a little tangent...

Carrots & chickpeas spiced with chili/cumin/chipotle and roasted, topped with cucumber, (homemade) guacamole, sprouts and jalapeno salsa.



Pasta with sundried tomato, spinach & walnut pesto.



Sweet potato, swiss chard & black bean enchiladas with a little Daiya cheese, later topped with a tomato/jalapeno/almond milk sauce and baked.



Coconut/lime/chili/garlic quinoa, with carrots, cucumber, sprouts, snap peas & avocado, wrapped in rice paper rolls



Whole wheat pizza dough, topped with artichoke lemon pesto, kale, mushrooms and crumbled nut/nutritional yeast blend.



Chickpea mushroom potstickers and spicy sautéed cabbage with walnuts.



Jamie Oliver's roasted carrot & avocado salad. Has been a long time favourite.



Bell pepper & jalapeno quinoa, red beans, chipotle cauliflower, avocado & pepper jack Daiya in a multigrain wrap.



Vegan alfredo sauce with kale & mushrooms, over homemade fusilli pasta (yay new pasta maker!).

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I don't do many posts about food. Not because I don't love food - we eat quite well around here generally, and I think I'm pretty good in the kitchen. But I don't feel qualified to share any recipes (I am terrible at following recipes, and most things I come up with myself evolve with each making as measuring is also not a key skill of mine). But as I am currently doing 30 days of vegan eating, I've been trying to make more of an effort to document the tasty things I'm feeding us with (AK is not doing vegan alongside me, but has been eating most of the vegan dinners I've made) over on instagram. So far I think it's going quite well, and it has also pushed me to expand my repertoire a bit, as it is all too easy to get in a "what's for dinner?" rut. I've been mostly staying away from processed vegan foods (although I do like Field Roast sausages), and I'm not a big fan of tofu. After 19 days I am starting to run dry on inspiration, but persevering nonetheless. Tonight there are mushrooms stuffed with a mixture of roasted red peppers, walnuts, pepitas and a few other things roasting in the oven.

If you're vegan or vegetarian, what are your favourite recipes? Actually, whatever you love to eat, I'd love to hear it. I'm always looking for tasty meal ideas. And if you're looking for recipe ideas, I also have some inspiration going over on Pinterest.

instagram sunday...

Last night the wind came through in big, shuddering gusts, and this morning the lawn was dotted with autumn confetti, the first array of many fallen leaves to come. Today woke up grey, with a steady breeze and rain this afternoon. Nootka trip aside, I haven't seen any significant rain in our valley for a couple months, so I was glad to see it come. We'll need a bit more if there is to be hope of any mushrooms soon. It felt like a good day to get some things done around the house, and the informality of my iPhone felt like a good way to capture it.

>>The results of these dye jars was revealed, rich dark purples. They look quite dark in the photo as the fabrics were all still wet - they are drying somewhat lighter.

>> A tiny sockeye salmon took shape in linen, a meal for a planned beast yet to come to life.

>> I got some more ripe plums off the tree, in the hopes of collecting enough to make wine again this year. I also picked a lot more blackberries this weekend for the same purpose. The freezers are getting awfully full - a visit with my mom yesterday just made that worse, as I came back home loaded with other veggies, apples, herbs, plus half a sockeye and some prawns.

>> The house smells delicious after making some chocolate chip quinoa cookies, a favourite of mine. I'm following those up with some large pattypan squashes stuffed with an autumnal mixture of quinoa, mushrooms, apples & walnuts. I hardly ever get ambitious with my dinners when AK is away, but at least I'll have something good to eat for a few days in a row now.

>> With my new interest in fly fishing, it felt appropriate to do a little reading by the master, who incidentally did much of his angling on the banks of my hometown river.

>> I'm making some progress on a simple moss stitch cowl in plush grey wool. but i have a little twist planned after the knitting is complete.

Wishing you a good end to the weekend, a smile for the week ahead.

wild friday night...

yup, that's me, always the party animal. but as the starks* say, 'winter is coming' and while i'm not ready for that season anytime soon, i am definitely up for putting by some food to enjoy in the midst of it.  anyway, A is away climbing a mountain and i decided to spend a good portion of this evening in the kitchen.

on my way home i took a detour out to a local farm and filled a basket full of veggies. most will be enjoyed now, but some carrots found their way in with leeks and garlic scapes and a couple of chicken carcasses (i keep them in the freezer until i'm ready) to brew up a savoury stock. i'll freeze it in batches to make soup this fall. in case you are looking for a vegetarian stock, i should also mention i usually keep a batch of this homemade veggie bouillon in the freezer too, for flavouring soups and just about anything else.

i also brought home a 20lb box of tomatoes, and got to chopping them up to make a simple sauce to jar and freeze. i could can them, but i don't have the proper equipment and i do have the freezer space, so laziness wins! my pot fit less than half of the tomatoes in the box, so i will do another batch tomorrow, and probably also make some soup that i will eat sooner. some fresh kale and garlic scapes found their way into the food processor with walnuts, lemon and oil to make some pesto. i freeze it in meal-sized portions that i'll add parmesan and more olive oil to later.

and the last shot shows something i won't be eating, although in theory i could. some grated beeswax melted in almond oil in a bain marie, which is then whipped into water to make body lotion. i think i've mentioned it before but i use this recipe. tonight i scented it with chai tea and vanilla oil - yum.

now what am i gonna do the rest of the weekend? and how about you?

*that is a complete tangent, but i'm well into the first book right now.

free food...

happy solstice - i can't believe we are there already. thanks for all the great comments on the owls - it was a very special evening. i went back tonight and though i spotted both adults they seemed quite agitated, one hoo-hooing at me when i stood looking up from the creek's gravel bar and the other hissing and bobbing at me despite being at least 100m away and high in a tree; actually i probably wouldn't even have seen it if it hadn't raised all the fuss. i left them alone (alone is a relative term though - the robins were in full assault mode). instead i admired all the snails plying the trails, and a pair of pileated woodpeckers keeping close company with a pair of red-headed sapsuckers. there are lots of rotting trees in that wood - a woodpecker's haven.

but amongst all the wildlife, there is also a lot of other 'life' to be found these days, if one has their eyes open. thanks to langdon cook i was inspired to gather some vanilla leaf to dry for tea. my sweet little nephews gifted me with a tub full of gorgeous salmonberries. and a trip to the beach had me gathering some sea asparagus to saute up for later.

are you doing any foraging these days?

dandelion bread

oh, the lawn these days. i've only mown it once yet, but now that the days are warming up considerably it's full steam ahead. i was evaluating it yesterday, knowing i'd have to haul out that abominable mower shortly. but there was something i wanted to do before all those pretty yellow blooms got chopped up with the grass. yes, i'm talking about those fluffy yellow 'weeds', that so many folks spend hours eradicating from their perfectly manicured lawns (neighbours, i'm looking at you). at our house we are a much more relaxed bunch, and the dandelions flourish mostly freely between mowings. but really i should get to the point of this post - did you know dandelions can do more than wave their sunny faces at you?

you can eat their young, tender greens in salad. you can make wine, cordial and other convections with their flowers. but did you also know you can make dandelion bread? i have been following this recipe from fat of the land for several years, trying to make the bread at least once each spring. the result is a wonderfully sweet (but not overly so) quick bread that i have a hard time not gobbling down in one sitting, slathered in butter.

i mixed up the recipe a bit this go around - using half whole wheat flour, plus some generous sprinkles of both hemp seeds and a ground flax/chia mix i throw in everything around here. i also used coconut oil instead of canola, and unsweetened almond milk as that is what i had on hand. it seemed to work out well, although did not rise as much as the original. taste was definitely not compromised though!

so if you've got some fluffy, sunny 'lions brightening up your space, i encourage you to pick some of the petals before breaking out the weed whacker. a bread full of sunshine is just the thing to enjoy on these longer spring evenings.

recently...

...a collection of instagram photos from the last few days.
>>> some antlers in progress for a custom order.
>>> my patches need patches. time to do some more stitching on my patched jeans.
>>> a wobbly little lamb. yesterday afternoon was spent at my folks' homestead, checking out the new lambs (including one born while we there!). i have a bunch more photos to share in the next couple days.
>>> a sea turtle in progress.
>>> a dye jar a-brewing. i rinsed it out today and am waiting for the fabric to dry so it can see if it turned out like i hoped.
>>> strawberry amaranth muffins made this morning, based on the millet muffins from super natural everyday. basically i didn't have millet so i used amaranth. i didn't have plain yogurt so i used strawberry. and then i threw in some chopped frozen strawberries. a total success.

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our big plans for today had been to go clamming with some friends. A decided to spoil the fun by double-checking the shellfish openings and discovered the whole area got closed on friday for red  tide. i kid - obviously we definitely don't want to be harvesting clams if there is a risk of shellfish poisoning. but it's still disappointing, and a bit surprising in how early in the season it is. without getting into a discussion about global warming, i do wonder if our mild winter had something to do with it, the water warming up earlier in the year and encouraging the algae to bloom.

so instead we are at home right now, waiting for a quick visit from my sister and kids on their back home on the south tip of the island. it's a beautiful day again, so i'm sure i'll drag A out to the beach this afternoon when the tide is low, just to wander, not to pick clams. hope you are enjoying some sunshine this weekend too.

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a few more things:
• i know i shared a wrap recipe earlier this week, but i also made these roasted chickpea fajitas  and they are so so good. they will be made again very soon.
• did you see Abby's shark? so awesome.
• if you have half an hour to spare, i encourage you to watch stand up for great bear, a beautiful film about a stand-up paddler travelling the proposed oil tanker route through the great bear rainforest.

traditions...

yesterday was spent in my sister's kitchen, ringing in the start of advent with traditional baking and a bit of crafting with three generations of family. for those who don't know, my parents immigrated to canada from denmark in 1970, shortly after they were married. many scandinavian traditions have always been part of my and my two sisters' lives, along with visits from our relatives who all still live in denmark, and trips there occasionally. now with my sisters both having children, it is nice to continue these traditions into the next generation. my niece especially has been learning about her family history through school activities, so when my mom and i talked about meeting up to do some holiday baking together it seemed like a good idea to include my sister and her daughter as well. fittingly, they also live halfway in between my mom and i, so their house made a good congregation point as well.

after a nice lunch prepared by my sister, and including my BIL and my nephew, the boys headed out for some exploring in the woods and we set to work. my mom brought her hefty old meat grinder with the special attachments to grind out the dough for vanillakranse, classic danish vanilla wreaths. my 8-year-old niece had great fun turning the crank of the grinder while my mom caught the long strips of dough coming out. the dough is then cut in shorter lengths and joined in a circle for baking. my niece also found room in her tummy for her fair share of raw dough and finished cookies. these are my sister's favourite, although i have always preferred the second cookies we made: brunkager (yes, that translates to brown cookie).

the closest comparison i could say for brunkager would be gingerbread, but they have citrus zest, cloves and cinnamon for spice. they are rolled out very thin and cut into shapes, and bake up nice and crispy. oh yum, just writing about them makes me want to head into the kitchen for a little snack. normally my mom makes both of these all on her own, so i hope we were a help rather than a nuisance all joining in. then again, very generously, she left us will all the cookies, insisting she would make more at home later. i hope she knows we all appreciated her spending her day with us making goodies to eat.



we also spent a little time making woven heart baskets (flettede julehjerter) - well, mostly my sister and i. hearts are a common motif in danish holiday decorating. these hearts are two halves of folded paper woven together and then a strip glued on to make a hanging basket that can be put on the tree, sometimes with a little treat inside. the trick is to make sure you weave the pieces correctly so the basket can be opened when you are done. i admit it had been a little while since i made one, and very confidently i chose the most complicated template (top heart in photo) to make. i didn't realize until i was done that i'd made a mistake halfway through, so while my sister mocked me (as sisters do) i had to take it apart again to correct it.

the weather was pretty miserable all weekend, but today the sun has peaked out. i think a walk is in order in a little bit. last night A and i went to watch lots of mountain films at the banff film festival and i am starting to get excited for snow season (the local mountain opens next weekend). a little fresh snow this week would be great, but the sunshine in the forecast is also pretty appealing.

thanks for stopping by to 'visit' and hope your week is starting well.

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• have you seen the growing indigo blog? so much gorgeousness.

saturday-ing...

• reinventing an old pair of jeans with some unfortunate holes into something new. heavily inspired by traditional japanese boro fabrics.
• finishing up some custom orders, including a "shore fragments" ochre stars piece.
• thought several times about a walk to see the wild waves at the seashore, but each time the wind and rain outside made the warm house seem that much more inviting.
• instead, melted chocolate to make a modified (read: less sugar, added whole wheat, walnuts, ground flax & hemp seeds) version of these chocolate espresso cookies
• and enjoyed those cookies with a warm mug of tea.
• looking forward to going out to dinner with friends in a little bit, to celebrate A's 30th birthday (tomorrow). mmmmm, fresh margaritas and mexican tastiness.
• unfortunately, A has to work all day on his birthday, so I may head to my parents' to bake traditional danish brunkager with my mom.
• then back home for an evening outing to the banff film festival world tour.

what are you up to?

scenes from the weekend...

• am now finished two out of three of my pieces for plush you! in seattle. now for the hardest one...
• A and i went paddleboarding on the river yesterday evening. the tide was high and we headed up river away from the wind, where the water gets very clear when the surface isn't ruffled, watching for salmon swimming upstream and the sea creatures that are quite willing to chase them. curious to look down below your board and see a fish 'swimming' sideways, only to realize that is because it is in the mouth of a seal. said seal popped up above the surface looking very pleased with the fat salmon in its mouth.
• baked this easy little bread from 101 cookbooks. just as the name says, it was easy, and also delicious.
• baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. except different. that is to say this recipe has been in the family forever, and i get pretty free with the substitutions, so they are never the same twice.
• did some early recon on a nearby forest trail, assessing the mushroom possibilities. i don't know that it has too many prospects for that, but i did pick a bunch of oregon grape berries for dyeing - i'll keep you posted once the jar stews for a few days.
• still plugging away at my aidez cardigan. it's nearly there, almost. i think i have to rip back a bit on one of the sleeves, which is disgruntling, but i am nearly done the body to a point where i will split off for the armholes.

how was your weekend? i hope anyone on the east coast is safe and warm after irene stormed through. i do not mean to downplay the seriousness of the storm or the damage many folks suffered, but it did almost have me wishing for a rainy day around here. we'll have many of those soon enough though.

wishing you a good start to your week!

summer quiche

i'm not much for recipes. that is to say, i like recipes, and recipe books, but i'm just not very good at following them. i'm much better at taking a recipe as a starting point, and then adapting as i see fit. take quiche. i doubt i have ever made the same quiche twice. using whatever vegetable strike my fancy, or that i have on hand, is what makes it interesting. so this isn't a recipe, just a jumping off point, if you like quiche.



i can say that i have been using this tasty parmesan crust recipe recently, which is quite good in a quiche. today's version had green cauliflower, zucchini, garlic scapes, red pepper, and tomato, all from the farmers market. add in some bacon and cheddar cheese. whisk together some eggs (also local, 6-7), a good slosh of milk (1/2 cup? more?) and a few tablespoons of whole wheat flour, plus salt & pepper and other spices if desired (i like red chili flakes) and pour over the veg mix. bake at 350° for awhile (1/2 hour-ish?). and eat (and yes, you can probably tell by the above pic that my quiche tends to fall apart easily - i always tend to cram in too much stuff!).

was that at all helpful? food blogger, i am not. but i still like to think i am a decent cook, and A and i like to eat well. also fresh out of the oven this evening? these blueberry muffins. i'm trying to hold back sampling one, as we're supposed to take them somewhere tomorrow. but that one is kind of missing its bottom anyway, as it was blueberry overloaded, so maybe no one will miss that one...

repairs and rhubarb...

it's a very rainy sunday here. i spent part of the morning helping A and his paddling partners pack so much gear into a vehicle and snug three kayaks on top in a strengthening drizzle. now they are headed off on their adventure, and it's just me in the quiet house. a few scenes from yesterday:



repair work on an old pair of jeans. i covered the right leg of these jeans with a heavy patchwork of red fabrics to repair three large L-shaped holes from snagging them on some barb wire, when i found i wasn't quite ready to say goodbye. a bit more than a year later, they needed some further patching. while the original patches were machine-stitched, i thought hand stitching was more in order now. i seem to hand stitch nearly everything these days, and the boro-style patching i use on some of my creatures is rooted in the traditional boro that was done on clothing. so it seemed only fitting that i should carry this philosophy to my own clothes. i wonder how long before these jeans will be only patches...



barb's recipe inspired me to make some rhubarb nectar with some rhubarb from my mom's garden. in with the rhubarb goes some lemons and oranges, plus fresh ginger and cinnamon. i can see it would be good for a nice spring cocktail, plus it's also pretty tasty thinned out with just a bit of water.



back to some stitching now. there is a creature taking shape that is a bit "out there" on the spectrum - hopefully you guys will like it.

ps. thanks for the great feedback on my interview, i really appreciate your support!