Food Adventures

I've been way more excited about cooking lately. Probably because I have someone to cook with and for a little more regularly now (Yay!). I've been so excited, in fact, that I've started taking pictures of our creations. And I just realized that every picture I'm going to post was made from a recipe by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero so I figure I better link to their Post Punk Kitchen as a shout out before I begin. Their recipes are all vegetarian or vegan. And AMAZING. There. Homage paid. Proceeding.

This is called Mac Daddy (from Veganomicon). We were eating leftovers yesterday and remarking AGAIN how suprisingly delicious this vegan mac and "cheese" is. It really is. For reals. I made the mac and Jake make the broccoli sauteed with garlic medallions and red wine. Oh! And the beverage is homemade iced tea, my aunt Jackie's recipe, which I've slightly adapted: Start with 4L water in a big pot, boil, take off heat. Add 6 orange pekoe tea bags. Steep overnight (this is an ESSENTIAL STEP). In the morning add one can of frozen lemonade or 3/4 c. Lemon juice and 1 c. sugar (or to taste).

This is Eggplant Peanut Soup. With chopped up peanuts and cilantro on top. That is all.


Here we are making green tea cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes take over the World):

I am finishing off the marzipan flowers with a dot of yellow icing in the middle. Notice how Jake is keeping an eye on me. Just in case.

Look! They look just like the picture!

We win!

I dress up as a green tea cupcake.

Reflections on September plus Some Promised Photos

I realized the other day that two years ago this September I was not happy. At all. Witness me crying into my cereal bowl most mornings. I'm not completely sure why this was happening, but I have a feeling it had to do with not feeling like I had a plan for the future. I was in some temporary jobs (too many of them, and only one of them was good...I will leave those of you who know me to figure out which one that was) and they were too grown up. Too grown up as in, I had to get up before the sun to get to them in time. But! They were also not grown up enough, what with the temporariness and the no future-ish-ness. There were really good things happening in my life, like moving out with two awesome roommates. But I seriously considered moving back home because life was really overwhelming.

Fast forward to last September: I came home from running around Europe, getting dropped off in the middle of a forest in Croatia and other such awesome things, with two of my favourite people in the world (hey roomies!), to a job that I had interviewed for on the phone in a small Italian village on a cliff by the sea. Woo! What an awesome sentence. And I was happy.

But not as happy as this year. I don't know, something is in the air, maybe, but I feel great this (gulp) almost September. I've had an amazing year doing a job that I love (mostly because of the people) and taking classes that I love. And I'm lucky enough to get to do that all again this year. And I'm posting this now so that in February, which, despite my kicking and screaming, I have been told we cannot skip, I can look back and remember how lucky I am.

No more mushiness! Instead! Long promised photos of me interviewing for, and finding out that I got, my job:

This is the phone, on the busy main street, that I used (I'm not actually talking to anyone yet)

Here is a more different view (Andrea is taking the photo from our apartment)

What? You can't see me? I am right above the white tenty thing, with the green bar in between my head and my body. See:

This is me in Greece, on the island of Santorini, having just found out I got the job. I am doing "victory arms." Even my hair is happy.

Espresso Fueled Exclamation Points

Oh Hai! I have had a lot of espresso today! Because of lack of sleep this week. And I thought, what a great time to post on my much neglected blog because: Look! I'm Zany! And incoherent!

Wednesday was the low point of the week. Or actually, maybe the high point. It is hard to classify. I had to basically write an entire paper because I had chosen to write on Pride and Prejudice, so, of course, I had to spend the few days before this reading through the entire novel and making notes INSTEAD of writing anything. I ALSO had a Calculus assignment due. On material I had not learned yet. AND I had to work an eight hour day before I could begin any of this.

So! It was 5:30 and I decided I would write until 6 and then have supper. Just before 6, I was nodding off, so I put my head on the arm of the chair I was sitting in, thinking: "maybe I should just jump in bed for a quick nap..." The next thing I know, it is 6:30 and I wake up to find that I CANNOT FEEL MY EAR. AT ALL. No, wait! I CANNOT FEEL THE ENTIRE LEFT SIDE OF MY FACE. Because it was smushed against the arm of the chair for 30 minutes. ALSO: I feel like crap: headache, dizziness etc. (wow, I just realized I'm making it sound like I had a stroke...no, I am fine). I went into Andrea's room to let her know about my woes and flopped down on her bed. We commiserated. She is in the middle of a crazy course and had an insane amount of work as well. Mike, who is also taking the insane course, soon joined us. I was suddenly struck by the fact that I was hungry, but also felt like crap, so I said to Mike, I said: "Mike, I require a smoothie for dinner!" Which doesn't sound funny, but to Andrea and I, in our state of insanity, it was THE FUNNIEST THING EVER. So the floodgates of mirth were opened and I don't think I stopped laughing all night, mostly because I was entirely not ok and everything seemed ridiculous. So that was fun! And I did get my smoothie, although I had to create it myself. AND I finished all my school items, and I did them well. Now, if only I can get the (even more bigger) Calculus assignment done that is due this weekend!

I know! Assignment due on the weekend! What?

Memo to Winter

Dear Winter,

While it is true that many (seemingly insane) people seem to love you, what with the winter sports and all, there are also many people who do not share this love. At the risk of angering the former group, who, being insane, may try to kill me, I have to tell you, with all due respect: You have worn out your welcome. The Southern Hemisphere needs you. It is time to move along. MOVE ALONG. See, we here in the Northern Hemisphere have extended an annual invitation to Spring on the 20th of March. You never leave in time. AND you always come earlier than your standing invitation in December. Autumn and Spring might gang up and cut you, you never know. I wouldn't wait around to find out.

In closing, please take your snow, and your cold, and your wind, and your general misery, and get out.

With Respect, but not Love,

Stephanie

P.S. The robins are also here.

How Rude!

To not post for over six months without any explanation! Honestly. Bloggers these days.

LOTS has happened! So as to not bore you I shall provide a concise, bulleted list:

• Had random adventures in France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and England.


• Drove in France. On crazy roundabouts.


• Interviewed for job in Waterloo while in small village in Italy. Will post photo of me on pay phone on street corner.


• Got new fabulous job (Youth Program Coordinator at WMB Church).


• QUIT ZEHRS JOB.


• Started new fabulous job.


• Started new fabulous English program.


• Went to see Feist.


• Went to see Hairspray.


• Planned many youth events.


• Planned a ski/snowboard retreat for 50 youth which killed/injured 0.


• Continued to love living with fabulous roomies.


• Wrote many papers.


• Started working at a shelter for the houseless.


• Got married.


• Just kidding.

One other thing that happened that I could not bring myself to put in a bulleted list is that my dog Riley died. It was five months ago now but I still have a hard time thinking about her without feeling very sad. She was a good friend. And everything still reminds me of her (right Paul?). Mom and Dad got a new puppy and she seems like she might be almost as wonderful, although she has large paws to fill. Her name is Darby. I'm sure I will post more about her later.

Bonjour Tout le Monde

Bonjour from Paris! I wish I could post pictures but I don't know if I am going to be able to.

We had a full day yesterday. The highlight of which was Notre Dame. We were there while Vespers was going on and it was beautiful.

At supper, we sat next to this young Frenchman who was performing card tricks for our waiter. At one point, he asked the waiter to pick a card. The waiter did and showed it to us (it was the 6 of clubs) then the magician put it under Carley's wine glass, face down. He then riffled through the deck until Carley said stop. The card she stopped on was the three of spades. That card went on top of the wineglass. Then he snapped his fingers and the cards changed places. It was crazy and I can't figure out for the life of me how he did it...unless he has two three of spades cards. It was very cool.

Back from Mars

...Just kidding.

I have, in fact, NOT been abducted by the aliens that called me on my intercom line. I can see how you would get that impression from my last post followed by six weeks of silence. Basically in those six weeks I have been going insane, supervising registration for a youth short term mission trip to Montreal. Then I went to sign them all in and frolic around Montreal for a while. Now I am back and I am happy to say that I no longer work for MBMSI. Let's just leave it at that. :)

Montreal is beautiful and awesome because:

1. People speak French. And let's face it: French sounds better than English.
2. There are beautiful churches EVERYWHERE. With GOOD ACOUSTICS.
3. You can be walking around downtown, minding your own business, and come across David Usher performing in the main street (This happened! I saw David Usher! For free! And he was good! And he even sang some Moist songs! And also that one that is on the radio now, and the one with the opera sample).
4. There is a man there who gives away free hugs. I didn't get one, but Kerry did and it looked like a really good one.

So, I'm off to Europe in 9 days. I'll be there for a month so my blog will probably be AWOL again. But who knows, there may be some bonus Euorpean posts!

Scared and Frightened

The internal intercom line on my phone just rang even though NO ONE ELSE IS HERE.

A New Post

Sorry for my brief hiatus, I have been running around, frolicking in the springtime, tripping over tree roots, spraining my hand, and generally being spastic.

Things I have been thinking lately:

1. The new Feist album is friggin' awesome.
2. I'm really glad that I only have 20 more days of being an admin assistant left.
3. I emphatically do NOT heart Boundless.org, despite my group membership on facebook.
4. Only one more hour until I'm allowed to go get Starbucks.
5. Thinking of your favorite books/movies/etc is really hard. What if I forget an important one and people discover how uncool I am and stop liking me?

You should probably wear earplugs if you plan to be in my general vicinity

I'm going to try to contain myself. I'm going to try to use only one (or maybe two) exclamation points at the end of each sentence. And no ones after the exclamation points. And no all caps. Or italics. Or repeating the key words of every single sentence. Or sentence fragment.

Oh to hell with it. IT'S SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The trees are green... GREEN! With leaves... LEAVES! And in the forest there are trilliums growing... TRILLIUMS! And the air smells like blossoms...BLOSSOMS! DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID THE AIR SMELLS LIKE BLOSSOMS! Because there are BLOSSOMS on the trees! And LEAVES! And the leaves are GREEN!

I used to think that I had S.A.D. but now I think I must be bipolar and my manic/depressive cycle only happens once per year, with the depressive happening in the winter and the manic happening in spring. Because, seriously people, I am SPAZZING OUT. And the 313 people can testify to the fact that when I realize it is spring I SCREAM. But at least I don't pretend I'm a cat. Not that anyone I know does that.

Recipe for Insanity

You will need:
1 ceiling full of fluorescent lights (2 or 3 would be enough).
1 Computer, noisy.
1 Computer monitor.
1 window out of which you can see the gorgeous blue sky and sun.
1 office chair.

Place yourself in the chair directly in front of the computer monitor. Make sure you are close enough to the computer to hear the noise it emits. Look out the window periodically and yearn. The lights will do their thing on their own. Handle them as little as possible. Do not over bake.

Right now I need to go counteract this recipe with some chai and some Josh Radin.

On Punctuation

I walk by a sign every morning outside a financial planning place that reads:

LIFE TOO TAXING FOR PLANS THAT WORK CALL 123-1234

This drives me insane each and every day. This is at 8 am when I am still cranky from the people who insist on talking on the bus ("like, oh my GOD, I can't believe she did that! I was, like, totally wanting to tell her blah blah blah like blah I like this boy blah...like"). I always think to myself: Why would I want to entrust my finances to people who can't even make use of a simple question mark to MAKE THEIR BLOODY SIGN MAKE SENSE? See how easy using a question mark is? I just did it twice in a row. Unless they are trying to say that life is indeed to taxing for plans that work. Meaning that those poor hard-working plans can't possibly handle how taxing life is. That might be what they mean. Rod Burgundy?

Another random comment on punctuation: We all understand that a string of exclamation marks conveys a certain amount of excitement in proportion to the number of exclamation marks in said string. Not that I am endorsing such strings (don't worry Amp). But the degree of excitement conveyed can be multiplied by 10 if the string is immediately followed by a 1 indicating that you were so excited while typing that you took your finger off shift too early in an attempt to get to the next word faster.

I have to go catch the bus in the rain now and I get to walk past the questionmarkless sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Wither the Arts?

A couple things have come to my attention lately that make me sad:

1. Stephen Harper cares not a whit for the arts. (not that I'm surprised)
2. A world famous violinist can play some of the most beautiful music on earth on a Stradivarius (got that? Joshua Bell + Strad + Bach) and over 1 000 people will walk by and NOT EVEN NOTICE.

These parts make me happy though:

1. Yann Martel is challenging S. Diddy to read a recommended book every two weeks. You can read about this effort here.
2. A world famous violinist agreed to masquerade as a street musician for an experiment.

Lessons Learned:

1. If you ever become Prime Minister please Read Stuff. And appreciate it. Or else.
2. If you happen to see any world famous musicians (or, frankly, ANY talented musician) playing on the street, stop and listen. It's for your own good.

ETA: ha! I spelt "whither" wrong by accident and I was about to change it when I realized that it is kind of punny!

Travelling Vicariously

The past few days have been very busy! I just got back from Rhode Island on Saturday, and left immediately for Botswana. The Rhode Islanders were all pretty crazy. I think they must put something in the water there. Or maybe it was just the people I was staying with. Dorcas was closer to sane than the rest, but Conrad and Abigail, not to mention the DeVilbisses, definitely tipped the scales to Decidedly Insane.

Mma Ramotswe and Mr J.L.B Matekoni are much easier to live with. I'm glad I decided to spend the rest of my Easter holiday in Botswana. It is the perfect combination of excitement (with the mysteries to solve), and slow paced relaxation. I highly recommend it!

I think I might move on to India next...

Books and Book Blogs

I've been checking out book blogs lately and found one that I quickly became addicted to. It's called 50 Books and you should definitely check it out. I got inspired and decided to post pictures of what I'm reading, just in case anyone cares.

The Soundtrack of My Life

While I was listening to Imogen Heap today I realized that for the second time in a month the song I was listening to described my life (well, actually, a line in the song did, the rest of the song is pretty generic). So, instead of try to figure out which one to declare the official theme song of my life, I decided to create a list of songs that make up the Soundtrack of my Life:

1. The line "don't get yourself in situations" from I Am In Love With You - Imogen Heap
Lolo also understands this. :)

2. Taking the Long Way Around - Dixie Chicks
This one is pretty obvious...I can't figure out what is supposed to occur in my life, so I avoid committing to a profession, or to a relationship (although I feel as though I WOULD possibly commit to a relationship if a suitable one presented itself). And the particularities of the song do not correspond to my life, but I wish I was travelling around in a pink RV with stars on the ceiling, possibly one that flew, so I could travel to more places.

3. Is it Any Wonder? - Keane
One of the best lyrics on love I've ever heard: "...love is just a lyric in a children's rhyme." Yes, I'm bitter about love. Who isn't, really? P.S. to my Smug Married friends (especially those of you who didn't date anyone but your spouses, you just won't understand, and that's ok): that was a RHETORICAL QUESTION. Please don't try to contradict me. I know you're blissful, how nice for you. Really, I do think it is nice, I love all of you. But. Don't. Contradict.

4. Easy to Ignore - Sixpence None the Richer
While we are on the cynical-about-love kick, I thought I would throw this in. I will stop whining now, I promise.*

5. Good Love is on the Way - John Mayer
See? I really am optimistic!

6. Why Georgia - John Mayer
He is so wise, especially for someone who also wrote "You're Body is a Wonderland." Which, music wise, I actually like. I really can't bring myself to like lyrics that include the line "bubble gum tongue" though. I'm sorry. I just can't

7. More Than This - Peter Gabriel
Peter (yes, we are on a first name basis. I did listen to him in the womb after all) does such a great job of both summing up life and making you go "huh"? If you think you understand what his lyrics mean, you are probably wrong. Which is similar to how I feel about my life. This song blows my mind...

8. Signal to Noise - Peter Gabriel featuring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
...but this one does even more. Plus the vocals are insano. And what describes me more than insano vocals? I just don't know.

9. She Stumbles Through the Door - Sarah Masen
This describes perfectly how I feel about my faith right now. Some key lines: "on the pages of a memo were picturesque cliches she once called Providence" and "were the angels fighting demons in the corner of the room or was it happenstance?"

10. Take the Bench - Sloan
"Take the bench, little girl, and sing your little heart out."
Ok, I will.

11. Crystal Ball - Keane
Same ol' "I don't know what is happening" theme. This is pretty much how I feel at all times.

12. Square One - Coldplay
I DO just want somebody listening to what I say. THANK YOU Chris Martin of Coldplay.


*Except to say that I wish "Paperweight" by Josh Radin and Schuyler Fisk was on this list. But alas, it is not. I am really done now, the rest of the list is not whiny at all. Except the YBIAW part, but John can take it.

And Also: Adventures in Life

Yesterday I discovered as I was driving to work that I was an hour late. I had changed all the clocks except for the one on my phone, which is serving as my alarm clock while I am with the animales. So, as soon as I got to work I changed my phone. Done. Problem solved. My boss was not in and I finished all the work I was supposed to so no harm done. Later I told the story to a friend of mine. He was surprised my phone hadn't updated itself. he asked if it had an Auto Update feature. I checked. It did. So I turned it on, to avoid this problem in the future.

Today I discovered upon waking that I was an hour late again. I looked at my phone and it had Auto Updated to the old time, probably because they moved DST this year. BAH! So I decided to skip breakfast and got ready super-fast. On the way to work, I decided to get a coffee. Normally I would go to Starbucks, but Tim Horton's was on the way, so I went and ordered a coffee and breakfast, only to discover that I HAVE NO CASH. I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE GONE TO STARBUCKS! So I went in the opposite direction that I should have been going to get to work, and I went to Starbucks and got my coffee. When I got back into the car the Dixie Chicks were singing "Taking the Long Way". And I realized that, not only did this song pertain to my morning, but it also describes my life. And that actually made me happy. Now I need to go drink my coffee.

THE END

Adventures in House Sitting, Part 2

Oh animales, how I love thee, let me count the ways:
2: Escape attempts, caused by
1: Very large, evil cat, that almost killed the dog (this is not the cat I'm looking after, she is nice, this one was the spawn of the devil).
23 hours per day: The amount of time the cat spends purring. Yes this includes when it is right next to my ear at night
0: The number of times the dog has to pee when I am at work for eight hours
1 or 2: The number of times the dog has to pee at night when I am sleeping for eight hours.
0.03: The number of milliseconds it took the cat to jump out of the tub when I turned the shower on.

You Too Can Be Happy For Just $10 000 per Year!

I read an interesting article yesterday. It is basically about happiness and what we need in order to be happy. Especially interesting (although not surprising) is the fact that although the GNP has been consistently on the rise for the last while, the level of satisfaction people claim to have has stayed basically the same. What I was surprised by is the "magic number" of 10 000. This magic number is the amount of dollars per person per year that it takes to be happy. People who make more than $10 000/person/year (so a family of four would need $40 000) are not happier than those who make only $10 000. That number seemed very low to me...I bet most of the people reading this make more than that (it doesn't count if you are in school!). Also worth checking out is the part about sustainable agriculture...there were some surprising numbers there too.

Adventures in House Sitting, Part 1

I am currently house sitting for my boss, who is away in Florida. Where it is warm. And not freezing. Or full of snow...but I digress.

The house that I am sitting contains one dog and one cat. We all know how I feel about dogs so I won't gush too much, but the dog is awesome. Not as awesome or as insano as my dog. But awesome nonetheless. The cat is CRAZY. In a good way. She enjoys:

• sleeping in my laundry.
• drinking from any source of water that is NOT her own water dish.
• batting at the drapes...which she must do RIGHT NOW so she must run across the house and take a flying leap at them.
• purring/licking my face/attacking my feet (which aren't even moving!) whilst I am trying to sleep.
• licking the drops of milk out of my cereal bowl while I am distracted by the dog.
• trying to attack the dog by employing the full body, limbs akimbo, giant ferocious leap but being foiled by (ie bouncing off) the arm of the couch.

Needless to say, it has been great fun so far!