the train company frowns on bringing wheelbarrows onto the train, so the ‘rents are bringing what I couldn’t carry when they come up in March. Can I finish my story?)

In a further fit of ambition, today I finally got my books onto the bookcases (it only took three months), hung a bulletin board in the office, hung a dry erase board in my kitchen, did the dishes, went for groceries, and made cream of carrot soup and zesty cornmeal bread. I was going to make foccacia bread, but I didn’t have enough flour.

(…You again? What am I doing to ring in the new year tonight? I was just getting to that!)

Plans for tonight changed several times over the past few days, but the one constant was wanting to be anti-social. There were plans for someone to have a trivia games party, but it turns out everyone else wanted to be anti-social too, so I got to do what I had wanted to do all along - stay home in my pj’s, knit and watch movies. It’s not that I wouldn’t have like to play trivia games, but I just wanted to stay home tonight.

(…What am I knitting? A sock. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I only had one done at the time. I’m at the heel on the second sock, so it shouldn’t take much longer. Podcasts, especially the three hour round-table Battlestar Galactica discussion, make wonderful knitting accompaniment. And to answer the question I know you’re going to ask next: yes, I did buy yarn when I was home. It’s pretty and soft and I loves it.)

Any more questions? No? Okay then! Happy New Year!

December 4, 2006

What I did this weekend:
Worked.
Cleaned my bathroom.
FINALLY packed up and put away my summer clothes.
Tidied off my desk.
Washed the dishes five or six times. (And yet, there’s still more. Why?)
Put up Christmas lights.
Bought a snow shovel.
Did groceries.
Got an extension cord for the Chinese laterns which have been hanging in my kitchen for over a week.
Watched:

• the first six episodes of season 1 of Doctor Who
• the first four episodes of season 1 of Veronica Mars
• the unaired pilot for the Aquaman show which didn’t get picked up by the CW network (my review: cheesy, but lead actor was definite eye-candy)
• Battlestar Galactica. The. Best. Episode. Ever!

Knit like the wind. Or at least what passes for the wind in my case.

What I didn’t do this weekend.
Sweep.
Dust the stairs.
Laundry (d’oh! I was going to do that tonight and forgot!)
Excerpts. I’m working on that tonight.

There were other things, but I’ve forgotten them. Quel surprise.

Co-inkidink? I think so… December 7, 2004

I have a history of experiencing weird coincidences (coincidents?). Ask me to tell you about the first week of grad school. (Actually, don’t bother asking - if I’ve known you more than a month, chances are good that I’ve probably already told you and you’re already bored of it.)

Anyways, in the past two weeks, I’ve been going through another flurry of “Wow, that’s weird” moments.

Weird moment #1: I was cruising around the IMDb site, and came across Callum Keith Rennie’s filmography. Now, some of you may know/remember him as Stan “Ray” Kowalski from later seasons of Due South, or from eXistenZ or Last Night. I noticed that he had appeared on an episode of “Bliss”, which I thought was odd, but meh - I’ve harboured a secret crush Jeff Goldblum for years, so there’s really no accounting for my taste.

Flipping channels a few days later, didn’t I happen to catch his episode of Bliss on Showcase?

Weird moment #2: Last week, famous Canadian mucky-muck Pierre Burton passed away. He was a journalist and prolific writer, mostly about Canadian history and politics.

On Saturday, I grabbed a page from a newspaper to clean my mirror (use vinegar and newspaper to clean your mirrors and windows - there’s something about the vinegar and the amonia in the newspaper that leaves a shiny, streak-free finish). I have a bag of papers that had been packing material last time I brought stuff from home. I opened the page to crumple it up, and didn’t I find an article about Burton written by Allan Fotheringham - my favourite Canadian columnist? (Lest you think it was a recent paper, the date on the page was October 8th - almost a month old.)

Weird moment #3: On Definitely Not The Opera on Saturday afternoon on CBC Radio 1 (so-called because on Saturday afternoons on CBC Radio 2 is Saturday Afternoon at the Opera) they were profiling “hosers” (which is a slang word for a certain type of Canadian - roughly equivalent to a redneck or a yobbo, but with differences). One of the things they were doing to celebrate hoser-culture was playing songs that could be closely identified as being “hoser”.

Around quarter after four, didn’t they play Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “Sudbury Saturday Night?” (Actually, this is more ironic than coincidental). I however, was not on my way to play bingo, nor did I have any plans to get stink-o, and I don’t normally think of Inco on a daily basis anyways.* I was getting ready to go to the grocery store before church, and then I was going home to do laundry.

*The song opens with the lines, “Oh, the girls are out to bingo / and the boys are getting stink-o [drunk] / We’ll think no more of Inco [the company who own the mines] / for it’s Saturday tonight.”

These are the groceries purchased by a gal with tiny demons inhabiting her sinuses December 4, 2004

• Milk
• cereal - Harvest Crunch
• corn starch
• jam (I had to buy jam because I cannot get the lid off the jar of homemade strawberry jam my mother gave me. It’s completely adult-proof, I tell ya)
• organic bananas (they don’t go overripe as fast as non-organic bananas)
• Boursin - in nifty pepper flavour! (Boursin is a cream cheese-like spread. The garlic spread is delish, and I was told by the checkout girl that the pepper version only lasts a day at her house)
• chocolate chips
• cheese (cheddar)
• raspberry newtons
• chicken Bombay salad (for supper. It was okay, but I can still taste it almost five hours later)
• sausage roll (also supper)
• loaf of bread

There is a reason why this is interesting. Actually…. no, there isn’t. I just felt like throwing it on here as an example of how exceedingly scattered I am when I have a headache. It’s cold here, but a dry cold. Very dry cold. As in, my sinuses dry up on a daily basis. I get headaches at least once or twice a week, and today was one of those days. I needed a couple of things from the store, but it could have waited. However, when my head hurts, I sometimes make silly choices, like going for groceries, despite the fact my stomach was also getting in on the act by alternately telling me, “I’m hungry! Feed me!” and “I think I’m with the head on this one - I hurt and I think I’m gonna hurl soon.”

So, I ended up getting stuff I didn’t really need, like the Boursins, the salad, and the sausage rolls because I was hungry. I needed corn starch and chocolate chips, but not right away - I may bake this weekend, but I may not, so it wasn’t like it was an emergency. Also, I didn’t get things I could have used, like chicken, green peppers, zucchini, and potatoes and leeks (for soup) because looking at them made me ill. And I didn’t get stuff I actually needed because I didn’t know I needed it, or I knew I needed it but didn’t know how much I had left (stop me if I sound a little like this). Which means I’m going to have to make at least one trip back to the grocery store tomorrow *sigh*…

As for the rest of the weekend… November 28, 2004

…mostly, it involved vegging. In front of the computer. Ostensibly, I was working on my NaNo story, which I did make some headway on. I won’t be hitting 50,000 words by Tuesday night, and it was a nice fantasy of mine, believing that I would get anywhere close to that, seeing as November is generally a hectic month for me. If I hit 25,000 words, I’ll be happy.

I also managed to make it to church on Saturday night (I’m a Liberal-Cynical Catholic). Somehow, every year I manage to make it to the first Advent mass, and then miss everything else until Christmas. But it was good that I made it out, if only that I now realize there’s only roughly four weeks ’till Christmas. It’s a nice church, and even though the priest’s attempts at humour sometimes fall flat, I don’t get the overwhelming urge to stand up and argue with him during the homily.

It snowed. Then it rained. Rained some more. And then it snowed again. Right now, I think it’s just windy. I know this because I’ve discvered that there’s a draft around my balcony door. I have some rags that I can stuff into the cracks.

Aaaaand…. it’s back to work tomorrow. Bother, as Pooh would say.