Little things

I wanted to make something labor intensive yesterday, so I decided on braised oxtail ravioli. I have been wanting to make this for some time. The filling was delicious! Oxtail, swiss chard, and parmesan cheese. That was certainly the easy part... I tried my hand at homemade pasta. I am pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my back kneading and rolling out the dough. I highly recommend a pasta maker if you ever have the desire to take this on. It was... okay, I just could not roll it out thin enough. My brother was here to help with the whole ordeal. He is currently attending a culinary program, (same one that I will be attending come fall) and he is no weakling... but struggled as well to roll it out sufficiently. Oh well... This just means that I will soon own more appliances. I LOVE appliances. Currently in my collection - ice cream maker, dehydrator, kitchen aid stand mixer, juicer, food processor, pop corn popper, bread machine ( although this has not been used in years ), crock pot, rice cooker, waffle iron, sandwich press, blender and small food processor. I have been dying for a meat grinder... this will come soon.

It has been far too long, But yesterday I finally bought some plants and played in the dirt for awhile. There are some cucumbers, thyme, oregano, basil,chives,rosemary,beans, strawberries ,garlic, beets, carrots and I found a pumpkin plant for those HUGE pumpkins. You know the ones... where you can probably fit inside... oh man! I grabbed a lavender plant too, which was pretty cheap considering the others I have looked at are upwards for $20. This little gem was $6. I cant wait to reap the benefits of my little garden.

I have decided to take a hiatus from baking, for a few days at least, to work on developing a greater strength at cooking. I ended on a pretty amazing note though, last night I made cinnamon buns with cream cheese icing. Hands down the best I have ever made, although I made a stupid mistake at the beginning and had to remake the batch... the end result was worth the redo. Any ideas where I should start?

Sleep well...

I woke up this morning thinking and dreaming of food. It has actually taken over full force. I have been baking everyday, and though goes into the preparation of dinner. I have always been a stronger baker than I have a cook, but hopefully that will change with time and knowledge.
I do have to come to terms with the fact that I will have to start moving more, i.e. running and biking. I can feel myself getting softer. Not okay. I will have to find some balance between the two. I live pretty close to kits pool, and would love to start swimming again. I can't wait for summer to come alive, although we have had some beautiful days this spring so far...



This is the dream I had last night and I jumped up to write it all down. I forget them very quickly and wanted to keep this one... Unedited, raw morning jumble...

-I just had the most amazing dream! I was walking through what seemed like gas town and I was surrounded by food. people were carrying huge loaves of bread, and it was super busy. I went looking for the creamiest piece of brie cheese I could find. I went into this enormous shop which was run by all this sweet little ladies. And the owner came in who is actually a customer at the cafe I work at now. I asked the lady to help me find this cheese that I was dying for and she was a little flaky, always forgetting things, so she showed me one and I knew it was going to be the best. So I said I would take some, and she said okay, Ill go grab you a piece and came back with the wrong one, and I reminded her of which one, and in the mean time, I saw Donna there. She thought it was funny that I was there since my tolerance to dairy is so poor. I held up little jars of rennet to show her and let her know that I would be soon making my own cheese. The lady came back with a blue cheese. not al all what I want. again she went back and came out with it. it was like custard. the next thing I know, I was in a kitchen with a baguette with brie, fresh figs and drizzling honey on it. yum.-

Time and crafts.

It has been a really nice day today. I lounged around the house until the early afternoon, went over to Timothy's place to cut his hair and load up my iphone with some much needed new music. I have a terrible habit of "killing songs", as Katrina likes to call it. I get obsessed with a few and play them on repeat until I can't stand them anymore. Not a good system.
I have been practicing my hand sewing. It is so frustrating to have an idea in your head, and know exatly what you want it to look like but the steps to get there are not as smooth of a process. I will get the hang of it...
Started knitting a pair of socks today. I have a bunch of sock yarn, but never followed through with the projects. They are quite time consuming and intricate. Although, all I seem to have right now is time. I will be working more next week and hopefully get back into a working routine. I have also been thinking about going to culinary school in July. The plan was for september, but I would really like to throw myself into it and I am pretty excited about it. I should have been cooking and baking all along. Speaking of baking, I made a very delicious bread tonight. Whole wheat honey bread. This one will be a staple around here for awhile...

smoky salt.

My legs are going to hurt tomorrow. I went on an lengthy bike ride this afternoon with Eric. It was really nice to see him. We have talked about going to Go-Fish for what seems like years, and we finally got around to it today. Delicious.


Tonight for dinner, I made a celery root soup. I have never cooked with celery root in the past, but look forward to creating more with it. Its a rather ugly root vegetable but smells so fresh and clean when you shave away the outer layer. The taste is very subtle and delicate. There were leeks in it as well, so overall, a very light soup.

I sprinkled some olive oil and french salt at the end, which had a smoky flavor and complimented the soup very well.
I am off now to mix up some bread for baking tomorrow. I have not strayed far from the "no-"knead" version, just interchanging yeast and sour dough starter. I like them both. I have an idea for a pretty elaborate bread. I want to make a braided bread, and in each of the three pieces, fill them with something. I have yet to figure that part out... probably sweet. maybe some nuts and dried fruit. hmm...

No Stress.

It has been quite an insightful past few days. I have decided to withdraw from the vet assistant program I was in and pursue another career. I was up at 4:00 am this morning, tossing and turning, and the more I thought of my choices, the more it was not the right path for me. I have not made this decision lightly, in fact I was second guessing it from week two. I feel good now.

Busy weekend. I am really going to take the "no stress" approach to life for the next little while. I went on a walk tonight, something I have not done in some time. It was great. I felt like I was the only one in the world. The air was warm and the sun was gone and the music in my ears was calming. It is starting to feel really nice to be alone. I have not felt this way in ages because I have not been alone for ages. Embrace It.

A days worth.

Breakfast... I am amazed how versatile eggs are. They are perfect. I made a quiche yesterday morning, then used up some egg whites in the afternoon with a pavlova. I have been dying for some chickens. I would love nothing more than to be able to go out in the morning and collect the eggs and plan my days baking around how many I have gathered. Until then, I will have to make another trip to the store...

I brought "her" home tonight after picking up a rather large aquarium. Which seems inadequate when she is inside, although I don't think she will be in there too often when I am home.
(sorry the photos are not clear, she was moving quite a bit)



I was able to wrap a few skeins today and start some over due projects that have been on my mind for some time now. I go to school with a girl who just so happens to work at a wool shop and will be able to supply me with an abundance of wool for half the price. I am thrilled with this idea. My next project will be a sweater and I was thinking cashmere... or maybe baby alpaca?


Today has passed by incredibly fast and I seem to have completed only a fraction of what I set out to do. Don't get me wrong, today has had many wonderful adventures, But there is always an abundance of small tasks left. Oh well, tomorrow is only a sleep away.

Walk down more alleys.

Life and Snakes

This is the fourth day of sickness. Having a lung infection is brutal. I have coughed so much, I can actually see abdominal muscles forming.I'm starting to feel much better though and tomorrow will return to school. I have really enjoyed the time alone. I am going to miss it.
Although I should have been resting, I have been puttering around the house, keeping busy with organizing and still setting up the new place. It will take some time to actually feel settled, But it's coming along.

I have been thinking about getting another ball python for some time, and came across this reptile refuge in Richmond. It is actually run by a lady I knew years ago. weird. I went by and checked out all the snakes ( there are so many) and decided on Monty. She is 14 years old and 4 - 4.5 feet long. She was rescued by a lady from this younger guy who used to burn her with cigarettes. What a loser. I want to change her name as I have already had Monty, the hedgehog. But what would I call her. I already have a one year old ball, Mojo. hmm.

Inevitable.

I have wanted to start a blog for some time now. I tend to procrastinate. A lot. While I write this, I know that I should be doing school work. This could be detrimental to my learning. There just does not seem to be enough hours in a day. Although, I think those who say that, just do not prioritize well. I just rather be baking or knitting instead of studying cat and dog anatomy.