Posts filed under ‘Reading’
This is what a week off work looks like
It’s over now, sadly, but it was bliss while it lasted and it confirmed what I’ve always known: I’d do very well as a retired person.
I had two full weeks off work over the holiday break. The first was spent traveling to Vancouver Island and then Calgary for time with family. The second week was all mine. Both were wonderful, but it is a rare thing to be able to stay at home in your jammies all day (all week) doing nothing.
I spent my days sipping coffee, scribbling in a notebook, reading, making soup and going for a walk with the dog in the middle of the day while everyone else was tucked away at the office. I snuggled in for another couple of hours after the alarm clock went off in the morning and the poor sop next to me went off to win some bread.
The solitude, the sleep, the slow unfolding of the day just as you want it to be (instead of having all the demands of the world tell you how it needs to be), those are beautiful things. The feeling of being instead of doing. I’ll remember it fondly.
Blueberry coffee cake
Our big move has temporarily stalled most kitchen activities, but I did find some time last weekend for baking. Eating local means storing lots of summer produce in the freezer and I had an almost full bag of BC blueberries to use up. I’ve been meaning to make the blueberry coffee cake recipe from the Four Sisters Inns Cookbook for ages and the surplus blueberries created a perfect reason. (more…)
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Since summer I’ve been re-reading books by some of my favourite authors, including Carol Shields, Alice Munro, Patrick Lane, Sharon Butala, Isabel Huggan, Jan Zwicky and Marilynne Robinson. Now I’ve come to one of the best yet: Virginia Woolf.
I read Virginia Woolf’s books when I studied English in university, and To The Lighthouse is the one I would recommend most. It’s about the fleeting moments of happiness that spring up in our lives, experiences that may last only for a short time but linger on as memories that shape our lives and perspectives for much longer. In the case of this book, that moment is a dinner party where the main character is surrounded by family and friends. Appropriate for readers of food blogs I’d say! (more…)
Peach and raspberry muffins
Some mornings the usual breakfast foods like cereal and toast just don’t cut it. Some days call for a treat. I love making muffins or pastries for breakfast on weekend mornings. It’s a special thing to use your food imagination at the beginning of the day to match the flavours you’re craving.
Today, for me, a beautiful ripe peach sitting in the fruit basket on the kitchen counter plus reading a recipe for apricot muffins in my favourite breakfast time cookbook from Four Sisters Inns was inspiration enough. Here’s my adaptation on that recipe.
1 medium peach, chopped
1 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 cup flour (or gluten free flour mix)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg (recipes always call for tiny amounts of spices like nutmeg. I always add in way more than they suggest)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (add more if the batter is too thick)
Mix peaches, raspberries and lemon juice together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and egg, beating well. Add in fruit mixture along with pumpkin and flax seeds. Combine dry ingredients and add, alternating with yogurt. Don’t stir too much. If the batter is too thick, add an extra spoon or two of yogurt. Fill muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes at 350F.
The colour of energy
This is a photo of our bedroom. Up until about a month ago it was a deep chocolate brown, a colour choice from the previous owners of house. I can understand why they liked it: there was something sophisticated and cozy about it. But there was also something very dark and cave-like about it as well!
Now it’s a pale buttery yellow and the room is filled with energy and light. The new paint has made a world of difference in our lives. We’ve hung one of our favorite paintings above the dresser and just across from the bed – a still life of oranges by Newfoundland artist Grant Boland. Much has been written about the energy attributes and meaning of certain colours and for us this peaceful, sunny yellow is perfect – it’s like waking up to the light of a perfect early morning.
I’ve been reading an excellent book all about the embracing a strategy of managing energy instead of time – it’s called The Power of Full Engagement. The authors say that full engagement in life and work combined with periods of restoration and renewal are key to living a balanced, fufilling life and still achieving high levels of performance in your work and personal life. Common sense, but not at all easy! Call me crazy, but our new bedroom paint colour – Soleil (Benjamin Moore Aura) - is a big part of being able to live out this ideal.
