100 things that make me happy Spring 2008

1. Bouffantes

2. Listening to people speaking Finn (and not understanding)

3. Falling asleep peacefully

4. Under dressing for the Ballet/Symphony

5. Over dressing for a house party.

6. A clean, Gin and Tonic with lime.

7. Sneakers, No socks.

8. Getting my eyebrows waxed.

9. Pepe's from the Scandinavian Bakery, Sudbury ON.

10. The colour 'French Ivory'.

11. Bee's and Beekeeping.

12. Family Get-togethers.

13. Long frank talks with mom.

14. Coffee; Dark Roast, Black, Body Temperature.

15. Street Vendor Okonomiyaki

16. A night of dancing like a fool.

17. Earpops...

18. Tupperware collapseables.

19. Pineapple.

20. The Drew Carrey Show.

21. Vanilla, YUM!

22. Ronnie Burkett

23. Neices and Nephews, freeze tag and vaccum kisses.

24. Short stories 

25. Remembering only the best parts of high school.

26. Mass Transit.

27. Growing up a small town girl.

28. Juggling. (even though i'm mediocre)

29. Thrift Shopping.

30. Multi-functional Design.

31. Soup

32. Toddlers that aren't mine.

33. Permaculture

34. Chatting with my best girl friends.

35. Designing and making stuff.

36. Being GOOD at what i do.

37. Kitchen dancin'

38. Pundits (esp. McLaugchlin Group Sundays)

39. Mindless Video Games ie: tetris/poppit

40. Traveling Alone.

41. Journalling.

42. The luxury of staying in.

43. Waking up in friendly arms.

44. Singing

45. Riding my bicycle... Wheezie!!!

46. Learning ALWAYS

47. Taking Compliments Gracefully

48. The excitement of meeting new people.

49. Cutting to the chase.

50. Curly Hair

51. Toronto Island Summers

52. Science Fiction (enders game, Baxter, Mary Doria-Russel!, Ronald Moore)

53. Driving with dad, while he tells me stories 

54. Flying solo at the movies.

55. Non-fiction interest writers

56. Uniforms, and systemization 

57. Being Early.

58. Going on adventures whilst 'waiting' for people/events.

59. Alchemy

60. Brit-pubs and football...(soccer), liverpool, arsenal, tfc, france (international league).

61. Rob Brezney's Horoscopes.

62. John Steinbeck

63. The guy who plays guitar downstairs

64. Long walks, to a distant destination with no time pressure.

65. Re-visiting old poems of mine... old selves.

66. My home.

67. Warm bath + Cool glass of water.

68. Funny Laughers

69.Spicy Dark Chocolate

70. *HUGS*

71. Japan, i love it there... i would/might move there, it just feels good.

72. Crushing/Flirting

73. Snowboarding

74. Folk Festivals

75.TRUMPET

76. Silversmithing

77. Sing alongs

78. Swimming in a lake/river.

79. St. Johnsbury Vermont in Early March.

80. Radial Imagery

81. Quinoa (SPIRALS!!!!)

82. My Kenmore Sewing Machine.

83. Symmetry.

84. Alexander Calder and tinker's at large.

85. Tea in bed.

86. Danish Modern Furniture

87. Michael Caine Movies

88. Cedar Trees

89. Sauna

90. Sound Art.

91. Fine Art that means it

92. Rich Nutty Amber Beers

93. Singer Songwriters

94. Being a student and appealing to experts in my search for breadth and knowledge.

95. The Zissou

96. Being a mentor and setting positive examples by living my ideal life

97. Bookstores on sundays

98. Cooking for people i love.

99. Waking up to crisp bright mornings while on trail or canoe trips

100. Me.  I'm my own best friend/enemy/critic/lover.

 

ahh... i love BOBBINS!

Ok..

So i've been having issues with my sewing machine and i realized its probably because i've never ONCE cleaned it in all the seven years i've used it, and its well used!

So today i hoped to clean it and have that fix my crappy tension problem. 

no dice.

The tension wasn't fixed so i fuddled and muddled and surfed for information on the webbernet. 

Turns out that there is a little tiny screw on the bobbin case to set the bobbin tension!

Note to self:

1. Clean your machine more often, and show it you care!

2. If this ever happens again, check the bobbin case tension screw!

now i'm gonna go and sew my brains out!

Le Tarte Tatin

Mmm....  I think this is more of a fall dish, but someone i know is dying to make the perfect one, and on the implication that his recette is  a bit salle, here goes:

Pastry: 

In a bowl:

-1 cup of flour

-1/3 cup of chilled, chopped, unsalted butter.

Rub together with your fingers until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs..

 (think: 'tuppin's tuppin's' , i like to sing that song while i do it which i think helps)

Now add:

-1 1/2 Tbsp of Sugar

Mix

Using a round blade cut the mixture while adding in:

-2 Lg. Egg Yolks (or one whole egg if you just don't give a yolk)

When the ingredients come together into a ball, knead on a floured surface until its all well blended. 

Then wrap it up in some plastic  and put it in the frigo to chill for a half hour while you chop apples.

Filling: 

-5 reasonable apples 

Core, peel and quarter the apples. (or sixth them, i like sixthing)

(these will bake down quite a bit so if it looks like too much for your skillet, don't fret.)

Make the glaze:

Use a skillet you can bake in (i like cast iron) but enamel works too, or at worst do this in a frying pan and transfer it to a pie pan after...

-3 TBSP of unsalted butter

-1/2 cup of sugar 

Mingle over medium heat until it gets to be syrup-ish, just swish it, no stirring. and if it starts to smoke remove from the heat and start again.

Combine:

Arrange the apples in the skillet and turn off the burner. 

Fire up the oven to 400 degrees (farenheit) 

When the dough is g'done chilling, roll it out a bit bigger than the pan/skillet you're baking in and lay the dough over the apples tucking in the edges gingerly.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, 

Reudce heat  to 250 degrees 

Bake some more for another 20 minutes.

Removed when slightly browned

Turn out of skillet on to heat resistant plate and cool before eating.

After removing it from the oven, loosen the pastry from the edges of the pan by skimming arround it with a tool of your choice, then overturn the tarte onto a heat resistant plate  and remove the skillet.

Voila!

I like to add ginger to this, because i like to add ginger to most things... but secret surprise option, try adding in finely chopped candied ginger pieces to the tarte crust... its unexpected and cuts down the sting of the ginger. 

I'll have to make an other one soon so i can post up a pikture!