Keeping Myself Busy

Despite teaching being done for the summer I have been keeping myself quite busy. Before my parents came for an Easter visit, I did a long awaited (ahem...6 years) clean up of our front entryway. It is a vestibule that is not heated or insulated but protected from the elements because it is closed in. I guess we kinda considered it part of the "outside" and it was sorely neglected. We used it as a storage area and stuff just piled up, it was such a mess. The walls were sooo dirty, it took 3 buckets to clean them! I finally got fed up with seeing the mess every time I came home. I thought to myself, "This is what greets me after a long day or work...it is also what greets our guests, this is not acceptable" and the cleaning began. I am not proud of our neglect, but I am proud of the final product!
We now have a welcoming place to greet our guests, a spot to store our scooters and hang our helmets complete with name tags!
Eventually, it will need to be painted but this is a good start!

I also prepared some lemon marmalade using this recipe and some of Sherrie's Meyer Lemon and Vanilla Jelly as a birthday gift for my Dad. He LOVES marmalade. I am not a big fan so I didn't try it...I hope it turned out okay!

Making Pectin

I know the lemon Jelly turned out AMAZING! I will definitely be making it again soon. We had it on crepes with blueberries and light maple syrup on Easter Sunday and it was delicious!
My parents brought us a gallon of Ontario maple syrup that we have been using up on yogurt and homemade granola! They also lugged a bunch of items from my youth, 3 sets of tarot cards, some kids Christmas books and my favourite musical pillow! Stashed in among the stuff were some lovely crocks that I have placed around the house (thanks for the spelling correction!).
While they were here, we stayed at the lovely place on the ocean from my previous post. We were lucky to have a couple of sunny days and took advantage of it by going hiking along the ocean.

Even though it was sunny the wind was still cold! We saw lots of eider ducks and some black guillemots! We also explored the remnants of World War II. There are lots scattered along the rugged coast along the Halifax Harbour approaches.

Bunker

Train tracks to bring concrete for building the bunkers and other supplies from ships.

Now I that they have gone and I am back at home I have been working on my thesis. I had a meeting with my supervisory committee last week and they have approved my remaining chapters (YAY!). Now I just need to buckle down and get them done!!! It is time to be a hermit which means I will be taking it very easy on blogging but I will continue to keep up with everyone.

Take Care! :) See you all soon!

PS. I hope you all like my new spring banner...complete with the ominous fog bank sitting just off the coast. I LOVE fog and we have been having a lot of it lately! :)

Weekend Retreat!

I am lucky to be house sitting for my supervisor and her husband. They have been away since before Easter and we were lucky to have my parents come for a visit and stay at the house on the coast. My parents have gone now and I am enjoying a quiet weekend on my own in this peaceful place. As I am writing I look out the office window a pair of young deer walk by and stop to eat grass at the front of the house, I can hear the call of the male ring-necked pheasant, the family of crows and the fog horn on the hill.
The house in the background is their newly acquired guest house. The male pheasant brings his date for breakfast every morning and he calls constantly throughout the day.
Today it is foggy and cool. I cannot see the ocean from where I sit or sleep. This is the view from the bedroom this morning.
This is the view on a clear day.
The regular sound of the fog horn is comforting and will lull me to sleep tonight as it did last night. I miss this sound in Halifax. They decommissioned the fog horn 2 years ago.
The house is passive solar and heated with wood. I started my very own wood stove fire last night. I feel very independent! LOL. Today is cool and I have the fire stoked. It is a good day to have a hot bath and curl up with a cup of tea, the cats and my thesis.
Fredda is enjoying the warmth and laziness of this foggy day. I will post more on this lovely place when I get to my pictures at home. Have a wonderful weekend!

Let's Make History!!

I am not one to typically blog about politics but I think this time it is warranted! My beliefs are closest to the Green Party of Canada. I think Elizabeth May is outstanding and would make an AMAZING Prime Minister! However, the reality is that although they are gaining support Elizabeth will not win the election (she might win her riding and if she does I look forward to seeing her in the house of commons!) and what we need is REAL change NOW....something other than the same old switch between Liberals and Conservatives that we have had since our first Prime Minister Sir John A MacDonald in 1867.

Unfortunately, our electoral system leads us to the scenario we have had for years, which in most cases seems to be vote for the lesser of two evils (strategic voting), rather than who you truly believe in to make sure the candidate you dislike the most doesn't get a majority. This youtube video explains it very well.

There are alternative voting systems but we need to get a party in there that will WANT to make a change to the system. The Conservatives want the status quo, that is their campaign.

So how do we make history??

Graph from http://www.electionalmanac.com/canada/

The most recent polls are showing a huge surge in New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) support (orange line in the graph). This has been attributed to the changing demographic. Thanks to social media and vote mobs, young people are getting involved!!! If we all get together and vote for NDP, get them in with as many seats possible, we are in for a change in the face of politics. Even if they do not win enough seats for Jack Layton to be Prime Minister they will be the Official Opposition! This has NEVER been done before! If enough of us get behind the NDP, we might change the outcome of the election altogether!!!

Imagine, someone other than Stephen Harper as Prime Minister! Imagine, a Prime Minister that actually cares about the people and the environment rather than big business. Imagine, electoral reform so we can vote who we truly believe in rather than the same old strategic voting. It is possible, check out the NDP platform.
So let's all vote NDP to get Harper out and get Canadian values back into the House of Commons.

Sweetness

This week has been absolutely crazy, with barely a moment to breath. I came home two nights ago to find these on the kitchen table.
Diego's thoughtfulness almost brought me to tears. He is such a sweetheart. They were just what I needed to get me to slow down. Their colour makes me smile, their scent makes me relax and their meaning makes my heart swell.

Spring has arrived!

Happy Spring!

I saw these crocuses displaying their colours 2 weeks ago even before many other plants had even started pushing the soil up!
Diego and I went for a long walk yesterday and although it was a bit nippy in the wind we found the signs of spring all around us.
We made it to the waterfront spring has been underway for a couple of weeks now. As soon as there is enough light (usually early March) the microscopic plants (phytoplankton) that drive the highly productive ocean system here off of Nova Scotia came to life and started multiplying. This is why the water in the photo below is greenish. Normally (now that we have sewage treatment!) the water would be crystal clear in the winter.
Once the phytoplankton get really abundant then the very small animals and larvae of bottom dwellers and fishes called zooplankton "appear" and begin to feed on the phytoplankton and each other! If you look closely at the photo you will see little round balls with two training tails. These are called ctenophores (or sea gooseberry). They are voracious predators and always appear after a week or 2 after the spring bloom starts. Eventually, the phytoplankton get grazed down by the very abundant zooplankton, which then also attract larger predators (krill, larger fishes) then eventually the whales arrive to dine on the feast that Altantic Canada has to offer.
Now that Spring has arrived to both land and sea, it will soon be time for planting in the garden! Above are the first awakenings in our garden. I can wait to have our very first chives!

Buns!

I made these no rise buns this morning and boy were they good! So easy...except getting them not to split! That was my fault in shaping them... I used 1/2 of the recipe and made 8 buns.
They served their purpose as a vehicle for a delicious breakfast sandwich!
It has a fried egg, honey garlic sausage split down the middle, grilled tomato and mayo. A once every few months kind of treat but oh so delicious! The rest will no doubt serve as a great base for some homemade jam or as a side for some soup! You can also use the recipe to make pizza crust and loaves of bread. I love a versatile recipe.

Secret...

I have been holding back a secret. We got a KitchenAid Professional 6 stand mixer for Christmas!!!

The only spot it fits!

We were so lucky that some of our friends went home to the USA for Christmas and brought it back for us. A Professional 6 here in Canada is almost $600!! I was able to get it for less than 1/2 price!! I have been using it a lot for baking desserts but I absolutely LOVE it for making pizza dough!

Making pizza dough before the final kitchen configuration...we definitely do not need to move the blender every time!

It is such a dream! I even made the herb and garlic baguette recipe that came in the user guide (yes, they included LOTS of recipes!). Let's just say that I haven't yet perfected the baguettes but they were quite tasty and worthy of another try.
The bowl is large enough to make pizza dough for 5 pizzas! We had a pizza party and it was a blast!
We made this pizza last week. It was a mix of "things we need to eat in the fridge before they go bad" pizza. The dough was perfect and the toppings were amazing! We fried the toppings in olive oil before baking and the results was delicious. We put onions, garlic, firm tofu, spinach, zucchini, salt and lots of oregano. The sauce was a thin layer of olive oil and we used feta cheese. A definite must try! The dough is a recipe from my Italian friend, so it is authentic!

Pizza Dough

1 cup of water
1 bag of yeast
2tbs of olive oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 and 1/2 cups of flour

Mix the liquids plus sugar and salt and then add the flour. Then see if you want to add more flour, you need to have an elastic dough like the dough for pie crusts. Leave to rise for at least 3 hours in a warm place. If it is really sticky, you can put it in the fridge for a bit and it will roll out easier. Will make one 12" crust.

Enjoy!