Christmas is Over

No more relaxing.

No more wining.

No more grinning.

No more futzing.

No more crackering.

It's cracked.

Put away the fancy glasses.

No more carving. No more glutony! No more port, pudding and hard sauce. Well, maybe just one more weekend . . .

Yes, it is now Christmas past. We had a peaceful celebration and then I made a quick trip to Victoria to visit a sleep expert (my dear friend Donna, who was in disguise).

The Theme Song from Wallander

My choice for song of the year. Raw poetry. Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo's "Nostalgia."

Hot Ports and Guinea Pigs Degustation

We were treated to a lovely cozy night at AK's with "hot ports". The guinea pigs were brought out to cuddle and I observed them warily across the room. Where I come from, those is varmints and I am highly suspicious of them, haven been bitten by similar smaller creatures at a sensitive time in my childhood on sensitive parts of my body. They are very cute in a kind of Through the Looking Glass kind of way and make disturbing squeaky sounds like balloons being rubbed at a raucous birthday party. Scott treated us to a mythical story about an Italian hobo in Langley that used to keep a herd of over a hundred guinea pigs and turn them into culinary delights, including canned Cochons Guinea Rustique. Rillets anyone? A good pairing with ginger-flecked Stilton, je pense.

I stayed up until 2 reading The Help and finished it today. It is devastating to think that this history is so recent. Although the stories are about persecution and hatred, there is also the flip side of the human capacity to love and take care of each other, the heartbreaking tenderness of servants who were surrogate mothers to the children in their care. It's heart-breaking. I cried buckets of tears.

The tree is up. The gifts have been bought, made, sampled and wrapped. Best wishes to all of you this holiday weekend.

Winter Tacos

I've been jonesing for tacos this winter, and tonight I made some with sausage meat, a citrus cole slaw, and fresh avocado chunks tossed in salt, pepper and lemon juice. Eezy peezy. Jean gave us some of her fabulous ginger cookies, dark and buttery. Yum. We are also into the leek and feta pasta Peter used to make all the time.

I tried to read a documentary crime fiction novel by Michael Winter called The Death of Donna Whalen, but found it unreadable. I'm sure some people think it's brave and raw, but I think it's self-indulgent crap. If you are going to write about a real crime, you cannot pussy foot around the reality that you are creating entertainment from someone's misfortune. Writers have to have a killer instinct. You have to implicate yourself in this way, so why not forge a good novel at the same time? I hope someone uses his "notes" to create a decent book.

Just Around the Corner

Wow, I can't believe we are a week away from Christmas. I am rushing to get my gifts made this weekend, especially the ones that need to go in the mail on Monday. I bought a beautiful Marks and Spencer shortbread tin with a print of a stag on the cover. This will be the feature of our Christmas table along with two silver disco balls I found hanging around in the corner in the dust. Our living room is too full for a Christmas tree due to shifting stuff from upstairs to do the renos. Will we even have a tree this year? I am strangely ambivalent about the whole thing. I'm just relieved that my December toothache was deemed "nothing significant" by my dentist and so we will escape financial ruin this Christmas due to dental debt. Life is good. I hope the dentist has a fun vacation in the Bahamas or Caribbean or wherever he said he was going. How nice for him.

Anyway we had lovely tacos at the market this morning and I bought fresh walnuts. Yay! I also bought some of Chris's lovely Meyer lemonade. Now we can have lemon crepes on Christmas morning.

I am reading an Icelandic mystery called Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I like the way the landscape is integrated directly into the plot, which involves a gruesome discovery in a house being dug out of volcanic ash.

I recently watched Serie 2 of George Gently which I highly recommend. The art direction is fabulous--the tones of green/blue and burnt orange in the set and costumes are stunning and seem directly inspired by the landscape. The writing, acting and direction are all strong. I've been hearing Geordie accents in my head all week.

Not Good Enough

I made chicken soup yesterday and once it was strained added chick peas and purple kale along with some bull kelp and simmered another half hour. Healthy soup!

Today we were gifted a wee lasagne. What a rare treat--we hardly ever eat a real lasagne because of Peter's lactose intolerance. That means I get to eat all the topping. All mine! Moohoohahaha. I made a fish cakes for Ules and a winter salad with cabbage and apples and Meyer lemon juice and mustard in the dressing--garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds of course. I baked a batch of peanut butter cookies with peanut butter chips. We'd run out of wheat flour so I used some coconut flour mixed with the bit of AP we had left. The verdict from Ules: Not peanutty enough and "What's that weird flavor? Is it coconut?" Busted.

We cracked open a bottle of German dessert wine I brought back from Europe yonks ago, which went well with the cookies. I quite like them but it's a shame the peanut butter chips are full of hydrogenated fats. Bummer. Next time I'll put nuts in them.

La Grande Dame

P.D. James was brilliant on Q today (CBC Radio One), but Ghomeshi has to learn not to interrupt his guests. It really pisses me off. Let the interview flow more organically, dude. In spite of his quirks, P.D. James was gracious, elegant and profound. She is my favorite mystery writer. I kind of look like her too a bit, I think.

I read Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay yesterday. Fascinating story, but I felt it was a flawed novel. Sarah's narrative was much stronger than Julia's and should have been carried on further into her life. I also felt Zoe might have been a better choice as a narrator in some ways than her mother. The climax of the novel comes too soon. The ending is limp. I see it was made into a movie last fall. Maybe it works better as a screen play.

I sold out of gingerbread men at the market on Saturday--people are getting in the Christmas spirit. Singing at VanDusen was short and sweet. I can't hack those lights anymore though, they have gone OTT. Less is more, folks. I prefer floodlights on foliage rather than the Las Vegas treatment.

Peter bought clams at the market and made a lovely spicy tomato sauce with pasta with the clams in their shells on top. Even Ullie liked it. Shock!

Latke Season

I was very excited to see the windows of Solly's filling with Hanuka treats and I made a beeline for the frozen latkes. This year they are selling mini latkes, which are a perfect breakfast or snack with yogurt and chopped apples or crab apple sauce or even the stewed crab apples I've been buying at the Winter market.

What a beautiful morning it was with a really soft light that makes the unlit Christmas lights go translucent. A muted winter light. It made me nostalgic for an afternoon I spent in a park in Shrewesbury. Must have been a similar quality of light that triggered the memory.

We have been watching Rufus Sewell in Zen. So sexy and stylish it is SMOKIN' hot. Yum yum. All the corruption portrayed in those Italian mysteries frightens the socks of me, or in this case--the knickers. Move over Daniel Craig, there's a new hunk in town.

Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Ella

Ah, but Ella does the song so laid back. Wayyyyyy back. I love how easy she lives inside her voice.
Put this on your gettin' mellow mix tape.

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

We're singing this song by Duke Ellington in choir, and I love this version by Nina Simone. It swings! Check out the 'whoops' by the background singers near the end.

The Choir Body

Tonight at rehersal it occurred to me that it is a very intimate act singing with a choir because you share bodies of sound and your sound-making bodies. Deep thoughts for a Wednesday night. I felt like it was a good rehearsal tonight and good vibes all around. There is such a variety of voices--all suited to different kinds of music. It does help that I practiced as well. We are singing at VanDusen Gardens on Saturday evening if you are planning on seeing the lights.

Today I learned to tune the uke and play three chords. Yippee! I can't wait to play and sing "Devil Woman!" Rock on.

I also wrote a ten minute play I will enter in a theatre festival. There is a distinct lack of dramatic material for women over 35, so it's up to us to write it. Get a move on!

I am also selling High Crow's awesome gluten free baking at the Nat Bailey Market on Saturday. Be there, buy a square or seven.

Coo Coo's B-Day

Happy birthday to Coocoo and thanks for the lovely partay. It was a warm and cozy Kitsilano eve and helped chase away the winter blues. And I have 'em, big time. My state of equilibrium is quite fragile at the moment so I am literally singing the blues and hopefully flinging the divils far far away.

Whenever I run out of good mystery novels to read in the house, I am at the edge of a precipice looking into the distance with that classic hunter gatherer squint. I stopped in at Chapters this morning just to look at and fondle the shiny hardcovers. I am so glad P.D. James has a new one and so sad it is not a Dalgliesh.

A Most Productive Day

A good day. I woke up early and baked banana hemp muffins. I decided to walk to clear my head and made a trail all the way from here to Fourth and MacDonald. I soaked in the vitamin D and bought three maple bourbon 'Blitzen' chocolates to share from Cocoa Nymph. The girls were in a most giddy and giggly mood. 'Twas quite infectious. My love for their chocolates grows by the day. I admire their space and the scale of their operation. They also gave a big donation to this year's CBC Foodbank Drive. You go, girls! I was fantasizing that someone would buy me their package for Christmas and I would be invited to share it as a date with George Strombo... Oh la la la. A woman can dream.

I did some collages today and pushed them towards the baroque. Peter and I had tea with the girls at Shaktea and Tanya gave me a Majid cooking lesson package. Yay! For dinner I did cumin papadums, squash and turkey curry, rice, baked tofu in panko crumbs and I made an heirloom tomato mint chutney. We had a badass bottle of vino (Syrah from 3 Winds), so I added apple currant juice and spiced tea which made it quite palatable and went well with the curry. (That's badass in a bad way, FYI. Thin and harsh.)

And tonight I finally got off my lazy ass and practiced my choir tunes. I am trying to memorize as much of the material as I can. Love some of the repertoire and hate some of it. Some of it bores my teats off.

Ules is on another Gilligan's Island bender. Oh lordy.