Comings and Goings

The Adolescent

As much as the Adolescent's antics give me grief, I am surprisingly sad that he has just gone off to camp for the summer. He is a junior counselor at the camp where he has been a camper for many years. I'm not going to see him until the end of August! I really can't believe I'm feeling this but I miss him! To make myself feel better I try and remember all the aggravation he's caused me this year. But even that doesn't make me miss him less!

Blueberry Pancakes

I make him Blueberry Pancakes on the morning of his departure. So he'll remember why he should come home.

Brothers enjoying a goodbye hug

Although it doesn't look it from this face, the Beamer is really going to miss his brother too!
 

Even the Hubby is feeling sentimental!

The Adolescent has been thinking a lot these past few months about what he would like to do for his future career. It's come down to two things of equal interest. He wants to be an astrophysicist. And he wants to be rich. Seriously?! What the heck does an astrophysicist do anyway? And hasn't he been listening when I tell him that to be Rich in LOVE is what he should be striving for in life?! I suggest he get some books to read during downtime at camp. I'm thinking Hunger Games or something of that nature. He packs A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, Cosmos by Carl Sagan, Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Who is this boy?!

The Daughter, Claire, Charlotte, me

Charlotte and Claire have come from France for a visit. Charlotte lived with us for 3 months in 2006. Now she has come for her first visit back and has brought her younger sister Claire. Claire has never been on an airplane before! She eats corn on the cob for the first time! Their visit highlights yet again how little I cook. I vow to not let them leave this country again with a skewed view of how Canadians cook and eat.

Glass Noodle Salad with Edamame

Amidst all these comings and goings I have the strange and untimely urge to make a feast for Father's Day a couple of weeks back.

Asparagus Mimosa with capers and hard boiled egg

I make three dishes I've never tried before from the vegetarian cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Four Fathers - The Hubby, my Dad, Brian, and Richard

Lots of cooking and lots of eating leads to lots of cleaning up. Unbelievably, the dishwasher breaks. The groaning and complaining from the children when they realize they might have to wash a dish reminds me of yet another way I've failed as a parent. The only weapon left in the Kitchen Mess arsenal is the Hubby...but it's FATHER'S DAY! I struggle with a dilemma of conscience...

Did he or didn't he have to wash dishes on Father's Day???

The only outcome that you need to know is that THIS weekend we use paper plates and disposable glasses. I feel guilty about the waste but apparently my conscience can only deal with so much.
 

The family welcomes Charlotte and Claire

For Charlotte and Claire's dinner with my family I make Hamburgers. I read an article that the secret to the best burger ever is the ratio of meat to fat which should be 80% meat to 20% fat. The ground beef I get is 85/15 and it is excellent. Another thing I learn is that a great burger doesn't need any seasoning other than salt and pepper. No onion, no worcestershire sauce, no egg or breadcrumbs. Just some really great condiments and a good bun. The burgers are delicious and relieve my guilt just a bit!

The Comings are always something to anticipate and enjoy. But dealing with the Goings has never been my strength. I will likely get used to having the Adolescent away for the summer. I will likely learn to enjoy the peace and quiet that is only possible in a home without an Adolescent in it. I will in time find another motivation for baking. But until then, I will savour the unfamiliar feeling of missing the Adolescent.

Stories from the Road

The Hubby is quite proud of his special black Ride to Conquer Cancer jersey. While the majority of the 4800 riders in last weekend's event toil along in our regular yellow Ride jerseys, the Hubby dons his black one with "Ambassador" written down one side, happy in the knowledge that he has special ambassadorial qualities.

At the starting gate: Amanda, Beatrice, Barb, Sabina, the Hubby

I have no ill will toward this gross miscarriage of justice because he certainly earned the honour. He did organize the design and making of our team's uniform. Helen actually designed it but the Hubby did organize it all.

The night before the Ride: looking up to the Hubby, just the way he likes it!

 
And he did lead all of our team's training rides. Well, it's probably more accurate to say that he rode ahead of everyone else on our training rides. No need to wait for the team. That's why GPS was invented! Comes in handy when your captain yells "I'll meet you in Streetsville...! Just another 30kms that-a-way...!".

And how exactly did the Hubby think that the team knew where and when to meet for the weekly training rides given that he never actually informed them?! It must be his ability to telepathically communicate that makes him so darned special. And the tips! I emptied my brain to the team of all the knowledge I had from my experience last year! But the Hubby had not one tip to share because he's never done the Ride before! Not that you'd know it looking at his special black Ambassador jersey! But I'm not bitter.

Sabina and me

It was an inspiring sight as we rode west from Toronto to see the road turn into an undulating ribbon of yellow (and one black) jerseys. Good spirits and a sense of camaraderie prevailed as we pedaled our way up seemingly endless hills, through pouring rain, and past hundreds of cheering well wishers lining the route. Two cyclists lighting up and smoking cigarettes while riding baffles with its disrespect. A woman labouring up a hill behind Sabina literally wailing "I CAN DO THIS!" is annoying but inspiring at the same time. One survivor pedals the entire 200km with one leg on a modified bike. The oldest rider at 84 is blind so rides a tandem bike with his cardiologist because he has heart problems too! Sabina, a first-timer and one of the slower riders on our team during training, surprises me at every pit stop as she keeps pace.

Our Team

In the end, the Daughter is unable to do the Ride after falling off her bike and fracturing her elbow. The Boyfriend pinch hits for her and joins the Ride without any training. But because he's young and naturally in good shape as only the young can be, he easily finishes the Ride more than 2 hours before us. Very impressive. And annoying. All at the same time.

The Daughter and the Boyfriend

The Hubby is a machine. Powering up hills with barely a downshift. Barreling through all 200 kilometers hardly out of breath. He can ride circles around me. But he doesn't. I know without a doubt that even though he's far far ahead and out of sight that at one point soon he will appear, either slowly pedaling so I can catch up or waiting for me at the side of the road. So sweet. So Hubby-like. Okay...fine....so Ambassadorial! (I gagged a little writing that).

Jon, Sabina, the Boyfriend, me, the Hubby, Joe, Helen, Matthew, Colin: at the finish line in Toronto

It's always so sweet at the finish. Smiling familiar faces cheering us in. My dad and Sinikka are there. So are my sister and brother-in-law and Scarlett. Relief to be off the butt, on the ground, out of the shoes, helmet-free. 

My niece and most excellent cheerleader Scarlett

The Hubby, the Daughter, the Adolescent, the Beamer and I go out to dinner that night at our favourite neighbourhood restaurant. We sit outside on the patio enjoying the warm evening, feeling tired but accomplished. As the meal is ending our waiter tells us that our entire meal has been paid for by an anonymous stranger in a random act of kindness. Very disorienting at first. But then just really so much appreciated. A wonderful ending to a very meaningful weekend.

Pain in the Butt

I've been trying to write this post for weeks. I write a would-be post but when I go to review it a day or two later it just doesn't meet with my own approval. I re-read what I had spent an hour writing and I practically fall asleep mid sentence as it's so ho hum! For the last year and a half I've rarely had any difficulty coming up with a weekly post. It just seemed that my brain was full of thoughts and observations and proclamations. It was simply a matter of harnessing all this brain activity into a coherent theme. But for the past few weeks I appear to be thought-less! This has started to worry me. I think all my creative energy has become misdirected to my Butt.

Maureen punching the Hubby! Even THIS did not inspire a blog post!

The Hubby and I have been training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer - a 200 km cycle over 2 days next weekend to raise money for cancer research. I'm not worried about my heart or legs going the distance. But my Butt is what needs the training! To build up my Butt's endurance, we have been riding increasingly longer distances over the past few months. We use whatever external Butt supports we can. We have padded shorts, ergonomic bike seats, and most precious of all we have Butt Butter! The problem with all this training is that it takes a lot of time and there's not a lot of energy left for much else. I think my Butt has annexed all my creativity!

Paul, Matt, and Geoff are smiling because their Butts are NOT sore...or maybe it's because of the martinis...?!

Looking back on the past month I have surprised even myself by the fact that in the midst of all this attention to my Butt I actually did some time in the kitchen. I am amazing. So here's the best I can do for you today: the month in pictures...

Dinner on the back patio with Cathy and Jon

One of the Daughter's favourite meals is hamburgers. In sympathy of the fractured elbow she got from falling off her bike, we have a BBQ one Sunday evening. They are delicious!

Burgers topped with grilled onion, salsa and guacamole

I fell off my bike in April. While the massage therapist is working on my sore shoulder, she chats to me about her baking exploits. She raves about the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. It's a very fun read and inspires me to make Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies which are crisp but chewy and salty and sweet...

From Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook

...and Chocolate Chip Layer Cake that is made up of chocolate chip vanilla cake, passion fruit curd, chocolate crumbs, and coffee frosting. This is a gorgeous creation and so deserves more than just a passing mention here. But even THIS did not inspire words of worth! That's how bad it is!

Awesome

The Boyfriend too falls off HIS bike (wait...maybe there's a THEME here...?!).

The Boyfriend's leg...the Daughter's arm!

He gets Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler...

I also made a rhubarb coffee cake but I am so far gone I didn't even take its picture!

I make this Chocolate Mocha Ice Cream Cake...

Chocolate and coffee ice cream on a chocolate wafer crust

...for a dinner in Colin and Sarah's backyard to celebrate one of the first warm spring evenings.

Our hosts Sarah and Colin along with Jon

So that's it. This is what you've been waiting for all these weeks. No pithy comment to end. No bon mots to tide you over until next time. Blame the Butt.

Doing Nothing

The Hubby and I are participating in our annual post tax season getaway. It is a ritual we established many years ago in order to get reacquainted with each other after two long months of fleeting connection. In our regular lives, it's so easy to devolve into schedule coordination and to do lists. Although these things are necessary to some degree, it takes committed vigilance (mine) and responsive willingness (his) to keep it deep and meaningful. On this getaway we engage in what is our most beloved but infrequent pastime: Doing Absolutely Nothing. While Doing Absolutely Nothing we have to deal with occasional feelings of guilt at our indulgence. What does it say about the expectations we put on ourselves when relaxing requires justification and rationalization? We also worry that we've fallen into a rut. Timepieces around the world can be set to what we do on this weekend. We go to the exact same place, do the exact same things, in the exact same order, every time. We feel better once we conclude that it can't be a rut if we're enjoying what we're doing. Can it?

The beauty of Doing Absolutely Nothing is that we're now available to ponder and reflect on some of the things that usually escape our attention.

Like rhubarb crumble. And grilled nutella and banana sandwiches. Both are offered every morning at the ample breakfast buffet. Dessert for breakfast - how great is this?!

Breakfast!

Sourdough bread made in house. Although the "healthy eating" experts advise against eating too much bread, I cannot resist. The sourdough starter for this bread came to the hotel 6 years ago, brought by the pastry chef from another hotel in Tofino, B.C. where it was "started" 10 years before. The bread I'm slathering with house-churned butter was started 16 years ago. How cool is that?!

"Old" bread

The Hubby and I get to DISCUSS things that don't involve who has to be where, what has to happen when, and can you believe the Adolescent did WHAT?! The Hubby's discussions usually involve some sort of Manspeak related to Blue Jays baseball. To hear him go on about them you would think that the Jays are his greatest source of joy and greatest source of despair. I would roll my eyes but that would be Doing Something and that is not in the schedule.

I get to mull over why people would choose to cook when amazing food can be had already prepared, even if cost wasn't a factor. We determine that it's related to pride and recognition for our accomplishments. And it's a way to show people who you care about that, well, you care about them.

We go on a daily tramp through the woodland forest that is part of the allure of this place. When the Hubby proclaims that he has to pee only a few minutes into our walk it initiates a discussion of whether he was paying attention during the inevitable childhood lesson of Prepping To Go Out. I take in the magnificent sight of wild trillium dotting the woodland floor. We briefly consider going on a bicycle ride but quickly dismiss the idea. That, again, would be Doing Something and there is not enough time for that.

A quintessential Ontario spring flower

Soon we will return to the fast paced high demand existence that is regular life. But, in the meantime, absolutely nothing is taking up all of my time.

Vegetarian Birthday Dinner

Cooking vegetarian is not in my comfort zone. I don't know why. I eat vegetables. I cook vegetables. I even bake with vegetables at times. Maybe it's something to do with not having the choice. Maybe having no other option but to use vegetables sets my control issues on high alert. For whatever reason, planning for a vegetarian meal always feels like an extraordinary feat.

The Adolescent, the Daughter, the Beamer, Paolo

This weekend's dinner is to celebrate the April birthdays of 3 of my beloved people: Mary, the Adolescent, and the Hubby. Or as the Hubby will be affectionately called in today's post: Mush for Brains. Mush for Brains is nearing the end of "tax season" and it seems that mush is about all he has left up there for things that are not tax returns. For 2 months of the year he works all day, into the wee hours of the night, and on weekends. The tax returns he completes are things of beauty but everything else is hit and miss. His patience is shot. His memory is in tatters. He falls asleep at the table in the middle of a dinner party! Luckily the heart does not appear to be dependent on a well-working brain. Mush for Brain's heart continues to be large and loving. (Read about MFB`s birthday last year)

Wild Mushroom Parcels in front of a photo of Black Pepper Tofu from Plenty cookbook

For this weekend's dinner I must plan a feast that doesn't include meat (Mary), nuts (Mike), eggs or cheese (Paolo). I scour through my recipe files. Everything good I've already made or contains one of the forbidden ingredients. I buy a vegetarian cookbook: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. It's gorgeous and inspiring. I decide on Wild Mushroom Parcels which are appropriately gift-like for a birthday dinner. A mixture of shitake, oyster, and cremini mushrooms along with fresh tarragon give the dish a subtle licorice taste. Mary is touched. She recognizes the effort. She is especially appreciative of the fact that I even cooked at all! (Read about Mary`s birthday last year)

Inside the Wild Mushroom Parcels

Mush for Brains grills a few steaks for the die hard carnivores among us. To balance all this Meat I must also make "meat". What's the deal with tofu? Tasteless, odourless, and pasty white. I don't even know where to find it in the supermarket! Is it vegetable? "meat"? dairy? eggs? But all is forgiven with Black Pepper Tofu from Plenty cookbook. The tofu is smothered in garlic, chilies, ginger, shallots, and soy sauce and it's delicious! Paolo who apparently doesn't like tofu gobbles it up.

Blowing out the birthday candles

Finally it's time for the reason why I eat all the other stuff. So I can get to dessert. The birthday cake is Frozen Lemon Meringue Cake. This cake will definitely be added to my repetoire. Layers of meringue, lemon curd, and vanilla ice cream are frozen and then, just before serving, softened in the fridge. It is cool, tart, sweet, velvety, crunchy, and lush. Lemon heaven! Paolo eats THREE pieces! And he usually doesn't like meringue (it's made from eggs you know). There are no leftovers.

Frozen Lemon Meringue Cake

One dinner out of my comfort zone, three new recipes tried with great success, one amazing birthday cake, and three beloved people celebrated in the best way I know how.

Eliza's Cupcakes

"Eliza"

This is "Eliza". She is in quotation marks because I have never actually met Eliza in the flesh so can only vouch for "Eliza". Although quotation marks are not good when it comes to "meat" I think it's acceptable when referring to "people". I talked to "Eliza" on the phone once very briefly. And we exchanged a couple of instant messages a while ago. "Eliza" drew me a picture a long time ago and it's still pinned to my bulletin board at work. Or at least I was told she drew it for "me" but nothing's for certain when you're dealing with quotation marks.





I "know" Eliza because her father is my friend Treasure. According to Treasure, Eliza is an amazing kid who always has lots to say, is a very good baseball player, and now it seems is a baker of amazing looking cupcakes. I can't vouch for their taste because, sadly, no cupcake was ever shared with me. But I have a good imagination and they certainly look like they taste good!

This is "Eliza's" story...

Hi my name is Eliza. I am nine years old and was born in Ontario. I got this recipe from my Nan. She sent it to me in the mail. She said she found it in a magazine. They looked super cute and yummy. These are the steps me and my mom used:

1. we made the cupcakes using a rainbow chip mix

2. my mom iced the cupcakes while I put on the sprinkels and M and Ms        

3. When they were all done we  made faces and itenies (antennae is a hard word to spell - Gastronome)

4. After that we made eyes and mouths      

5. Last we put a brown line through the middle

The ingreetings that we used were:

·         Cupcake mix (found at any grocery store)

·         White iceing (found at any grocery store)

·         Red sprinkles

·         Lindor chocolate cut in half

·         Brown M and Ms

·         Same white iceing to do the eyes

·         And black iceing to do the dot in the eyes (found at a cake store)

·         Last we used  light brown iceing  to do the middle line (found at a cake store)

  
On Easter Sunday my family went to my dads sisters house and took the cupcakes. I  thought  they were super good and my cousins did too.

                                                        Guest Blogger, Eliza 

P.S This is my first time being on a blog

P.S I prefer you to make these cupcakes

                                        Bye!

To Ring or Not to Ring?

The Adolescent is maturing! How I know this to be true:

Immaturity is never far below the surface

It was the Adolescent's 17th birthday on the weekend. This in itself means nothing with respect to maturity. But, coupled with...

Scarlett colours Easter eggs to decorate the dinner table

At his birthday dinner, the Birthday Bell did not ring even once! The tradition at the birthday dinner table is that the Birthday Person gets full Power and Control of the Birthday Bell. With its ring, the Birthday Person can ask for ANYTHING!  Theoretically, when the bell rings, everyone around the dinner table jumps up and clambers to do whatever it is that the birthday person wants. This is how it happens in my fantasy anyway. Before the Adolescent was an adolescent he was given the birthday bell for one memorable birthday dinner. He rang that bell constantly. Everyone was going insane with the ringing and the demands. It was Power and Control gone amok in the hands of someone too young to respect the responsibility of it all. I lasted as long as I could but then I took the bell away. He claims that no bell rang this year due to emotional scarring. I suppose that some would consider this a byproduct of maturation!
 

The Adolescent with Sinikka and Gung Gung

The Adolescent is engaged and interactive during family dinners. What happened to the sullen, slouching, grunting boy of just a year or so ago? Today he chats, he tells funny stories, he asks people about themselves, he asks his sister for advice, he listens, he speaks of a future and how he wants to change the world for the better.

Richard, the Adolescent, and Trish flexing their muscles with Grandpa looking on

The Adolescent actually listening to Brian

The Adolescent eats the birthday cake I bake for him! Every year we go through this sad little ritual. I ask him what cake he wants me to bake. He says he'd prefer a cake from the grocery store. I really try and do what he has asked. I remind myself not to take this personally. I remind myself that it's not about me this day. I try and convince myself that if he wants a store bought cake that it takes nothing away from me to get him a store bought cake. I try but in the end I always fail.

So delicious!

But this year is different. We never even begin our sad predictable interaction. This year I bake him a Frozen Mocha Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze. Coffee mousse in the middle surrounded by chocolate meringue cake and covered in a rich chocolate glaze. This cake gets raves from everyone at the table. But will the Adolescent eat it? He tries a taste. It's delicious! He finishes the slice and then polishes off the rest of the cake later that night. I don't even recognize this boy.

Me and the Birthday Boy

Here's to many more years of birthday cakes that may or may not be eaten, to experiences that may (hopefully there's not too many of these) or may not scar, and to Birthday Bells that may or may not be rung! Happy Birthday Sweetie!