Party of one

Cooking for four, or more, may well be a lot of work but the rewards are often just as abundant. From help with preparation and/or clean-up to the simple act of sharing a good meal, and conversation, amongst loved ones... the pros definitely outweigh the cons!

Breaking bread and sharing the bounty is after all one of the simplest joys of life. Even Yeezus agrees.

"When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed."  
Acts 20:11, King James Bible, Cambridge Edition

But back to my party of one.

Living alone, there is literally no one to break bread with. Prepping, cooking and eating solo becomes a daily chore that merely has to be accomplished along with the rest of 'em. 

Some days that's fine. 

Others, it's kind of depressing.

In an attempt to make dinner for one more a yea and less of a nay, I've come up with a few tricks... including setting a really nice table, trying new recipes and having hors d'oeuvres for dinner. 

Wine also helps.

While I don't actually eat at a table, per se, and instead choose to set all of my food and beverages on a vintage Pepsi-Cola cooler, I always aim to make it look nice and inviting. 

Sometimes I even light a candle.

As for new recipes... I'm all about them. Especially coming up with my own. 

I really enjoy cooking, and eating, as well as trying new spices, foods and recipes - so this is not a struggle for me. 

Most recently I came up with an easy recipe for kale-wrapped salmon which I submitted to an online recipe contest sponsored by Gwyneth Paltrow and Food52. 

Ha! I never noticed how ridiculous funny I sound.

Anyhoo...

Hors d'oeuvres for dinner is another one of my tricks, and one I return to again and again because it's so quick and easy. 

Take last night. 

I got home and was literally starving. So I put some pita chips in a bowl and pulled some hummus out of the fridge. Hors d'oeuvre #1, done!

Next I sliced some Kumato tomatoes, bocconcini and basil and made a little caprese salad. Easy, peezy, lemon, squeezy. (I didn't actually use lemon though. I drizzled the whole thing with extra-virgin olive oil). Hors d'oeuvre #2, finito!

Onwards and upwards... to hearts of palm. I opened the can and took them out. Then I sliced them. Then I ate them. Hors d'oeuvre #3, gone in a flash!

Last but not least I made mushroom caps stuffed with garlic and cheese. I left them in the oven a smidge too long so they came out a little microscopic but what the hay... Hors d'oeuvre #4 was done and so was my supper.   

Neighborhood watch

According to Merriam-Webster, there is an inextricable link between the word "neighbor" and the word(s) "fellow man," or kindred human being.

Not where I live.

Where I live, a neighbor is someone who calls the city to complain about another neighbor's lawn.

Sigh...

Moving here has been very different than I thought it would be and one of the most difficult things has been making new friends.

I used to be the kind of gal who made new friends everywhere she went.

Since moving here though, it feels as if I haven't met a single kindred spirit.

Except for Tammy.

Tammy is a neighborhood cat and truth be told... she is one of the few things (people?) that has made me smile this week.

Isn't she beautiful? 

Last night a little after 1 a.m. I realized I had forgotten to take the recycling out. Since the truck comes by early in the morning and I didn't want to miss it, I decided to get out of bed and do the deed.

I scampered down the stairs and dragged the recycling bin, yard waste bin and six cardboard boxes filled with the remains of the day garden to the curb before turning around to see Tammy trying to make a break for it... into my house.

This isn't the first Tammy has tried to adopt me, or the house I live in, and I hope it isn't the last because the look she gave me before scurrying away filled my heart with hope and love.

Seriously.

The reason I had so much garden waste - a bin and six boxes seems a little excessive, don't you think - is because a neighbor who shall remain nameless (the cranky Polish guy next door) complained to the city about the sorry state of our lawn and gardens.

In addition to being the last thing I needed to deal with this week it also made me feel really bad, and kind of sad, because I actually put a lot of work into, and take a lot of pride out of, maintaining what I thought was a beautiful home.  

To satisfy the neighbor (and the city which gave me one week to address the issue) I spent the last three days weeding, pruning and mowing (for the first time, might I add).

Unlike Gwyneth Paltrow... who works a seventies vibe.

Here are two quotes that sum up the way I feel about life right now...

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people (OR CATS!) who rekindle the inner spirit.

Albert Schweitzer

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.
Leo Buscaglia

 





 

(Almost) Friday five

There’s nothing better than a tight-knit family... of muscles.

With the neverending rain and a growing case of cabin fever, I decided to look to YouTube for distraction. 

In the form of exercise.

Tracy Anderson is a celebrity trainer who uses a unique method of training that focuses on smaller muscle groups to tone rather than bulk the body. Her fans include Gwyneth Paltrow (her business partner in crime), Nicole Richie, Jennifer Lopez and Miss B.

What I like about this arm workout video is that you don't need any equipment to do it and after about three minutes it feels like your arms are going to fall off.

Jillian Michaels, A.K.A. "America's toughest trainer," has a variety of really great videos but the one I tried today, for "killer buns and thighs" features a couple of really interesting and challenging moves (see 3:09 and 3:48).

Killer indeed!

There are a variety of standing ab workout videos that I like (both Tracy Anderson and Jillian Michaels have them) but what works best for me is picking a song that I really like and doing sit-ups (crunches, oblique crunches, bicycle crunches, torso twists), planks, side planks and more until the song ends.

Or I collapse.

The longer, and slower, the song the better the burn. I tried Stay by Rihanna yesterday and today, it hurts when I cough.

For the boot-eh!, or Canadian booty, I like to use the same approach I do with abs. Choose a song and start squatting.

Ewww.

Regular squats, Sumo squats. Squats with front kicks. Squats with side kicks. Static squats.

Basically squat 'til you drop. 

Finally, Tracy Anderson has a challenging grunt-inducing workout that targets muscles you didn't even know you had in your legs.

All you need is a chair.

And the will...

What workout works best for you?







   

  

The wonderful world of Wes A.

I was lucky. When I was a university student, I had the great fortune of interviewing three then-unknown, rising stars: Owen C. Wilson, Luke Wilson and Wes Anderson. The occasion was the debut of their first feature film, Bottle Rocket. 
 

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was 1996. I was living on Queen Mary Road, in Montreal, and they were living in Los Angeles. Suddenly, in the middle of the afternoon my phone rang and I - obviously - picked up.

"Hello?" I said timidly. "Hi, it's Wes, and Owen, on speakerphone."

Holy %$@&!

As the interview went on, I realized I, or they, were onto something big. "None of the actors in this film are well-known," said Anderson, "but some will be eventually."

No %$@& Sherlock. 

Wes, Owen and Luke are now, over 20 years later, very well-known indeed. Since Bottle Rocket, Anderson has made Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel, to be released in 2014. The Wilson brothers have joined him on many of these, in addition to starring in their very own feature films. And let's not forget dear Mr. Kumar Pallana.       

What made me think of this interview, conducted so many moons ago, was my recent viewing of Moonrise Kingdom. Another peek into Anderson's fascinating mind, the movie features many of the images and themes present in his other films: maps, hand-drawn pictures, old movie-making equipment and, of course, children/adults that never grow up.

"It's like Charlie Brown's world," said Anderson back in 1996. "They always wear the same clothes and you never see their parents." The more things change the more they stay the same because the same can be said about Moonrise Kingdom.

After watching Anderson's latest, I had an irrepressible urge to watch my all-time favourite: The Royal Tenenbaums. Though I've watched it countless times, it makes me laugh, and cry, every time.

By way of the Green Line bus remains my favourite scene in a movie - like ever - and for me, is a visual and audio representation of true love. Gwyneth Paltrow acts the %$@& out of it without saying a word while the breeze in her hair speaks volumes.

Pure poetry.