Okay, I've been trying to think of something all day, and I just can't come up of a good example of an opinion that I've changed, but it's soon time for bed, so I guess I'd better right something. I can be pretty stubborn, I guess (it's hereditary, honestly, everyone on my dad's side of the family is legendarily stubborn). I keep an open mind about important issues, and I guess some of my opinions on those have changed slightly over time, but mostly by becoming more nuanced as I gained a deeper understanding, nothing really that's been a complete reversal. On anything trivial, though, my opinions tend to get set in stone fairly quickly.
Really the only thing I can think of is food, which doesn't even really count because it's just my taste buds developing or whatever (I actually know nothing about how taste buds work or why that happens) and not an actual for real opinion, but it's the only thing I can think of at all. I used to be a really picky eater when I was a kid, but now I've learned to like a lot of the things I used to hate, including but not limited to: eggs, bananas, yogurt, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes (including any sort of tomato sauce, which made things like pasta and pizza a little difficult), grapefruit, and tofu. I think those are the major ones.
That was really short and boring, so since I missed free week last week, I'm going to use that to round this out. I haven't been up to very much lately - still looking for a summer job, unfortunately. I haven't been using the free time as well as I would like, but I have been getting in some writing and running and spending some time with friends, so it's not all bad. The only major change for me is that I've started writing and editing for an online magazine that some of my friends just launched. It's called Big Fat Future and it's pretty amazing (uh, I know how that sounds to say it about something I'm involved in, but really I haven't even done that much yet, I'm just so super proud of my friends for actually going for it and making this happen). It's about science fiction and has articles and reviews and creative pieces and sometime in the next few days the book/movie club will be launching, which is the thing I'm most excited about right now. It's kind of stressful since I don't actually know that much about science fiction, and I've never done any editing before, or this type of journalistic writing, but so far it's been pretty fun and I think I'll get used to things pretty quickly.
Anyway, I guess that's about it for me. Hope everyone has a fantastic week!
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Memories: lots and lots of food
So this is probably going to sound weird, but the things that remind me the most of my childhood are all food. Boxed macaroni and cheese (with or without canned chili), the smell of apple pie, or - interestingly enough - nutmeg.
I know, right, nutmeg? I actually didn't know what that smell was that made me feel so nostalgic until very recently, when on a whim I sprinkled some nutmeg over sugar cookies before they went in the oven. I recognized the scent the moment I smelled it, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic inside.
My family's been big on cooking for other people as a form of affection, and since we were kinda poor for most of my childhood, many many of those meals came from the blue box of mac and cheese or were baked cookies. They're both major comfort foods for me, if I've been really stressed out or need a mood boost I don't want a $10 bowl of pasta or a nice cut of steak, I crave a $2 bowl of over processed, almost fluorescent orange "pasta" (I use that term loosely...) or handmade brownies.
Aaaaaaaaand that should tell you why my family has weight problems. Well, that and our occasional dinner of "heart attack pie" - apple pie with a pack of maple sausage and cheese in it. :P
I know, right, nutmeg? I actually didn't know what that smell was that made me feel so nostalgic until very recently, when on a whim I sprinkled some nutmeg over sugar cookies before they went in the oven. I recognized the scent the moment I smelled it, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic inside.
My family's been big on cooking for other people as a form of affection, and since we were kinda poor for most of my childhood, many many of those meals came from the blue box of mac and cheese or were baked cookies. They're both major comfort foods for me, if I've been really stressed out or need a mood boost I don't want a $10 bowl of pasta or a nice cut of steak, I crave a $2 bowl of over processed, almost fluorescent orange "pasta" (I use that term loosely...) or handmade brownies.
Aaaaaaaaand that should tell you why my family has weight problems. Well, that and our occasional dinner of "heart attack pie" - apple pie with a pack of maple sausage and cheese in it. :P
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Candy and strawberries
There are two types of candy that really remind me of childhood. One is grape push pops. My family did a lot of camping when I was a kid, and most of the time we went to national and provincial parks where it was more secluded and natural and really like camping. Once a summer, though, we went to a specific private, commercial campground in New Brunswick with my mom's side of the family. And they had this little canteen that sold candy and ice cream, and every year my grandparents would take us to the canteen to buy candy, and I always got a grape push pop. I hardly ever had them any other time, so I really only associate them with that campground. I don't see push pops around very often, but when I do, sometimes I get a grape one just to reminisce.
The other type of candy is a type of sucker, but I don't actually know what they're called. They're just slightly larger in diameter but thinner than a regular sucker, and they're multi-coloured with part of it being white. I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about, but google didn't know what I was talking about either, so that's okay. Anyway, the gas station near the house I grew up in only had full serve pumps, and they would always bring out these suckers for any kids that were in the car, and I still can't have one of those without thinking of being in the car with one of my parents at the gas station.
Other than that most of the things I can think of are really specific, like a lake we always swam at when I was younger, or my childhood best friend who lived across the road from me but that I haven't seen in four years. I guess also strawberry u-picks, there was one just down the road from that lake, so we used to go there and pick a bunch of strawberries and then we would go for a swim to cool off.
The other type of candy is a type of sucker, but I don't actually know what they're called. They're just slightly larger in diameter but thinner than a regular sucker, and they're multi-coloured with part of it being white. I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about, but google didn't know what I was talking about either, so that's okay. Anyway, the gas station near the house I grew up in only had full serve pumps, and they would always bring out these suckers for any kids that were in the car, and I still can't have one of those without thinking of being in the car with one of my parents at the gas station.
Other than that most of the things I can think of are really specific, like a lake we always swam at when I was younger, or my childhood best friend who lived across the road from me but that I haven't seen in four years. I guess also strawberry u-picks, there was one just down the road from that lake, so we used to go there and pick a bunch of strawberries and then we would go for a swim to cool off.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
October Unprocessed
So this is going to sound kinda weird, but food's been on my mind a lot this week.
It's stemmed mostly wanting to be healthy, and after two weeks of tracking what I eat, realizing that I have significantly worse habits than I'd thought.
Full of determination, I headed to the grocery store to pick up lots of fruits and veggies and lean, healthy meat.... And cringed the entire time because living mostly off carbs has gotten me accustomed to having a very, very low grocery bill. Then, when my week got a little crazy, I ended up not even eating most of it yet. It hasn't gone bad or anything, but I feel a double guilt trip: a) I haven't eaten it yet, and I should, but also b) it's more expensive than I'm used to, so I also want to make it last longer (did you notice how those two are in direct opposition to each other?)
Since I'm also saving up to move in a few months, it started to feel like I need to make a choice between being healthy and feeling financially secure. After a bit of contemplation and some nice, deep breaths, I headed over to Poor Girl Eats Well and Budget Bytes to get some ideas for how to eat cheaply and still healthily.
That calmed me down a lot, since I realized that it's possible to both be healthy and not break the bank. Not too long after that, I found October Unprocessed, a challenge to go the entire month of October without processed foods and decided to go for it.
It was funny, my first thought was that it would be fairly easy since I make a lot of my food at home. Then I spent the last couple of days checking labels on things I use - Cheerios, ketchup, bread, etc - and found that they all have ingredients that I don't have access to, everything ranging from "natural flavors" to words I can't even sound out, which by the challenge's definition makes them out of bounds (the suggested rule is that if you couldn't recreate the item in your own kitchen with all of the ingredients listed, it counts as processed) and I've had the dawning realization that this is going to be harder than I thought.
Other than that, not too much has been going on. I started up my craft blog and have a whopping 1 post and 1 email subscriber. I'm working on a couple projects to put up in my spare time, including a paint chip mosaic table. This should be interesting :)
It's stemmed mostly wanting to be healthy, and after two weeks of tracking what I eat, realizing that I have significantly worse habits than I'd thought.
Full of determination, I headed to the grocery store to pick up lots of fruits and veggies and lean, healthy meat.... And cringed the entire time because living mostly off carbs has gotten me accustomed to having a very, very low grocery bill. Then, when my week got a little crazy, I ended up not even eating most of it yet. It hasn't gone bad or anything, but I feel a double guilt trip: a) I haven't eaten it yet, and I should, but also b) it's more expensive than I'm used to, so I also want to make it last longer (did you notice how those two are in direct opposition to each other?)
Since I'm also saving up to move in a few months, it started to feel like I need to make a choice between being healthy and feeling financially secure. After a bit of contemplation and some nice, deep breaths, I headed over to Poor Girl Eats Well and Budget Bytes to get some ideas for how to eat cheaply and still healthily.
That calmed me down a lot, since I realized that it's possible to both be healthy and not break the bank. Not too long after that, I found October Unprocessed, a challenge to go the entire month of October without processed foods and decided to go for it.
It was funny, my first thought was that it would be fairly easy since I make a lot of my food at home. Then I spent the last couple of days checking labels on things I use - Cheerios, ketchup, bread, etc - and found that they all have ingredients that I don't have access to, everything ranging from "natural flavors" to words I can't even sound out, which by the challenge's definition makes them out of bounds (the suggested rule is that if you couldn't recreate the item in your own kitchen with all of the ingredients listed, it counts as processed) and I've had the dawning realization that this is going to be harder than I thought.
Other than that, not too much has been going on. I started up my craft blog and have a whopping 1 post and 1 email subscriber. I'm working on a couple projects to put up in my spare time, including a paint chip mosaic table. This should be interesting :)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
10 000 words.
So I left my post until really late and we don't have a theme and I wasn't feeling particularly inspired and so I just went through my harddrive and picked out ten pictures. Here they are. 
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| These are my favourite earrings. I don't remember why I was taking pictures of them, but here they are. |
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| This is a river near where my parents live/where I'm living right now. |
Happy Tuesday!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Garlic Fingers?!
The recipe I want to share is for garlic fingers. Since they're a food that doesn't really exist outside of Atlantic Canada, I feel like I should give a quick explanation first. They're basically pizza dough topped with garlic butter and mozzarella cheese, and sometimes bacon or other things. Their regional nature is part of the reason I thought it would be fun to share this recipe.
In addition to being delicious, garlic fingers are also a food with special sentimental significance to me. During my first year of university I was having a potluck dinner with a big group of my friends. We actually have this potluck every year now, and it's known as the Annual Christmas Miracle Potluck. But this was the first year, when we didn't know it was a miracle yet and it was only associated with Christmas in that they both took place in December. At the time it was just a potluck, but it was the first one, and it was special and magical and it's the one that all the ones we have had since have failed to leave up to. Because we all lived in residence, we couldn't make any fancy dishes, so we went to the grocery store together and everyone bought $5 worth of food. Then we went back to campus to cook it up in the kitchenette and eat it in one of the common rooms. It was the most ridiculous meal ever. I don't remember what all we had, but one person had bought about 12 packages of Mr. Noodles, and then there was a block of cheese and a loaf of bread and a small cake and a bunch of other stuff. But the very last thing to come out of the kitchen was garlic fingers (you can buy pre-made frozen ones at the store the same way you can with pizzas). Most of us didn't realize that they were there, so we were completely surprised when the person who had bought them brought them out to the table, and we all said "Garlic fingers?!" So now it's an in-joke of ours that whenever we're surprised and exclaiming about something, we just start going "garlic fingers?!" all the time.
This recipe is one that my roommate and I found online somewhere last summer when we had a garlic fingers craving, and wondered if we could make them ourselves instead of having to buy them. We were so pleased with how well they turned out! They taste surprising close to the ones you could get at a pizza place.
Garlic Fingers
Make pizza dough according to your favourite pizza dough recipe (Or buy it). I can't find my pizza dough recipe just now, otherwise I would share it, too. Spread on pan.
Garlic butter:
1 c. butter, softened
1 tbsp. minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. When thoroughly mixed, remove from heat. Spread enough butter on pizza dough to cover it (usually about half of the recipe). Pour the remainder into a jar to save it for later! It's also good on toast and pasta.
Spread grated mozzarella cheese over the dough. Just enough to cover it in a single layer - if you use too much cheese it overwhelms the garlic taste. Optional - sprinkle with bacon bits (or small pieces of freshly-cooked bacon).
Cook at 425F for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is browned.
In addition to being delicious, garlic fingers are also a food with special sentimental significance to me. During my first year of university I was having a potluck dinner with a big group of my friends. We actually have this potluck every year now, and it's known as the Annual Christmas Miracle Potluck. But this was the first year, when we didn't know it was a miracle yet and it was only associated with Christmas in that they both took place in December. At the time it was just a potluck, but it was the first one, and it was special and magical and it's the one that all the ones we have had since have failed to leave up to. Because we all lived in residence, we couldn't make any fancy dishes, so we went to the grocery store together and everyone bought $5 worth of food. Then we went back to campus to cook it up in the kitchenette and eat it in one of the common rooms. It was the most ridiculous meal ever. I don't remember what all we had, but one person had bought about 12 packages of Mr. Noodles, and then there was a block of cheese and a loaf of bread and a small cake and a bunch of other stuff. But the very last thing to come out of the kitchen was garlic fingers (you can buy pre-made frozen ones at the store the same way you can with pizzas). Most of us didn't realize that they were there, so we were completely surprised when the person who had bought them brought them out to the table, and we all said "Garlic fingers?!" So now it's an in-joke of ours that whenever we're surprised and exclaiming about something, we just start going "garlic fingers?!" all the time.
This recipe is one that my roommate and I found online somewhere last summer when we had a garlic fingers craving, and wondered if we could make them ourselves instead of having to buy them. We were so pleased with how well they turned out! They taste surprising close to the ones you could get at a pizza place.
Garlic Fingers
Make pizza dough according to your favourite pizza dough recipe (Or buy it). I can't find my pizza dough recipe just now, otherwise I would share it, too. Spread on pan.
Garlic butter:
1 c. butter, softened
1 tbsp. minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. When thoroughly mixed, remove from heat. Spread enough butter on pizza dough to cover it (usually about half of the recipe). Pour the remainder into a jar to save it for later! It's also good on toast and pasta.
Spread grated mozzarella cheese over the dough. Just enough to cover it in a single layer - if you use too much cheese it overwhelms the garlic taste. Optional - sprinkle with bacon bits (or small pieces of freshly-cooked bacon).
Cook at 425F for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is browned.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
I would if I could
Something that I absolutely love is long, leisurely meals with a large crowd of people. The kind of meals where you have a long table full of people who can talk and laugh for hours. Meals with lots of courses. It doesn't have to be a fancy meal. Just slow. Relaxed. I love that sort of shared time, just appreciating each other's company without distractions or disturbances, but just being in everyone's company, enjoying the simple sensory pleasures of the meal. I don't get to do this very often because it's hard to get that many people together and usually the only places you can get multi-course meals are expensive restaurants.
I also enjoy summer Saturdays on my own. A typical Saturday like this would usually involve going to the farmer's market, wandering around and smelling all the wonderful things and watching all the interesting people, having crêpes for breakfast and buying some fresh produce and flowers. Then I'd curl up at my favourite coffee shop with a chai latte and my notebook to write for a while, and stop in at the used book store and the thrift store on my way home. I like having adventures with other people too, of course, but there's just something satisfying about doing things by myself, so that I can go at exactly my own pace and stop to look at all the things I find interesting without feeling like I'm slowing down everyone else. I don't get to have these sorts of days very often because summer only has so many weekends, and I can't spend all of them on my own.
I also love camping, like really really really love, but sadly I only get to go once or twice a year now that my family doesn't really go any more and my friends are more dispersed and it's just harder to organize.
I also enjoy summer Saturdays on my own. A typical Saturday like this would usually involve going to the farmer's market, wandering around and smelling all the wonderful things and watching all the interesting people, having crêpes for breakfast and buying some fresh produce and flowers. Then I'd curl up at my favourite coffee shop with a chai latte and my notebook to write for a while, and stop in at the used book store and the thrift store on my way home. I like having adventures with other people too, of course, but there's just something satisfying about doing things by myself, so that I can go at exactly my own pace and stop to look at all the things I find interesting without feeling like I'm slowing down everyone else. I don't get to have these sorts of days very often because summer only has so many weekends, and I can't spend all of them on my own.
I also love camping, like really really really love, but sadly I only get to go once or twice a year now that my family doesn't really go any more and my friends are more dispersed and it's just harder to organize.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens
I absolutely love fresh bread. I have a bread machine, which is probably the most wonderful invention ever (other than, you know, the wheel, and electricity, and all those actually important ones). I love being able to set it up the night before so that I can wake up to the delicious aroma of it in the morning and eat a warm and delicious breakfast that finished baking 5 minutes before I woke up. I love the texture and the flavour and just everything.
Warm summer rain is just the best. It rains a lot here, and most of the time it's cold and awful, but in the summer, when it's a nice warm rainfall I love to be outside in it. The harder it falls the better. I like to see all the people with their umbrellas, and hear the sound of the rain, and I don't know, something about a good rain storm just makes the whole world feel fresh and new and beautiful. Two years ago my friends and I were camping and we ended up doing the hike out of our site in the middle of a tropical storm, and it was just the most wonderful thing. I also especially love going to the beach in the rain.
I'm also a huge fan of used books. I like to see what pages past owners have dog-eared, and what places they may have chosen to underline or annotate. I like the smell of them, and I like to wonder if anyone else laughed or cried over that same book in the same pages that I did, and why they decided to get rid of it and why they had bought it in the first place. I especially love used book stores, and most especially one nearby that has books absolutely floor to ceiling and boxes sitting haphazardly in the aisles because they just have so. many. books. and I always just want to know where they all came from and whether or not they were loved.
Another thing I love is discovering new music. I do this thing sometimes where I just go to the library, browse the CD section, and pick out a few to listen to based entirely on band name, album title, cover art, and song titles. If something catches my eye, even if it's a genre I don't usually listen to, I'll bring it home and give it a try. I've discovered some really good music this way, and it's always such a thrill to hear a really good song for the first time ever and have it be all special and surprising and wonderful.
I think the last favourite thing I'm going to mention is blankets. I love blankets. I grew up in a big old house that was really hard to keep warm, so I was used to just using blankets all the time - curled up on the couch reading, sitting at the computer, whatever. There's something about blankets that's just far cuddlier and more comforting than a sweater could ever be. I have a variety of blankets of various weights and snuggliness that don't even go on my bed at night, they're just around, and I grab whenever I sit down anywhere that isn't the table or the floor. Blankets are just great.
Warm summer rain is just the best. It rains a lot here, and most of the time it's cold and awful, but in the summer, when it's a nice warm rainfall I love to be outside in it. The harder it falls the better. I like to see all the people with their umbrellas, and hear the sound of the rain, and I don't know, something about a good rain storm just makes the whole world feel fresh and new and beautiful. Two years ago my friends and I were camping and we ended up doing the hike out of our site in the middle of a tropical storm, and it was just the most wonderful thing. I also especially love going to the beach in the rain.
I'm also a huge fan of used books. I like to see what pages past owners have dog-eared, and what places they may have chosen to underline or annotate. I like the smell of them, and I like to wonder if anyone else laughed or cried over that same book in the same pages that I did, and why they decided to get rid of it and why they had bought it in the first place. I especially love used book stores, and most especially one nearby that has books absolutely floor to ceiling and boxes sitting haphazardly in the aisles because they just have so. many. books. and I always just want to know where they all came from and whether or not they were loved.
Another thing I love is discovering new music. I do this thing sometimes where I just go to the library, browse the CD section, and pick out a few to listen to based entirely on band name, album title, cover art, and song titles. If something catches my eye, even if it's a genre I don't usually listen to, I'll bring it home and give it a try. I've discovered some really good music this way, and it's always such a thrill to hear a really good song for the first time ever and have it be all special and surprising and wonderful.
I think the last favourite thing I'm going to mention is blankets. I love blankets. I grew up in a big old house that was really hard to keep warm, so I was used to just using blankets all the time - curled up on the couch reading, sitting at the computer, whatever. There's something about blankets that's just far cuddlier and more comforting than a sweater could ever be. I have a variety of blankets of various weights and snuggliness that don't even go on my bed at night, they're just around, and I grab whenever I sit down anywhere that isn't the table or the floor. Blankets are just great.
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