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New Years Reflections and Resolutions for 2009

I thought this year was fantastic.  Accomplishments:

• 2nd year being vegan, even better than the first.
• Got my first Nikon.
• Received the magazine containing my first published article in the mail.
• Went on a backpacking trip around Europe by myself: four months of unforgettable experiences, reaping the rewards of risk-taking and meeting fantastic people.
• Climbed my first mountain.
• Spent a month living in France while working in two different organic farms.
• Finished my best job so far as an Educational Technology assistant with amazing colleagues and, as a result, a very difficult goodbye.
• Moved to Montreal.
• Took on the great challenge of my Masters degree, finished my first term successfully.
• Year 7 with J, still totally in love.
• Bought our first real furniture in our new two floor apartment.
• Adopted a 7 month old kitten.
• I am sure there is more, but these are the stand-outs.

Could 2009 be even better?  Well I am not sure that I can top a trip around Europe, but trying could be fun.  After last year’s crazy ambitious list of New Years Resolutions, I have learned a few things and have made myself a revised set of goals to aim for.

Resolutions for 2009:

1.  Set up a better reading/writing schedule for school. In order to prepare for starting to write my thesis next term, I owe it to myself to set up a schedule that is something like a 9-5.  It will help me get more work done, build a productive routine, and free up more time to explore other interests.

2. Take full advantage of living in such a great city. Using the extra time freed up from my enhanced scheduling, I want to do more things in Montreal!  Art shows, music, theatre, etc.

3. Attempt to find a way to travel this year, despite lack of funds. This may not happen.  It is really difficult having the travel itch and not being able to scratch it… right now I am daydreaming about some sort of hot holiday for my school break in February.  Mexico?  Or my dream cruise.

4. Get regular exercise. At least every second day.  This shouldn’t be too difficult since I was on my way with that last month, I love running and classes at the YMCA.  Exercising regularly makes a noticeable difference in my quality of life.

5.  Cut down all TV watching to 2 shows. Period.

5. Read, nurture my literary roots. I have a massive reading list, and the more I read the more I feel like that old self who wrote real poetry and marvelled at characters.  I want to let that side of me breathe again.

6.  Run a 10K race. While eventually I want to run a half marathon, then a marathon, I think 10K is the most realistic benchmark for this year, with all that I have going on.

7.  Set up a financial tracker and budget, and stick to it.

8.  Quit stress eating.

9.  Start meditating.

10.  Nurture my self and my body through healthful choices.

I have started a Life dream list at 43 Folders, finally.  Inspired by Maggie Mason at Mighty Girl (see the sidebar) for several of my starting goals, collecting more as I go.  I like the idea of thinking about the larger (or smaller) achievements it would be great to look back on in life.

Wishing you all a happy new year.

Christmas 2008 Foodie Highlights

I really overdid it this year on cooking and baking - next year, I vow to simplify.  At any rate, most things were very successful.  Christmas was a blast.

First, I hosted a pre-Christmas lunch for the family.  I chose to make a three course meal, and made everything gluten-free (by using brown rice flour) since I have two family members who are gluten sensitive.  Part 1: Heart Beet Salad from Vegan Lunchbox cookbook - normally a Valentine’s themed salad with roasted beets in the cookie-cutter shape of hearts, I chose to use bell-shaped cutters instead for the holiday meal.  This salad is highly recommended!  Roasted beets, walnuts, blood oranges, romaine and spinach with a balsamic vinagrette dressing.

Part 2:  Bubble and Squeak cakes from Veganyumyum (with homemade Old Bay spice since I could not find it in stores), covered in Chickpea gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook, which was delicious.  This was served with a side of lemon/garlic broccoli.  Once people got over the fact that I did not in fact have Cheez Whiz or a cheese sauce to go with it, they realized that the lemon-garlic flavour was in fact equally tasty.

Part 3:  Gluten-free brownies!  Via Have Cake Will Travel.  These were fantastically fudgy and delicious, I highly recommend them as an exemplar of a great vegan brownie.  The secret ingredient is sweet potato!

Meanwhile, I had prepared some more Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns courtesy of Eat off the Sidewalk blog (took them out of the oven a little early to get them extra doughy), plus gingerbread cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook.

Next, I had Christmas Eve dinner.  For this one, I made a more complex dish than I normally consider attempting:  Jumbo Shells Stuffed with Pumpkin-Tofu Ricotta-Fried Sage-&-Almonds with creamy tomato sauce, recipe via Vegan Eats & Treats.  Now it may not look too appetizing, but it was delicious.  I also whipped up the easy Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf from Veganomicon.

Since I had made a big batch of Chickpea Gravy I also used it for this meal on top of the extra veggies my family prepared: turnip, carrots, potato and cabbage, as well as the delicious dressing they were kind enough to set aside a vegan version of for us.

We had a fantastic holiday with both mine and J’s family, and felt extremely spoiled and lucky in both material and non-material ways.

Other nice bits:

Christmas morning tradition is pancakes - while others had gluten-free and non-vegan waffles, we whipped up the basic pancakes from Vegan With a Vengeance - with chocolate chips, of course!  and a side of pumpkin cinnamon bun and a delicious fruit sauce.

J’s family decided to make gingerbread men (vegan!) and decorate them very creatively.  My favourite?  “The Russian”:

Benjamin and Mars have been slowly becoming accustomed to one another.  Benjamin is still, sadly, acting abnormally resentful and standoffish.  And yet, recently we caught them on top of the cat tree together, sharing a little - dare we say - cuddle?

Finally, I recently met up with an old friend and did some hiking in the Gatineau hills.  It’s amazing how close the surrounding neighbourhoods are, and for a while we did a detour down one of the streets, when I caught this unusual photograph:

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday as much as we did.  As usual, more photos are available on my Flickr page.

Poetry Tuesday: Anne Sexton

I have several other very important posts to write concerning the holidays and foodstuffs, but first: a sampling of Anne Sexton.  I recently checked out her complete poems from the library.  While for my tastes she is a little overly verbose and narrative in her writing, she has created some brilliant poems and I would like to share a sampling of my favourites.

First, a quotation she uses to begin one of her poems is valuable in itself and worth repeating here:

For a man needs only to be turned around once
with his eyes shut in this world to be lost … Not
til we are lost … do we begin to find ourselves.

–Thoreau, Walden (a book on my reading list sorely needing to be read)

From the poem, “Said the Poet to the Analyst”:

My business is words. Words are like labels,
or coins, or better, like swarming bees.
I confess I am only broken by the sources of things;
as if words were counted like dead bees in the attic,
unbuckled from their yellow eyes and their dry wings.
I must always forget who one words is able to pick
out another, to manner another, until I have got
something I might have said…
but did not.

Pieces of the poem, “Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward,” (available here in full):

Child, the current of your breath is six days long.

You lie, a small knuckle on my white bed;

lie, fisted like a snail, so small and strong

at my breast. Your lips are animals; you are fed

with love. At first hunger is not wrong.

The nurses nod their caps; you are shepherded

down starch halls with the other unnested throng

in wheeling baskets. You tip like a cup; your head

moving to my touch. You sense the way we belong.

But this is an institution bed.

You will not know me very long.

(…)

And now that’s that. There is nothing more

that I can say or lose.

Others have traded life before

and could not speak. I tighten to refuse

your owling eyes, my fragile visitor.

I touch your cheeks, like flowers. You bruise

against me. We unlearn. I am a shore

rocking you off. You break from me. I choose

your only way, my small inheritor

and hand you off, trembling the selves we lose.

Go child, who is my sin and nothing more.

And one of my favourite poems of all time (I have read it countless times), “The Truth the Dead Know”:

Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
It is June. I am tired of being brave.

We drive to the Cape. I cultivate
myself where the sun gutters from the sky,
where the sea swings in like an iron gate
and we touch. In another country people die.

My darling, the wind falls in like stones
from the whitehearted water and when we touch
we enter touch entirely. No one’s alone.
Men kill for this, or for as much.

And what of the dead? They lie without shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea would be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed, throat, eye and knucklebone.

meet Mars: a new member of our family adopted from the Humane Society

I will never forget our visit to the Humane Society, where we first met 7 month old Mars, a mixed white/calico kitten.  I have come home to Benjamin and J for the winter holiday from school, a delightful month free of academic responsibilities and full of domestic banality, in which I am thriving.  We had decided to take the opportunity to adopt another cat after seeing that Benjamin would have more fun with someone else to chase him around, and that we need to support pet adoption in any way that we can.  It was extremely moving to be in that small room lined with cages as we were greeted by a chorus of sad meows. We had such a difficult time deciding which cat were were going to take home with us. When I approached Mars’ small cage, he was curled up (as he does, into himself) sleeping. I made a kissing noise to wake him up so I could meet him, and instantly he was a ball of affectionate energy, rubbing against the metal bars.  It was only a matter of time before we decided he might be a great friend for Benjamin. Here he is, after we had left the room and returned.

We had to keep him separate from Benjamin for a while while we gave him his last few days of medicine (for sore gums with teeth coming in) and gave them a chance to get used to each other’s scents.  It was not long before they began to play together and seem amicable.  But Benjamin is still seemingly mad at me for several reasons, including, likely: shaking up his life, feeding Mars better food, and cuddling with a new kitten.  Well, I hope he will come around soon, since J and I are missing our morning Benjamin cuddles.

Mars is truly a ball of cute kitten-energy, he finds everything interesting and loves to watch us in fascination as we perform regular activities such as making a sandwich, or in my case internet surfing.  I was surprised as he pounced on my macbook and began to paw at the keys and screen violently.  He of course, does millions of cute things every day that make us laugh.

He has many interesting physical features including a beauty mark a la Marilyn Monroe style, mismatched eyes (one white rimmed, one with black liner), and a long neck and small face which often make him resemble a spider monkey as he observes things around the room.  I was also tempted to name him Bowie, after David Bowie whom he sometimes resembles (at least in the movie the Labyrinth!).  He has long hair but is very small and lithe - and, he purrs very loudly.

With a toy mouse:

While he and Benjamin still don’t get along perfectly, Mars is such a friendly and loving cat that I think Benj will eventually come around.  I have caught Mars lovingly grooming Benjamin by licking his nape a few times, but this doesn’t last long with Benjamin (yet).

Okay, enough pictures!  You can tell that I am utterly enamoured.  I couldn’t think of a more special way to enjoy the holidays, than with my (now expanded) family.

Sick? This Garlic and Greens soup ought to drop-kick that cold right out of you.

I am always looking for new ways to eat dark greens - because they pack such a powerful nutritional punch.  Kale,  swiss chard, collards, spinach, etc!  Well, I have perfected the tried and true method of sautéing onions and garlic, throwing on the chopped up greens and then tossing in a bit of tamari at the end.  This does wonders for flavour, and is great on top of brown rice.  BUT, I could not resist trying this recipe presented in a cooking video by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, one of my heroes and founder of Compassionate Cooks and the Vegetarian Food for Thought Podcast (which, as I think I must have mentioned before, is one of my absolute favourite podcasts out there).

Here is a picture of the soup I made, using with my new camera (which is very much inferior to the Nikon, but will have to do). Now while not the most visually appealing soup, it is seriously delicious and easy to make, not to mention nutritious.

Since I found it a little irriating having to follow a video rather than having a written recipe, I decided to attempt to write it out here for you, based on what I did.  Keep in mind that this soup is by nature improvisational, a foundation for many alterations and also the measurements are not exact.  Have fun!

Garlic and Greens Soup
(via Colleen Patrick-Goudreau)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
• 1 head of garlic, approx. 8 or 9 cloves minced or pressed
• olive oil for sautéing
• Dark greens, chopped into bite size pieces (kale, collards or swiss chard would do nicely)
• 4 yellow potatoes, cubed
• 8 cups of water
• 1 veggie bouillon cube
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

Begin by sautéing the diced onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil, watching that the garlic does not burn.

Add your chopped greens (I used swiss chard), sauté for another 5 minutes or so until they begin to turn bright green.

Add the diced potatoes, then the water.  Bring to a boil, add the bouillon cube, then put on medium-low heat until the potatoes are cooked (about 20 to 25 minutes), stirring occasionally.   Periodically smell the divine broth as desired for maximum enjoyment of this cooking experience.  When finished cooking and about to serve, put in the rice vinegar and stir.

Prop 8: The Musical & Keith Olbermann: fantastic speech

In case it wasn’t obvious from the personality that emerges through my blog, I am in full support of gay marriage.  That said, often others can explain my viewpoint better than I can. Here are two pieces of video gold concerning the passing of Proposition 8.

delightful diversions: Nicholas’ Hughes photography of surfaces

I am currently swimming in the strong current of my latest research papers.  One of them is on photographic representations of the city, specifically photography which attempts to capture the elusive “non-places” of Marc Augé (and potentially also the “junkspace” of Rem Koolhaas) such as airports, atm machines, highways, etc.  I won’t get into it right now; I will soon be writing 20 pages on it.  Needless to say, in pursuit of my subject I have been exploring the work of many photographers.  This can lead to some great discoveries.   Case in point: the photography of London-based Nicolas Hughes.

These works are taken from his series Edge, Verse 1.  Here is a description from his “biography” page:

Nicholas Hughes’ seascapes and snowscapes are calm and quiet; yet retain a deep underlying contemplative presence. His strong yet delicate photographs serve to show the fragility of our relationship with the natural world. Hughes’ work examines the space between the world that people inhabit and that which nature still claims as its own and in this intermediary space seeks to explore the essence of the human spirit and its relationship with nature. However his contemplation of the distant horizon is by no means a perpetuation of the Romantic. He sees the notion of the natural world as forever vast and mysterious, quickly evaporating. By focusing on boundaries, plains and surfaces he acknowledges the existence of limits. These are images that not only speak of the infinite character of the natural world but of the finite character of the world created by human nature.

Well I am not sure about all of that, but I do find it interesting that he organizes his series’ into “verses,” as in poetry or songs.  And I think his photographs are beautiful and subtle and all that good stuff.   Would love to see them in real life, and hope they are large scale.

Carrots for giants: advertisement or urban intervention?

This is the kind of ad that I can support!  Brilliant!

Gorge Grown Farmer’s market:

(via)

New media artist Arend deGruyter-Helfer and his deconstructed TextEdit windows

I know, I know, I haven’t been writing much in the way of real news or personal updates (and where has all of the vegan food porn gone? don’t talk to me about that, my poor lens *sob*), but bear with me - I am in the middle of intense research and paper writing that will end on December 10th, with my winter vacation just beginning.  I am looking forward to taking a break, grad school is very intense.

In the meantime, I came across this really interesting new media artist, Arend deGruyter-Helfer.  I think this is one of my first forays into experiencing new media artworks (after the meta YouTube videos), and I have to say I am very intrigued!  I like how these artists seem to play with the structures of computer programs or web applications that are so pervasive, normalized, and unquestioned.  They take the familiar and “make strange,” as one of my professors would say.

These works are mostly interactive, and meant to be used… so follow the links to start experimenting:

• untitled window
• untitled window2
• and for fun, object array
• see more interesting works by deGruyter-Helfer

Sam Messenger: Works on Paper

I think these works by Sam Messenger are beautiful, and I long to see them in person.  Just amazing what he can do with such simple media. (check out his official site for larger images)

Untitled (detail), 2007, pen & white ink & watercolour on paper, 30 x 22 inches

Untitled, 2007, pen & white ink & mixed media on paper, 30 x 22 inches

Salt Water, 2007, pen & white ink & ink wash on paper, 40 x 26 inches