Back to Life

(Aileen)

The last 2 weeks have been absolutely glorious. Skies have been crystal clear blue. The yellow of daffodils is bursting out all over. Bulbs are beginning to peek through the ground.

Last week in particular was quite warm. We spent both Saturday and Sunday walking around the hood catching as many rays of sunshine as possible. Monday’s papers flashed pictures of people in shorts on beaches.

This past weekend was frosty cold, but we dragged our rusty bicycles from their 2-year slumber and brought them back to life with a trip to the bike shop on Saturday for a proper servicing, then a whirl around the hood on Sunday.

Here are some pics from Sunday. These were taken at Battersea Park:

Sunday Dinner Series, 17-February

(Aileen)
Sunday’s dinner was a deferred Valentine’s dinner. I was stuck down in Worthing on Valentine’s day, so the goodies we picked up last weekend had to patiently wait for a week. For Valentine’s we opted for a very romantic pair of chunky sirloin steaks cooked simply in butter, traditional fixins, and a beautiful St Julien.

Menu
Dove prime sirloin steaks
Sauteed wild mushrooms
Creamed spinach
Baked potatoes

Wine
2001 Chateau Branaire, St Julien

Sauteed wild mushrooms
- Saute shallots and crushed garlic in butter until golden
- Add mushrooms, and sauté until done. Season with salt and pepper (and thyme and/or parsley if you have them on hand)

Creamed spinach
- Steam spinach then chop finely
- Saute shallots in butter until golden, add small teaspoon of flour and cook for a minute or two (like a roux)
- Add splash of cream and cook briefly
- Add chopped spinach and cook till heated through

Steaks
- (Use a good stainless steel pan) Heat pan till hot (almost, but not quite smoking), then add splash of olive oil, and 2 tbsp butter
- Add steaks and cook on high heat, for about 2-3 minutes (depending on size of steak and desired done-ness), then turn, and cook other side until desired doneness.

Foul mood February morning

(Aileen)
I recall writing some time in December about the expectation and coming of the most depressing month of the year – February. It has arrived. Today is the day when statistically most people call out "sick". Today is an absolute foul mood February Monday morning. Humbug.

It’s cold, grey and dreary out. I’m feeling completely out of control and unprepared for the coming week. I’ve been weighted down all weekend with the horrible sinking feeling of finding a gazillion emails in my work inbox and not being able to catch up or keep up. I did not manage to go through the mound of mail this weekend so who know’s what’s lurking in there. I need to remember to pay bills and such this week but work has been absolutely crazy and I’m dreading missing a bill accidentally and being hit with a finance charge (hate those!). And I had to spend 20 minutes at 5:30 this morning looking for my blasted black skirt that was dropped of at the drycleaners some weeks back and has not been seen since. No success this time either.

Grumble. I need a vacation, or at least the expectation of one.

On that positive note, last week Ed booked our return tickets to Japan in May. Woohoo. He’d managed to accumulate enough air miles to book to return tickets using miles so we’re only paying taxes (not an insignificant amount but half of what we’d be paying otherwise). My laptop bag is now weighed down with a Japan travel book and my plan is to do research in the evening during the week. I’m already daydreaming of slurping down a steaming bowl of ramen noodles at some Tokyo ramen stand.

Also, my high school girlfriends and I are planning a trip to Miami/Bahamas sometime in April. I’m so proud of us for planning such a grown up endeavour. We’ve all had such varied and different journey’s since graduation – different careers, migration, different cities, marriage, heartbreak. Through it all we’ve managed to stay in touch and relevant in one another’s lives, and I am so looking forward to a long weekend of catching up and comparing of battle scars while reverting back to high school silliness.

Lastly Ed and I have also planned a long weekend in Oslo at the end of February – one last dose of snow for the year. We’re toying with the idea of taking skiing lessons again. We’ve started watching skiing events on TV so I can safely say we’ve managed to catch a bit of the bug, and I strongly suspect 2 to 3 days more of lessons will have us rightly hooked.

OK. I feel better now. And the sun’s also beginning to make an appearance.