gardening

I was kinda lazy yesterday. I don't know why. I just felt so tired. Then around 3, I went outside to check out the globe thistle (which looks kinda terrible now. I missed it) and water the tomatoes (if they needed it) and suddenly, I had this rush of energy. Well, maybe not super energy, but I felt like working outside. The weather was so nice. Not too cool, not hot at all, not sunny, it was just really nice.

I found this very pitiful poppy growing in the lawn. No wonder it looks like hell. I've mowed over it all season. This is oddly the colour I used to have on the farm. I wonder where it came from.

Psyche! This isn't actually in my yard. It's from mom's yard (wuh wuhhh). I planted this clematis a couple years ago, and it's just blooming now. It's so pretty!

This is what's in my yard. Yay. Mystery flowers on a bush that can't even support it's own weight. Awesome. Earlier in the year, I decided not to trim this (like I usually do), and it ended up flopping over on to the lawn and surrounding area. I chopped it down pretty good yesterday. I'm kinda tired of trying to mow under its branches.

Those flowers above turn into these berries (which is another reason why the branches get so heavy). I have no idea what this plant is. I'm just going to assume I can't eat those. That's usually smartest.

I don't know what this thing is either, but the colour is fantastic. It's starting to turn red at the top. Or it was until I cut all those branches off.

From all my trimmings, I cut a few of the prettiest stems from my shrubs and put them in a vase. I thought that by the time I was done everything, all the bugs would get out and I could bring them in safely. I don't think I had them in the house for more than 30 minutes when I could see these huge bugs climbing up the stems (and I could see them from across the room). I have no idea what bugs they were, but they were gross. My cute little bouquet of red branches and berries got tossed out the door pretty quickly after that.

Oh and I replanted a few of our smaller day lilies as test subjects in the front where the junipers used to be. I was kinda nervous about doing it just because of the time of year (hence my taking the smaller baby ones), but I think it'll be easier on them with the weather being cooler right now. Especially since these came from a shady spot, poor things. They've never flowered because they weren't getting enough sun. If they take, they'll have more sun than they'll know what to do with.

So after I get all that planted and all my branches raked up and in bags, these stupid solicitors from Direct Energy caught me. I was sweaty and covered in Deet and dirt and they want me to get bills and talk to them. Sigh. I really hate that, you know? Can you not see I'm busy? I'm working here? I'm obviously too dirty to be going through a filing cabinet (and I'm kinda anal when it comes to Deet. Especially. I need to wash that poison off before I touch anything). Had I been in the house, I wouldn't have answered the door.

Scenes from today: 

Tell me, is it weird to take a picture of someone's underoos hanging to dry on a vine or is it weirder that that's part of the view in my backyard?

stupid camera, stupid meal

When we went to our first house meeting, we received a gift certificate from the home builders for dinner at The Sawmill or Tom Goodchild's Moose Factory. We've been saving it for a while, and we only just got around to using it this weekend.

Idle Husband had been to the Moose Factory for lunch many times before, so that's where we decided to go. I'd never been before, but let me tell you, it's a pretty classy (read: expensive) place.

As usual, if there's calamari on the menu, that's always what we start with.

The calamari was delicious. It wasn't at all chewy and it was seasoned perfectly. The tzatziki dipping sauce, on the other hand, was like...milk...no. Not like milk. It was milk. With herbs floating in it. So it was impossible to really dip the calamari into it without the tzatziki dripping off all over the place. Somebody needs a lesson in tzatziki making.

I don't know what was wrong with my camera (the one I keep in my purse at all times), but after the calamari, it just did not want to focus on anything. We had skipped lunch specifically because we'd be eating out, and after taking three pictures of Idle Husband's steak, it just wasn't fixing itself. So even though I realized it wasn't focusing, I didn't bother taking another 30 pictures per plate because we were starving. Sadly, blurriness is one problem I can't fix after the fact, so sorry for the lame pictures.

Idle Husband heard about filet mignon from some Gordon Ramsay show and has wanted to try it ever since. He finally got his chance. As promised, the meat was so delicious and so tender. It was really good. I'm so thankful he shared with me! I also got to eat his asparagus and carrots which were cooked perfectly, and honestly, right up there with the steak in deliciousness (yuck to peppers).

(ugh. terrible)

He also ordered a side of mushrooms for his steak which came all hot and sizzling in the cutest little cast iron pan (I need a set of these in my life!). They were really good, too, and slightly onion-y. I had some serious mushroom overload afterwards!

(sigh)

I ordered the chicken scallopini (which sounded so good on the menu), and I'm so bummed that I did. The chicken was all right, but bordering on overcooked and kinda flavourless; the angel hair pasta...who does this to angel hair pasta?! Someone actually thought, I'm going to take the most delicate, thin, beautiful pasta and dump way too much of the thickest, creamiest, most gelatinous sauce on it, and that will be perfection? Well, guess what? It wasn't perfection. It was kinda terrible, actually. I tried eating it (cuz I paid my damn money), but I ended up just picking out the mushrooms and calling it a day. It also looked like it had been sitting out for a while, you know? It had that weird film on it. I don't know how to explain it, but it just didn't look fresh (I think despite the blurriness, you can tell in the photo). Again, thank goodness for the carrots and asparagus. Best thing on that plate, hands down.

I'm so sad about this meal (especially because it was a gift certificate meal -- although the amount didn't cover dinner completely). They had a buffet which looked ok, but because I was starving, I had a feeling I would go overboard if I went that route. Now I'm super sad I didn't. At least then I could have tried a little of everything, and something probably would have worked out to be more delicious than what I ended up having.

Sigh. What a sad little meal. I definitely won't be going back.

Note: I would like to make my own chicken scallopini now. Just so I can see how it's supposed to taste. I betcha it's really quite delicious.

Raw Strawberry Pie

Remember my pie fixation yesterday? Well, I ended up hauling myself over to Superstore where I found absolutely no garlic ("We haven't received any for three days. We don't know what's wrong with them!" Oh. Ok. Good enough, then.), but a ton of clearance strawberries. I know, I know. I had already bought a whole clamshell of them the day before, but these were 50% off and, ok, sure they had a few questionable berries in them, but otherwise, they weren't that bad looking. Honest. So I bought another package, rifled through it for the good ones, and set out to make a strawberry pie that's been calling my name since...2005.

Whoa. 2005? I've been thinking about making this pie for five years?! Holy. I had no idea.

At least they had a nice adventure out of the cupboard today

Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up very well to slicing, so you won't find any presentable, sliced, money shots (I tried, you guys. I used my good china and everything), but what it lacks in presentation it makes up for in taste.

I found it really satisfying and fresh. It's not too sweet and it really showcases the strawberry's flavour. The crust is my absolute favourite part, but that's because of the dates. I'm so glad I finally had an excuse to buy a bunch of dates. I love them. I might just end up eating some straight out of the package later today. And yes, this is Idle Husband approved. After having to convince him it was a pie (he was snacking on the berries straight out of the pie plate in the fridge thinking they were just sugar covered berries for snacking purposes), he had two pieces and inhaled them like it was his job. I think that warrants a seal of approval.

Raw Strawberry Pie

adapted from Domino Magazine, premiere issue, spring/summer 2005

2 lbs fresh strawberries, tops removed, quartered

1 tblsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups slivered almonds

1 3/4 cups pitted dates

1 tsp water

Combine strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl. Mix until well combined. Cover and let sit while working on the crust. Lightly grease a 9" pie plate. In a food processor, process almonds until they resemble coarse sand.

check out those little almond bits

Pour the almonds into the pie plate. Next, place the dates and the teaspoon of water in the food processor and process until the dates start to come together. They sort of form one mass and start swirling around the processor like that. Add the dates to your almonds. With your hands, mix the two together until they're completely incorporated and they hold together. Press the mixture into the pie plate as evenly as possible (this was probably the hardest part of the recipe).

At this point, I chilled my crust for an hour and let the berries sit a while longer in the sugar. At the time, I thought it would be better and would result in a less juicy crust, but now I don't think it's necessary (and it really doesn't matter in the long run).

Using a slotted spoon, remove the berries from the juice and place into your pie crust. Allow the pie to chill for 2 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

FYI: I didn't discard any of that berry juice, either. I used it to make a quick strawberry syrup. I'm sure there's a better method, but after boiling it for a while, it wasn't thickening up like I'd have liked. I think I should have added more sugar, but I added cornstarch instead. So it has a mild chalky taste to it. It still tastes like delicious strawberries, but I'm not going to endorse it because of the chalkiness? chalkyness? Oh you know what I mean. Adding more sugar probably would have been smarter.

substitution fail

with coconut and caramel sauce                        without                          

I whipped up some greek yogurt ice cream yesterday.

It's pretty tasty (and I like that it didn't make enough to feed an army), but it probably would have been better had I used actual heavy cream instead of the substitute (or had at least made the substitute properly).

Currently:

It's pouring rain outside and I'm trying to decide what to do with myself. Normally, this would be a day I'd get myself on baking bread, but I already have two loaves crammed into the freezer and there's honestly no room for another two. I do have to make yet another flatbread recipe (will I ever find one good enough?!), but that gets cooked in my cast iron pan on the stove. I would really like to make panzanella sometime this weekend and I would also like to take another crack at that french bread recipe, so I could do that. But for some odd reason, all I can think about is pie.

I've never made pie from scratch before. Er. I mean. I've never made pie crust from scratch before. Which is kinda weird. I've made hand pies lots of times. I've made tart crusts. But never a pie crust -- and by that I mean the bottom, the filling, the top -- the whole shebang.

So I was thinking of making a strawberry rhubarb pie because I have a ton of rhubarb sitting around in my freezer (taking up space) and I bought another container of strawberries yesterday just cuz. But most of the recipes I've found have quick cook tapioca in the filling. I do not have quick cook tapioca on hand.

Then I had this brief jolt of excitement when I remembered one of my Domino magazines having a bunch of no bake pie recipes. So I ran downstairs and pulled every magazine that was between June-August. Amazingly, I actually kinda remembered which one it was when I saw the cover (it was their premier issue!) and there it was, in all its glory. Raw Strawberry Pie. Oh yum. Crust: 2 cups raw almonds; 1 1/4 cups pitted dates.

I have almonds, but I highly doubt I have two whole cups. I definitely don't have dates. Sigh.

Maybe I could sub in another crust! Graham cracker! I actually still have a bunch of graham cracker crumbs! But do I have 1 1/2 cups? Ummm maybe...but that's going to effect the whole taste of the pie and is it going to be as good? Maybe the crust should be almonds because that would hold up to strawberry juice seepage a lot better and wouldn't be as soggy, right?

Now I keep looking outside like, if I put on my converse sneakers my feet won't get too wet and I have a rain coat, so that's cool. I can just use my umbrella for in and out...and I'll just run to the store and get this stuff quickly. It won't take that long. Besides, like a stupid, I forgot to get garlic (because I'm still forgetting to get important things when I get groceries. Don't even ask me how I managed to get through a whole week without a stitch of tinfoil. I'm still shocked and amazed), so I should really just run back and get some because suddenly I'm like, three cloves left?! OMG! I want to put garlic in EVERYTHING, though!! What am I going to do?!

I just spent the last three minutes staring out the window...and I think I'm going to do it. I've stood in the shower. It's not so bad.

I just realized I must be coming across as quite nutty.

You live in the city. If you forgot to get something, just go back and get it.

heh. yeah.

remember when mom's garden used to be MY garden?

So jealous.