weekend rituals

I love those Saturday mornings, that when I get up I KNOW I am going to have a good day. I have these neurotic weekend rituals and without them my weekend just is not the same. I get up, make coffee, check my email, facebook, flickr, blog,...(I know, that is SO lame!), and then I set out to shoot an inspirational picture for the week. The rule for that is that the picture has to make me happy every time I look at it. I then print it out on this little mini photo printer I have and put it in my January Moleskine notebook....yes, I have a Moleskine journal notebook for every month that I fill up with writing, little notes of things I want to blog about and I paste my inspirational photos in there.

Something about that whole set of tasks destresses me from my crazy work week and sets the mood for the rest of the weekend. I know everyone of you has these little rituals - share them with me - these are the kinds of little bits that make me excited and that give me ideas for my photos.

....and, THANK YOU all for voting in the poppies. I was so excited to get more than my initial two votes and I was tickled pink that Meri nominated me :)

a tiny favour!

I am kind of shy about doing this but I have been nominated by lovely Meri for "favorite photographer" in the Poppies awards. I was hoping to get a few more than two votes, one of which was from the Babe :) so please click on the link here and up my count a little bit if you enjoy my pictures. My goal is to get more than two votes. I believe voting only goes until January 29.

a recipe

I have had so many writing deadlines at work this week that I feel all "writed out". Even thinking up this blog post seems complicated today. Thank goodness I have a great recipe to share with you. I found a great food blog, the 10Cent Diet, by a fellow Calgary gal who calls herself the 10Cent designer. I loved all the recipes so much that I ordered her Blurb book so that I would always have my favorites on hand. Her recipes are gluten and dairy free and encourage using organic foods. The recipe I have made at least four times already is the Baked Saffron Eggs. This has become our staple weekend breakfast recipe. This dish is yummy, easy to make and you can customize it by adding various ingredients to it. Here is the basic recipe:

Baked Saffron Eggs

1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 Tbsp. butter (original recipe called for ghee, but butter works fine)
1/2 Tbsp. butter (for greasing ramekins)
4 med shallots, diced
6 tiny tomatoes, sliced
pinch of saffron
coarse salt to taste
fresh ground pepper
3 large free run eggs

Directions:
preheat oven to 375° F
1. In a skillet, toast cumin for a minute or so on medium heat. Next add the butter to skillet and once heated, add the shallots. Cook until soft (about 3 minutes).

2. Add the tomatoes to the skillet, a bit of salt and a pinch of saffron. Cook until heated through and beginning to soften (about 3 minutes)

3. Thoroughly grease 3 ramekins with butter. Place ramekins on a baking sheet so you can move them easily in and out of the oven. Fill the bottom of each ramekin with the tomato and shallot mixture. Crack one egg into each ramekin. Bake for 12 minutes (check at 10, might take 14).

4. Sprinkle a little more saffron on each, fresh ground black pepper and some course salt.

I customize the recipe by sometimes adding in olives and/or mushrooms or whatever else my taste buds command me to do.

Give this a try - you won't be disappointed. Happy weekend.

...the sad life of a chicken and other musings

I did a very unfortunate thing over the holidays - I watched Food Inc. I have to concede that I no longer can look at chicken in quite the same nonchalant way. Whenever I am cooking chicken now I envision a half maimed bird whose sole purpose is to have its extremely large wings cut up, sauced, deep fried and then be fed to a man drinking copious amounts of beer. I know one should take these kinds of documentaries, along with anything produced by Michael Moore, with a grain of objectivity, but I can't help myself. If any of you are thinking about renting that documentary, please don't eat chicken prior to viewing.

On the happy (chicken-less) side of life, I am finally knitting something out of that scrumptious, pink cashmere that I have been hoarding for the last two years. I am not ready to share yet... I need to see how it goes :) No matter what the outcome, all that pink certainly makes for the best photo shoot ever.

Happy weekend.

around the house

I think my brain and body are still in a state of shock after having to go back to work this past week. Eighteen days at home have completely spoiled me and I felt like a zombie, aimlessly sitting in my office trying to appear productive. I despise that first week back; the week felt endless. It did not help that it was -26C on a few of the days!! This weekend I am trying to just chill out and relax and get my headspace back to normal. It is windy and cloudy outside and so I am walking around the house shooting pictures. I like the blue light that is permeating our space today so I wanted to share it. Maybe I will get motivated to start knitting something this week :)

Happy weekend.

i begin with a knit

pattern: tea leaves cardigan

designer: Melissa LaBarre for Madeline Tosh

yarn: Blue Sky, suri merino

colorway: earth

needles: 3.5 mm and 3.75 mm

mods: used smaller needles than recommended to arrive at a smaller fit

I think it is a good omen that I can begin 2010 with a post that comprises a finished knitted piece. This pattern was truly enjoyable and I love the finished product. I am not certain about the buttons, I just sewed them on today - but knowing me, I won't change them. I should post a link to the pattern, but for the life of me I can't remember how to do it, so you can check my ravelry link to get the link or you can email me for the info.

I take this as putting my left foot forward (being that I am a lefty it is my 'good' foot) into the new year! Tomorrow I am back to work and so it begins......