to while the cold winter away

although we should really be outside enjoying beautiful fall weather and golden leaves out in the coulees, we're - well, not. The weather has vacillated between snow and freezing rain with the occasional chinook to break things up, and the onset of cold and flu season has struck earlier and harder than usual, with burgeoning fears of H1N1.

Saturday morning is usually judo practice, but only one out of the three of us felt really up to it, so the other two of us picked up wonton skins with the idea of making chicken soup - wonton chicken soup, that is.


we ground up chicken thighs, added chopped carrot and onion, and seasoned it with black pepper, salt, soy sauce, and some ground ginger. Next time I think we will add green onions and water chestnuts. I was pretty happy with these, considering that I haven't made them since I lived at home with my parents. Dropped into homemade turkey broth from the freezer and simmered till tender, they were fabulous, and I'm sure, very therapeutic.



I hate deep frying things because I can never get the oil the right temperature and I inevitably burn things. Plus the house smells like McDonalds for a few days. Ecch. Yet I felt compelled to try it anyway, just this once, because hey, wontons.

They were not a succcess. The skins burned, and the filling did not quite cook through, necessitating putting them in the microwave, which of course toughened the skins. Ugh.
In the same batch, threw in some samosas made with a curried beef filling. However, the samosa pastry I bought at the local ethnic food store kept falling apart - probably freezer burned and a bit brittle. No matter how much I tried to soften it with a damp paper towel, etc. it cracked even when gently rolled.



so I made some empanada dough to enclose it instead.



We baked most of them, but for the sake of experimentation, tried frying a few.
The filling turned out better than usual - I think because of the addition of toasted cumin seeds.



Almond toffee bars. Stasha made these. I'd forgetten how good roasted almonds are, and that's just what happens to these almonds here, after baking in the oven surrounded by butter and sugar...
They are horribly addictive. She has been ordered to never ever make them again, except maybe at Christmas.


I was inspired by mikomiao's picture and post at Flickr to roast eggplants and make baba ganoush, using Pioneer Woman's graphic and very funny recipe. It would have been a lot better if I'd realized that the 4 garlic cloves the recipe called for was meant for three eggplants, not the two I actually used. Whoops.



It is still worth another try, either with more eggplant and less garlic, and maybe a less heavy hand with the tahini. But overall, a good food weekend.

Next up? Maybe some Vietnamese style salad rolls? another stab at the baba? I did enjoy scooping out their brain-like innards. And, I have a butternut squash just sitting on my kitchen island waiting for something interesting to happen. Hmmm.

telephone

telephone, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Another Film Friday placeholder. After over a week of miserably grey cold weather, the chinook came and tore the clouds into fantastic shapes that changed throughout the day.

I didn't actually take the film version of this one myself - I let my daughter try out the film camera this time, but honestly she has as much of a chance as I do of getting something decent.

The film is done so I'll take it in tomorrow. I was genuinely worried I'd mess up rewinding the film and taking it out of the camera since it's been so long since I'd last done it. I hope some of them turned out, but I'm glad I have these digital versions for backup.

One more cloud picture, looking westward.

Exaclair product review, Part 2: Quo Vadis Habana review, US version

I'm still sick, and it's cold outside, so this seems like a good time to catch up on my review of the US version of the Quo Vadis Habana. Like the Rhodia Webnotebook reviewed last week, this was also a sample from Karen at Exaclair. It's markedly different from the Quo Vadis Habana I bought in Calgary about a year and a half ago, which at the time had me wondering at the raves it was getting on various forums and blogs.

As I wrote at the FPN forum :
"the paper in my Habana does not have the silky feel that I expected from a Clairefontaine product... It feels nothing like Rhodia, Clairefontaine, or the Quo Vadis planners I've owned in the past. It feels toothy running your hand over it...Writing on this paper made my pen feel scratchy - in fact, I had to keep some Rhodia notepaper nearby to write on intermittently to assure myself that the tines didn't suddenly spring out of alignment or catch a fibre. There isn't any doubt that it was the paper causing the scratchy feeling."

That post produced some discussion at the Quo Vadis blog, and it appeared that notebooks sold in Canada and Europe were different from the ones in the US, a situation that is still true: the difference between the Canadian market Habana and US market Habana is apparant in more ways than one - though not till you open up the book.

The outer appearance is the same: hard cover padded with softer vinyl, similar to the Webnotebook . In both versions, the logo is imprinted in the bottom right hand corner.
(all pictures are clickable to larger versions)



Both of these are the large size, approximately 6" x 9", so larger than either the large Moleskine or Webnotebook. Note that the the Canadian version with the brown/orange label contains 224 pages, in contrast to the US version with 80 sheets/160 pages. Implicit here is the difference in paper weight: in a notebook of identical size, the Canadian version necessarily contains lighter weight paper - 60 g according to the thread referenced earlier.


(Canadian version on the right, with orange and brown label)

The Canadian version has cream colored paper, which I personally really like and a narrower ruling, which I don't love, but don't mind, either. In contrast, the US version has bright white Clairefontaine paper, with wider ruling.


(Canadian version in cream on the left, US version in white on the right)

Actually, on the front page, both notebooks seem to perform well. There's no feathering from any of the inks in the Canadian version. The lighter weight is really apparant, though, as you can easily see the writing showing through from the next page. That might not, in itself, bother me. If it weren't for this:


(Canadian version in cream on the left, US version in white on the right)

Quite a bit more bleeding through that I really would like. In comparison, there is no bleedthrough, and minimal showthrough in the heavier, glossier paper used in the US version. The paper feels just as you'd expect Clairefontaine paper to feel - strong, smooth, and perfect for fountain pen ink. I've used Clairefontaine clothbound notebooks for some time, and it's great to have this paper bound in a hardcover with elastic and pocket.

Like the Webnotebook, the US version of the Habana is superior to the Canadian/EU version in many ways, although personal preference might come into play. Some people dislike the bright white colour and the wide ruling, although that would not personally be a deterrent for me. It could also be argued that with less pages, 160 vs. 224, it might be less of a bargain - but the trade-off is paper weight: if you end up only writing on one side of the lighter, 60 g pages due to bleeding or showthrough, all those extra pages aren't much of an advantage.

Bottom line:
I like the US version of the Habana a good deal better than the Canadian one, and would again find it more usable. However, I don't like it better than the Webnotebook, which would be my preference because of the smaller size, cream colored pages, and slightly narrower ruling. Because of the wider ruling, I would be less likely to use the Habana as my personal journal, and more likely to use it as a project journal where I want ideas laid and spaced out more clearly (I like my personal stuff to look cramped and cryptic :) - like my thoughts)

The Habana would be a great choice for anyone who likes Clairefontaine paper, which has always been consistent for me in performance and texture. It has a utilitarian, no-nonsense look and the slim build and durable binding would make it ideal for carrying around day-to day. However, for the reasons given above my first choice would still be the Webnotebook.

warming up, 283/365

warming up, 283/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Not literally - it's still unseasonably cold out there.
I felt slight panic when I was given the chance to review the Exacompata Basics sketchbook in Madeira cover because I'm out of practice - I haven't really drawn anything since spring and I'm feeling pretty rusty. So I pulled out some pens and markers and started warming up.

I haven't sat in the food court at school in a long time - I really don't hang out there much anymore, now that I have a lab to work in, but I went there anyway just to draw. And the kids have been practicing drawing manga, so last night we all did it together, thus the big eyes, small mouth thing going on in one of the pages. Saturday, October 10.

So it begins, 281/365

So it begins, 281/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I don't mind winter, not a lot. But I'd prefer to have a little fall, first. And I'm really annoyed that I was nearly late to teach my yoga class this morning, because I wasn't expecting to come out and find my vehicle encased in ice.

I'm not sure why I'm surprised - it's not like it hasn't happened before - here's October 4, 2005

except that year, the snow only lasted a day.



Apparantly, complaining about the weather is a preoccupation of mine, as evidenced by my 365 picture, earlier this year in March.

Exaclair product review, Part 1: Rhodia Webnotebook , the US version

A little background, to start with: the buzz over the much anticipated Rhodia Webnotebook seems to have come in two waves. The first wave anticipated the initial release of the Webnotebook, which looked to be a promising alternative to the ubiquitous and highly successful Moleskine. Moleskine users, while favoring the hard covers, elastic band, and inner pocket, bemoaned the inconsistency of the paper, which sometimes feathered or bled when used with fountain pen ink. Many fountain pen users are already fans of the smooth, ink-friendly paper found in Rhodia pads, so the idea of Rhodia paper bound in a moleskine-like format would offer the best of both worlds.

The initial release of the Webnotebook, unfortunately, failed to meet expectations: users at Fountain Pen Network reported that the paper was quite unlike that found in the Rhodia pads and was disappointingly unsuitable for many fountain pens and inks. Exaclair , the US distributor of Rhodia, Quo Vadis, Exacompta and Clairefontaine (among others) listened to the response and moved quickly, and several months later, released an improved version of the Webnotebook, this time with the Rhodia paper everyone knew and loved. Sadly, this version was only released in the States, as I found out when I purchased a Webnotebook in my home province of Alberta - it was one of those with the inferior paper.


left: black Webnotebook bought in Canada. 80g paper, 192 lined pages, 14.5 x 21 cm
right: orange Webnotebook, US version from Exaclair. 90 g paper, 192 lined pages, 5"x 8"
(this picture and all the rest are clickable to larger sizes)

Stephanie of Rhodia Drive took pity on me, especially since she knew this was my second experience with a Canadian version of a product that did not perform as well as the US versions. She contacted Karen Doherty of Exaclair, who generously sent me sample copies of the Webnotebook, the Quo Vadis Habana, and the Exacompta Basics sketchbook in a Madiera cover.

My first reaction - "Only in America? Pity!" (you have to be a certain age and nationality to get that reference)
OK - that was actually my second (or third) reaction: my first reaction was "Put those down! Those are for me!" as my husband and son pounced on them: "These look great! can I have one? Can I have THIS one?"

The Webnotebook is certainly a good looking notebook, as is the Habana and Madeira sketchbook accompanying it. The version I received is just a little wider than a large Moleskine. It might be my imagination, but it also seems a tad thicker than my Canadian purchased version, which could either be because it contains 90 rather than 80 g. paper - or, it could just be because black is slimming :)

bottom to top: Canadian-purchased Webnotebook, US version Webnotebook, large Moleskine

The build is very like the moleskine, with a softer vinyl cover that is slightly imprinted by the elastic band, but that's not something that would bother me. There is an accordion pocket in the back (I admit I rarely use the pocket in this size journal, but it is still nice to have). Others have commented that they don't care for the Rhodia logo stamped on the front or printed on the page corners, but again, this isn't something that would really bother me.



There's two things I really want my ideal notebook to do: Lie flat when open, and take fountain pen ink without bleeding (ink spreading through to the other side) or feathering (spidery ink veins spreading from the line).

I'm happy to say that the US version of the Rhodia webnotebook does both, for the most part. I really hate writing into the "hump" in the middle of a book - that should not be a problem here. The signatures seem sewn in a little tighter than the Moleskine, so the pages don't lie quite as flat - but they will remain open if you leave the book open. I think they will likely loosen up with use and over time.



The paper is cream colored and, happily, is as great to write on as the Rhodia pad. I believe it's a touch heavier in weight - 90 g as opposed to the 80 g in the pads, but it has the same smooth feel. Best of all, it takes fountain pen ink happily, allowing a nice crisp line without bleeding or feathering. Now, I admit that I'm using somewhat different inks, because I bought the Canadian version several months ago, but most of the pens used in this test are the same, with similar inks. Click through to get the Flickr "all sizes" option if you like.


left: Canadian version. right: US version. Lines are much crisper.


left: Canadian version - note large amount of bleeding and showthrough. This makes me crazy, because I am much too cheap to only write on one side of the page.
right: US version - no bleedthrough. Yay!

My only disappointment is that this version is not available in Canada, to the best of my knowledge. The US version appears to have been produced in response to its users and the initial reviews, but there doesn't appear to be a similar response from Canadian distributors. There may well be some good reason having to do with trade and imports that I can't begin to understand, but the bottom line is that if I were in a Canadian stationery store with both the Webnotebook and Moleskine on nearby shelves, I would still pick up the Moleskine, because even with the inconsistent paper, it's still better than the Canadian version of the Rhodia Webnotebook.

If you're in the States, or can get easy access to the improved, 90 g paper version of the Webnotebook, it's certainly worth picking up. I would also love to see a plain or gridded version of this, in addition to the lined one. If in Canada, wait till you're travelling south of the 49th before buying this, or until the happy day that Canadian distributors catch on, and start stocking this much better version. Well - if you use a fountain pen, that is. If you don't have that to worry about, go ahead and get either version - it's a great notebook: sturdy, handsome, in utilitarian black or outspoken orange.

It's baffling to me that the same company is producing two versions of a notebook with the same name. If I did not know, from reading various forums and blogs, that a better version of the notebook existed, I might have sworn off this brand entirely. Unfortunately, this isn't the only Exaclair product like this - the Quo Vadis Habana suffers the same Canadian handicap, and I'll be reviewing that next.

Many thanks again to Stephanie and Karen for giving me the chance to sample the good stuff.

Excompta sketchbook in Madeira

Exacompta sketchbook, 279/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Almost too beautiful to despoil with ink, pencil and paint. But I'm going to do it anyway. I'm working on a review of this book, along with the US version of the Habana and Rhodia webnotebook. It's a welcome distraction from work/school, and I am going to have fun with this!

I feel like I need to warm up a bit, first. I really have done very little sketching and drawing over the summer, and what little I've done is mostly unpostable. A good deal of what I drew earlier this year was done in church, and I prefer not to post anything with overtly religious themes. So it will take a little while to get my hand back in, and maybe it will be just as well to test this book by using colour swatches and samples - maybe that will help get things flowing again.

surprise, 278/365

surprise, 278/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I was extremely pleased and excited to come home to find this package of notebooks in my mailbox. They're from Karen Doherty of Exaclair, which distributes Quo Vadis, Rhodia, and Exacompta (among others) in the US. This is my chance to try - and review - some books not available in Canada - or at least, not in this form. I spend a lot of time writing, for personal reasons, work, and school, so I'm always looking for tools that are enjoyable and easy to work with. In this case, those preferred tools are fountain pens and good paper, with some paint, pencil and crayon thrown in as needed.

Many thanks to Karen, and also to Stephanie of Rhodia Drive for giving me the chance to try these out. Stephanie is the queen of notebook reviews, and I hope I'll be able to write something half as useful!

Film Fridays

This is really a placeholder for a picture still waiting to be developed. I decided to try to get more use out of my film camera - so I've decided to start making it film Friday, with a digital picture taken side by side. Not just as backup, but to remind me when the picture was taken, since obviously film doesn't have exif data. I'll scan the developed photo a few Fridays from now.

Two - three! I meant three things I learned:

1) 50 mm on a film camera has a different field of view than 50 mm on a digital, at least a digital with cropped sensor like I have. Actually, I already knew this, but somehow forgot when I slapped a 50 on each camera and headed out. Then was stupidly surprised when I went from one camera to the other and thought "hey, this looks different".

2) don't bother looking at the back of the film camera after you take a shot. There will only be the back of a camera.

3) if your film camera seems to lock up? you probably forgot to advance the film.

Man, the things you forget when going back to film!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

sleepless, 263/365

sleepless, 263/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

prompted by the Facebook meme Shuffleshare, my sisters and cousin were trying to come up with the 15 songs you would put on your iPod if it only held 15 songs ("wouldn't that make it a Walkman?" I asked). Everyone came up with a list quickly, and I finally made mine after a couple of hours of insomnia early this morning. And of course the first song I thought of was Jann Arden's Sleepless.

This went on for a few more pages, then I whittled them down to 15. A lot of them are covers that I like better than the originals, and in one case an original less well known than the hit. The ones that made it:

1. Sleepless, Jann Arden
2. Get Together, Indigo Girls.
3. Song for a Winter's Night, Sarah Mclachlan
4. Say Goodbye, Dave Mathews
5. Kyla Vuotta, Varrtina (Finnish folk-rock band)
6. Back on the Chain Gang, Pretenders
7. They Don't Know, Kirsty MacColl
8. Theme from Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, Bob Dylan
9. Proud Crowd/Pride Cried, Ferron
10. Witch of the Westmoreland, Stan Rogers
11. You were on my mind, Ian and Sylvia Tyson
12. Olivers' Army, Elvis Costello
13. Prickle-Eye Bush, Bellowhead (relatively new discovery from this year's VancouverFolk Festival)
14. It's Hard, The Who
15. Moonlight Shadow, Mike Oldfield with Maggie Riley

Sunday, September 20.

remembering sensei, 253/365

remembering sensei, 253/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

though this was actually taken at the end of May, this is the overarching story of the day, the passing of Lethbridge's beloved sensei. I struggled with this - did I really want to be reminded of this sad memory every time I looked at my photo diary? But it's not merely the story of the day, it's the memory of a man who had a profound impact on his community, and on so many lives. So yes, as sad as it is, I still want to remember. Sept 10.

extreme processing

window of St. Nicholas church, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I dunno. Is this the photography/processing equivalent of knitting a uterus, or inventing a butter chicken/tater tot casserole?

Actually, even if it's processed more than I normally like, I think I like this better than either of those hypothetical things. This is a restored church at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village near Edmonton, but it was one of the buildings closed the day we were there. My husband and I walked around trying to peek in the windows, and it was hard to get a shot, partly because I'm short and this was way over my head. I like the way this preset made the cloud reflections look a little like smoke wisping up from the candles inside the room.

Eryx preset courtesy of the talented and generous underthewaves at Flickr.

Month of the Damned

Month of the Damned, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

OK, it's a 2008 diary entry, but it's just as true this year, and even more so because they're starting in August.

We were actually expecting a lot more pain and strife, since they have been staying up till midnight and getting up around 9 for the last few weeks. I think the school subroutine kicked in and activated their brains, and got them up and at it with no trouble at all. A bit scary, that, seemingly a testament to early indoctrination of structure.

This school year actually feels like a continuation of the last one, since both kids keep the same teacher and classroom (no, they didn't flunk a year - they're both in the last year of a two-year split), which adds further to the sense of anticlimax. So it doesn't feel so much like new beginnings, as the end of a Really Really Long Weekend.

On a side note, this reminds me how little I've been drawing lately, almost none since the summer started. Damned 365!

Caroline bay, 1987

Caroline bay, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I've been meaning for months to scan some slides and pictures from pre-digital days, in particular the slides taken during my travels in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines after university.

I remember seeing this slide shortly after it was developed and wishing it had been in better focus, that it didn't have the blurry grasses in the foreground, etc etc. But now, looking back over the decades, this perfectly captures that retrieved memory - heat, high sun, sand, and grass on a New Zealand beach, twenty-two years ago and far away from home and responsibility.

Process oriented

Since starting the 365 photo project, I've almost, of necessity, become interested in organization and processing software. Previous to this, I'd had the attitude that if it wasn't good enough SOOC (straight out of the camera), it wasn't good enough, period. However, trying to take a picture every day, whether there was a picture to take, and whether I had enough time or energy to put into it, made for some really abysmal pictures. This was pretty much evident within the first week. So after picking up Photoshop Elements at Costco, I started playing around and found that aside from quick fixes to exposure and contrast and cropping, you could really go to town with processing.

This isn't always a good thing.




I'm not in love with this shot. Actually, I kind of hate it. It was one of those last-minute, end of the day pictures, after working in the lab in the evening and coming home to poke around in the garden. The SOOC pictures is flat, soft (those last-minute shots are inevitably taken indoors at night) and pretty much lifeless. On the other hand - should the near-lifeless always be revived?

I threw on some textures from Boccacino and Rita at the Coffeeshop (not to slag them or the use of textures - they can be used judiciously to wonderful effect) and played with gradients till I got something kind of workeable.

And in the end, I admit I got carried away with the processing here, making me think: if the day was so busy I didn't have time to *take* a decent shot, then why do I have time to salvage it through processing?

On the other hand, sometimes processing really makes me happy. I recently started using LightRoom, which is ungodly expensive; an academic discount placated my frugal nature. I like it best for its organization and sorting capabilities, but also because you can lightly retouch minor things like exposure and contrast very quickly, leaving the picture in a more natural state. And in general, that is what I prefer - something as close as possible to what I saw while I was right there: I look at processing not as a tool to create something unreal, but as a way to bring back some of the reality that didn't get picked up by the camera sensor, whether through technical limitations, lighting difficulties, or user error. So this, taken in the coulees in the soft evening light at the end of a hot August day - this, I'm happy with.

Embossed in green, 235/365

Embossed in green, 235/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Embossed leaves socks are apparently in the top 5 of most knitted socks on Ravelry, and now that I've started a pair, I can see why. I know I keep saying that lace and socks just don't make sense (if it's cold enough to wear socks, it's cold enough that you don't want holes in them) but I love knitting lace, and when I finally wound up the skein of Malabrigo Sock I got from my SIL Julie, I really wanted to do something special with it: the yarn is so soft, smooth, and beautiful to touch it begs for a beautiful pattern to match.

However, Mona Schmidt's design is full of quirks, like the stockinette heel with a three-stitch garter edging. I usually just plug the stitch pattern into a standard sock formula, but this time around I thought I'd try knitting it as written, quirks and all - but the stockinette heel is just not going to work for me. It's enormous! It will drive me nuts wearing it. So, off it comes, and I'm going to re-knit with a standard slip stitch heel.



Tech specs:
yarn: Malabrigo Sock, colorway Solis
pattern: Embossed Socks, from Favorite Socks by Interweave Knits
needles: 2.5mm Inox circulars
started August 23

Retro rib, 231/476

Retro rib, 231/476, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Finally, I finished the socks I have seemingly been knitting all summer!
These have showed up previously as socks of resignation but I am now much happier with them. The second skein, and therefore the second sock, is actually quite a bit brighter than the first. This used to drive me crazy about handpainted yarns, but now that I realize you can hardly tell the difference after you've worn and washed them a few times, it doesn't bug me anymore.

They turned out too big for me - I should have known that 64 stitches on 2.75 mm needles probably would. But they fit my daughter perfectly. August 19.

recap of tech details:

Pattern: Retro Rib socks from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces in Tuscany, from my sister in law Julie
Needles: Brittany Birch, 2.75mm
June - August 2009

Hyles, 228/365

Hyles, 228/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

A nice plump hawkmoth caterpillar found by my daughter during our morning dog walk. She has a terrific eye for all kinds of natural things. I was pretty excited to see this, as in my previous life, I was a research technician and this insect is actually one of the biological control agents released to control leafy spurge that we used to rear in the lab, or rather my colleage did. (but I did have to throw them food when it was my turn to work weekends).

We are going to rear this one out to adulthood. The adult moth is pretty impressive. Hopefully all will go well - we've had problems in the past rearing out tent caterpillars (yes, I know, a pest) because they were parasitised by flies; so in fact, we ended up rearing parasitic flies. This one looks really healthy, though. We might end up having to overwinter it once it pupates, in which case it can reside safely in the vegetable crisper till ready for emergence and release in the spring. August 16.

Don't be shy

Several years ago, our Christmas project was to put together a cookbook with several family favorites. Since we made it, new favorites have emerged and although I've made a few attempts to compile a new version, I somehow haven't gotten the momentum. But I'm up for more suggestions, and I'll have a look through my old e-mails for recipes my siblings have sent me over the years.

In the meantime, here's the first edition, for anyone who's lost the first one (or, like me, have gotten it so splattered/sticky as to become unusable). I admit I use the dessert/baking section more than anything else, but I also use the pancit recipe once in a while, and this weekend, being an unseasonably rainy August weekend, I'm planning on using the perogie recipe.

The name is from our Lolo Berting's famous exhortation anybody appeared to hesitate over food: "Don't be shy!" (click to download pdf file)

empanada madness

empanada madness, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I just didn't get as many empanadas as I wanted while on holiday with my family in BC, since the Empanada Lady was on holiday (the nerve!). Being denied my fix, I have set out to make my own. I've made them before. They're usually not very good. These were better than *my* usual, but still not as good as Empanada Lady's.

My trusty assistant helped roll out the pastry into nice little circles, and put in a couple of tablespoons of filling, which today is ground pork, lots of garlic and onions, potatoes, peas, raisins, and seasoning. This time around, I used a couple of dollops of chili sauce, and some sweet pickle relish. I'm not too sure why.





Instead of just flattening the edges with a fork, I folded them in to make a fluted edge, which not only looks nicer, it prevents leakage. I actually learned this on youtube, of all places, in which some guy gets instructed in empanada folding by a cheerfully cantankerous lola, who at one point, I am sure, tells him "you're doing it like a white guy!". But my Tagalog is pretty rusty, so that could be misinterpretation on my part.

They didn't get quite as brown as I expected (maybe I am used to the deep brown of the fried versions) but I really couldn't bake them any longer without them turning really dry and tough. As it is they're a bit more...er, robust than I really like them. But I'm sufficiently encouraged that I am going to try them again soon, hoping to improve the pastry and pump up the seasoning a bit.

tandoori bun, beta version. 222/365

tandoori bun, beta version. 222/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I am not at all a foodie; in fact, I would rather do just about anything other than cook, and I am usually perfectly content with some variant of meat and potatoes (or meat and rice). However, I recently became obsessed with 1) empanadas, the Filipino versions, and 2) curry buns, just recently and by accident.

Okay, there is a reason behind this: while in Winnipeg for a conference, my supervisor and I both bought curry chicken buns from the Sri Lankan stall at the Forks, to eat on the plane (Air Canada doesn't give you so much as a peanut for a 2 hour flight). They were so good (again, I am used to quite boring food), I really wanted to try making one myself. But, instead of using an actual recipe (!), since I was making tandoori chicken that evening, I had the cunning plan of using the leftovers to make buns.

I chopped up the chicken, fried some onions with curry paste to make a gravy, then added the chicken and some cilantro leaves. Then I stirred in some corn. I don't really know why. Oh, and a cilantro/mint/ginger chutney I made earlier to eat with the chicken.

Next time, based on suggestions from my siblings and Facebook friends:
start from scratch, and forget the tandoori plan
make a really GOOD thick gravy to hold it all together, add a bit of cornstarch
forget the corn
cilantro good, mint bad.

also, try the breadmaker version of dough.

Meanwhile, these are still not too bad. Even if they were only 65% satisfactory, that is still a C+ curry bun.

offering, 212/365

offering, 212/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

Yesterday's post at Shutter Sisters talked about the comic relief of the bathroom portrait, as an antidote to boredom.

I don't know about boredom, but I've resorted to the bathroom portrait more than once during this 365 project, partly because it's the one place in the house that has both a mirror, and rather nice natural, diffuse lighting. I've taken lots of previous bathroom shots not so much as self-portraits but of various knitting projects. Photojojo's suggestion to include self-portraits as part of your 365 project to see how you've changed over the year has given me a reason to take them of my actual self, not merely as an prop to drape knitwear over. Self portaits are always a little awkward for me, not just for the technical challenge of getting an AF lens to focus on the reflection in the mirror, not to mention trying to get a picture aimed correctly when you're not looking through the viewfinder. But it's also impossible not to be at least a little bit self-conscious. So it's a little bit of a leap of faith, to trust in the camera, and get an image that feels like a little like an offering, a little piece of self to share with the outside world.

go a roving

go a roving, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I barely have room in my closet for more yarn, and I am really, really trying hard to make a dent in my stash. So even on holiday, I have been very good about not buying more yarn - I still have holiday yarn from years ago - from shops that don't even exist anymore!

So, I can't use the "yarn doesn't count if you buy it while on holiday" thing that has come in handy the last several summers.

But hey, roving is not yarn....yet. So, I bought roving at Knitopia Wools, which, unfortunately for me, relocated to my home town, where I visit family each summer. This is superwash blue-faced leicester. I'm trying to spin it a bit thicker than I did the stuff I bought last year (and which I'm industriously knitting up into the lace ribbon scarf) and since it's superwash, I'm hoping to make it into socks.

secret garden

secret garden, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

when I was probably 3 or 4 years old, my parents lived around Fraser and 21st in Vancouver, in one of those little houses typically rented by immigrant families. I still have dim memories of that house, and the way the back porch gave out onto a little garden that in turn led into a back alley, covered with vines and morning glory.

I am sure that the house my sisters now share in roughly the same area does not really resemble that house from my distant childhood (now torn down and replaced with one of those infamous Monster Houses), yet visiting them gave me a strange feeling of flashback and nostalgia, a sense of green and shade and quiet in the heart of the city.

For my book club: if, like me, you can never quite find that e-mail.

If you were at the June book club meeting at Earl's, you'll know how this challenge came about. If you weren’t, or were there but didn't hear it, here's how it happened:

while discussing The Flying Troutmans, Christine said, "I felt like anyone could write down a slice of their life and win the Giller prize". I thought that was a cool idea- we're all intelligent, interesting, articulate women - let's all try doing just that!

So, that's the challenge: Write a little slice of your life. It can just be a few sentences, a paragraph, or an entire chapter. It could be something that happened yesterday, or decades ago; or even something about to happen.

It could be fact or fiction (keep us guessing), prose or poetry - whatever floats your boat. Illustrate it with photographs or sketches (a la the Book Thief!) if you want. Let's have fun with this. Draw on inspiration from your favourite book, if it helps. Toss ideas back and forth with your friends. Tear pages out of your journal! But let's all try it. We can either share our writing at the September meeting, or if that's too intimidating, just share what the process of writing was like. Was it difficult? Did anything unexpected arise? Did it suck so much you never, ever want anyone to suggest it again? Do you see books and authors in a different way after that? Most of all, have a sense of adventure about it – nobody’s marking this or expecting perfection. You’re not handing it in to your English prof. Think of it as a journey into the mind of a writer, and this time, the writer is you.

a tribute of sorts

this tempts me to buys some film, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

or perhaps a eulogy:
this tempts me to buys some film, even if Kodak has announced it will stop producing Kodachrome.

handspun lace ribbon scarf

handspun lace ribbon scarf, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I got together with my knitting friend Michele earlier this week, which prompted me to finally start plying some handspun that had been malingering since last August. I spin with an S twist, so I'm plying with a Z twist. Or wait - is that the other way around?

This is my first stab at handspun, so to say that it's irregular and variable in both twist and weight would be an understatement. So, she suggested the lace ribbon scarf as a good project for these small and irregular hanks of handspun. I'd had it in mind as a possibility, but it was good to get validation from someone with her eye and skill level.

So far I'm liking how it's working up. I have some concerns that it will start looking kind of funky when I change skeins as there is no uniformity in colour whatsoever, but I think I'm going to consider that a design feature.

Fibre is Blue-Faced Leicester roving bought at Knitopia in Langley BC, spun and plied on locally made handspindles bought at same location.

June 20.

two daisies today

Daisies, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I thought they were Shasta daisies, but now realize they probably are something else completely. African daisies? The plastic tag has long been broken off and sunk into the dust.

Gardening is a lot of work in southern Alberta - late frosts and cold springs are usually followed by an abrupt swing to hot, droughty conditions. We don't put in the kind of time it takes to make plants really thrive here, but a few hardy clumps keep soldiering on, surprising us with colour amidst the dust and heat.

I was thinking of trying to make this picture into a banner of some sort, and got as far as experimenting to make a watermark, but that's as far as I got. I don't really need a banner, or a watermark, for that matter. I just felt like tinkering.

leap!

cabriolet, 161/365, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

So this is the first time I've had a camera that could shoot in RAW, the digitial equivalent of negatives (or postives too, I suppose). Up till now, I couldn't really see any good reason to use it, since RAW files aren't immediately viewable in Windows Explorer, and because they're completely humongous. However, Rita at Coffeshop Photography started writing presets for LightRoom that can also be used in PSE7. Although they can also be used on jpgs, which I usually take, they work best on RAW images, and no tweaking is needed afterwards. I'm not sure how much I'm willing to use RAW, since the files are so huge, but it's fun to play with once in a while.

And again - I like the way her preset brings the contrast and texture out in these chives:

blingy goodness

I haven't made jewelry for some time now, and in the last while, it's my daughter that's tinkered with the collection of beads, wire, and chain stuffed in a drawer of the hobby room. I was compelled to pick up my pliers again the other day to repair an old choker I made about six years ago - or, not so much repair it, but enlarge it, because it felt kind of tight. I find that weird. I seriously doubt that the weight I've gained since then has made my neck actually fat, but really, it doesn't feel as comfortable as it used to. So I added a couple of links, and now it feels fine. Maybe it's my Incredible Hulk type traps. I should take another picture of these - in reality, they look quite a bit more lively and spring-y, not this firey and intense.



While I was at it, I figured I would go the quick and dirty route with some beads we picked up on clearance at Michael's. But now that I look at them again, they seem sad and lonely, so I need to find a way to spruce them up a bit - I've seen some simple pendent designs with ribbon that might be fun to try.

Idling

It is truly woeful how I have spent insufficient idleness on knitting. As of the beginning of this year, I have managed to knit exactly 3.9 socks, and 0.75 of a sweater. I could say that it is because of my crazy school schedule, and that wouldn't be untrue, exactly. But it's not the only reason. I do still have moments of idleness, but have probably spent more time taking pictures than knitting this particular semester.

A couple of reasons for this: I have always taken pictures, and can actually remember being 4 or 5 years old, taking the family camera and snapping pictures of my mom while she napped. She was understandably unimpressed, but from there, I did get a little 110 instamatic of some sort by the time I was 10, and have been busily recording relatively insignificant moments of my life since.

So, this year I decided to undertake Project 365, which I learned about through Flickr and Photojojo. A picture a day, no matter how boring your life gets. This is a considerable challenge, but also encourages me to learn to use my camera, and not just put it on Program and snap away. I always have, and still do, fiddle with the settings anyway; I just do it more, now.

a relatively recent mosaic:



and the full constantly updated photo diary set is at Flickr.

what's with all the saliva?

Some of you already know I am pursuing a MSc. in exercise science, with a specific interest in the effects of activity on mid-life women. Here's the slides from the very brief presentation I gave a few weeks ago on my thesis proposal, and a bare bones description of the planned project.

It's a powerpoint presentation, so you might need to install a viewer in order to see them.

update: I've taken down the file, since I noticed it getting indexed in places I don't want it indexed. Contact me if you are interested (and not a troll, goblin, etc).