Don’t try this at home…

January 30, 2007 at 1:12 AM (Uncategorized)

Well, it been an interesting week, or I guess I should say, it was. We had a birthday party for Meg on Sunday with some of her friends and she had an absolute blast. It was our first parents-aren’t-mandatory party; loud and noisy that it was, I think it went well. Every one left with a smile, no broken bones or bloody noses. We even had a ” I want to live here, I don’t want to leave!!” So it was good.

Thursday, in the middle of the night, I tried to sever a toe while hoping off the last rung of the bunk bed and landing on a brand new birthday toy with sharp edges. I didn’t realize how bad it was till morning, when I actually really looked closely at it. Ouch! Don’t want to gross out anyone, just to say it didn’t quite go to the bone, and hurt like an sob. Their room is now fairly clean, no toys on the floor, and gonna stay that way! My toe seems to be getting better, although I probably should have gotten stitches. I just hate hospital emergency waiting rooms, and my doctor wouldn’t have been able to see me for weeks either. So self treatment with antibiotic cream and bandages and lots of peroxide. So far it looks like it is healing, and the toe is still pink. One day I will be healthy and whole again. Echinecea seems to be warding of the cold I was getting yesterday, so maybe that is a good sign. And I am trying to be a good girl, eating my veggies and fruit, or at least eating a bit healthier, and also taking the army of vitamins that Mom supplied me with, on a regurlar basis. Honestly, some of those pills are the size of horse pills. Like the Omega-3-6-9 salmon oil, they’re huge. But I choke ‘em down. Maybe my coat will be nice and glossy in a few more months!!!

I have a new visitor to the cattery. Haven’t checked yet if it’s a girl or boy, but she/he is very cute. Super fluffy tabby calico mix. Has a collar, but no tags of course, she is so matted I can’t believe she has a home. No one who owns a cat would let them get that bad. And seems like she is starving too. Tonight is supposed to be so cold, almost -30 C. It makes me so sad to see these guys coming around, and knowing they are going to be out in this kind of weather. I wish I had a huge farm and could give them a nice warm barn to live in. I don’t know how people can live with themselves, abandonning their pets to the outdoors like this. Sometimes, I really, really don’t like people.

Well, I’m almost done my tea, so I think I will sign off for tonight. Think a kind thought for my kitties and my poor little toe. Concentrate more on the kitties though. They need it more than I do!

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My baby is four

January 25, 2007 at 2:21 PM (notes and thoughts)

Meghan turned four on Tuesday, which is pretty hard to believe. What happened to my little squirt? They are growing up so quickly. I remember being a kid, and I couldn’t wait to be a grown up, time just didn’t go fast enough. Now I wish time would slow down a little bit.

Today, she is at her friend Jacob’s house for the day. His mom, Jeanine, and I are trading days, so he comes here on Tuesdays and she will go there on Thursdays. This will give me a chance to get some stuff done hopefully, without having to rely on the TV as a babysitter. And the two of them get along very well, so it is good for her to go without me and have some fun. It’s great because they just live a few street over, so I don’t need a car to get her there. Now that winter is really here, and it is bitterly cold, it is getting harder to go without the car. Wednesdays are pretty much the only day we can go anywhere, but it is a real pain for Todd to take the bus. A waste of three hours for him. There is just no way I can take my bike and trailer when it is this cold and there is snow on the ground. I watch this guy, Ian, who lives down the road, ride by on his bike, and I just shiver! But he is a die hard environmentalist, tree hugger (in the best sense). His house literally has a tree growing through it! I’ll have to take a picture of it when the river freezes over and we can walk on it, the house is river front. I can see biking, just maybe, but not pulling the trailer. So we are thinking second car. And I think I’m going to trade in the Sable and try and find a decent minivan. It is getting too small, especially when Todd drives and has the seat pushed back. So I am another step closer to the stereotype!

On another note, I have been looking at airline prices, and I’m thinking Vienna, just maybe, in the fall. I’d have to work out all the details, babysitter, dog walker, maid, cook, laundress, etc….But the ticket itself is affordable. And Todd owes me! So Sarah, don’t come home yet! It would be a wonderful trip, it looks like a beautiful city, so much to see and do. I haven’t left Canada, or Quebec/Ontario for that matter, in a long time.

One last thing, thanks to a comment about flour, I’m trying an organic bread flour with the basic recipe, and so far it looks good. The whole wheat is still good, but different kinds of bread are fun. And next I’ll have to find someone with a sourdough starter who is willing to share and start experimenting with that. I love sourdough! Maybe I can find a job combining baking and gardening someday. Ah, who am I kidding! I don’t want a job, I just want someone to give me money for no reason! Is that too much too ask?

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The perfectly healthy whole wheat bread that actually tastes great….

January 20, 2007 at 10:15 PM (Uncategorized)

I know I promised a recipe a few days ago, but I’ve been doing some more experimenting, and wanted to wait till I had the perfect loaf of organic, stone ground whole wheat with ground flax seed, and I think I did it. My recipe is 75% organic, only because I have yet to find a source of organic white flour. My search may take me to Ottawa next. Aylmer is pretty limited, although I was pretty impressed that the local IGA carried the stone ground organic whole wheat. It’s important that it be stone ground, or stone milled, which leaves all the good stuff that you want left in the flour. Otherwise you might as well use the regular white flour.

Anyway, here goes:

3 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup of white flour

1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt (some might like more, depends on your taste)

3 tsp glutten flour (helps the whole wheat rise)

1 cup ground flax seed

3 1/2 cups warm water

extra flour for shaping dough, your choice, I use white, approximately 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup.

Mix dry ingredients, add water and stir with a spoon. You may find it a bit thick, add a little more water if needed. It should be a bit goupy.

Leave it in the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap for up to twenty-four hours. It’ll look really bubbly and stringy when it’s ready. Turn it out on a well floured surface, fold it over a few times, adding a bit of extra flour to make the dough fairly stiff. This recipe will make two decent sized loaves, shape them as you want, leave them on the floured surface and cover with floured tea towels, or similiar, and let rest for two hours or more.

Preheat oven to 425 C, if using a stone, at least an hour before baking. Bake for 45 minutes, checking within the first 20 minutes, if it looks like its browning too quickly, lower temperature to 400.

Let it cool down before you attempt to eat it (an important word of warning)!! Slather with butter, cream cheese, or eat with hunks of cheese. Try to save the second loaf for toast and sandwiches for the next day. Yummy!

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Bread alone….

January 17, 2007 at 2:23 AM (Uncategorized)

I must admit to my latest obsession……baking the perfect loaf of bread!  Since I started reading “Farmgirl Fare” (sorry, don’t know how to do the links yet, but awesome blog), I have been egged on to bake, and bake, and keep on baking.  And bread is my obsession.  And tonight I think I came close to the perfect loaf.  This bread was chewy, soft, salty (just enough) and whole wheat with flax seed and just a tiny bit of crap (I mean, white flour).  And everyone liked it.  No artificial anythings, just flour, yeast, salt and water.  Even if you use regular flour, at least you know that there are no other additives.  And it is soooo easy!  Incredibly easy!  I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble if I post it, because it was originally in the New York Times, and has apparentely taken the US by storm, but I am going to do it anyway!

So here goes:

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp yeast

1 5/8 cups water

Sift the dry ingredients, add water, mix with a spoon, and it will look messy,  let rise for 24 hrs or so.  Flour table, pour out bread mix, knead in enough flour to make it not sticky.  No need to knead to much!!   Only takes a minute.   Shape into large ball, let rise 2+ hours.  Preheat oven  and a  dutch oven to 450 about  50 minutes before baking.   Flip dough into dutch oven, bake for 45min and voila!  perfecto

This is the basic recipe, and it is fantastic.  I’ve been experimenting with whole wheat organic flour, flax seed, and other stuff, and I will post some more recipes tomorrow.  It is so satifying and so easy to make your own bread.  I highly recommend starting with the basic recipe and see what happens.  We can go from there!!  No “knead” to ever buy bread again, and it literally take minutes of your time, although timewise for the bread it is spread over a day.  Delicious!!!

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Where to start…

January 11, 2007 at 12:22 AM (notes and thoughts)

Not much is new in my kneck of the woods.  It’s bloody cold tonight, but supposed to warm up again a little bit.  And then cool right back down again.  Brrrr!  Got used to the warm weather, now that it is getting closer to normal temps, it feels incredibly cold.  And still very little snow.   My poor plants outside.  I hope they survive.  It was so cold today,  Anya was meowing at the front door late afternoon.  She usually stays out till after dark.  And even poor little Mooch (aka Flower) was debating coming in, sitting out front and shivering.  I feel so bad for Mooch and Whitey, and all the other strays that come by to eat, who are out in the cold.  Where do they go when it is this cold?   I really wish those two would come in, but Whitey is totally freaked out at the prospect, and Mooch, well she just runs and hides under the girls’ bed the few times I’ve tried to bring her in.  I have no idea if she even belongs to anyone, if she is a stray, wish I knew.  Whitey is definately no ones cat, but still, I think there  maybe some other kind soul who looks out for her.  I’m going to try to make some warm boxes out by the wood shed, so at least they will have some kind of option.   Last night the skunk came by for a snack, but I don’t think I’ll see him/her again for a while.  It may be cold enough to drive the skunk under ground.

Well, Emma did get her ears peirced, and she didn’t flinch a bit.  She really wanted it done!  And Meg does not!  Maybe in a year or two she’ll change her mind, but that’s up to her.  Plus, once again the poor kid is sick.  Fever, headache, Mommy Mommy Mommy….so lots of fun.  But I took her to the doctor, and she is on meds again, looks like maybe her ear infection came back or never cleared up completely.  So hopefully soon she will be feeling like her old cutie pie self.

More news later.

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Happy New Year

January 3, 2007 at 12:45 AM (notes and thoughts)

Well, once again another Christmas and New Year’s Eve has come and gone, or I should say, sped by faster than lightning.  Today is actually the 2nd of January, so I am already late on one of my resolutions, which was to update my blog on a more frequent basis.  But the girls and I did clean up a bit now that the pack of relatives have left, putting furniture back in place, and undecorating our beautiful Christmas tree (sniff, sniff!)  I spent the 1st potting up some plants, and generally having a relaxing, fun day.   We played Uno again before bedtime, at Emma’s request (she will kick butt next year!!!)  I read somewhere that how you spend the first day of the New Year is an indication of how you will spend the rest of the year.  So I didn’t want to do any house cleaning or other chores!!!  Just enjoying the day, puttering, and playing.

Christmas was nice even if it went too fast.  My sister Sarah and her hubby Joachim were here for a while, as was Mom-in-law Monica, and my Mom and Dad were able to stay until New Year’s to celebrate and open the champagne with Todd and I.   The house was very busy, but now it feels a bit empty.  I hope everyone enjoyed being here as much as I enjoyed having them here.  And as usual, we never did as much as we had planned, although Sarah and I managed to take the girls swimming, we did play one game of Carcassone, and got in some great thrift shopping – that was one of those weird days when everything I tried on fit and looked good!!  Very rare but felt great!  But I have to say, the whole Christmas experience, if it weren’t for Emma and Meghan, would be a lot less important. When Todd and I took them to see Santa and to sit on his knee,  oh my god, I almost cried at the look on Emma’s face when she was talking to him.    The absolute wonderment and just pure childness was almost too much.  And she did get what she asked him for, so her belief is firmly cemented for maybe another year or two.  Experiencing Christmas through your child’s eyes is priceless.

Well, it is getting close to midnight, which brings me to another resolution, which is going to bed earlyish, and getting a good night’s sleep.  Emma doesn’t have school this week, and they were in no hurry to fall asleep tonight, so at least I know they will sleep in a tad tomorrow.  So I will be able to sleep in a little bit in the morning, but we have to start getting back into the school routine.  And tomorrow is a big day.  I promised Emma I would take her to get her ears pierced and she is so excited I have a feeling she will try to get up earlier than I’m hoping.

So that’s it for tonight.  Hope the New Year is good to everyone!

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