Anomolies, irritants and productivty...

August 13th
Saturday. The best day of the week...or the worst, it depends on your perspective. If you tend to be a productive person who rarely gets bored, as you make your own entertainment and work then Saturdays are very likely busy and not really a ‘break’ from your work week. In fact you likely accomplish more on the Saturday than you do during the week. This is me. Now often this is tiring and I wonder when I will finally get a ‘day off’ so that I can catch up... but other times it’s great because you can accomplish so much!
I know... you’re thinking shouldn’t you also be accomplishing things during the week... well yes. But I’m in development... or actually I’m supposed to be... and right now that means we don’t do or complete much.. not that we do nothing.. just not very much...
Anyways the benefit of this workaholic personality is that at the end of the day I can list off the things I’ve done :) I know most people don’t really care but I like this... maybe that’s why I always liked working on farms, at the end of the day you can always measure what you’ve accomplished.
So I guess my point is that today was very successful... I planted my seedlings, and my first plot in the garden. We have onions, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, cayenne, chives and swiss chard. Can’t wait for them to grow ! I hope they do.. since the soil and sun seems different here...
I also washed my blankets, two loads of clothes (this is all by hand), made a bacon & leek quiche and cleaned my house. Maybe this day seemed to have more time than usual since my neighbour decided to wake me up at 7 am on a Sat morning to use my iron. No phone call, no asking... just “Liz! I’m outside.. I’m here to use your iron. Open the door.” Yea ... I just don’t get how people don’t think this is rude? I even managed to shower and go to a BBQ with the Canadian volunteers at Botshelo Trust. This list of things may not seem like a lot ... but let me say that washing by hand... especially with only one bucket is quite the time consuming matter.. although I can do a load in about 20 min now!
Also when you’re gardening it does generally speed things up when you have tools.. today I used a half melted beer bottle to dig and fill pots with soil... and since there was not enough water pressure for the hose I used a bucket and sprinkled water on each seedling.... such love ....
OH! I almost forgot the exciting yet disgusting event of the day... so .. I was drinking my lovely coffee ... my first in three days ! And i got up from watching I Heart Huckabees to go to the washroom... when I came back Lily came running in from outside and jumped up on the couch before I could stop her... aw... so cute. NOT. She had brought me a gift, a fuzzy, still warm and bleeding gift. A dead rat... I have no idea where she got it or if she actually killed it.. but it was disgusting...Thank you for the addition to my breakfast of french toast and pawpaw compote with vanilla syrup. Ick.
I thought I had a lot more to write about but I guess not... oh well maybe i’ll think of it next time :)

August 14th - Domesticted?

I thought I would share some of my recipes that have occupied my time here... since food seems to take up a large amount of my time :)

Quiche Lorraine with an Olive Oil Crust

The Crust
2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup ice water
1 tbsp vinegar

Place olive oil in the freezer until it solidifies to a consistency similar to honey ( you can also whip with ice water until consistency is achieved) Check every 30 min or so.


The Filling
3 large eggs
250ml cream or half and half
4 or 5 strips of bacon, diced
3 large leeks, thinly sliced (or onions)
salt and ground pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
shredded cheddar

When olive oil solidifies place flour, salt and baking powder into a food processor and pulse to mix (or mix by hand). Add remaining ingredients until a dough ball forms. Place in an air tight container or plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour to chill.
Roll into 1/8 inch think and put into a pie plate. If it crumbles just place in the pie pan first and form to the pan.

For the filling saute the bacon in butter until crispy, then dice. Add the thyme and leeks (or you can use onions) until they are soft. Scatter the onions or leeks and the bacon on the bottom of the pie crust. Grate the cheddar over the bacon and onions/leeks. Whisk the eggs, cream and salt and pepper then pour into the pie pan.
Grate cheese on top and bake for 40-45 min or until filling is solid and golden brown. If the edges of the crust brown too quickly cover with foil around the outside.

Banana Bread
Ingredients
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing
Spread slices with honey or serve with ice cream


Chocolate Chunk Macadamia Nut Cookies with Cranberries
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups broken chocolate bar
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.


Summer Breeze

Double shot of vodka
half orange juice
half peace juice
1 ice cube
squirt of lemon (leave in the drink)

Kind of Greek Salad

cucumber
tomatoe
feta
onion
green pepper
shredded carrots
olive oil
salt & pepper
cayenne
raisins (if you like them)
lemon

Mix all together, chop the veggies how you'd like, sprinkle some oil and lemon juice, add some salt & cayenne and feta then eat :)

...all in all I feel like I’ve become rather domesticated... speaking of domesticated my Uncle Glen got married yesterday.. wish I could have been there ! All the best!
My next venture will be to try and recreate this bread I had at a presentation by some researchers from South Africa.. it was seriously the most amazing bread! They said they used beer rather than yeast... so as soon as I get some I’m going to try it :)
Speaking of food... as I sit here and write the puppies stare at me with baneful expressions... hoping that I will take pity on them and throw them some of my sandwich...not this time pups.

Nostalgia

While I was hanging out endlessly waiting for the whole car thing to fall together I stopped by a little shop run by a Chinese man and his son to get some samosas and tea. I was struck by the strangest nostalgia when the old man asked if I wanted sugar in my tea. It was like we both knew that we’re outsiders, we’re different and because of that there was an instant connection between us. Strange but it kind of makes sense… I mean I really do miss the ethnic diversity and availability of food in Toronto.
The fact that you can go out for Japanese for dinner and get Italian gelato for dessert is awesome! While I was in Gabs I was definitely spoiled by the lettuce and strawberries… yes strawberries… they even came with chocolate sauce! This also made me nostalgic for berry picking in the nice Ontario summers.
We went to see the very last Harry Potter as well…. If I’m honest it was pretty much the reason I went to Gabs…yes I traveled over 1000km to see it, but it’s the last one!!! I can’t believe there’s no more... unless they make one about their kids lol. It’s kind of like the end of an era. Anyways Gabs was fun.. the 16 hour bus ride not so much.. so I’m trying to find a cheap flight there for when I have to pick up my car,… don’t really think that will work out. I can’t really justify taking a flight when it’s 10 times more than the bus. I guess that just means I’ll have to take another day off work. 
I’m going to start leaving my dogs inside now…kind of like crate training I guess…it makes me feel like the evil stepmother on Cinderella but I have to get them used to being locked inside if they’re going to live in Canada…and fly on a two day journey in a plane! If only I already had my beautiful ranch in Canada…and they could run free and keep my horses safe.
So Dinah’s in Gabs for the rest of this and next week and my counterpart is joining her for the last bit of training. Which leaves me in the office alone, with nothing to do unless the broken computers arrive all fixed soon. Since I locked my stuff in Dinah’s house and she is a typical American, having locked her door with a special key blocker…I cannot get in even with the key.
Anyways things at work are slow again, but I guess that’s good as I should get started on my non-existent research... and I’m what …4 months in? I’m still waiting for that friend I was asking for…
Oh and I almost forgot … I finally told someone NO to giving them my phone number .. I actually think that’s the first time I’ve ever done that. He was actually begging me and I’m like umm… No I don’t think so. I don’t like to talk on the phone. Here’s where I work .. .if you’d really like to talk then come by when I’m working. Bam. I’ve finally done it ! I was quite proud of myself.lol.
I'm definitely in the four month stage when you really miss home.. and pizza.. and my dog.. and pool .. and grass...I think I may just decide to stay in Canada for good.. or at least like a fully year or two! If only I won the lottery and could buy my ranch... anyone want to donate one to me ... it's for a good cause :) and lol that good cause is not for me ....it's for the children!
Anyways I'm blabbering from boredom now.. guess I'll go and read a book... at my desk...so it looks like I'm working ..? lol MISS EVERYONE!!!