Okay, I kind of want to really start blogging now, but I am afraid it will devolve into photos after photos after photos. That is generally all right I guess. Except with this tumblr device. It is not so easy as I want it to be. However, I also want comments. I am ready to enter the community again.A new chapter in life has started, and, as is almost always the case when this happens, I have changed places.
So… hawbaker.wordpress.com
I spent the morning tracking down some particularly tricky ingredients to find. Superstore has a lot of things, really, it has an amazing selection of food products, but it does not have everything. My quarry today: fenugreek, fresh curry leaves, coconut and/or sesame oil, and asafoetida. Most of those seem like I could find them other places than a specialty store, but even you must surely agree that asafoetida is not a common seasoning (or whatever it is). So I traveled. I drove north and north to a specialty Indian spice shop. It was located in a particularly South Asian strip mall, neighbors to an Indian restaurant and also a Punjabi sweet shop. I entered the grocery store, not expecting too much. After all, the imported foods and spices section of Superstore is quite extensive… but I was very pleasantly rewarded. The first place I looked I found coconut oil (next to larger bottles of ghee!). Then, just above it and around the corner, there was dried fenugreek. Ah….. for the next two I needed help. Curry leaves was easy… but he didn’t know what asafoetida was… Was I pronouncing it wrong?
But after much discussion, in which I tried to explain how it smelt and what one might use it for… well… we found it.
Then I went for samosa to celebrate.
Winnipeg is warming up considerably. Everything seemed to happen in one day (May 23). The cold disappeared, the sun came out from its safe haven among the clouds and the grass turned green. The days are extremely long; the sun does not set until almost ten and rises early. Suddenly, people are outside everywhere. And summer is indeed a busy though short season here. I think all of our weekends for the next few months are booked. We must take advantage of this warmth while we can! The cold will return. The darkness… it’s waiting.
Woohoo! We received our marriage certificate in the mail yesterday. So now we’re officially hitched. At least in Manitoba anyway…
Mung bean and millet pilaf, garnished with cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh cilantro and garam masala. Took a while to make but it was worth it. Served with samosa and naan (which I confess to buying at a local shop… not enough time). Kara helped immensely by cutting up some of the ingredients for me; she’s about ten times faster at it.
This isn’t supposed to be a photo blog but whatever. Here’s supper from last night.
Fatty Bolger in classic form
Fatty Lumpkin
mewithoutYou released an album yesterday. I was a bit put off when I heard the samples of it last week, worried that they had morphed into another one of those bands (although the formula I was afraid they had followed is also one I like). I didn’t want them to lose themselves in making music that sounds like everyone else. And they did not disappoint. Very good. In fact, I would toy with calling this album a superb achievement… One of the band’s strong points in any point in their history has been their lyrics. Although the music has changed radically over the course of four albums, heavy guitars and hoarse yells replaced by strings, harps, and often quiet, careful singing, the lyrics have remained strong. The music, if anything, has matured. The words have gone from fantastic figures of speech to crafted stories, whimsical and inventive with equally uplifting and heart-breaking morals. Very interesting. It’s worth a listen.
Today’s a real Canadian holiday. Pretty sweet.
I have some VERY exciting news which I will post here on Wednesday or Thursday (I hope). Yes. We have some exciting news.
I wonder what it could be…
