PayDay… a day late and… er… never mind.

16 October 20088 Comments

Yes, yes – I know, I know. The last time I was here, I said that I was in the midst of stashbusting.

However, this morning the gloom of the grey sky and the fallen dead leaves…

… plus the completely foreseen (but no less crippling) bad mood engendered by Tuesday’s election results…

…led me and my iron will (HA!) regarding PayDay purchases astray.

It all started off rather innocently. In light of my stashbusting goal – which involves the winding of approximately 5 kilometres of Super 10 cotton yarn – and a recalcitrant JJ (“Who do ah sue if ah get that carpal tunnel thingy from doing all these yarn balls??? Eh??? Eh???”), I decided to break down and buy a ball winder and swift.

A very economical purchase, really, considering all of the labour costs (which, at present Legal Aid lawyer rates, comes out to approximately… er, never mind. And which, at JJ rates, led to too many whisky empties!) I will save.

Or would have saved, had I not come across this at Romni, where I bought the ball winder, at the same time:

This is brand new laceweight stuff! It’s called One of a Kind (indeed!) and made right here in Canada. The price, at $7.95 for a 600 yard skein, was actually quite reasonable (it’s a wool/angora/nylon blend).

Plus, the colourway is called Kaleidoscope. How could I resist, really?

When I got back to the office after this little lunchtime foray, imagine my surprise to find this waiting for me!

This is the latest instalment in the Year of Lace 2008 club series which – horrors! – I had forgotten was on its way. And Handmaiden cashmere to boot! I must say the colourway is not one that falls within my preferred range, but I’m sure I’ll find someone who would like a shawl made with it.

I also rediscovered this lovely yarn that fellow blogger extraordinaire Clarabelle had winged my way from the UK back in the summer… (please do not think me ungrateful, C. – I had left it in my office to show everyone and it ended up as a decoration in my new office):

Now, one would think that all this largesse would have kept my @$$ in the tram seat on the way home instead of popping off to hit Lettuce Knit (notionally, in search of a swift). But no.

Why, oh why, Handmaiden, did you have to come out with silver Sea Silk yarn?!?!?

Sigh.

After all of this, of course, my former past true love Super10 looks…er, rather dull. But here is an in-progress shot of the Election 2008 Log Cabin quilt:

My goal: to finish it off before the US elections. Given that the finished size should be 60″ x 50″ or so, I may well have bitten off more than I can chew. Nothing changes, eh?

Well, off to make dinner… the easiest Greek pasta recipe ever. Stay tuned!

I’m in arrears of rent!!!

29 July 200829 July 20088 Comments

Hey, I was out having a fun time with the Tenant Advocates yesterday evening…

…when I came home last evening to this dire message from my landlord:

Auggggh!!! I’m in arrears!!! Will they file to evict me?

Hmm… I’ve just spoken with my new in-house counsel, Gabriel.

He advised that it wouldn’t be worth their while to file to evict me, as it would cost them $150.00.

As prudent counsel, however, he did also advise that if they should file to evict me I should bring up the fact that I overpaid the previous month according to their ledger:

Gabriel did advise that, if the worst happens and they file to evict me, I can claim this $0.68 overpayment as part of a relief from forfeiture eviction (sorry – I happen to like the old language “relief from forfeiture” as it really brings home the feudal aspect of the whole thing… but I’m a bit old school that way) argument before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

However, I decided to do the wise thing and just rectify the situation by payment.

This is only because I don’t know that the Board would accept the “I’m maths challenged” argument, especially when landlord/tenant is my chosen field of legal practice.

However, I’m just a bit pissed off right now – I figure it cost the landlord more than than the $8.86 outstanding to have their staff person print this off and have another staff member hand-deliver it to my door fourteen days later. But this is why the landlords keep making money and fools like me keep paying them rent, I suppose.

Now, if I wanted some real drama, I’d skip Gabriel’s opinion and get my real legal team onto it:

It’s actually such a big legal team that they don’t all fit in one photo! Check it out!

(You will recognise JJ in front. He is the honourary security person. We need him around because people like this start creating commotions in the street by nearly running over a cyclist, then getting out of his car and nearly decking the cyclist, then when someone like me intervenes and says she’s calling the cops, gets out and calls the cops himself, parks his car in one lane on a major thoroughfare in the city at rush hour, then gets laughed at by the cops when they finally show up:

Need I say more, really?)

Anyway, even more members of my legal team:

…and still more again:

… and our glorious mascot, who is a(n) (in)famous actress and has actually been on TV!!!

So, who needs to fear The Landlord when you have all these people on your team?!?

Stay tuned… because if I ever face an eviction hearing for non-payment of rent for $8.68 outstanding, I will be calling in the media.

(And, by the way, it wouldn’t be the first time this has happened. I’ve seen many clients with an eviction order for non-payment where the eviction order says the landlord owes THEM several hundred dollars. Such is the beauty of the landlord/tenant law in Ontario.)

But enough shop talk!

A very happy Tuesday to you all.

Regards,

Kristina

a fable and some very pithy recipes

25 July 200824 July 20083 Comments

A wee introductory note

Well, it’s finally Friday! And, because I’m feeling dragged out and rather lazy I thought I’d post a couple of blasts from the not-so-distant past. Below, you’ll find – respectively – a little fable about some food-crazed Torontoian… and some of my special “Recipes in 25 Words or Less”. They were both previously published on a food blog I set up one day when bored at work feeling even more inspired than usual. I posted a few times on that blog and then remembered that I was, in fact, a lazy@$$ and didn’t feel like doing two blogs.

So, here it is – and my apologies to any of the three people who actually visited the other blog and have already read this crap. See you next week with some brand-spanking-new stuff!

An Urban Fable

Once upon a time, there was a little girl living in a village. She grew up learning the Greek-Canadian art of How to Cook a Meal in One Week or Slightly Less at her mother’s knee:

So, it’s not all that surprising that she moved to the Big City as soon as possible and became a bachelor.

She never even needed to cook, as she was constantly surrounded by fabulous prepared food in abundance.

But, one day, the inevitable happened. She met someone. And that someone was not happy living on chips alone (very surprising, considering that he was from Scotland).

So, our heroine had to learn to cook again from scratch.

And although the Guy From Scotland was very happy with what she made (particularly with the beanz), she kept losing the can opener. Plus, she started to miss the foods from her home village.

However, being a busy person, especially given her predilection for ranting on and on, she did not have hours on end to prepare the feasts of her ancestors:

So she started reading food magazines and watching shows about food on TV to get some ideas. However, she was not the Ideal Hausfrau, and thus she ended up becoming completely depressed by her lack of kitchen perfection and shortage of high end kitchen gadgets:

Something had to be done, quickly. She was slipping back into her bachelor ways and – worse – losing her sense of humour.

Then, one fine day, she came across a vintage cookbook:

… and realised that her cooking could actually be a whole hell of a lot worse than it actually was.

This cheered her up. I mean, why make stuff that takes hours and look like this:

…when she could make stuff in 15 minutes that actually tasted pretty good?

So, our heroine started to see the light. She could now pass the high-end without bursting into tears…and actually started to go in and giggle at all the silly gadgets. She stopped coveting $50 balsamic vinegar and truffle oil.

And now, she’s become so confident with her anti-chef status that she would like to start sharing her inspirations tips and secrets with you, gentle reader. You, too, can have fun and turn out edible meals in less time than it takes a TV chef to depress the hell out of you.

And if your family doesn’t like it? Just tell them to get off their lazy @$$es and cook for a change.

Recipes in 25 Words or Less

In which Brouhaha starts trying to achieve her lifelong goal of publishing an entire cookbook on 4 double sided sheets of paper…

Soups

Tortellini soup: Put stock in pot. Bring to boil. Throw in tortellini. Simmer six minutes. Turn off heat. Add frozen veg and let sit three minutes. Enjoy.

variation: use v-8 juice instead of stock.

click here for the full Anti-chef recipe

Cock-a-leekie: slice and saute three leeks. Add three cups chicken stock and 1/4 cup barley. Simmer 45 minutes. Turn off heat and add frozen veg. Tasty.

Appetizers

Hummus: Blend one large can chickpeas, 1/4 cup each tahini (sesame paste) and lemon juice, one teaspoon cumin, one-half teaspoon smoked paprika, cayenne and salt.

Saganaki: slice kefalotiri (or romano) cheese 1/4 inch thick. Dredge with flour. Fry in lots of butter until golden. Serve with lemon wedges and bread. Opa!

Spicy Peanut Sauce: mix one cup chunky peanut butter, one tsp each cumin, hot paprika, and chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, salt. Add hot water to desired consistency.

Garlic Puffs: cut one sheet puff pastry into squares. Brush on garlic-flavoured olive oil. Sprinkle lots of parmesan over. Bake 20 minutes at 400 F.

Salads

Greek Surprise: chop one red onion. Let sit in lime juice 1/2 hour. Cube watermelon. Add feta, kalamata olives, fresh herbs, salt, pepper. Pour onion/lime over.

Fennel Citrus: slice one bulb fennel. Add one tin mandarin oranges with juice, one quarter cup white wine vinegar, salt, pepper. Dress with edible flowers.

Moroccan Chickpea: mix one can chickpeas; red bell pepper; carrot; one teaspoon each cumin, coriander; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne; two scallions; garlic; olive oil; lemon juice; salt. Zippy.

Village Greek: cut tomatoes into wedges; salt heavily; let sit. Add sliced English cucumber, three cloves garlic, chopped onion, cubed feta, kalamata olives, pepper, oil to taste.

Entrees:

Lamb Shanks Youvetsi: place lamb shanks in ovenproof casserole. Add two cups stock, one large can tomatoes, one teaspoon cinnamon, chopped onion, garlic. Cover. Bake two hours. Hearty!

Pasta with Burnt Butter: Heat four tablespoons of butter per serving of pasta in heavy sauce pan until it foams then turns brown. Remove from heat. Pour over pasta.

Chicken a la grecque: Brown boneless chicken breasts. Add sauce grecque (one can cream of chicken soup, half can water, lemon juice, oregano, salt, pepper). Simmer half an hour. Yum.

Desperation Curry: Saute one pound ground meat with soy sauce, pepper, onion and garlic (powder will do), red wine vinegar and BBQ sauce. Serve with rice.

Perogies: Chop onion and bacon – saute ten minutes. Meanwhile, boil perogies in salted water until they float to top – drain. Saute perogies in bacon mixture. Mmmm.

Ribs Like Mom Used to Make: Cut ribs into pieces. Simmer in water with an onion for one hour. Brush with favourite BBQ sauce, cover, bake in hot oven 20 minutes.

Desserts

Boozy Trifle: cut stale cake or muffins into cubes. Put in bowl. Soak with booze of your choice. Mix in pudding or custard and fruit or jam.

Decadent Delight: got cookies and pudding packs? Crush cookies, layer with pudding in bowl. Mix in whipped cream or cool whip and freeze 20 minutes. Mmm.

Lemon Squares: crush shortbread cookies. Add eight tablespoons melted butter, 1/4 cup sugar, some salt. Pack into pan and let sit 1/2 hour. Cover with lemon curd.

Bonus: Baklava in 50 words or less!!

Baklava for Lazy People: shred half pound phyllo into large pan. Mix in two cups nuts and half pound melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes. Let cool.

add syrup: bring one and a half cups honey, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup orange juice, two cinnamon sticks to boil. Pour over cooled pastry.

(I know this one’s a bit of a cheat… but I couldn’t resist!! And everyone loves baklava!)

Wanted: Christmas in July

23 July 200823 July 20084 Comments

Amazing! With only nine days left in the month, what did I spot yesterday in the street but this joyous scene?!?

All right, all right, I’m lying to you – again. This photo was actually on the Globe and Mail website yesterday. This was the caption:

Santas gather to make their way in a parade through Copenhagen on Tuesday during their annual three-day congress. Now in its 51st year, the World Santa Claus Congress brings together 136 red-clad delegates, mostly from Scandinavia but also as far away as Russia, Japan and the United States.

Now, there’s a new one for me – a Santa Conference. How come I don’t get to go to fun conferences like that? The last one I got to attend was called, I believe: Feudalism in the Modern Age – How to Deal with Ontario’s Many, Many Landlords – or something along those lines. Not a red suit to be seen or “ho ho ho” to be heard. Sigh.

Oh – a little Christmas in July tip, while I think of it? Do yourself a favour and read The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. It’s his account of working as an elf in Macy’s department store in their Santaland one year. Hilarious. If you’re a podcast type, you can also listen to him read it here.

Another example of the Christmas in July spirit in Europe – they’re giving away Vauxhall cars at the Tower Bridge in London!!!

Um… not really. Actually, this appears to be a publicity stunt for yet another new model of car. But my explanation of the photo is far nicer, no?

Personally, though, I think that this is a far nicer shot of the Tower Bridge, with a very rare sighting of one of Canada’s most esteemed intellectuals and artisans.

(In seeing this photo again, I hasten to say that I am not one of those pretentious wankers who insists on wearing shades all the time, even in winter. Instead, I have those eyeglasses which get dark in the sunshine. This was a bad move on my part in retrospect as I can no longer pretend I’m in the washroom 10 minutes every 45 minutes hour and a half when I’ve actually snuck – sneaked? – outside for a smoke. Sigh.)

But not everywhere in the world is lucky enough to have me and my benevolent presence strolling around, sadly. One place that could really use some benevolence right around now, not to mention a few Santas – Zimbabwe.

Apparently they just issued new money over there because their currency is completely in the toilet. This means that one egg costs $35billion Zimbabwean. This $100billion note is not enough to pay for the three eggs depicted in the photograph.

My math is horrendous – but this must mean the new Vauxhall car would cost… er… something like $200billiontrilliongazillionandquadrillion in Zimbabwe. Sigh.

Considering this, we really don’t have it all that bad over here. However, one thing I’ve noted – the cost of gas has risen well more than a quarter since the real Christmas month in 2007. Witness this photo I took in mid-December:

The blur is due to me shaking with rage because the price of gas refused to go under $1 (CDN) per litre.

And today? That same litre costs between 126.9 cents and 134.7 cents per litre, depending upon what part of the city you’re in (I like the way they still use “cents” to make you think it’s not all that expensive. Well, that little trick, I’m here to tell you Big Bad Gas Companies, doesnae work.) Apparently in some parts of the country it is nearing $1.50 and a couple of weeks here in good old TO it was $1.38.

In other words, not billions – but I find it very difficult to understand how the prices have gone up more than a third in the past seven months, really.

It’s enough to make me want to rush back to London. Forget Tower Bridge (although I can think of a few dozen top-level people who should perhaps be taken across it in legchains and left in the old prison there!). I’ll be looking for this place:

Will I find some answers there? Will I, hell. But I’ll be able to work up some guid big old rants, I should think.

Happy Wednesday and may Santa be kind to you all.

slip slidin’ away…

22 July 200821 July 20086 Comments

Well, His Excellency JJ, Ruler of the Remote, has finally managed to guilt me into making him some new slippers. Admittedly, the last ones I made him, depicted above, have seen better days.

In this regard, I had bought a new pattern … um… two months ago or so. And then I went off knitting for a while (and I’m still not 100% back on my previous zealous track, I must confess). And then I started two lace shawls while ignoring forgetting about my promise to JJ to make some slippers.

That’s when the above sad looking tattered specimens made their reappearance on the otherwise pampered feet of JJ. He is nothing if not subtle. He didn’t bother to mention that he was wearing ragged slippers, but waited patiently for me to stop ignoring this notice. And then waited some more.

Finally, last evening, he stuck his feet up in the air all of a sudden while we were watching Food Safari, waving his puir wee nekkid wee heels which were sticking out of the chequerboard slippers and bellowed said in his usual dulcet tone:

Lassie, when am ah gettin mah new slipperrrrrrs?!?!?

So, today after work, I stopped in at Knitomatic and finally bought some feltable yarn:

Lamb’s Pride Worsted, in Turkish Olive and Kiwi. The colour choice, thankfully, has met with the approval of His Nibs.

And, I’m proud to announce that I was completely selfless in this mission – I did not buy any yarn for myself!!! Hard to believe, eh?

I should, however, mention that I did have to buy this mag and I suspect that there won’t be much content there for JJ:

I was taken in particular with two of the patterns I saw within, and couldn’t resist:

These Europeans know what they’re doing with design, I tell you. And – such stashbusting potential!!! I’m picturing this in either a rich blue (Madil Eden) or poppy red (Dalegarn Svale):

And as for this beauty…

…well, maybe, just maybe, I can finally start dipping into that ridiculously large Super 10 stash.

Great. Another thing to feel guilty about… cheating on my beloved Butterfly Greek Super 10 cotton because I discovered the loveliness that is laceweight silk. I’m a terrible person, really.

More evidence of this home truth: the only real reason that I didn’t buy myself more yarn was because I had already gone on a shopping binge on the lunch hour.

But hey – since I’ve been off knitting, I’ve started to run out of clothes!!

Besides, they’re just so colourful I couldn’t resist… and they’re nice and cool.

And the best part – they cost only $10 apiece! So really, I couldn’t say no, could I? Does it count as selfish when you get such a great bargain?!?

JJ: It counts as “selfish” so long as ah’ve no got mah new slippers on mah feet, ye wee bampot.

Hmph. He’s obviously getting a bit too full of oats sitting at home all day. I’ll have to hide the remote before I leave for work tomorrow just to teach him a lesson, eh?

JJ: More paw, less jaw, lassie!

OK, OK… how’s this for a start, then?

Does anyone know if they have a Bigfoot Monster in Scotland?

Happy Tuesday!

preserving my (in)sanity

18 July 200816 July 20088 Comments

Well, an update in the weather that I know you’ve all been waiting with virtually bated breath to hear…

(By the way, what is “bated breath”, exactly? I think I smelled some on the tram today… does “bated breath” mean that something crawled into your windpipe and died and is now being exhaled as you snort and cough all over the pole that I’m hanging on to?!?)

Yesterday was so hot that the charcoal in our new easy light charcoal BBQ (prohibited, by the way, by virtue of my tenancy agreement. Oh well.) ignited by itself!!!!

JJ: Stop exaggeratin’, lassie!!! Don’t ye think these blog readers already know yer a wee bampot?!?

Yeah, ok, ok… I lied to you. Actually, those are the remains of the big souvlaki feast we enjoyed last evening…courtesy of Loblaws who had a big sale on these premade things when I popped in Wednesday evening (not as guid as mom and dad’s, but for $1 a stick and no work on my part, they did just fine):

What they did not have at $#&*($&*@#($#@* Loblaws, however – and what I had popped in especially to get – was any local produce.

And herein starteth the rant. American friends, believe me, I have nothing against your fair country – nor against Peru, nor against South Africa. However, one might just expect that in Ontario in mid-July one could go to the grocery store and buy… let’s say, local strawberries. But no. The closest to “local” I could find there was New Jersey (for those as geographically challenged as I, some 500 clicks/335 miles from here at closest. This means at least five hours bumping around in some truck just to get here to Toronto, never mind to my local Loblaws from wherever they keep their secret huge warehouse!!!).

Sheesh!!

So, I had to limit my purchases to souvlaki, smoked sausage, four litres of vinegar and sugar. And no, this is not the fixins for some esoteric greco/scottish summer stew. Rather, I needed the vinegar for… you guessed it!… more preserves. And then I hit Bari fruit market for some decent local stuff.

Wednesday’s obsession product was infused vinegars. From the left: strawberry and vanilla bean, blueberry and lime, ginger and chilli, and Europe’s Best Zen Garden frozen veg mix (I boiled too much vinegar and sugar. What can I say?)

There are also various other permutations and combinations on the above. And, if I actually liked salad, I might have been able to tell you some day how they all worked out. But I don’t like salad. So, I will have to rely on JJ and other friends to let me know how these all taste – on salad, anyway. I have been known to dip bread (which I do like, in quantity) in vinegar – yes, yes, I am a wee bampot, I know.

Why all this zeal, especially when it’s not all that prudent to keep a big pot of water boiling for three hours, making it 500 million C with the humidex in my apartment? Well, I read this article in the Globe and Mail on Wednesday at lunch, which will give you some ideas for fancy flavoured vinegars if you’re so inclined.

I also bought two kilos of “last day special” plum tomatoes at Bari, which I also canned after boiling them in some V-8 juice.

Then, just when I thought I’d had enough, JJ made the mistake of mentioning that he was glad I’d brought in more strawberries, because the ones we’d bought at the weekend had gone somewhat dry…

So, six more 500ml jars of vinegar – three strawberry/mint (at left) and three balsamic/strawberry (at right).

What’s that you say, JJ? I should learn to like salad, should I?

But why, when there are chips to eat and bread to dip in oil and vinegar??? Huh? Huh?

Oh, and by the way, the sour cherry jam has been a big hit so far with the man of the house:

Wishing you all a lovely Friday and a happy weekend. Tonight we will be heading out to meet some landlord rep friends (eeek!!!) at an indian restaurant, followed by a pub crawl.

And what does the weekend hold? I’ll be seeking out some more sour cherries, I suspect…

no soup for you!

26 June 200824 June 20088 Comments

It might seem paradoxical to write about soup at this time of year, when the temperatures (at long, long last) are climbing.

Well, welcome to my tortured world. For some reason, I suffer intense cravings for soup once the temperature climbs past 25C/77F/40million with the humidex. These cravings continue all summer and finally wind down around – oh, October or so.

So, what is a girl to do when she works in an increasingly chi-chi foo-foo part of town where the average bowl of soup sets you back – oh, $10 or so? Which, by the way, she has no intention of shelling out at any point, let alone where such things as “apricot” and “lentil” are included in the ingredient list for one fancy dan soup?

Why, make up her own fancy award-winning recipes, of course!

And, I lied in the subject line. That’s just what I told JJ yesterday when he called me a right weirdie for attempting to make soup out of the leftover curry from dinner.

Never without a witty riposte (don’t you hate that?!) he said “Ye know ah can’t stand that Seinfart wanker.” Well, if he hates Seinfeld so much, why the hell does he know who the Soup Nazi is, I ask you?!

But I digress. There will, however, be soup for you – that is, if you’re crazy enough to try this recipe. Drumroll, please…

Mulligastrone a la brouhaha

What, you ask, is “mulligastrone”? Well, obviously it is a combo of mulligatawny and minestrone. (Oh, and you don’t think I saw you rolling your eyes?!? Well, if Rachael “too chipper by half TV chef” Rae can make even more millions by adding water to spaghetti and meatballs and call it “stoup” (“thicker than soup, thinner than stew, hee hee, old family recipe, tee-hee!”), then why the hell can’t I take some liberties? Eh?

Now, because I’m Greek and we don’t believe in written recipes, there is no actual recipe for this. But that makes it more fun, doesn’t it?

First off, take some stock which you have slaved over a hot stove preparing or have pulled out from your freezer, having slaved over a hot stove preparing it some time back:

Now, so as not to lose my future multimillion dollar TV chef credentials, I assure you that prepackaged stock never actually gets used in my house. However, so as not to intimidate those less culinarily gifted than me, I always put my “product of slaving over hot stove for several hours” stock into recycled tetrapaks which I … oh, never mind.

Put your stock in a saucepan and heat until it is at a low boil (or, as us TV chefs are wont to say, a rrrrrrrrolling boil!).

Oh, I almost forgot. If you like super-spicy food or, like me, your tastebuds have been almost completely destroyed by chainsmoking, you might want first to heat a small amount of canola or other plain oil in said saucepan then add a heaping spoon of this stuff:

Turn down to low and cook about 2 minutes or until it starts to break down and smell fabulous. Then add your stock.

Second, put in some small soup-sized pasta:

How much? you ask? Hell, I don’t know. As much as you want. Somewhere between a handful and the whole package will do… probably closer to the former, though.

Simmer (at the same low rrrrrrrrolling boil) for 10 minutes or so.

Third, add in your leftover curry.

(This, by the way, was beef vindaloo that I bought pre-made because it was on sale. I also added half a can of chickpeas to it. Chickpeas or some other kind of beans will be essential for the “strone” component of the mulligastrone.)

Put as much in as you want. If you want a thicker soup, put in some of the curry sauce too. If, like me, you like thinner broth, shake most of the curry sauce off before putting in the saucepan. Cook for 5 minutes or so.

Fourth, turn off the heat and stir in some leftover rice from the same curry dinner:

Again, how much is up to you. Not this much, though.

That’s it! And now, for little effort, you have a lovely soup that looks like this:

Add some of this, if you’d like:

… and chow down.

Now, the mulligastrone, like most highly spiced dishes, will benefit from sitting overnight. At least, I think it will. You see, I have a confession to make – I haven’t actually yet sampled it. I’m bringing it to work for lunch today and it is the first time I’ve made this recipe.

However, I’m very confident that it will be guid. Why? Well, I am Brouhaha, after all. And don’t you think I look better than Rachael Ray?!?

I’m sure the Food Network will be calling any day now. Really. Please wish me luck in my new and exciting career…

And, in the meantime, a very happy Thursday to you all!

stream of consciousness (oh no not again!)

25 June 200824 June 20088 Comments

Well, last evening there was a marvellous sunset for a change… partly, doubtless, because yet another thunderstorm looms. But hey.

Isn’t it good and spooky-looking? It actually made me covet (even more) one of these masks which I had seen on the Globe and Mail web photo page yesterday

Now, how’s THAT for a craft project?!? They’re called “devil masks”. The photo above is of dancers about to do a Spanish folk performance in Barcelona.

Ah, Barcelona. Home of Gaudi mosaics!

I wish I could be 1/10 this talented… but at the very least I will definetely visit Barcelona as soon as humanly possible (although with the fuel prices where they’re at and the response of the airlines, I will likely need divine intervention to afford an overseas ticket before long. Sigh.)

But something else is nagging me about Barcelona. What the hell is it?!

Ah, yes.

I do hope you’ve all seen Fawlty Towers at some point. If so, you must remember Manuel – don’t you?! “I am from Barthelona” Manuel”, who has even been known to talk to Canadians from time to time!

And, there’s even a pinko poster starring Manuel, much to my general amusement!

I was still laughing at this by the time I came home yesterday. So much so that the new balcony decoration escaped my normally keen eye until I went out to take the sunset photos:

Now, I do have a black thumb and all, but even stunned little me managed to pick up that these are actually fake flowers, not real ones. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing in a planter with real dirt. So I asked J “His Master’s Voice” J, who is responsible for the landscaping at the House of Brouhaha (and who, I might add, has fallen down severely on the task this year).

JJ: Ah was waiting to see how long it wuid tek ye to notice… (consulting the ever present watch)…only 3 and a half hours. No’ bad, hen.

KB: What?!?!? What do you mean?!? Are you testing me? Where the hell did you get those anyway?!?

JJ: Ah’m surprised ye don’t recognise them – we’ve both bin trippin over them on the balcony floor this past month or so.

KB: Hey, there are two adults in this house. If you noticed them a month ago, why didn’t you pick them up then????

JJ: Ah was waitin to see how long it wuid tek ye to notice…

You see what I put up with?!? Lucky for me, despite the global warming, the smog, etc., the sunsets in Toronto can still be lovely.

May I say it’s been pleasant chatting with you all? But now I must away to get the first coffee of the morning…

Happy Wednesday!

two pirates’ booty from down East

13 June 200812 June 20085 Comments

My fellow Canadian readers are probably well aware that the rest of the country tends to despite Ontario, and more specifically Toronto (because, after all, Toronto is the only city in Ontario… isn’t it?).

I never quite understood why – until I started amassing all the goods that JJ and I had plundered from our recent trip to Nova Scotia. I have to confess that they were all steals, quite truly.

First up – check out this fabulous handmade cap I bought at a shop along the Cabot Trail called Sew Inclined:

Barbara, the shop owner, makes all sorts of handmade sewn goodies by hand… including this fabulous corset:

(And no, that’s not me in the photo. I only wish. I am still coveting it, but did have to show some restraint as it was near the beginning of the trip. But she does ship…! Check out her website…)

I also must have been in quite the girly phase, as I ended up picking up all sorts of great jewellery in Halifax

I even found an evil eye pendant which all my coworkers tried to rip off my neck want:

And how about this fancy purse?!

I won’t bother showing you the dozen or so CDs I got, mostly in a great used shop on the main drag in Halifax. I could have spent hours in there.

Now, don’t feel sorry for JJ. He wasn’t left out either.

From the left: Hotoi, Annapurna we can’t remember but JJ is laughing at me because I came up with Annapurna which is apparently the name of a mountain somewhere other than Japan which is where this lady comes from, and Wee Little Leprechaun (which JJ has renamed Seamus – I tried to baptise him but JJ said that he’s a drunken pagan. The leprechaun, I hasten to say, not JJ.)

Oh, and speaking of drunken pagans:

This should keep JJ happy for a couple of days or so.

Oh, and just to complete the full circle of shameless acquisitions – when I got back to the office this Monday, guess what was waiting for me there? A little package from Blue Moon Fiber Arts

2500 approx lovely yards of “Lover’s Leap”…!

Ain’t it purdy?

Oh, and 3700 yards (approx) of the same in the fantastic Blue Moonstone colourway…

I cannot do justice to it with the camera, really, but here’s another attempt:

So – this should all keep me busy and out of the shops for some time, wouldn’t you say?

But hmm… what day is it today? The 13th? Meaning Sunday is the 15th? Meaning that today is PayDay… and a special rare Friday the 13th Payday at that…

Augh!!!

Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend to you. I should note that I’m starting some unofficial summer hours for the blog effective now. This means that I probably won’t be posting too much at the weekends unless the Moronic Muse moves me… please do try not to be heartbroken. I’m sure you have better things on the go in the summertime anyway!

Stay tuned for a report on Greece/Russia fun on Monday!

the downfall of my people

11 June 200811 June 20087 Comments

My 10 or so regular fans may have noticed that I’m posting today’s entry rather late in the day. This is because I was too depressed before now to turn on my computer.

Why?

Greece got their ass kicked by SWEDEN in yesterday’s match! Tell me this, how can the cradle of democracy, philosophy, ancient Gods, etc possibly lose to the birthplace of virutally nothing but depressing movies and cheap crap furniture?!?

Shame, shame!

That’s right, cry, you vlakas, cry. But pick it up by Saturday’s game or I’ll really give you something to cry about!

I mean, really. It’s completely embarrassing. A country with 572 (or thereabouts) local soccer teams can’t get together one decent team for the Eurocup?! Please.

I wonder if it’s because they decided to go with a new style of soccer cleats?