And a new toilet. Mike and I installed one our very own selves. (Since then, Mike has been running around the house in slow-mo – arms in the air, singing We Are the Champions. We planned to do it at around dinnertime, knowing that our handy neighbours would be home around then in case we needed backup (we did, due to our 100 year old house’s extremely wonky floors). After, we drank cold Strongbow with our friends/neighbours on the lawn as our assorted toddlers played with pushy things and W tormented one of their cats. And when we finally came inside it was pushing 8, so W had Raisin Bran and dried apricots, and I cooked up some bison bacon I had bought earlier specifically for the occasion of a perfectly ripe, buttery avocado, and turned both into sandwiches on toasted grainy bread. Bison bacon is very lean – much like back bacon, only leaner, and quite salty. A perfect pairing with soft avocado. SoContinue reading

I haven’t been fully awake since arriving in Tofino, but haven’t managed to sleep much either. I’ve been hanging on the edge of full consciousness, spaced out, feeling like I could curl up and sleep for two days. In this state I’ve had little interest in cooking despite the fresh air and open kitchen, and haven’t prepared anything beyond oatmeal for breakfast and toast with peanut butter. If my Mom wasn’t here, I’m sure I’d let myself live on eggs on toast and spoonfuls of peanut butter all week. I think I may have coming-home syndrome, something I’m not all too familiar with having spent the majority of my adult life in the same city as my parents, and as such not really ever having the opportunity to really come home to the house I grew up in to stay and sleep and be cooked for and taken care of, an experience I always envy when my friends go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. When I walkedContinue reading

Let’s talk about grilled cheese sandwiches. Because there is far more to talk about than Kraft singles vs. the real thing. Tonight I had a double header; I started out emceeing the launch of Read Alberta Magazines Month at Art Central, and then went to cook/teach at a private party until after midnight. As I was leaving, Mike was making grilled cheese sandwiches for himself and W. Mike makes a pretty fantastic grilled cheese, but our friend J turned us on to a new trick that I think makes her an official Genius. (She should have a business card just like Wile E. Coyote; a plain one, that specifies only: genius.) Ready for it? She stirs grated Parmesan cheese into the softened butter before spreading it on the outside of the bread, creating an extra dimension of crusty cheesiness. I KNOW! (Also a good idea when making grilled cheese: minced purple onion and tomato in the middle with old cheddar. Or a smear of sundried tomato pesto.) I’mContinue reading