vancouver!

we've arrived! good flight, if long, and a lovely day yesterday full of activities thought of by n's lovely sister designed to keep us awake. it worked too - we didn't go to bed till 930pm vancouver time (at which point we'd been up for 25 hours).

the sky looks cloudy at the moment but it is supposed to clear up and be a bright beautiful west coast day. it's so lovely to be back!

and every time it rains it rains pennies from heaven

we're getting ready to go back to canada for a visit - we leave in a week - and i am getting so excited! the last few visits have been all about family, and unfortunately ill health and eventual death, and i think i almost forgot that we could fly out and just have fun with our friends and family. and that is exactly what we are going to do.

i am a whirlwind of preparation and planning - which of course fills me with demonic delight - there is nothing i like better. dog and house sitting is all lined up, extra keys are being cut, summer clothes purchased in the vain hope that maybe in vancuver or at least winnipeg it might not be cold and raining (shakes fist at the damp concrete english summer sky).

even more miraculously, the universe seems to be smiling upon us lately. there has been a lot of fun - a beautiful wedding, some great pub nights, a delightful birthday, and even an unexpected tax refund. even when things have been going wrong, they have righted themselves agreeably. i know it won't last but it is lovely when things actually go right without pulling and prodding, isn't it?

it's all good until i think about leaving humph for three weeks then the guilt overtakes me and i have to think about something else :( 

three glorious weeks of holiday!! and now please excuse me - i need to go buy a sunhat.

and then the sun came out

of hats

it snowed today. again. not interesting, sticking-on-the-ground snow, just hovering maliciously in the air snow. ambient temperature is around 2 above celsius, but there's a strong wind straight off the north sea that takes your breath away. trees have budded and stopped dead in their tracks.  daffodils , the ones that have actually bloomed, look like they're seriously reconsidering. and snow in the air. happy april. hey saskatoon - come and get your weather back - he's drunk and ranting about prime ministers cavorting with pandas or something.

so i did the only rational thing and knit a hat. you know, to practice my colour work (ha ha ha).

it's a great pattern - looks all harlequin from the side:

and from the top makes a star:

 and looks so cute from the front ;)

take that, winter. now unhand spring. NOW.

my job for the day is to stay out of the way

it's good friday
(n: what's good about it?
k: they killed jesus
n: oh that's good)

i'm working. correction: i am watching other people work. i am clearing out a building so asbestos testing can start next week. there's a crew of about 20 guys breaking down furniture and ferrying it out to the lorry like large loud ants. i'm tucked up in a corner trying not to get in the way.

and trying to stay awake - i met up with guys from work after i finished the move last night and didn't get in till after midnight. 5 hours of sleep are not enough. i know all you people with kids are now snorting and thinking that i have no idea what tired really is, but you know, it's all relative. just like how at the pub you say - hey - who cares if i'm tired and hungover tomorrow - i don't have to do much (except get out of bed at 630 in the morning and get on a train - GAH) why not - sure i'll have one (two three four) for the road...

it all looks so different in the morning. certainly more bleary at any rate.

today's staying out of the way will be followed by three days of doing bugger-all. unless you count knitting, eating, and drinking wine, and i don't, really.

happy easter

19 march plate

it's the consistency that's so impressive, isn't it?!

ok - this whole plating thing is really wearing off now. who's idea was this? i don't know how many more we can be bothered with (i can't even remember what we ate last night let alone think about pictures. oh. n tells me filo pie with spinach and feta. you'll have to use your imagination).

but tonight, i did have another go at making food pretty. see my lime garnish? i looked it up on youtube. it's surprisingly difficult to slice lime that thin. took a whole lime in the attempt. lime carnage. but hey, it's not parsley!

  

soft corn taco with chicken, rocket, avocado, and jalapeno sauce (and LIME)

one thing i have really noticed is how much what we eat differs from restaurant food.  i always just think about the taste, where i think we hold our own. but you may have noticed a distinct lack of jus or garnish, or anything that would require tweezers in application. 

we're losing momentum. i think the end is near.

10 -11-12 march plates

how exactly is it thursday already?? 

beef stew with champ (potatoes and green onions) and bread

roast duck, beet, feta and watercress salad

ham hock soup with sourdough bread

stew - plating - ugh

salad - much better. note - no parsley

soup - what, really, can you do? 

this is actually quite hard. i'm not sure i'm learning much beyond how little i can be arsed with this sort of thing.

and are you amazed that i can whinge abut even this? i'm amazed.

10 march plate

roast guinea fowl, potatoes and parsnips 

ok i know this is a little pathetic but bear with us, it's been a hell of a week, and we did have a go. we probably should have plated individually, and it would have been better if we hadn't burned the cabbage, and our reliance on parsley as super-garnish that will mysteriously make everything look fabulous is obviously not really working, but it tasted mighty fine.

plating fail

last week got a little out of hand. it turns out that having a challenging job where you commute everyday and going out every single night do not mix well once you are over 35.

so thursday we drank too much wine and roasted a duck.

roast duck with roasted potatoes and broccoli

i know. i'm sorry.

friday was not much better - spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce - which should have been fun to plate properly, but not when you're that knackered.

saturday - pork chops, cabbage and mash potatoes, er - also not plated.

we'll do better. back on the wagon today. not going out much this week.

will try harder...

6 march plate

the eagle-eyed among you may notice the distinct lack of 5 march plating photos. we had soft corn flour tacos with leftover cowboy beans, habanero sauce, feta, avocado , coriander and lime. it was lovely. it was also inhaled at a rate of knots mostly over the kitchen counter as the tacos came off the grill. tastes better that way. thought about pictures about 24 hours later. still haven't thought about plating.

we have in no way made up for this failure tonight. n met me up in london and we hit the london drinker beer festival (coincidentally right beside my office - it's fate, surely!). supper was on the train home:

salmon wrap, chorizo chicken club salad, ready salted crisps, sour cream and chive dip,  swiss milk chocolate, claret.

the classiness - it positively oozes.

and from the beer festival - listed brewery first, beer second (combined - not each!)

• beavertown (!!!) - smog rocket smoked porter (have i mentioned how much i love england? have i?)
• dark star - hophead (still my favourite)
• fuzzy duck - ruby duck
• hackney - golden ale
• hadrian border - farne island pale ale
• london fields - hackney hopster
• moorhouse's - black cat
• oakham - jester's ferret
• redemption - hopspur