Building My Dream Craft Room

I've been a crafter for years. I love the idea that you can start with almost nothing and make something. My grandmother taught me to crochet and embroider as a child. I am not a great seamstress, usually more "stress" than anything else, but I do try to make homemade pj's for my family most Christmases. And I was hit hard by the scrap-booking craze when my children were little. Recently, I fell in love with chalk paint and painting furniture. The space scrap booking needs compared to this is nothing. And now I have inherited my mom's collection of stained glass and tools. The trouble is most crafting takes space -- space to store all your materials and a space to work. Space has been at a premium, that was until my nest emptied of children.

We are working on building my dream craft room. After asking my son, if I could use his old room, we started by painting it yellow. My favourite colour for a room but one my husband is less than fond of.

It's quite a big room with loads of angles so painting it was a big job.

And unknown to me, yellow is a difficult colour to get to cover.

After two coats of paint, we were still not completely satisfied with the walls.

The idea of my craft room was not only to have a space to work on projects and store materials, but also to have a place to showcase my crafting work. The goal for this room is to organize my "stuff" and to put the room together at a minimum cost by either re-purposing things I already have or to take thrift store finds and revive them.

I hope that you will follow my posts and see how my craft room comes together.

Michael Pollan and The Botany of Desire

Monday night I finished The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. The Botany of Desire looks at four specific plants; the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato, and how their cultivation has influenced and been influenced by cultural history. Pollan chooses these plants as he believes they capture the "four fundamental human desires -- sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control" (Botany, n.p.). This well researched book masterfully blends history with science and reads like a novel. I simply love his writing style. His work is interesting and intelligent but approachable. You can see Pollan's English literature background in his writing, not only his style but what caught me was his use of literary forms such as the literary conceits (a literary conceit* is like a metaphor or simile in that it compares two items but conceits pair two unlikely things together in a complex manner, something Pollan does well) and the use of the pastoral to describe food.

I love books that make me think about things in a different way and The Botany of Desire achieves this as Pollan moves the plant from the object position to the subject position in that rather than the action occurring only to the plant, in Pollan's argument the plant is creating the action; "[a]ll these plants, which I'd always regarded as the objects of my desire, were also, I realized, subjects, acting on me, getting me to do things for them they couldn't do for themselves"(Botany, n.p.).

I also love writing that introduces me to new words, there is nothing I love more than to have to look up the meaning of a word. The Botany of Desire fits this to a tee as it is filled with words like "concatenation," "pomocentrically," and "heterozygosity".

My introduction to Pollan's work was in Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. It's a smallish book that outlines 64 rules for eating better. Within his humor, Pollan posits some poignant rules for eating better such as "don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk" and "it's not food if it's called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles)" (p. 79 and 45). None of this is rocket science but it serves a good reminder.

Later I tripped across Pollan again in my graduate classes, in his TED Talk, A Plant's Eye View. Very much like and based off of The Botany of Desire, Pollan's talk looks at gardening, soil, animals, and bees from a different perspective -- you guessed it, the plant's perspective. What causes us to choose to plant grass over trees, potatoes over another type of plant? He suggests it is the plants that are manipulating us rather than people manipulating the plants. And he does it very convincingly. Later in graduate school, when teaching Writing and Communication Skills, I used one of Pollan's essays, "Supermarket Pastoral" as a great example of how to write descriptively without using cliche. In the essay, Pollan shows how organic food is sold with a narrative and how that narrative is often pastoral. The use of the pastoral in literature highlights the serene, idyllic, simple, and beautiful life and was often used as a juxtaposition to the Industrial Revolution. It is an apt way to describe the organic food market. The trick with the pastoral though, and this is something, Pollan wants us to recognize, is that the pastoral often purposely overlooks or focuses our attention away from the reality of harshness or the dirtier side of the serene. The other lesson I wanted my students to take away from Pollan's writing is his straightforward writing style that doesn't pander to the reader but also doesn't write in a complicated way to simply sound intelligent. His intelligence shines through in this analysis and criticism, his ability to ask interesting questions and then attempt to search out the answers. I've always believed that to become a better writer requires a good measure of reading good writing.

If you want to read a snippet of The Botany of Desire, it is available from the website and I have linked to the excerpt here.

I will leave you with a quotation from the book:

"There are flowers, and then there are flowers, I mean, around which whole cultures have sprung up, flowers with an empire's worth of history behind them, flowers whose form and color and scent, whose very genes carry reflections of people's ideas and desires through time like great books" (Botany, n.p.)

*The Flea by John Donne is illustrative of the literary conceit in which Donne compares love to the flea -- something beautiful with something ugly.

Carrot Soup and "Homemade" Focaccia Bread

Here's a great and easy fall dinner -- homemade carrot soup and "homemade" focaccia bread.

It's been a typical wet, gray beginning to November. I say wet because while it's been rainy downtown, it's been trying its very hardest to snow up on the hill at the university. So when I spied those big beautiful bags of locally grown carrots, I knew what was for dinner this week Martha Stewart's Curried Carrot Soup. And I knew that I had homemade turkey stock in the freezer from Thanksgiving.

I am often complimented on my cooking but truly everything I make is easy and most of it is quick.

Here's Martha's recipe with a few tweaks. The soup is pureed so you don't need to worry too much about making the onion or the carrot too small but you do want them to be uniform so they cook evenly.

Curried Carrot Soup

2 Tablespoons butter (I often use olive oil)
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste.
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (about 3 1/2 cups of stock - I use my homemade chicken or turkey stock)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)

Heat the butter or olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (or to taste). Cook stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Onions, curry powder, salt and pepper

Add broth, carrots, and 3 cups of water (you can add more broth and less water if you would like); bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let this simmer until the carrots are tender -- about 20 minutes.

Add the carrots.

Add the stock and water.

In a blender, or using a handheld blender, puree the soup until smooth. Don't forget that hot soup is a. hot, and b. expands so don't fill your blender too full. Transfer to a clean saucepan. Add more water if you need to adjust the consistency. Reheat, if needed. Stir in lemon juice. Serve garnished with cilantro, if desired.

Martha advises that if the carrots aren't sweet enough, you can add a teaspoon of sugar while the carrots are cooking but these carrots from the farmer's market are perfect exactly as they are.

Now for the bread! On the weekend at our local Christmas artisan fair, my friend introduced me to the Ultimate Gourmet and her Flavourful, Fail-Proof, Fantastic Focaccia bread mix. All you need to add is some olive oil and a can of beer. Sounded too good to be true to me. I have never been able to bake yeast bread. My mother-in-law makes amazing bread from scratch and my husband adores homemade bread so I thought "what do I have to lose". Assured that it was simple from both my friend and the Ultimate Gourmet, I set out to bake the bread to accompany my homemade carrot soup.

Fresh from the oven ... you can't believe how amazing it smells.

True to its packaging, it was flavourful and only required an easy 1-minute preparation that involved a room temperature can of beer (any kind, or you could use soda water) and some olive oil. It baked in 20 minutes, roughly the same time it took to prep the soup and was delicious. Bonus, helped me spoil the husband who always spoils me.

And we're ready to eat ...

Homemade Chicken or Turkey Stock

I use a lot of chicken or turkey stock in my cooking and whenever possible I try use homemade. Whenever I cook a turkey or even roast a chicken, I make stock. I used to think it took a lot of time and effort but it's really quite easy and one of those things that you can easily multi-task.

My original recipe comes from Michael Smith (a wonderful Canadian chef) with, you guessed it, a few tweaks.

The recipe makes about 3 or 4 quarts of stock and I often freeze it to use later in other recipes like One Pot Pasta or the beginning of a quick soup.

Chicken or Turkey Stock

Ingredients:
Chicken or turkey carcass
1 large onion, peeled and rough chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and rough chopped
2 or 3 celery stalks, rough chopped
2 or 3 bay leaves
Fresh thyme, if I have it
Salt to taste (not too much)
8 or 10 whole peppercorns
4 or 5 whole cloves

Directions:

• Toss everything into a stock pot or large pot and cover with cold water. Begin to heat to high and when it is just set to boil, turn the heat down to a simmer. 
• Let the water simmer for about two hours. Don't worry about the impurities because these will be skimmed off at the end.
• After two hours, skim the foam off the top. 
• Strain the broth. Best to do this over the sink to avoid messes. 
• Discard the boiled carcass, vegetables, and spices/herbs. 
• Let the broth cool to room temperature before refrigerating. 
• After the broth reaches room temperature, I usually put the pot into the fridge to chill allowing any remaining fat to harden on the surface making it easy to remove. 
• Then I divide up the broth between freezer containers usually freezing in 4 cup portions.

Lately, I saw a great suggestion on MarthaStewart.com on freezing stock in muffin tins. Once the stock is frozen, just pop them out and store in the freezer in a resealable container. This easily accommodates those recipes that call for just one cup of stock. It's also a great way to save an leftover store bought stock.  

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada and while our Thanksgiving doesn't signify the beginning of the holiday season in quite the same way as the American Thanksgiving does with their huge holiday shopping events - it still seems to motivate us to start thinking about holiday season. So, here's my Thanksgiving wish for you as we move towards the 'craziness' that seems as natural a part of the holiday season as over-indulging - may you find the gratitude in each situation. Despite all the frolicking, feasting, and fun, the holidays can be a very stressful, anxious time. So here's an example of what I mean. It's worth taking a moment to remind ourselves that when we're stressed about all the work of cooking a big, holiday dinner for your family, how blessed/lucky we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives. This is an exercise in re-framing and being mindful of the present.

I was reminded of this at yoga yesterday. Often in yoga and meditation, we count our breaths as a way to quiet and focus the mind. At the beginning of the class, the instructor suggested that rather than counting our breaths as usual, we try counting the things for which we are grateful, calling to mind an image of the object as we inhaled and allowing the warmth of gratitude fill our hearts as we exhaled.

Similarly, this article in the Huffington Post states that "simply acknowledging what you're grateful for can have a direct impact on relaxation. With the hectic schedules and heaps of stress that come along with the holiday season, it's important to remember to take the time to recognize the gifts in your life". ‪#‎givethanks‬ ‪#‎lifeisgood‬

Maui

In 2010, my mom took my family to Maui for the first time and thus began my love affair with Hawaii. It's been a short but passionate love affair. Since that time, we've gone to Maui four times and we've started to explore Kauai and Kona. Here are some of my favourite things to do and some tips. 

WHERE TO STAY: 

We usually stay in Kihei at Kihei Kai Nani. Some of the things we like about it are that it's right across the street from Kamaole Beach II, a very quick walk, the condos are very clean and most of the condos have everything you need in terms of snorkels, masks, flippers, noodles, beach towels, umbrellas, beach chairs and boogie boards. There are outdoor grills and the kitchens are well stocked with cooking utensils, dishes, and pots. The complex has a pool and although we don't use it often, it would be handy with little kids. There are also coin-operated laundry facilities. 

 

WHAT AND WHERE TO EAT:

We don't eat out much. You might laugh but I think of going to Maui a bit like going to the cabin. Meals are pretty low-key, yogurt and fruit for breakfast, a light lunch, and grilling and salad for dinner. Food is pretty expensive in Hawaii, so we often do a big Costco shop when we arrive and then shop at the Safeway in Kihei for the other stuff.

However, we have a few favourites - fish tacos and coconut shrimp are delicious everywhere. We had a great lunch at the Hula Grill (http://www.hulagrillkaanapali.com) in Kaanapali. The restaurant, HumuHumukunukuapua’a at the Grand Wailea, is a wonderful spot for romantic sunset dinner with the beach side table. Looking for a great lunch, check out Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop in Olowalu (http://www.leodas.com) - I would highly recommend their pies, sandwiches, and french fries.If you're shopping in Paia or passing through on your way Hana, stop by Anthony’s Coffee. (http://www.anthonyscoffee.com)

WHAT TO DO:

Here are a few of my favourite things to do in Maui:

 

Whale Watching:

The season for whale watching is December to March. We took a whale watching tour and I would recommend this as even though we didn’t see a huge number of whales, we got a lot of information about the whales and this made it easier to spot them from the beach. Another great spot for whale watching is the lookout on the Honoapiilani Hwy between Maui and Lahaina. It’s hard to miss.

Shows:

We don’t often go out to shows in Maui but there are two I would highly recommend - the Old Lahaina Luau and the Warren and Annabelle show also in Lahaina.

One treat we found last time was free evening concerts every Thursday night in Lahaina on the grounds of the Baldwin Home Museum. It's the perfect spot for an evening picnic.

 

The Road to Hana is worth it – it is twisty and narrow but you will see a whole different face to Maui. It’s a rainforest but the rain never lasts long or is too overwhelming. There are lots of places to stop and see waterfalls and beaches. There is a guided tour that you can download as an app or get as a cd. Lots of advice recommends staying overnight but the hotels are expensive and book up early, and really why pay for two hotel rooms. Just be sure to leave nice and early. Pack or buy a picnic lunch. Paia is a great place to pick up a picnic lunch.

To have the best experience, rent a convertible or a jeep. Bring walking shoes if you plan to do any “hiking," these are not long walks but can be really slippery. There’s a half-way point that advertises the best banana bread - it might not be the best but it's pretty darn good and worth the stop.

Pack towels, a lunch, a camera, bring bug spray and sunscreen, and wear or bring your bathing suit. Honokalani Black Sand beach, close to the town of Hana, is worth stopping at. Ohe’o Gulch, past Hana, is pretty but it is really weather dependent – the day we went it was too wet to hike up to the waterfalls.

The Road to Hana is 52 miles and is said to take about 2.5 hours to drive but that's without any stops which would defeat the purpose of this beautiful route. You will encounter 59 bridges, the majority of which are one lane wide, and 620 curves.  

Shopping:

My favourite shopping is the little quirky shops in Paia – it’s a bit of a hippie/boho place so I love it there. There are some interesting shops, esp. art galleries, in Lahaina along Front St. Wailea has some great chain stores, Tiffany’s, Guess, the Gap, Tommy Bahama, etc. There are outlet shops in Lahaina on the north end.

For gas, we always fill up at Costco before returning the rental car at the airport.

 

Haleakala National Park:

It is really worthwhile to go up to the crater at least once. It’s an amazing view. The road is really high and twisty so if you are prone to car sicknesses or afraid of heights, prepare yourself but it is worth it. It is cold up there even if it’s balmy by the beach. We’ve done the sunrise bike ride and it was nice. It is even colder on top of the crater in the early morning hours – mittens are not a bad idea. We’ve also rented bikes and parked at the Ranger station and biked down but Dave was willing to ride back up. I rode into Paia – it’s an easy ride.

 

Cycling: Dave and I rented bikes this last trip for the whole week. It was about $150 but for us it was worth it. Dave is a serious cyclist and got a top end bike (paid more for it) but went for a long ride out to Big Beach every morning. I just did a few little trips but it was great. We go to South Maui Cycle in Kihei.

 

Boogie Boarding:

Big Beach has some amazing waves, which makes it a great spot for boogie boarding but not necessarily for swimming.

 

Makena Landing Beach: (past Wailea)

We were lucky enough to find this great little spot on our last trip. It has a small but very sandy beach and it has a gradual slope into the water so you can walk out for quite a ways before it's over your head. Great for little people. There are some trees creating some nice shady spots. But the best thing is that it is a great spot to snorkel and find turtles.

 

Turtles: Turtles usually hang out in the rocky coast. They love to eat the seaweed off the rocks. Don’t touch them though as there is a huge fine ($25,000 I believe) but the fine doesn’t apply if they touch you. This last trip Dave bumped noses with one. They can have a pretty vicious bite though so give them their space.

 

Snorkeling:

Dave does a lot of snorkeling often off Kamaole II beach. Another great spot is Black Rock in Kaanapali. He’s got some great shots and footage with his go-Pro.

 

Last time we did some touring around the Kaanapali and Napili area. The Nakalele Blowhole is a bit of a walk but it’s totally worth it. Definitely worth checking out is the Iao Valley State Park, it's a beautiful walk.

Sunsets:

The Kihei sunsets are spectacular. Most days end with pouring a drink and walking across the street to watch the sun close on another day.

Finally, one of my favourite things to do that won't be everyone's cup of tea is St. Theresa Catholic Church in Kihei. It has the most beautiful stained glass windows and often the hymns are Hawaiian. 

Anyway these are some of my favourites. Have an amazing trip and don’t worry if you don’t do it all, if you’re like me, you’ll fall in love and make many trips.  

***All photos were taken by me and copyrighted to me. You are welcome to use them for non-commercial, educational purposes as long as you credit/cite this blog post.

Is Dinner Ready?

My mom was a pretty good cook but once in a while, especially when we really young, there was this dinner that she would make. It was really simple and truthfully we all loved it. In fact, I remember that meal fondly. It was a can of salmon and a can of peas mixed into and warmed up with a can of mushroom soup and served on toast. It doesn't sound like much but we actually loved it. It wasn't until years later when I was a mom of my own that I realized what this dinner was. It was done. Done like dinner. My mom was a working mom for our whole lives and this dinner, unbeknownst at the time, must have been when she either was exhausted from a busy, stressful day at work or the cupboards were bare and this was all she could pull off. It was warm and covered the major food groups and best of all filled our bellies with minimum fuss and muss.

Perspective is everything ... as a child I never had an inkling that money was tight or my mom was stressed. I just remember sitting down as a family over dinner. It was a treat to have toast for dinner. Forty plus years later, thoughts of this dinner still fill me with love but not those of a happy kid blissfully ignorant but from the perspective of a mom, whose had her own stressful days, her own bare cupboards, and they fill me with love for my mom and her ability and desire to shield us from the harsher realities of life. To swallow her own feelings and show us nothing but love.

Anyone with a full pantry and well-stocked fridge can be a gourmet but the real trick to cooking is the ability to take meager offerings and pull a meal together. I hope that some of the recipes that I compile here will help you to do this.

This dinner is 30 minutes to the plate and delicious and most of the ingredients are usually around. I found it on Martha Stewart's website and have tweaked it a tiny bit.

One Pot Pasta
Original recipe by Martha Stewart

Serves 4

12 ounces linguine (basically one box of dried)
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (it's a good way to use slight soft tomatoes)
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves minced garlic (the already chopped garlic works great, esp. from Costco)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (more or less depending on your taste)
2 sprigs basil, minced
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and pepper to taste
4 1/2 cups water (I use homemade chicken stock, more on that later)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (again I use the fresh grated from Costco)
Chorizo sausage (about 3 sausages) or pre-cooked chicken (about 2 or 3 cups)*

Directions:

• Combine pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, basil, oil, 2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and water or stock into a large pot.
• Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil mixture, stirring and turning pasta frequently with tongs, until pasta is al dente and liquid is nearly evaporated, about 9 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper and serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish with fresh basil, if desired.

*If using leftover chicken, chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to the pot when you start. The boiling will help give the chicken the flavour and warm it. If using chorizo sausage, chop into bite-size pieces and pan fry the chorizo until cooked, then drain some of the oil off with paper towel.

Final Word: Life's too short to fuss with dinner, I know there are a 100 things I would rather be doing on a week night like watching the kids play soccer, helping with homework, or playing a board game.

Bon Appetit!