Category: Uncategorized

whither JJ?

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I went looking for JJ this afternoon, but he had disappeared.  I guess he was stressed out from the move, which lasted 10 plus hours.  And which, more importantly, cost… ahem… well, slightly less than one month’s rent at the last place).

Actually, JJ hadn’t really disappeared, but this is what he looked like when I found him:

img_30611Puir wee JJ.

And who could blame him for retreating?  This is what the second bedroom (a.k.a the stash room) looked like just after the move:

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And, I should clarify that these are not all stash.  I wish.  Instead, quite a bit of our furniture was buried under the pile, including JJ’s favourite side table on which he likes to station his whiskey glass.

JJ also had to put up with my very bad mood last night.  You see, I had to deal with the following crises in addition to the rest of the moving grief:

(a) in an extreme moment of weakness, allowing myself to get conned by hearing the (Rogers) cable guy tell me that he couldn’t hook up the cable, then telephoning three different people, all of whom had a different response (and Daphne from Rogers, if you’re reading this, you were by far the most helpful);

(b) deciding not to smoke in my new home – and then wanting nothing more than several cigarettes in front of the television which was not #(@*&#($*!&@#(!* working.  So, instead, I got to traipse out to the balcony in sub-zero weather… and here was the view:

img_3058The highway!

And actually, that’s not being honest.  It’s actually quite a lovely view during the daytime, and probably more so if you’re not sitting there saying “Why, oh why, don’t I just smoke inside?  I can’t smoke inside anywhere anymore! The last place I could smoke inside was in my house, and now I can’t even do that… wah wah wah and bla bla bla”.

But back to the main story.  I was very worried that JJ had turned into a gargoyle, so I invoked the powers of Marina:

img_3063You can’t see it in this lame photo, but she is actually gazing upon the gargoyle.

While this was happening, I went up to the Sobeys grocery store – less than a five minute walk! how exciting – and when I came back, this is what I found:

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Hey!  Is this what we crossed the river for?!?!?!

Anyway, I was glad to have my JJ back… and he has spent the day washing the 1,234 dishes, glasses, etc that we didn’t quite realise we had until we moved.

When I locate my stash and my current project, I’ll be back with more information.  And maybe even some daytime photos of my new place… and maybe even, in a week or two, my brand new log cabin!

I hope all is well with you and yours.

Regards,

kb

I found my camera cord…!

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… but please don’t think this means that you get any wonderful photos. In fact, what it means is that you get to see some bizarre photos from the past month or so.

This is JJ’s new computer which I bought him about a month ago

img_3049This photo is the computer surronder by the detritus of moving.  However, here is an action photo taken about a month ago:

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Now – JJ still says he can’t use the computer.  But he looks OK there, no??? Any takers as to how to how to teach him to use the computer?

And here is a duckie photo.. just before the duckie in question was packed!

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This is the cold callous mother of the duckie modelling JJ’s stetson from his work as a Commissionaire:

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(In actual fact, since I located this hat, I haven’t really taken it off.  I like the way it fits me.  I asked JJ to model for a photo with it, but he refused.  I’ll have to dig one up and post it!)

I should note that I did locate the Hallowe’en photos as well, but they are all sideways – I also have a disc at work with some of me so I will have to do a belated Hallowe’en post. 🙂

And finally, a photo taken this evening just before I sat down to write this.  I’d like to think of this photo as the end of an era at the Valleyview… but I suspect that it won’t look too different to other photos I’ve taken inside my place.  Just realise that I have taken this photo just before the movers arrive tomorrow…

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…and below is the stash room…

 

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The stash is there… but well hidden.

And I know I said “Finally…” but here is one last photo of JJ in our old place:

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I would have taunted you all with a photo of my log cabin, but it too is packed.  Plus, WordPress just screwed me when I tried to post a new photo.  So, hey.  Stay tuned… 🙂 

kb

 

moving hell

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I know, I know, I know… I’ve been very remiss about posting. My apologies.

My further apologies for what will be a very boring post indeed, as I have either packed or thrown out the little connector cord for my digital camera. SIGH.

Anyway, I have several explanations (NOT excuses) for my blogging delinquency:

(a) I’m stressing about becoming an ex-tenant as at 2 December. I know that this is weird, given that I spend my work life fighting landlords. But being a “tenant” has become an identity for me which is actually hard to give up for some reason. Hmm.

(b) Because of all the #%$*(@(#*$&(#@*$&@#* landlords out there trying to screw tenants, my work life has erupted. It’s good, but it’s busy busy busy.

(c) Did I mention that we’re moving? The decluttering effort alone has taken weeks. Now we’re into the packing bit. Mind you, despite JJs strong hints (“D’ye really NEED all that yarn, lassie”), my most prized collection is more or less intact and packed.

(d) The duckie family is really stressed about the upcoming move, and I don’t have the parental skills to console them.  In fact, I’m sure I’ve made it worse by separating them during a binge packing session last weekend.  I could show you some startling photos of forlorn and bereft baby duckies, but guess what – I lost my camera cord!  Coincidence…???

(e) I’ve been busy trying to finish my log cabin blankie because my mother expects us to set up the second bedroom in the new place as what she calls a “pethara suite” (“pethara” meaning “mother-in-law” in Greek).  I reckon that when she comes to visit us at Christmas and is faced with the same old cheapo blow-up bed and a cheapo cotton knitted bedspread, she’ll decide that it’s not a good idea to come live with us after all.

Anyway, the blankie is almost finished, and at present measures 4 1/2″ by 5 1/2″.  I look forward to posting photos when I manage to locate my $#*&($#*($&#($&@# camera cord.  And at that point, you can also look forward to Hallowe’en photos and so forth.  Yes, I’ve been delinquent.

If anyone is still checking into this blog, kindly send some good vibes for the condo closing (which takes place officially tomorrow.)  Today we had to go and hand over a ridiculous amount of $$$ to a lawyer, who had us sign about a million pieces of paper and then told us “oh, I’ve got the keys here [dangle dangle], but you can’t get them until tomorrow when the bank has sent over the rest of the money”.   $&#*($&@(*#$* lawyers!!!!!

Anyway, thanks – and I will be back with more pictures than you will care to look at once I’m settled in and locate my camera cord.

knitting for social justice, etc.

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The subject line is a bit high-falutin’, really.

All I really wanted to say is that I did a bit of public knitting for the first time in a long time.  I was at a Toronto legal clinic conference for a couple of days, and it was a cool bunch of people so I thought they wouldn’t be thrown off too much by the knitting.

Au contraire.  In fact, I met a whole group of conference knitters (from one clinic in particular… in fact, I was asked why I didn’t work at their clinic!)

And, I made a lot of progress on my log cabin blankie project:

What I managed to do over the two days: finish the green, add the dark brown on the right side, and start the blue.

I managed also to make everyone jealous at the conference, because the meeting rooms were (very) cold but I was knitting and covering myself with a blanket while knitting.  I assure you all that this wasn’t planned… but it did work out very well.

I also managed (inadvertently) to inspire some envy regarding my very cool Ecco boots (a gift from my mother, who works at Ecco Shoes in Kingston, Ontario).

I got to wear both boots at the conference today, which to be honest felt more like wearing slippers – that’s how comfortable they are:

Wish me luck with the log cabin: I’m not quite sure about the colour choices yet.  I do hope that they meld a bit better.  It has been suggested to me that the brown/orange combo was a tad too reminiscent of the A&W Root Beer Bear:

…which is quite funny as I can’t remember the last time I ate at A&W.  To give you a tip, it was when they still had drive-in restaurants (and now I’m dating myself).

However, I’m hopeful that this blankie will still work out.  And I managed a good chunk of it during this conference, for which I am grateful.

Happy Friday and a fabulous weekend to you all!

the See You Jimmy sandwich

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Well, JJ got very perturbed at the fact that I have started foodie content on the blog without consulting him.

And JJ, when he gets perturbed, is a fearful character indeed…

So, I’m forced to reproduce his brand new sandwich recipe here.  However, despite my telling him that he needs a catchy sandwich title in order to capture the interest of the Food Network, he didn’t want to play.  I warned him that if he left me to my own naming devices, he might be in some trouble, but – more fool him – he trusts me.

So, here is the bored Scottish pensioner See You Jimmy Sandwich (drumroll and bagpipe whine, please).

1.  Take a fresh Scottish bap and cut it in half.

(No, we don’t usually store them on the oven burners.  And for those who have never seen a bap, it is simply a soft roll with flour brushed on top.  Use any bun or bread, but don’t tell JJ I said so, eh?).

I’m also not including instructions for cutting the bap/bun/other bread in half.  I reckon you’ve got that covered already.

2.  Slice some old cheddar cheese.

You know what the lovely part of this is?  Don’t bother buying the expensive cheese, especially if you live near a Loblaws. Try your no-name old cheddar instead.  I’m a bit of a cheese snob, but this one is better than that other Ag-ed brand that starts with “B” and costs twice as much.  Really.

3.  Slice some leftover ham.

Yeah, yeah, I know – that photo doesn’t look so fabulous on the burner.  But it was guid, really.  This was the rest of the Thanksgiving ham that my mommy made us.  JJ says that in a stretch, you can go with Black Forest ham or even that plain old cooked ham.

4.  Spread some of this liberally on the bap, on both sides.

What is this, exactly?  It is Greek sour cherry preserve.  I came back from the Greek deli with this last week all excited, and told JJ “what you do is put a spoonful of this in ice water, let it sit, eat it and then drink the water which is then flavoured with the sour cherry”.  He looked at me and said “Lassie, why wuid ah dew that if ah have whisky in the hoose???”.

But apparently he got all excited about it today and decided to use it as a sandwich spread.

5.  Layer the sliced cheese and ham on top, and eat.

That’s it.  Now, luckily this delicacy was made and consumed while I was still at work.  I must confess that I’m not in a hurry to try it.  However, it is imaginative and perhaps we can actually sell the concept.

And if we do, we’ll be millionaires, I suppose.  Goddess alone knows I’m not getting all that far with my endeavours!

So, where did the name come from for the sandwich?  From this guy:

Who is he?? A marker of the guy in Glasgow who was told “See you Jimmy…” (but not in a guid way… something like “See you Jimmy… yer gettin a kick up the arse”.  “Jimmy” is used as a generic name in Scotland, much like “buddy” in the US or “guy” here in Canada – or so ah’m telt.

In this regard, they sell “Jimmy bonnets” as joke gifts both in Scotland and here.

Hmm… now I’m hungry… mebbe ah’ll jest try one a them Jimmy sandwiches now!

Ahem… well, mebbe not.  But if you do try one, let me know how you found it!

Cheers,

Kristina

a true thirty minute recipe…

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This is my plate of makarOnia me kaftO vOUtiro that I made last night.  Well, I must confess… I didn’t eat the entire plate.  And, I had to make a separate version for JJ, but more about that later. 

All this to say – this is, in my estimation, the best “less than 30 minute” recipe that one can have in their arsenal.  So, I’d like to share it with you.  I don’t want to turn you off, but the Greek literal translation is “macaroni with burnt butter”.  However, read on… if you like butter and cheese, you’ll love this.   And it’s quick and cheap. 

Instructions

1.  Get out your favourite Greek cooking beverage before you start, as you might get thirsty.  Here are my recommendations: 

Lux orangeade and/or Lux sour cherry pop.  However, you can divert from this instruction and pick your own beverage, such as this one:

2.  Put on a large pot to boil water for pasta, then find your pasta:

(Note: you don’t need this yuppified pasta to make the recipe with success.  However, as much as I rail against consumerism, I do love my Italian pasta.  This one is called “spaghetti alla chitarra”, meaning “spaghetti guitar-style” – meaning that it was double length spaghetti and was bent in the bottom of the package.  I, of course, broke it in half.  Go figure.)

For this purpose, use 250g (just under 8 oz) for two people or 500 g (just over a pound) for four. 

3.  When you have put your pasta in the boiling water (with lots of salt, and without any oil – you don’t need oil in the boiling water as long as you give the pasta a good stir while it is still boiling), get out 1/2 pound of butter (or 1/4 pound if you are making the recipe for two people). 

You can use either salted or unsalted butter – but if you’re not a salt addict like me, think about buying the unsalted.

Put the butter in a heavy saucepan as you see above, on low.   

4.  Grate some cheese to put on the pasta. 

You can use any grating cheese for this, to your taste – parmesan, romano, etc.  However, if you want to be authentically Greek, try to get your hands on some dry mizithra.

You can find this at most Greek stores, and I imagine you could find something similar at any Middle Eastern shop.  It is a dry version of ricotta cheese made with sheep’s milk.  The closest easily available equivalent is romano cheese, but romano is a bit more tangy tasting.  Still guid, though. 

Anyway, grate up a bunch of your cheese – this is about the right amount:

Let’s say 120 g/4 oz worth. 

5.  By the time you’ve grated your cheese, the butter should be getting along.  It takes about 10 minutes over low heat to get to the “burnt” stage.  First, it will start foaming and look like this:

Then, it will start even more foam and look something like this.

Don’t get scared – let it foam.  It needs to start looking something like this in order to be ready:

When you see the browned bits start to appear at the top with heavy foam, take it off the heat. 

6.  Drain your pasta (which, by now, has cooked).  Put a bunch of the cheese on the bottom of a big serving plate.  Grate some nutmeg over it:

…not very much, four or five gratings worth will do.  Put some of your hot pasta over all of that. Repeat cheese/nutmeg/pasta until you’ve run out. 

7.  Pour over all of the brown butter, mix a bit and serve.  Make sure you have some of this on the side, though:

Easy as pie!!!

Except, of course, that JJ had to complicate my recipe because today one of his girlfriends on the Food Network did spaghetti with burnt butter and a twist:

That recipe also included this:

… and this was the end result:

Not too bad either, if you can ignore the baguette buttered with margarine on the side (this being a very odd household, I bring in butter as needed and typically only for burnt butter spaghetti!)

The recipe for the variation: 

– 4 T burned butter, as above. 

– 1 heaping T balsamic vinegar. 

– parmesan cheese to taste. 

It was also quite lovely, I must admit.  However, being Greek, only the original spaghetti with burnt butter recipe will do. 

Anyway, try either of the recipes.  You won’t regret it.  I’ve put many people here onto the Greek burnt butter one and they have cursed me afterward because they are now eating too much.  Always a good sign for a little Greek Canajan like me!

Happy weekend!


I’m back…

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… with a new member of the Brouhaha family!

This is JJ Junior (JJ was getting worried that none of the duckies were named after him, given that he has another son from a past life, also called JJ). Isn’t he lovely?

Although he is an adoptee, he is still a very welcome member to the Family Brouhaha.

I come back from my absence with some news. Everything being equal, JJ and I be moving to a new location in the next couple of months:

I hate to say it here, but it’s a condo. I know I’ve bitched and bitched about condos – but this one was built 20 years ago before I even moved to Toronto, so I feel OK about it.

Plus… this will be the view from our balcony:

This view, coupled with being able to stop paying out some $1,600 a month to THE LANDLORD, convinced to me get into the not-so-wonderful world of homeownership. And, not to blame anyone else, but part of my absence from here in the past couple of weeks has been due to getting into the realm of dealing with banks, real estate lawyers and so forth. It is far more time consuming than I would have thought, frankly.

When we move, we will be moving close to Greektown (for Toronto denizens, our new place will be at Pottery Road and Broadview, close to the Danforth). So, I’m holding off on displaying these inheriritances (I don’t know if this is a word, but anyway)… from my father Ted’s apartment until we move:

This is a bottle of brandy, covered with a female form.  There was also a male version which looked somewhat like Takis here:

…but I’ve left that bottle in Kingston for my brother.

Here is another vintage bottle:

He went and drank all the ouzo out of it.  Probably a guid thing, as any ouzo left would probably be 200 proof and would have killed me.

And finally, my favourite, given my new avocation as half-assed chef

This is a pepper grinder from Greece.  And I love it.  I’ll wait to use it, though, until we’re in our new house.

As for knitting?  Funnily enough, I’m still not back at it.  I have been hacking away at my never-ending mosaic project… and I’m hoping to start a simple squares knitting project with my scrap yarn soon.  Amy is working on a mitered square project which I’ve found inspiring in its simplicity.

As for the two lace projects I was working on… they’re on the shelf for now, and I probably won’t start up again until after the move in late November and settling in.  Sorry to my knitter readers – my energy is focused elsewhere right now (and if you want to tune in later in the week, I’ll bore you either with work crap or political crap or both).

Hope all is well with you!

Kristina

gone for a bit… but not forgetting

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Hello to my baker’s dozen of dedicated readers:

I feel I must apologise for my uncharacteristic absence both from my own blog and from visiting others’. My time of late has been taken up with the following:

(a) settling into my new vaunted managerial position;

(b) looking at real estate (JJ and I have decided that it is time to stop paying $$$ to THE LANDLORD);

(c) trying to keep up with the political news up here – we have a rather ridiculous federal election coming up on 14 October – huge rant potential except the landscape shifts so quickly that by the time I start to write a rant, it’s out of date. Sigh; and

(d) getting Tedplaced into a more comfortable home for him. He moved to Toronto this morning. Although he has some complaints about the service in the restaurant (“wwhhhy don’t the rrestaurrants een Dorondo geeve you menus to look at”), he’s already made a friend and seems comfortable. And since he’s decided he is the top guy intellect-wise in the place, he feels right at home! 🙂

Oh, and I’m still scheming about knitting, especially because my log cabin blankie:

… and the recent felted clogs which JJ kindly sacrificed:

…have been a big hit in the nursing home.

“what do ye mean ‘sacrrrrificed’, lassie!!! Ye telt me ye’d mek me another pair rrright away. In fact, ah notice ye didn’t want to get rrid of the gaudy lime grrrreen ones, but only the classy ones ye made fer me. Tek a guid long harrd look in the mirrrrrror…” etc. etc.

Well, perhaps by the next time I post I’ll have made a new fancy set of felted clogs for JJ!!

I’m going to try to get back to my schedule next week – because I miss it – and I’ll be checking in on the regular blogs as well once the dust settles.

In the meantime, I hope that all is well with you and yours out there.

Cheers,

Kristina

The best greek village salad recipe ever… and cross-stitch!

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I wanted to share with you all a recipe which you should try if you like Greek salad.  I know there are millions floating around out there – but this is the best.  My cousin G. reminded me of it quite recently.  Actually, this is always how I’ve made “village” salad but I’ve diverted of late to the Nigella Lawson watermelon version. So, G., thanks for the reminder!

Here’s G’s version of the famous salad:

… whenever I make greek salad (the authentic Horiatiki kind with just tomatos, onion, cucumber, green pepper (sometimes), feta and olives with lots of oregano) I always make it as your Dad taught me.  Make sure the veggies are a room temperature and put salt on the tomatos and let them sit of 5 minutes or so before you put the olive oil on.  That way they release their juice and the “sauce” that is left after the salad is eaten is the greatest thing in the world to dip bread into.

I have only the following to add: do not use any vinegar on this version.  It’s not needed because the liquid that comes from the tomatoes provides the acid.  Most greek salad recipes call for an olive oil and wine vinegar dressing, but this is over the top if you just let the tomatoes sit for a few minutes as G. says.

And if you don’t believe me, these guys give the salad two thumbs up!

I feel I should sign off on a crafty note because I’ve been derelict on that front of late. When researching photos for this post I came across this snazzy one from a tote bag:

 

Now, if anyone comes across a pattern like this, please do let me know ASAP because I would take up cross-stitch again if I had something like this in hand.  This, by the way, is saying a lot – given that at the age of 37… oops 38 … I blame the fact that I need bifocals on this little piece that I made for my mother one Christmas:

Let me just say that it was actually a LOT bigger that this photo will belie, and that the canvas was not preprinted. She ended up getting it for her birthday in June the following year.  And now I’m half blind.  So, Mom, this is the evidence that I do really love you.  

I should just, instead, have stuck with something like the minimalist art that my brother V. had come up with some years previously:

 

But no.  Instead, I turned myself off cross-stitch forever – aside from a little piece that I made for Holly the Zombie Fighter Extraordinaire a while back:

   

Now, when Takis

saw the zombie hankie, he started to give me a speech about proper Greek female behaviour. 

However, his wife Spiroula’s feedback?

She said “You go, girl!!!” with a strong grik accent. Or rather, “gggheeeeeiou ggggo, gkerrrrl!”

I think that this is enough rambling for now.  In observance of the Labour Day weekend, I will not be posting this Friday or on Monday.  So – see you Tuesday!

when it rains…

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Unlike the photo above, there was no smile on my face last night.

Why not?

Well, for the first time in my life on Tuesday, I had broken down and bought one of these pre-made pot roast thingies.

It’s the one on the right hand side. I have avoided them in past because they cost way too much money ($10 for about 1/2 pound of meat plus a bunch of sauce!!) … but this week has been hellish busy and I thought this would save some time.

So – I got home from work yesterday at 7 or so and prepared to pop this thing into the microwave.

Then JJ spied the package and shrieked at me “Didn’t you hear about Maple Leaf???”

No, I hadn’t. So I went on the CTV website and read this:

Maple Leaf recalls meat products after outbreak

A nationwide outbreak of listeriosis has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others, officials confirmed Wednesday as one of Canada’s largest meat packers temporarily shut down a Toronto plant and recalled nearly two dozen packaged, ready-to-eat meat products.

Yay. The one time in my life that I break down and buy some way overpriced convenience roast, there’s bacteria at the plant!

Now I should stress that this particular item was not on the recall list. However, the expiry date was three days off of some which were. I’m not all that paranoid about food safety, but I figured why take the chance.

So, I ate potato chips and JJ ate some fruit. I’m sure that tasted better anyway!

Happy weekend! (I have to take a wee break tomorrow as well as I’m going out of town). And see you Monday!