All That Beautiful Snow - Nature Appreciation

It started snowing last night.  Slow and steady. The forecast called for 2 cm (translation: less than 1 inch).

By the morning we had about 10 cm (or 4 inches) gorgeous, fluffy cover:)
As I looked outside, I noticed a  beautiful shade of blue toward the west. Grabbed my camera. While I was taking the pictures the colour changed right before my eyes... or rather: lens.
I was anxious to see whether I managed to capture that most unusual shade of blue - it seems like it worked:

My magnolia is beautiful in any season.

South Pacific, Curry and Scrabble

I never read the book - saw the musical. (maybe the book should be next)
I still can't get over the beautiful voice  of David Pittsinger.

http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/115503/actor-to-make-history-with-back-to-back-performances

The Curry was Mollie Katzen's recipe - Cauliflower and Potato with Chickpeas.
I enjoyed it.
I guess, February was the month of my experimentation with Indian cooking. :)

One night, while I was half asleep, I heard an ad on TV for Scrabble Slam, the card game.
It became a little bit of an obsession to get it. Finally, today we found it.
It's a wonderful little game: no big set up (it's only cards), quick-paced, for those times when we can only spend a brief time playing. (i.e. most of the time) :) We need to play!

Running

THE SEASON HAS BEGUN:)

Well, not quite. Training has begun but it's just not the real thing until we are running outside. And by outside I mean the trails. They are beautiful and a great deal better than breathing in rush-hour fumes...
I promised myself to carry a camera with me. I see so many beautiful things during those runs...

can't wait for sunshine like that:)

The treadmill is punishment - trails are like the icing on the cake.

Why I Wake Early

... there are many reasons I won't get into :)
but

Why I Wake Early
also happens to be the title of a poem by Mary Oliver.
http://rinabeana.com/poemoftheday/index.php/2006/01/16/why-i-wake-early-by-mary-oliver/

I was not familiar with her name until very recently when a friend introduced me to her poems.
I picked the above title to be my 3rd poem of the year. Somehow, the poem brought me back memories of early mornings when I raced out to try to take sunrise photos:).
I see more of those in the very near future  - maybe I'll re-name my blog? :)

Mother of Invention

Necessity, that is:)
I put together a Coconut cake, only to find that I don't have the right size baking pan...
It was already in a larger size pan when I realized that there was no way it would cover it, so I fitted a loaf pan between the edge of the batter and the pan. Worked like a charm:)
(Thankfully, I used parchment paper - it was easy to adjust it.)

Poetry

Poetry used to mean a long lists of memorized poems back in my school days.
For years after, I must admit, I seldom pulled out poems.  I had a few favourites - did not seek more. In the past couple of months, I've been paying more attention as I was searching for suitable ones to memorize.
The internet proved to be a good tool for that.
As I looked for various English translations for  Tiszta Szivvel  and was not completely satisfied.
Recognizing the fact that the translator is in a difficult situation trying to convey the meaning, the rhythm and the emotions of the poem, I was still left searching.
Interestingly, I came across a different translation while looking for something else on Youtube.
Here it is.

I can't say that it is THE translation I was looking for - yet, it conveys  the darkness of the poem yet fails to show the youthful defiance  of the original poem.

It was good to re-visit this piece. I remembered many of the lines, the biographical element attached to it.
(The poet was turned away from a teaching position  because of this very poem)
What surprised me was that initially, I did not comprehend the desperate tone, the full meaning of this piece - or I don't recall that I did.

Better Late...

How odd:
I have not taken a picture in the past few days and have not posted here...
No excuses, just was not ready, I guess.

I took a few pictures tonight of the snow - oh, yes we are getting some to replace the white stuff that melted last week- and got some odd reddish colour...

But then again, this is the era of digital photography- look, what I can do:)

(changed it to Black and White- no more redness)

Teeny - tiny flakes falling, love to watch them from the window. Beautiful, pure white, before the cars had a chance to destroy it. It's definitely still winter AND we are in Canada.

Through the Window

Tuesday

After a very cold and windy day,
the temperature is going up.
We had a day of glorious sunshine and then this:)

It's still winter but the days are longer - encouraging.
In about 3 months we'll be seeing leaves on that tree:)

.

Monday

Pretty clouds tonight

Mom's birthday bouquet

The cake

My first adventure with a Bundt pan:

Oops, a little piece got stuck... I managed to remove it and patched the cake...

Once the glaze covered it  nobody noticed the problem.

I see

cooking and baking in my immediate future:) - but there is always time for some distraction:

If this looks baffling, here is the explanation:

As I sat on my recliner for a few minutes this afternoon, the above reflection caught my eye.
So, since the camera/tripod was at arm's reach, I took some pictures.

Then, of course, the sunset provided some dramatic lighting:

Ladybugs and Sour Cherries

Finally, I took a picture of them.
They just make me smile:

Recently, I've had an intense craving for Sour Cherries... Very odd, as I never liked preserves of any sort... I add them to my yogurt (delicious:) ), to oatmeal (lovely:) ) ... I've baked with them, have eaten them just for snacks... 

For some strange reason, nobody in the family shares my enthusiasm for them.

Lettuce

Organic Romaine ...
expired in my fridge - a month ago...


They look fine... I'm just wondering HOW????









A good photo session today. I went out to do sunset photos but got this one on the way:

It's my Hydrangea. Looks beautiful against the snow...


AND THE SUNSET DID NOT DISAPPOINT EITHER:

Orchids

... and it's not even Valentine's Day yet!

SOUP

The cold weather makes it almost mandatory. Today's special:
Sunchoke and Leek Soup.
I've discovered the power of leeks. They simply make every soup taste so much better. I make "cream" soups, using leeks instead of onions and I make vegetable soups, bean and pea soups with them as well.
I've made soup lovers out of soup haters with the help of leeks:)

Early evening ritual:
Taking pictures of the sunset - if possible.
Tonight, there was a beautiful, colourful sunset:

Unfortunately, the picture does not do it justice...

However, my photo session was not done in vain:

This one turned out exactly as it was intended... it may not be a big deal to anyone else but I get all excited when that happens... it's really rare. Out of several thousand photos there are only maybe a dozen that I recall... 

BLACK WALNUT

I love this tree. It's close to 50 years old, huge, beautiful. It used to be the home of a little red squirrel, who stood guard, made angry noises and gave chase if any other squirrel approached.
This tree took over my backyard: it does not allow certain other plants to grow, but it's gorgeous during the warmer seasons, provides shade for us and food for the squirrels:)

Today was a day of beautiful bright sunshine and cold, of course:

Sunday

After last night's snow -

my car was hard to see:)

Getting ready for tomorrow's Mung Bean Experiment. Nobody  could accuse me of lack of variety...

Zucchini Cake and More Snow

Blogging Along

I've been meaning to post some pictures of my current favourite breakfast:
Oatmeal with Bananas, Glazed Organic Lemon Peel and Cocoa Nibs with Almond Milk.
It may sound complicated but it's rather simple:

I keep a jar with 1 part Oatmeal - 2 parts Almond Milk.  (Oatmeal is the Quick Cooking kind from Bob's Mills). I also keep sliced bananas in my freezer.  When I want to eat, I pull a bag (with 1/2 banana), add it to my Oatmeal, flavour it with Lemon Peel and Cocoa nibs. Sometimes I may add a little crunchy Kashi cereal. It's wonderful.

Today, I almost managed to get a sleeping picture of our Lab. Somehow, she figured it out I was up to something: the moment I got the camera focused on her, I was staring into wide open eyes:)

A wonderful afternoon pick-me-up:

A smoothie with a teaspoon of instant espresso, a teaspoon of  cocoa, some Soymilk, and some frozen banana slices.

(that is where the other half of that frozen banana goes)

A rare moment of stillness:

Interesting colours in the late afternoon sky -
I should have used Manual focus though...

Dinner

It's the season for comfort foods:

(In progress)

Nothing says comfort like potatoes...
This version has layers of potatoes, eggs, savoy cabbage, some veggie dogs, topped with organic sour cream and baked in the oven.

Sunshine

Finally, blue skies:) -
and sparkling icicles.

Then a sunset:

(not spectacular but better than the past few days...)

Snow and more snow...

It started yesterday, in the afternoon:

Care for a seat?

Then we progressed...

it just kept on snowing...

By the late afternoon the sun was trying to peek through the clouds (.... kind of hard to see, but that's what it was:)

What is the best thing on a snowy day?

A nice, hot bowl of soup

Or a cup of Chai,
with some pumpkin muffins:

Kitchen Art :)