Canadian Mark

Scenic View

2011-12-06T22:51:00.002-05:00

I remember camping trips with my dad, traveling Northern Ontarian highways for hours or days to get to our destination in the middle of nowhere at lake such-and-such. At the time, I was always interested in the destination and getting there as soon as possible and never truly appreciated the "scenic view" stops along the way to stretch our legs.

When not hectic, life has at least been busy the past few months... and I miss the scenic views. All too often it feels as though I'm racing toward a destination - prepping for the next big cater-out or lunch-rush. I look back on the day after I've fed all the pets, taken out the recycling, and the kids are slumbering... I love the journey I'm on.... briefly. Then I pass out.

When I look back on it every night; I enjoy being a chef more than anything, creating food that bring joy and health to those that consume it - serving in a very fundamental and base level. More than that, since I have a big ego, I love being the rock-star chef I've become. I love getting press and hearing the praises from the soup-fans. It's all very awesome.

But.

In the moment - 20 minutes before the lunch rush pours in and I have to finish the soups, cut the fresh baked focaccia, pull the pork, deal with the fact that we're out of coffee lids, and also discover that one of the steam table inserts blew an element... it all just makes me want to smoke cigarettes and drink vast amounts of taurine.

It's kind of like I've been (or my generation has been, perhaps) conditioned to rush toward the destination to such an extent that I/we don't know how to stop and stretch our legs and enjoy a scenic view along the way - doubly so if you work in the food industry. And it's not just the work of being a chef but the trials and tribulations of being the father of three and a husband of one very awesome lady...

Life is immense. So large, in fact that it becomes all too easy to lose oneself in it and not enjoy the beauty seen in the larger picture. Too easy to drive past that scenic view.

This very blog, for example, is like a scenic view for me. It forces me to stop and reflect and rest, and yet I haven't written on it since September. I've been so busy rushing, that I only take about 2 minutes to reflect and enjoy life before passing out each night.

I'm going to stop doing that.

Somehow.

Carmi at Written Inc wrote a post about journeys which inspired the above ramblings.... you owe me an hour of sleep Carmi. ;-)

Times, they are a changing

2011-09-16T16:15:00.003-04:00

So, my wife and I opened a bistro last week. I'm the chef and she's a marketing genius/front of house manager.Regular blogging will resume after a nap. :)

Why Not

2011-08-05T17:57:00.003-04:00

Alphabet Soup Meme

Taking a break from writing my book to write a meme. Grabbed this from my sister's blog.

Age: 34

Bed size: King. However, I usually end up bed-sharing with Stella in her double as Momma and Lilu take up the entire king size bed.

Chore you dislike: Cleaning up any sort of dog mess - pee, puke, poop, chewed/partially digested housewares, etc...

Dogs: We've had them for three or four seasons. They're up for sale if you want them. ;-)

Essential start to your day: Cleaning up a dog mess.

Favorite color: Purple.

Gold or silver: Gold.

Height: 6 ft.

Instruments you play(ed): Classical guitar, bagpipe, tuba, banjo, mandolin, didgeridoo and tin whistle.

Job title: Full-time, underpaid dad.

Kids: Stella Sebastien, and Selene.

Live: Northern Ontario, all my life.

Mom’s name: Robin

Nicknames: Husband.

Overnight hospital stays: Tosils and adnoids came out when I was ... 4?

Pet Peeves: Sour cream donuts from Country Style. More about this at another time

Quote from a movie: "I'll have two of them prime ribs and in between them some peanut butter. A leather model of the Taj Mahal filled with some kind of jelly... I don't care, grape, blueberry, it doesn't matter. Some cats, a dwarf riding a pumpkin. Also, could I get a snake in the form of a man's belt with the belt hook right around its head. Spitting poison, constantly spitting poison. If you could poke it with a stick a couple of times before you bring it to the table. Also, could I have a flaming ice cream model of the planet Uranus. It's my favourite planet. I love ice cream and flames are quite exciting. And then id like some uh, could you just cover your fist with grape jelly and then punch me in the throat."

Righty or Lefty: Right.

Siblings: Karen

Time you wake up: 7:42 AM.

Underwear: Usually.

Vegetables you don’t like: Eggplant.

What makes you run late: Three kids under 4.

X-Rays you’ve had: Just dental ones - but I should get one for my broken finger.

Yummy food you make: All of it! Why would I make food that isn't yummy?

Zoo animal favorite: Goat. Maybe. I don't care for the zoo-ing of animals.

Vicissitude

2011-07-21T01:22:00.006-04:00

The only thing that can be guaranteed in life is that tomorrow will not be the same as today. Change is inevitable, and for me much like a monarchs journey from egg to caterpillar to butterfly, I can split my history into several unmistakeably distinguishable chapters.

The most recent chapter began on May 29th, when I decided the quickest way to shed 30 pounds for bathing suit season would be to stop eating bacon. This led to my watching "Food Inc" (to help motivate myself) and my eventual cessation of eating farmed animals altogether. I learned about Monsanto in said documentary, which prompted me to learn more and so I watched "The Corporation".... that led to an in depth study of Noam Chomsky 's "Manufacturing Consent" and there you have it: Canadian Mark, the born again hippy.

My wife (the sociology graduate) thinks it's funny because she was where I am now ten years ago - outraged activist - while she isn't exactly "at peace" with things, she's at least learned how to live in society while still being awake. I'm still wrapping my head around the situation and trying to plot my next moves without comprimising my new found moral compass while still supporting my family in the western world.

While I don't see any other option at present, I also can't see myself serving up 3 - 5 pigs worth of bacon from GMO corn fed swine every day for breakfast when I go back to work.

It's technically Thursday. I'm thankful for the little things... like riding out into an endless field of milkweed searching for a monarch caterpillar to go with a post like this, and then actually finding one.

About before....

2011-07-18T01:03:00.002-04:00

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in calling the Canadian Dream a lie.... It's just not what I expected it to be, nor is it where I though I'd left it.

I've been all about rediscovering myself this summer, which I think is partly to blame for my lack of posts of late. Also, I've been quite involved and spectacularly busy with my family the past few weeks... enough to prevent me from even checking email or Facebook, let alone blog. Anyway, I'm working on some big posts that I hope to share soon.... can't talk much now. Must sleep.

Bye bye.

Selling Out

2011-07-06T23:00:00.004-04:00

Just like the cake, The Canadian Dream in Action is a lie... it always has been, at least for as long as I've been pursuing it.

It's important to not sell out, you know? To hold on to your values and ideas and not let dollar signs change or bend them. It's ironic really... to be a really good hippy, it helps to have a little coin backing you up, right? To purchase some land, to build an eco-friendly home, sow a sustainable garden, provide clothing and learning resources for your family and so on and so forth. Money money money.

We all sell out for the money, and then make justifications for it later - or at least I do did.

Work 60 horrible hours a week and become a zombie to your family. Buy your consumables at Walmart instead of a locally owned shop to save that nickle. Feed the No Name and Great Value brands to your family and don't question why they're have the price of raw ingredients. Follow orders: Sell the turkey that's been mistakenly thawing at room temperature for 36 hours to unknowing customers.... just make sure it's cooked well, and by God, don't breath a word of it to anybody.

It's how we keep getting the ol' paycheck and stretch it as far as possible. I'm sacrificing this in order to get that, or I'm suffering now so my children won't have to later, or I'm looking the other way because if I don't see it it isn't really there it it ultimately saves me or makes me some money. But it is there. It's not right... it doesn't feel right. None of it. Saving and making money has a very high cost.

For too long now, I feel like I've been swimming against a current, trying to fit in with society... trying to have what society tells me I should want to have - kicking myself and regretting choices I made in the past that landed me so far away from societal 'norms'. I use the term 'norm' lightly, as I think there's far more people like me out there, than there are idyllic models of the Canadian Dream in Action.

I'm sure I'm a growing statistic of failed college student who defaulted on student loans which were then placed in collections in error, not corrected through ignorance and inaction, resulting in one or more bankruptcies and ultimately entrapment into the retail and service sector with little hope of finishing post secondary education, and thus obtaining the magical job with the six figure salary and key to the executive washroom. But who cares!?

Oh right, I do because I want to buy a farm. :S

I haven't been blogging much of value lately... just recipes and some photos. No real substance, because the substance has been cynical at best and depressing at it's low points. I'm tired of trying to be what I'm not. I'm fast becoming a crunchy attachment parenting hippy, and while my brain still tells me that I want a house in the east end with a big back yard, a cottage on the lake, and at least one suit valued at over $500.... my heart is screaming at me that I don't in fact want these things. Corporate western civilization wants me to want them... tells me to want them... has been drilling it into my head for 34 years that I need to have them at any and all costs.

I'm feeling a little more awake today. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going, except that it's certainly not where anybody is expecting or predicting based on an intense focus group.

This "What Not to Do Wednesday" has been brought to you by the letters, "wake up" and the number, "follow your heart".

/rant

Blueberry & Goat Cheese Torte

2011-06-23T19:25:00.003-04:00

This Thursday I'm thankful for the myriad of events, both known and unknown, that expanded my food horizon and allowed me to enjoy food with a much more accepting pallet. True, I don't eat meat anymore for the most part, but that's nothing compared to the list of non-meat things I used to not eat.... Mushrooms, pineapple, coconut, olives, zucchini, cheese other than mozzarella and cheddar. When I was a kid I wouldn't even eat onions or peppers.

Anyway, now I eat just about everything except mayo and peanut butter. And farmed animals, of course. In any event, it wasn't until the past year or so that I would have ever dreamed pairing blueberries with goat cheese would be acceptable. Did I say acceptable? I meant INCREDIBLE!

Earlier this morning, I adapted my Memere's bran muffin recipe to make delicious vegan multi-grain cookies this morning, and had enough left over dough to improvise a quick torte. This is probably the best blueberry thing I ever tasted.

Mix the following together:
1/2 cup bran
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tbsp shelled hemp seeds
2 tbsp steel cut oats
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda

Then fold in:
1/3 cup apple sauce
4 - 5 tbsp grape-seed oil (just enough to moisten)

Press dough into torte or pie pan lightly sprayed with canola to make the crust (Or just drop by the spoonful on parchment lined sheet for cookies). But I digress, back to the torte.

Fold together:
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup crumbled soft goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped raw almonds
1 tbsp organic blueberry or blackberry fruit spread

Fill unbaked crust with above mixture and back @ 350° F for 25 - 30 minutes.

On losing weight

2011-06-20T23:10:00.006-04:00

Instead of sharing another recipe for Meatless Monday, I've decided today to write a bit about my vegetarian journey in general and also take the opportunity to introduce our newest member of our house, Otto. A carnivore to the very last.

But that's enough about the cat. Surely, one might be curious about how I'm doing 3 weeks into my diet of no farmed meat. Considering I'm losing about 1/2 pound, I'd say I'm doing fantastic. I eat till I'm full... beans, rice, cheese, eggs, desserts - and gallons of water. Best. Diet. Ever. I should mention that I've eliminated all glucose-fructose items from my kitchen, as well as 98% of unrecognizable ingredients (-ulcides, -glycerides, -colour, et. al.)

I don't crave a big steak or a perfectly roasted chicken... it's the little things. Today I wanted peperoni on my pizza, but that's pork and/or beef and a host of sodium laden chemicals and preservatives. Come to think of it, most of my 'meat' cravings are really salt cravings. Bacon, salami, sausage, beef jerky....

No point to this post really. Just rambling. I suppose a nice tip for losing weight: Drink water. 500 - 750 mL before meals and 3 - 4 liters/day. You'll pee as though you're pregnant but the weight sure comes off. For all the cheese I've been consuming, I'm probably eating a higher fat diet than when I was eating meat... so it has to be the water.

Ta Da!

Pesky Kids

2011-06-18T19:52:00.004-04:00

This picture was actually taken February 24th, 2007... I had to dig deep for this week's Thematic Photographic - Signs That Make us Wonder.

This one comes from a bus, and I believe once read "reserve these seats for seniors and persons with disabilities" until some smart-alec kid came along and scraped away some key letters. Damn kids. To be honest, I chuckled and smiled a little when I took this shot. It's rare to see kids being this creative nowadays.

System Crash

2011-06-18T08:00:00.005-04:00

I went to Written Inc today under the assumption that I would play along in this week's Thematic Photographic for Serendipitous Saturday, but when I got there, I found this article about the fall of "Research In Motion". At the end of his post, in true Carmi Fashion, he asks the readers a question: "The company still made $695 million last quarter. Is it fair that investors can turn a massively profitable company into a pariah? Does the system work?"

My answer was long enough to warrant posting here. Thematic photographic will have to wait a minute.

To answer your question is a complex task, requiring me to write a bit of an essay...

My understanding is that corporations are legally bound, regardless of anything else, to turn a profit. Strong companies (Monsanto, Google, Macintosh, et al.) get stronger and the 'weaker' ones die in a weird sort of financial natural selection.

From a financial point of view, I think the system "works" as designed - larger corporations choke out smaller ones to increase profits. And the rich are getting richer...

HOWEVER, the system was designed from a financial and economic perspective and didn't take into account social or political impact. We reached the point long ago where (some) corporations are more powerful than government and more easily accessed than religion. Being legally bound to, above all else, turn a profit has turned into sweatshops, deception to consumers, and cutting standards, etc.... And because a corporation isn't a flesh and blood person, there's nobody accountable for any of it.

It's kind of scary. Kind of REALLY scary.

So, from a sociological standpoint and from the perspective of the future of our human race, the system absolutely does not work. Like you said, we're putting all our eggs in one basket, and that basket has potential to be a very powerful, destructive, and deceptive device.

On an even larger scale, I think it's safe to assume that if we stay this course there will eventually be only one basket containing all of the eggs. A huge basket with infinite power, questionable morals, and absolutely no accountability.

I can totally see myself growing up to live self sustained on a farm on an island in the middle of nowhere with my family and other like minded families..... or writing angry letters to parliament under a bare bulb in my basement. Can't you?

Still Smokes...

2011-06-17T00:25:00.007-04:00

Found Friday kind of fell in my lap yesterday. On garbage day this week, a flock of starlings flew of the set of Alfred Hitchcock's "Birds" and tore apart several garbage bags on the street. The strong winds of that afternoon helped out and scattered everything (that should have been in a yellow box in the first place) up and down the street. Tonight, when I took the dogs out to do their business, I rescued the following slip of paper from being urinated on by the large mangy looking white beast we call Mojo.

So, apparently one of my neighbors is a nurse and doesn't follow standard health-care patient confidentiality protocol of shredding notes. I'm rather disturbed to find this... and also sort of sad. Reading "...brain tumor triple bypass - still smokes..." made me stop and reflect for a minute about just how lucky I am... and about how lucky the ones I love are. It really hits home and affirms my decision to live healthier.

Haunting really... that could easily have been a note about me in 35 years.

I'm curious about things.

2011-06-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today's Thankful Thursday is shout out to Bob McDonald. He was my introduction to television/media that wasn't strictly a source of entertainment, but also enlightened and educated the audience while maintaining that entertainment value. After I discovered it, at around 9 years of age, Wonderstruck became more looked forward to than Thundercats or Scooby Doo.

He shared an enthusiasm about learning and critical thinking to which I have never seen an equal. There was a genuine passion in every episode... an excitement about learning, and teaching that came through so clearly in his presentation. He taught us how to make all-natural toothpaste long before organic was commonplace on grocery store labels and was perhaps the first televised myth-buster.

Perhaps I'm romantisizing this all a little, as I haven't seen the show since I was 9, but in my head and thinking back, that's how it happened - and that's all that matters. This Thursday, I'm thankful for Bob McDonald and the message he imparted to the 9-year-old Canadian Mark. It's a message he opened every show with: "I'm curious about things. Why they are the way they are, and why they're not something else."

Yup.

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Those are my son's teeth marks in the block of unsalted butter pictured below.

This has been "What Not To Do Wednesday".

Weird.

2011-06-14T20:11:00.008-04:00

There is one show that I failed to mention on my list earlier today... maybe it was just by chance that I forgot, but probably it was a psychological self-preservation tactic that I blocked it out. It's not a pure evil or obnoxious, but man is it weird. You would think the show was written by Roger Waters, inked by Ralph Steadman, and directed by Terry Gilliam. Weird. Weird weird weird weird WEIRD! What show do I speak of? It's aimed at a younger audience....

The night is black,
And the stars are bright,
And the sea is dark and deep

And someone I know is safe
And snug, and they're drifting
Off to sleep

Round and round, a little boat no bigger
Than you're hand, out on the ocean, far away from land.

Take the little sail down,
Light the little light.
This is the way to the
Garden of the night

That's right. Grab your bong and hash-pipe... we're "In the Night Garden...". Strange characters, weird names, and even more messed up props and plot devices... don't even get me started on the environments. Even my three year old thinks the show is a bit odd. That should tell you something right there.

I could go on... I could write hundreds of thousands of words delving into the crazy of this program, but I won't. Perhaps I'll examine the individual characters during future Treehouse Tuesdays, but for now I just wanted to mention the shows existence and give a brief warning to parents:

While this show seems to be addictive to the kids (and likely those imbibing in the LSD), the content is mostly harmless and does attempt to teach some good morals (sharing, cooperation, hygiene, etc..) albeit in a very, very, VERY odd way. There may be some frightening scenes/costume designs, but they are probably more frightening to the parents than they are to the children.

One other thing... the character Makka Pakka, who I think is supposed to be made out of stacked rocks, can be construed as being made out of poop. At least my daughter swears that this is the case and can't be convinced otherwise. It's part of what makes the show entertaining for my wife and I. Every time Makka Pakka comes on screen, the kids yell "Poop!" in excitement. Ironically Makka Pakka (or the poop guy)'s 'job' on the show is the janitor... I guess. He pushes around a strange device containing cleaning items and wipes down characters with a sponge.

Ah well... The kids like it.

You're Watching Treehouse (and PBS, TVO, etc...)

2011-06-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

It took me days to finally start writing this first post under the "Treehouse" category. I mean, where does one start? With an infinite supply of children's media and programming to choose from, it's not unlike trying to compose a song on a piano with a billion keys. Should I do a comparative 'old vs. new' post, review the worst programming out there, perhaps choose a program that's enjoyable to parents to examine - a movie, a TV show, a character?

After this first post, Treehouse Tuesday will no doubt be the easiest category to write through the week. So, to start we'll take a quick glance at some of the shows I intend to review over the next year or three. My youngest only a couple months old as I write this, so I suspect I have at LEAST another 5 or 6 years of being subjected to these programs and the characters within:

The Backyardigans
Sesame Street (and its derivatives)
Kai Lan
Dora & Diego
Thomas and Friends
Max & Ruby
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Four Square
Toopy and Binoo
The Wonderpets
Super Why
Sid the Science Kid
Barney
Rory the Racing Car
Curious George
Chuggington
Caillou
Guess with Jess
Dragon
Harry and his bucket of Dinosaurs
Dinosaur Train
The Wiggles
Yo Gabba Gabba
The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That

...probably more... I came up with this list off the top of my head in under 3 minutes! Then for those times that I'm in a nostalgic mood, I'll travel back before the age of Treehouse to the days when Saturday morning cartoons were still a "thing" and review such warm favorites as:

The Friendly Giant
Barbapapa
Romper Room
The Polka Dot Door
Mr. Dressup
Fred Penner

...and if I dig really, really, REALLY deep... Captain Kangaroo.

These lists are in no way an ordered schedule of posts, this is just how they appeared in my head, so if you're anxious to see a review or critique of a show from these lists, or perhaps have something in mind I have missed, please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to accommodate.

Lightening the mood....

2011-06-13T20:34:00.006-04:00

Since my last post was a little heavy, I'm writing again tonight about something very light: Air. Specifically, air bubbles found in cakes, muffins, and biscuits. I read a post earlier today on Whole New Mom about making your own baking powder, and the professional baker in me had to put in his two cents... and another two cents... and well, here I am writing a post about chemical leavening agents. :-)

One of my favorite classes during my culinary training was baking techniques, as it was a marriage of visual creativity, balance of taste, and chemistry. All things that I have natural passion towards - even the chemistry. And that's where baking powder comes in.

Baking soda is where it all starts actually. It works by producing carbon dioxide when an acid is present - heat and moisture speed this process way up. Common ingredients that have an acid component present enough to react with baking soda include:

buttermilk
molasses
brown sugar
chocolate
cocoa powder
honey
citrus juice
vinegar

At my job as a bakery supervisor, I had to get creative with recipes on several occasions when certain key ingredients ran out.... like baking powder. I suppose I should reveal here, that baking powder is simply baking soda with the addition of a white powdery acid - cream of tartar (and also contains some starch to prevent clumping).

So, when I was making chocolate chip muffin batter at 4:00 in the morning one cold January day and found we were out of baking powder, I naturally grabbed the baking soda and an empty container that once held cream of tartar.... huh. For some reason instead of simply making a muffin batter that didn't require baking powder, I struggled through my sleepiness to remember the aforementioned information I had learned so long ago in a bake lab.

I ended up using brown sugar instead of white sugar and instead of baking powder used half that amount of baking soda. Then I crossed my fingers and tried desperately not to fall asleep. And it worked! Not only did the muffins rise, but they had a delicious hint of butterscotch flavor about them.

You might not want to use baking powder because of the cornstarch, or because many brands contain aluminum, or maybe you just ran out... The reality is this: Baking is much more flexible than most people assume. I rarely measure anything, and my cakes, tarts, and cookies almost always turn out....albeit with little consistency :) but that's part of the magic and charm.

Anyway, with a little know-how about how ingredients react to each-other and assumptions of how they will react under heat, baking can be as intuitive as steaming rice. Baking soda just needs an acid to become baking powder. There you have it. Perfect muffins ever time. :) Almost.

Just Some Words About Some Stuff

2011-06-13T11:29:00.007-04:00

Going meatless had a very big (and recent) impact on my life. I only recently discovered the proper term for my diet is "Flexitarian/Nutritarian". I am eating some meat, but only that which has been hunted/harvested from the wild. I'm attempting to omit modified corn ingredients from my diet, which is turning out to be pretty tricky considering that's glucose/fructose and basically all those unrecognizable ingredients on any given label! When it comes to eggs and dairy, we get eggs from a local Mennonite farmer and purchase organic milk/cheese whenever possible.

A big part of what kicked off my recent lifestyle change (aside from acquiring a "muffin top" belly) was a 'documentathon' I subjected myself to over the past week. It included such titles as "Food Inc.", "Super Size Me", "Manufacturing Consent", "The Corporation", and "Walmart - The High Cost of Lower Prices". Originally, I designed this movie agenda simply to help encourage myself to eat healthier and live in a more sustainable manner... but it did more than that.

This is no longer just about me and my gut, but about you... and the children... and the grandchildren. There was a line in "The Corporation" that talked about the legacy we are leaving for the next generations and how it can be viewed as taxation without representation - that really flipped a switch in my brain. We're collectively destroying the planet so a very small minority of people can be grotesquely wealthy. Realizing this made me want to help initiate change somehow - not just for myself, to be healthier, but globally to help... well, the planet.

I'm not saying I want to be an extreme left-wing activist blowing up the Death Star in my X-Wing - I'm a little too selfish for that, but I want to do something to help further expose the corruption and tyranny that surrounds us and educate people so they can make informed decisions - educate people to the reality that our "freedom" exists only within very tight boundaries created by government, religion, and (the big one) corporate structure.

I guess I just want everybody to learn... to educate themselves on purchases before they swipe that debit card - ask questions - Why are these chicken breasts the size of turkey breasts? Why is this pillow from Walmart selling for obviously less than the cost of materials (let alone the manufacturing)? Why do all the apples/peppers/potatoes/et al. in this bin have EXACTLY the same proportions? Why is "Great Value" food cheaper than any domestic brands, and why won't they disclose where it comes from? Ask the questions... find the answers... make informed purchasing decisions.

I don't want to be preachy though... I want to just say it. I guess I just did :)

Awesome Raw Nut "Fudge"

2011-06-13T08:00:00.003-04:00

About 2 days into my "no processed" diet, I wanted something healthy, yet chocolaty. Now! This makes for an awesome vegetarian sweet with no refined sugars in it. So it's kind of healthy, from a certain point of view.

I made this stuff on a whim... I probably couldn't duplicate it if I tried. But I WILL be trying. Again and again and again if I have to. All I did was combine about half a jar of cashew butter, a scant cup of cocoa powder (carob powder or raw cocoa powder if you want REALLY raw), three or four tablespoons of honey (dark agave nectar if you want vegan), and a cup or so of ground/chopped mixed raw nuts.

Then I mixed/kneaded it until it was about the consistency of fudge. Add more cocoa/carob if too sticky and more honey if too dry. Roll into little balls or bars and there you go! It kind of reminds me of Eatmore chocolate bars, but more chocolaty and less molasses-y.

This post has been entered into Traditional Tuesday: A sharing of ideas, recipes, etc... regarding traditional foods - nothing refined, nothing processed, no yeast, etc... I didn't make my own cocoa powder or cashew butter in the recipe above, but I could have. I hope it still counts. I think it's a great concept and encourage all to have a look here.

Reality Invents Itself. Again.

2011-06-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

We were supposed to go to an event today called "Yoga in the Park", where we'd hike for some miles with a small group of people and then do so yoga and then hike back. Instead, we're now helping family unpack and renovate a house. Life's funny that way, I guess. I was upset at first...perhaps even a little frustrated. We had such a cool plan for our Acoustic Sunday, and now it was ruined. Upon thinking about it though....

The renovations will probably be less work.
There will certainly be less mosquitoes eating us this way.
Helping those in need puts awesome energy into the universe.
If it rains we don't have to change our plans last minute.

Yoga in the park will just have to wait, and be a more intimate family affair. And when I think about that....

It makes me happy.

Inappropriate Orange Juice

2011-06-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

While watching TV last night I was subjected to an orange juice commercial featuring the acting talents of Jane Krakowski that really ground my gears.

I'm not going to give a play by play of the commercial, but it involves sexual objectification of a person, conspiracy to prostitution, sexual harassment, and violence - all in the name of selling sugar reduced OJ. If the victim of the offenses in this commercial was female instead of male it would destroy the Tropicana empire, so what makes it okay to commit these crimes with genders reversed?

Personally, I think they would sell a lot more juice if they scripted the guy to punch her in the face after she slaps him. It would at least make for a more entertaining commercial.

mo'mentos'

2011-06-10T04:30:00.000-04:00

My very first "Found Friday" post begins with a loss. About a decade ago, my Pepere died. He was the first of my grandparents to become one with The Force. He taught me to play poker when I was five, and how to stack the deck when I was five and a half. There was never a shortage of NC-17 war stories when I asked of them - stories of diamonds, the black market, and a German prostitute nick-named "Dirty Gertie" - and aside from all that, he was one hell of a cook.

He's the one pictured below looking cool with his collar flipped up.

Anyway, he was an interesting fellow to say the very least and I regret that he wasn't around for a game of High Chicago when I became old enough to hold deep and philosophical or political conversations. I would have liked to know him a little better than I do.

But I digress - this is a post about something found. Years later, when I was doing my Memere's laundry and taking out her garbage she offered me Pepere's three piece suit, which probably hadn't been worn since the early eighties. Although the suit was extremely dated and a touch too small for me, I accepted the offer. Upon close inspection of the garment, I discovered two 'mint' condition scotch mints in the vest pocket.

There was a crystal dish of these mints on the divider between the dining room and living room of their house that seemed endless. Pepere would often grab a couple mints as he walked by it, or on his way out the door. Perhaps it's strange, but I've hung onto these mints all these years, and now have them in an acid free bag and kept in my 'treasure box' where they shall remain safe for years to come.

Probably my weirdest and most personal "found thing" ever... and so suitable for the first post in this new category of "Found Friday". This post also ties in with Carmi's Thematic Photographic for the week with the theme of "Family".

My Wife

2011-06-09T13:55:00.000-04:00

My wife is hands-down the most amazing, wonderful, and beautiful person I've ever met.

We share a quirky sense of humor, a passion for food, and most importantly we share most values and ideas regarding... well, everything. It's not a spouses 'job' to change somebody to meet their criteria of the ideal partner (which is why I think so many marriages fail... anyway), but in the case of my wife, she inspired me to change in so many ways. I quit smoking, no longer eat meat, hardly drink.... these were all things that were a big part of who I was, but I gave them up. Not for her acceptance, but because I wanted to. I wanted to so that I can be healthy and live a strong , long life with my bride and not miss a minute of it due to self-poisoning.

I'm forever grateful that she's in my life, and how she unintentionally saved it.

Structured Chaos

2011-06-09T11:02:00.000-04:00

I love blogging. I enjoy the creative exercise that it brings to my brain as thought and emotion become a story or journey that others can follow. I like how it archives our family's adventures to be sifted through months, years, or decades later for a nostalgic joy ride. It frustrates me, then, when I can't think of something to blog about, or when I do want to blog but it's about similar subject to my previous 4 posts and I end up not blogging so as to not seem 'one-note'.

And thus, I'm trying something a little different for the next few weeks that I hope will breath new life into this blog: Structured Chaos. A schedule of events with no mandate or direction. I enjoy several blogs that follow a weekly routine, so I think I should try this out for myself. So, without further ado, here is the Canadian Mark weekly line-up:

Sunday - Simple Sunday - My family has been attempting to make our Sunday and acoustic one, with no TV, no Internet, and no gadgets of any sort. Sometimes this is not so successful, but we continue to try. And so, Sunday's post will be actually written on Friday or Saturday and scheduled to auto-post on Sunday. The theme for Sunday will be about nature or disconnecting from modern society's high-tech gadget, gizmos, and media. Ironic, isn't it?

Monday - Meatless Monday - About a week and a half ago I decided to stop eating beef, pork, chicken, and farmed fish. Because of where I live, this makes me an almost vegetarian. Considering that I used to wrap everything (including bacon) in bacon, this is a pretty big deal. Monday's posts will be about vegetarianism and will most likely always include a recipe.

Tuesday - Treehouse Tuesday - Although my wife and I aren't big fans, our kids have fallen in love with kids shows (shown on Treehouse TV); some good, and some bad. Because neither my wife or I believes in allowing the kids to watch something we haven't seen also, we've seen A LOT of kids shows. Tuesday I will chose a show, episode, character, or even plot device from one of these shows and review it. I've been thinking of doing something like this for some time. It'll be more fun than it sounds. Just wait.

Wednesday - What Not To Do Wednesday - One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was this: "It's all well and good to learn from your own mistake, but it's much better to learn from the mistakes of others." It is with that in mind that I will present a fable or tumultuous tale every Wednesday featuring some lesson to be learned.

Thursday - Thankful Thursday - I believe it's important to be thankful, and even more so to put that gratitude out into the universe. Thursday will simply be a reflection of some gift or experience that happened, big or small, which I am thankful for.

Friday - Found Friday - My family adventures and walks-about often, and my mode of transportation tends to be walking/biking while doing errands. Because of this, I tend to find all sorts of stuff; Discarded notes, lost 'works of art', receipts, and other trivial things. Usually they get bypassed of make their way to the nearest trash can... but no longer! Friday I will post a scan or picture of something I found through the week and write a little fact and/or fiction and/or speculation about it.

Saturday - Serendipitous Saturday - Anything goes on Saturday. It could be a repeat of any theme through the week or something completely different. But it must be fun and entertaining. With a twist at the end. Possibly robot zombie related. Or not.

I know my audience isn't nearly what it was when I was writing on "The Blog of Hohmann", but still I would invite any readers or followers to play along with my daily themes if they so desire. As for other people's theme days, like Carmi's Thematic Photographic, I'll still be participating in that, either on-top of my new schedule or worked right into it (which might prove to be both fun and challenging!).

Anyway, let's see how this goes!

Blackout 2011

2011-06-07T21:54:00.000-04:00

The power went out around 2:00 PM today. All of it. No traffic lights, no shopping centers, no X boxes. The entire city. An amazing thing happened by evening.... People were OUTSIDE! There were kids at parks, older kids playing REAL basketball, people walking through the nature trails... crazy.

My family's day went on about as normally as our day usually goes, except we barbecued our stuffed mushroom caps instead of broiling them. It's funny how something like this really amplifies how outside societal norm my wife and I are. We did all the stuff we normally do, but the presence of so many others sharing in our daily non-electrical adventuring was really abnormal. I guess that's why I married the lady I did, and why we raise the kids the way we do.

Sunset at The Canal

2011-06-05T10:12:00.000-04:00

All three kids were sleeping by 8:00 the other night, affording me the opportunity to swing by the Sault Canal for some late evening pictures during magic hour. I love the long shadows, stark silhouettes and stunning hues that seem to only occur at this time of day... especially on these favored stomping grounds.

It seems like adventures have been few since I posted this. Days are consumed with parenting, and now that we're eating 98% non-processed foods, a good portion of the day is spent preparing and cooking meals. It's all well worth the price - a week in and I feel like a new man - but posting these pictures has reminded me of the importance of a good adventure now and again.

Next week my wife and I are scheduled to do yoga in the park: A hike on the Orphan Lake trail in Lake Superior Provincial Park with some yoga done by the lake. THAT will be an adventure. I wonder what else I can pack in between now and then...

Something old

2011-05-31T18:24:00.000-04:00

As I went through my blog roll this morning, I noticed this week's thematic photographic at Carmi's is "well aged". While I have a massive collection of pictured showcasing local historical buildings and antiques that would fit the theme well, I've been on an all-consuming healthy eating kick for the past few days and decided to tie a foody-type picture to the theme this week instead. Again.

My mother bought us this 18 year old balsamic vinegar last week. It is easily the most delicious well-aged (and vegan) thing in the house, which is important since we're all eating (mostly) vegetarian now. I'm finding quite a lot of our meatless delectable snacks are getting a good old drizzle of this, or in the case of tonight's dinner became a critical component. (The following recipe turns out to be a touch more complex and time consuming than the vegetarian chili I posted recently - but WAY worth it!!)

(Better that Beef!) Toasted Hazelnut Burgers with Tomato Relish and Balsamic Pickled Red Onions
(makes 4 - 6 burgers)

For the burgers:

80 grams hazelnuts, toasted and ground
2 medium carrots, finely grated
1 stalk of celery, finely diced
1 green onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 tsp fresh sage, minced
1 tsp fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
2 - 3 tbsp bread crumbs
1 tbsp light sour cream
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a large bowl until uniform. Form into patties on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for as long as it takes to make the pickled onions and relish (below).

For the Balsamic Pickled Red Onions:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp agave nectar (or sugar)
1 tbsp salt
11 caraway seeds
2 - red onions, sliced thinly into rings (1 - 2 mm)

Place onions in a heat-proof glass (important) containre. Bring remaining ingredients to a boil, then let simmer for 3 minutes. Pour over onions. Bring container down to room temperature in a cold water/ice bath, then refrigerate.

For the Tomato Relish:

1 plum tomato, quartered and seeded
6 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
2" of cucumber, chopped
1 handful baby spinach
1 tsp honey Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it looks like salsa. Let sit, covered, at room temperature. Easy.

Cook the burgers in a preheated 350° F oven for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Assemble on toasted hamburger buns or pitas. I also put some soft goat cheese on mine, which made it outstanding.

But I digress. 18 year old balsamic. Well aged and only getting better. I'd talk more about how horrible it is being a vegetarian and the havoc it's wreaking on my body, but this entry is already long and off-topic enough. Bon appetit!

Today I quit eating land farmed animals

2011-05-29T14:06:00.000-04:00

So, in addition to not buying/using crazy chemical laden condiments and sauces, I decided just today that I'm a vegetarian.... The kind that still eats eggs, dairy products, fish and shellfish and anything that lived a healthy life in the forests and wetlands of Ontario. (so I guess a hypocritical one) but a vegetarian nonetheless. Sort of. :-)

I'm trusting that this lifestyle choice will increase my longevity, reduce my waistline, and perhaps grant me better ability to use The Force. Even if one out of three of those things happen, it'll be worth it. I was going to start this on June 1st, but instead found that I just couldn't wait to quit eating meat... I mean, why wait? It's just like quitting smoking. The best time to quit is always right now.

So for lunch today I made my first vegetarian meal that was prepared because I wanted it - not because somebody else requested it. If you know me in the kitchen, you know this is a HUGE step. So without further ado, I give you my first vegetarian recipe:

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

1 - 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced red pepper
1 cup diced orange pepper
1 tsp chili powder (next time I plan to use garam masala)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 handful chopped baby spinach
2 tbsp fresh salsa
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 med can black beans, rinsed

shredded white cheddar and light sour cream for garnish

Saute the onion and peppers until almost cooked. Add the remaining ingredients and warm through. Stir/fold the beans in lightly to avoid mashing them. That's it - simple - and fast! I was done the chili in the same amount of time it took to toast the slice of pumpernickel I had with it.

I now totally think I can do this and not die from bored tastebuds. Today I quit eating ~~land~~ farmed animals, what did you do?

The Mustard Situation

2011-05-26T19:59:00.000-04:00

I only now realized that it's been a week since my last post. Since the birth of babe #3, time seems to go in packets instead of linear. After four or five regular days, a week will slip by with no warning, and then the normal passage of time resumes again. It's good to be back.

So, what are we talking about today?

Instead of boring you with ramblings of the day-to-day of being a father, I decided to take a picture of the condiment section of my fridge and bore you with that instead. Just look at it! 5 kinds of mustard, 3 hot sauces, 4 BBQ sauces, 4 different soy sauces, miscellaneous dipping sauces, and at least 7 things that can be spread on toast! - and that's just the fridge. We also have at least a dozen oils and vinegars in the pantry. I love me some flavor. But it isn't right.

Most of what's pictured above contains MSG, high fructose corn syrup, red #4, and/or enough sodium to drop Ronald Macdonald. That said, starting June 1st I'm going to start making scratch sauces and condiments - at least those that contain the above mentioned nasties or anything I can't pronounce.

Honestly though, this all came about because Carmi's Thematic Photographic is "Blue" this week. Being stuck for a creative idea, I simply blue'd up the last odd picture I took on my pocket camera. I am serious about making my own sauces, but I never really intended to blog about it. :-)

Your turn: What's your favorite condiment?

Dark Chocolate and Bran Muppins

2011-05-18T16:15:00.000-04:00

Before I could even get down the stairs this morning, I was bombarded with demands for muppins (muffins) from the kids. Further to this, they wanted to help me make them - no Tim Hortons crap for my family... not any more. Number one, it gets expensive, and part B, we're not having the glucose-fructose/high-fructose corn syrup/bad bad bad sugar anymore. That basically means making everything from scratch.

We should have been doing this all along anyway.

So, I dug out a certain Star Wars folder which I keep filled with hand-written and original recipes to find the perfect muffin recipe. Memere's bran muffin recipe:

...with some small changes of course. I used dark brown sugar, grape seed oil, and whole wheat flour in some attempt to be healthier, and also added some nutmeg because it's the German thing to do. I also ditched the raisins.

I don't know what it is exactly, because I like raisins by themselves and in crispy things like cookies, but I can't stand the texture of a raisins in breads or sauces. I remember having to eat around and/or pick the raisins out of these muffins as a kid, because the muffin itself was so exceptionally good that it warranted the extra work.

Now that I am the muffin man, I decided to forgo the raisins completely and substituted some 80% European chocolate chunks instead. This decision was approved by the Robot Princess Stella.

The recipe doesn't state a cooking temperature or time, so I just went with the ol' 350° F standby and baked them until they were done, which in my oven was about 30 minutes.

And then all twelve muffins got eaten within 4 hours. Seriously. Well, maybe not seriously... but there's only one left now!

Reverse Aerial

2011-05-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

I've never been in a plane, nor have I been on the roof of any tall buildings or stood on the precipice of a cliff of late, so when Carmi posted this week's Thematic Photographic 'Aerial', I had to dig deep. So, instead of a picture taken from the air, I present a picture from a bug's eye view of a red pine plantation stretching high into the air.

I find myself looking upward most of the time through this stretch of Hiawatha, resulting in a stiff neck at the end of the day. In my opinion, the big cities can have their concrete and steel skyscrapers, fresh pine scent aside, I much prefer the aesthetic of these natural giants swaying in the wind.

Changing it up.

2011-05-16T18:24:00.000-04:00

With a three year old, a two year old, and a two month old, restaurant trips typically mean tumultuous times to say the very least. The recent addition to the family and changes that came with her, seems to have had an impact on the older children in the nutso department... and understandably. After two or three years, I suppose one gets it in their head that family dynamics are what they are; structures are well learned and in place, and everybody has their routines. Then it all changes. Overnight.

Anyway, all this to say we were invited out for a family dinner this evening and instead of all going together, which usually results in grown-ups retrieving kids from the kitchen and such, my wife went alone with the girls and Sebastien and I went for an adventurous supper trip on our own. Sadly, however, I forgot my camera.

It was as though I was with a completely different child - focused and well behaved. We were able to walk along the boardwalk, get pizza and juice from the mall, and then return to the boardwalk for a picnic supper by the rapids - all without incident. We watched great lumbering lake freighters entering the locks, discussed the workings of power dams and paper mills, and contemplated the meaning of life to great extent. We then fed torn up pizza crust to ducks, geese, and seagulls, and headed home to watch Thomas the Tank Engine and eat chocolate.

It felt really good to have some one on one with my son. I think we both needed it. I know for sure that he did. Sebastien is a sensitive guy, as I was as a child (and perhaps still am to some small extent). In addition, he happens to (recently) be the middle child and the only boy to boot. It would probably make sense to have evenings like this become part of our regular routine.

Only next time I won't forget the camera. ;)

Unplugged Sunday

2011-05-15T08:40:00.000-04:00

I'm breaking the rules right now by blogging about it, so I'm going to be brief. My wife and I are going to do "unplugged Sunday" every Sunday starting today. No internet, no TV, and no video games - my wife doesn't know yet, but I'm going to push for no use of the van on Sundays too. I'll let you know how it goes after midnight, when the use of technology resumes in my house.

4 years ago today....

2011-05-13T19:44:00.000-04:00

...my soon to be wife and I were in Sudbury for her Grandmother's birthday and a surprise family reunion. We were less than a week away from finding out that we were pregnant with our first child when this picture was taken.

It seems like centuries ago. That's good, right?

But when do we get to fight robots with axes?

2011-05-12T01:39:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching The 2010 release of The Karate Kid. I was kind of surprised that they kept the title, as it has no karate in it whatsoever. The pulse of the movie is driven by kung fu and it takes place in China instead of California. Come to think of it, they didn't use much from the original movie at all aside from the very basic story outline.

It would be like re-doing Star Wars with six-shooters instead of blasters, scimitars instead of lightsabers, and having the whole thing take place in the old American West - Then calling it "Star Wars 2011". Sure it would be a good movie, but Star Wars it wouldn't be. I feel the same about the new 'Karate' Kid. It was good, but they should have chose a different title. That's why they didn't call "Avatar" "Pocahontas 2009" after all

Anyway, the movie reminded me of a moment some 28 years ago when I was on a school bus with a friend (can't remember who) and they were explaining their karate classes to me. I recall very vividly being told that once you reach brown belt, you have to fight robots with axes. Sharpened, unsheathed axes.

And that is why being seven was awesome.

Tiring Out a Two Year Old

2011-05-08T09:29:00.000-04:00

My wife went to a baby shower yesterday and brought both the girls, leaving me and my son on our own for the afternoon. We don't get guy-time all that often, so instead of just watching Thomas & Friends all day I decided we should get out and burn some energy.

Because Sebastien is so enamored by all things on rail, and because we live so close to the rail yard, a walk in that direction was mutually decided upon. Even though I don't often consider myself the typical guy who likes 'guy things', there's something about watching powerful and massive diesel engines pushing around troublesome trucks.

Sadly, there wasn't much in the way of activity in the train-yard as we walked the street that runs parallel to it. Eventually we found ourselves under the underpass, which was almost as fun a watching trains and probably equally as loud.

And then we started the long journey home - not that 2 kilometers is that great a distance, but when you're two and you have to pick up every stick, rock, and blade of grass along the way, it does take some time. But we weren't in a rush and the weather was beautiful. It gave me time to reflect also, on some of the memorable journeys I enjoyed as a little tike.

My dad would often take me to Whitefish Island, Hiawatha, or Gros Cap. On rare occasions, we'd go to the Government Docks where he once worked for tugboat tours. The fact that I can remember these adventures so vividly, 30 years into my past, really affirmed the importance of these little outings. As entertaining as Thomas the Tank Engine can be, nothing can quite compare to stepping into a comfortable pair of shoes for a walkabout in the real world.

I don't drive.

2011-05-08T08:35:00.000-04:00

I don't even have a license, but if I did....

I would certainly drive something like this. :)

I want to ride it where I like.

2011-05-06T22:42:00.000-04:00

"She'll make point five past lightspeed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

--Han Solo

This week's thematic photographic is vehicular, which has inspired me to stay up into the wee hours of the morning, long after all the kiddos are slumbering, and sneak off into the garage with my HP R607 and a tripod to take some low light timed exposures of my all time favorite vehicle.

I happened upon this bike at a flash-in-the-pan second-hand shop in the pawn district of town, way back in '98. I think the shop was only open for about two months. I just happened to find myself in the right place at the right time. The bike was attached to a trailer and the works was selling for $100 - I talked the proprietor of the shop down to $50 for the bike alone. I found out last summer that my frame of this bike alone will sell used for about $650, though it will never be for sale.

This Nishiki is the best bike I've ever owned, and from what I've been told by classic bike restoration experts and biking enthusiasts alike, my great grand kids will still be using this bike. From the abuse I've put this bike through in the time I've had it, I don't doubt them one bit... Of course, I'd like to think that there's a good chance I'll still be riding it when I have grand kids - and they'll be riding hover-boards.

I got your penny, here's my thoughts.

2011-05-05T23:08:00.000-04:00

I ~~may be~~ hope to be going to school full time this fall to start a BA in something. Probably political science with large doses of history, psychology, and philosophy making up my electives. I haven't just given this some though, I've given it all of the thought - constantly and non-stop for some years. I've talked myself right into doing it, and am so focused on it that I don't know - I'm frightened - of what might happen if my funding falls through.

I've been dragging my feet on the application of said funding, just in the off chance that it doesn't happen and therefor I don't have to deal with the reality of... reality. After writing that, I can plainly see the silliness of the dilemma I've put upon myself. Tomorrow, I'm just doing it. That's the smart thing to do, and if it all goes to shit and I can't do it, at least I'll know and can make other plans to do something else. Just sitting on it like this is bringing to much stress and anxiety into my life...

Vader was seduced by the dark side of the 4th

2011-05-04T19:40:00.000-04:00

So, today is Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you), and I've been asked several times why I've been lacking with the puns, quotes, and general Star Warsian jokery that I'm oft known for. The short answer is this: Most things are only cool until everybody else starts doing it.

Now I know what your thinking... When was Star Wars ever cool? And I'd answer with 1999 - even more-so before 1997. In 1997 it had been 15 years since Lucasfilm had done anything with the trilogy. Sure there had been books, comics, and the odd PC game but there wasn't a lot of hype about any of it. The Star Wars fans of the early to mid nineties were, for the most part, hard-core originals. It wasn't trendy to be a Star Wars fan-boy, and while it wasn't exactly cool by societies standards at the time it was still 12 parsecs cooler than being a Trekkie.

Han Solo was bad-ass, so was Boba Fette, and let's not forget Vader, the baddest ass of them all. These are examples of characters that no other sci-fi franchise could come close to creating or imitating, and the Star Wars Universe was full of them. Being a Star Wars fan was fun, and in some circumstances it was very cool to be "The Star Wars Guy".

With the release of the digitally remastered editions in 1997 it all started to fall apart. As a new generation saw the original trilogy for the first time "new and improved" with horribly obvious CGI add-ins and unforgivable soundtrack changes (Jabba's Palace), my generation fled to the forums of Hoth where we waited patiently (playing RISK) until the Empire would inevitably find and destroy us.

Two years later, something much worse happened. I could write a volume of books on Jar Jar Bink's negative impact on both the Star Wars universe, as well as our own corner of the galaxy. Some other time, perhaps. Anyway, ss Ahmed Best finished delivering the first line for Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace - that very instant - It became not cool, under any circumstances, to be a Star Wars fan.

It was all downhill from there. The prequel trilogies were filled with unmemorable characters that lacked any real personality and didn't allow the audience to relate to them. Despite the obviousness that these titles were written to grow the franchise and not entertain the masses, it did increase the number of fans and re-familiarize the population with Star Wars.

Toys, games, books, mousepads, toilet paper, etc... The Lucas merchandising machine was churning out the plastic from it's factories in China faster than the Millennium Falcon loaded with spice during its infamous Kessel run. For anybody at all engaged with the world around them it was plain and easy to see Star Wars had become a corporate monster... not unlike the Empire that was created and subsequently brought down in the movies themselves.

It continues to go on now.... Family guy spoofs, The Clone Wars, Robot Chicken. Everybody, it would seem, is a Star Wars nerd now; and as I said in the beginning Most things are only cool until everybody else starts doing it. For me Star wars is one of those things. Especially since 90% of them are just doing it to be trendy and they're not enjoying or embracing Star Wars properly - as the maker intended. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth worse than sour blue milk.

I love the Star Wars trilogy, and to an extent I really like the story of the prequels (just not the execution/production of it). I don't celebrate May the 4th, because in a way every day is the 4th for me and it has been for nearly 25 years. I enjoy the movies quietly and mostly alone now - bootleg wide-screen original edition rips burned on disk, because I don't believe in buying more than 4 variations of the same movie.

Anyway, that's why the lack of enthusiasm for "May the 4th be with you".

...And the same thing goes for Christianity.

Milestone

2011-05-03T20:32:00.001-04:00

I have been informed that this is a picture of Grandma. I couldn't be more proud of my little three year old Picasso. <3

Election-night Nachos

2011-05-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

It all starts with my ancho-jalapeno pulled BBQ beef. Top sirloin roasts were on sale for nearly 50% off the other day, so I picked one up thinking I could turn it into something good for filling wraps and sandwiches (or topping nachos). I was right. Here's the step-by-step for the daring:

(N.B. This works well with nearly any beef or pork roast. Failing all other avenues, if you have a hairless dog that barks at everything and wakes up sleeping kids, that would probably work too.)

Preheat oven to 225º F

Rub the roast with copious amounts of fresh ground black pepper, ancho chili powder, chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne.

Peel and slice 1 - 2 medium onions. Layer onions in bottom of a dutch oven with a jar of pickled jalapenos (including vinegar) and place the roast on top. Once the pain recedes and you regain your composure from splashing jalapeno vinegar in your eye, cover the roast and place in oven for 3 - 4 hours.

Remove from oven and break roast apart, removing any bones, large pieces of fat or anything else you see in there that you don't want to eat. The meat may not be very tender at this point - have patience, it gets better.

Return chunks of beef to the dutch oven. Add a cup or so of your favorite BBQ sauce and simmer uncovered for as long as it takes for the beef to fall apart into strings and the liquid to reduce/thicken to desired consistency.

Assemble nachos on parchment lined baking sheet with whatever ingredients float your boat. I did three layers of chips, meat, cheese, green onion, jalapenos, and black olives. This went into the oven at 300° F for 10 minutes, then was topped with globs of sour cream, salsa, lettuce, and tomato.

It seems like a lot of work for something that (in my case) lasts for 10 minutes, but oh man.... Also, I have plenty of beef left for sandwiches, wraps, and who knows what else. As these particular nachos were to celebrate the Canadian election, I strayed outside my comfort zone and had a Canadian beer with them.

I enjoyed a German beer later on though.

As for my commentary on the election, I'm pretty commentaries out by all the facebooking and commenting on other's blogs. The short short version is this: It could be worse. The country isn't going to collapse in a matter of hours, days, or months because of a conservative majority. From a certain point of view, the left had an incredible victory and I'm focusing on this. And then I'm eating more nachos :)

Election Day

2011-05-02T14:23:00.000-04:00

Politics isn't (or hasn't) really ever been my thing, but tonight I'm actually excited about the process. I might even watch the election coverage - on the laptop, of course - as tonight is new Top Chef Canada and Dinner Party Wars.

Anyway, I just got back from voting and I encourage the one or two readers of my blog to do the same. It's all the people that wouldn't normally vote or only vote some of the time that can make this election significantly different than usual. I think NDP has an actual shot at this one, and personally I'd like to see what Layton can do.

That is all.

Vote. (vote NDP)

Let me count the ways....

2011-04-30T19:35:00.000-04:00

For Memere

Does food make you happy? That's the post title from a blog that I've been frequenting lately. After struggling to answer this question in comment without using more words than the post itself had, I crammed what I could into 2 paragraphs and then headed back here to write my top 11 list of food and food related things that bring me happiness. And once again, Carmi inspired me to write a whole bunch more than what I originally intended to.

Why top 11 you ask? Watch "This is Spinal Tap".

1. Butter

Note that this is #1 on the list. It tastes amazing by itself, salted or unsalted, and melts at body temperature. Crucial for much classic French cuisine and European baking. Lobster with drawn butter, butter tarts, hollandaise and all it's derivatives.... the list is endless. It's butter! What more could you ask for? Butter is happiness.

2. The Big Red Pyrex Bowl

A year or so ago my mother purged some of her kitchen equipment to make room for newer better (matching) stuff. A woman of discerning tastes, my mother is. Anyway, I snagged the big red Pyrex bowl. The same bowl that held so many batches of my mom's chocolate chip cookies, Christmas cookie batters, and homemade play-dough when my sister and I were kids. When I was a little guy growing up, this bowl was magical. Anything that came out of it was bound to be good and destined to bring happiness.

3. Chocolate

Admit it, you probably smiled just seeing this on the list. Aside from certain alkaloids that have direct impact on serotonin levels in the brain, chocolate TASTES GOOD. Most people also associate it with so many happy celebrations, holidays, and good times just from it's presence and availability during significant events. As a pastry chef, chocolate has saved my behind on more than one occasion by drizzling it over a plain dessert to make it look (and taste) more formidable.

4. The Mad Scientist Angle

To a certain extent cooking, and a larger extent baking is all a big chemistry experiment. Being a geek at heart, even the fleeting thoughts of lab coats, chemical reactions, and stuff blowing up makes me grin just a little. Especially if the explosions involve chocolate. I don't imagine a lot of people share my joy in this aspect of cooking. I've been told quite explicitly by many that this is why they dislike baking. But then, I am different.

5. The Kids Faces

I love the looks on the kids faces when they're eating something new that they genuinely enjoy (ravioli & meatloaf sauce above). Even if only some of the food gets in their mouths, there's something satisfying about feeding our munchkins and observing them discover new tastes and food experiences.

6. Bacon

If you make a smiley face out of your bacon and sunny-side eggs, what makes the smile.... Need I say more?

7. Camp Cooking

I haven't experienced camp cooking for what feels like an age, but remembering it as much as I can brings a smile to my face. Brook trout pulled out of the river, dressed, and hitting a skillet of browned butter within 20 minutes.... better than lobster. Essentially eating anything in the woods - out of doors in the fresh air away from civilization - tastes better. Tastes happier.

8. Street Food

I don't purchase much food of the street in the Sault, because quite 'frank'ly there isn't much creativity for that sort of thing here. I love the concept of food you can eat with one hand though, and these sort of eats come in exceptionally handy when wrangling 1 - 3 kids through supper. Thus, a lot of street food comes out of our own kitchen - tacos, wraps, pitas, and sandwiches. We don't usually put food on a stick, but I suspect that's coming soon. Stick or no stick, however, street food brings me happiness.

9. Peter Ma's Sesame Chicken

At the Sun Kwong restaurant in 2005 I ate Chinese food (Canadian Chinese food) for the first time. I used to be a picky eater. VERY picky. This was the meal that seemed to turn the tables. I began experimenting more with flavors and national cuisines. The sesame chicken itself brought some happiness to be sure, but it's the opened doors that the dish represents that really makes me happy.

10. The Not so Starving Artist Angle

I love creating things. Beautiful things (sometimes weird things). What better way to create than with a plate as your canvas and a plethora of edible paints with endless colour and taste combinations? How does this relate to happiness? I'm a big show off. I love the compliment. :) I make something gorgeous AND tasty, I get double the compliment. And it makes me happy.

11. Memere & Pepere

This is it for me. What makes me happiest about food is that it reminds me of these two characters. My mother's parents were all about food, and shared a similar relationship with their kitchen that my wife and I do with ours. We sometimes fight for who gets to cook (we'd all the time fight if Manda weren't such a good sport about it!) Memere and Pepere were scarily the same.

I remember a lot of seafood coming out of their kitchen, and spaghetti sauce almost as good as my own. It was Memere that taught me to make pie dough when I was about 7 years old, as it was more practical than play-dough. I still use that recipe today. For as long as I can remember, I told people, if I was eating their pie, that it was the best pie I ever had.... but truth be told regardless of what I ever said, Memere's pie was always the best (sorry Mom). Hers is the pinnacle of pie that I shoot for every time I bake one myself.

Writing this forced me to reflect A LOT, and as it turns out food plays a big part in my happiness. It's not that I need certain foods to be happy, but the act of preparing food, sharing food, eating food, and remembering things about food brings me great happiness. Through the writing of this post, I've discovered I attach memories to food and food related things.

None of this, however, has changed my opinion about doing dishes.

A Boy and his Trains

2011-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

If our kids teach us anything, Sebastien taught me that I should smile more. And why not? Feels good, man.

Continuing the theme of happiness (started by Carmi), I decided to share a picture of Sebastien. He's almost always smiling, whether it's a mischievous grin, a goofy smirk, or an expression of pure contentedness as seen above.

Happiness is...

2011-04-28T19:26:00.000-04:00

Baby Selene's birthday 03/16/2011 - about 20 minutes old.

I took this photo six weeks and one day ago. I don't think my lens has ever captured happiness quite so accurately, and I have my doubts that it ever will again - at least not like this.

At first, I was disappointed that this week's Thematic Photographic was "happiness" and not "bridges" (see previous post), but after becoming lost in the above photo for some very long minutes I've changed my mind. Happiness is a much better topic. Thanks Carmi.

The Battle of Fort Creek II

2011-04-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

Last summer I went on a Fort Creek adventure, and was shocked to find the awesome raw muddiness that it once was being bulldozed and paved. I blogged about it here.

I've not been back until just this week with the family for a walk-about, and then this morning for a bike-about. It still upsets me some that the rugged trails have been paved, but it's perhaps not as bad as I first thought (note, I am smiling in the photo above).

We've had a good amount of rain over the past few days, raising the water level of the creek and increasing the detritus that's collected at its mouth. But I wasn't here for the waterways - this adventure was about the trail....

I originally thought the trail would simply be paved, but a surprising amount of it is boardwalk on stilts.

Of course, much of it is paved too. It makes for easier biking, for sure.... but is that a good thing, really? I'm really split about it. I enjoy zipping quickly along this smooth path and not getting soaked in mud, but at the same time a paved path is more inviting to other travelers which makes the zipping kind of dangerous... not to mention the inevitable missed wildlife observations that are bound to occur occur when traveling at break-neck speeds - and the smooth winding fresh asphalt does not lend itself to ambling slowly along.

I quickly reached what I always considered to be the 1/3 mark of the trail, where an old rusty bridge spans a ravine. This wasn't touched during the refinishing of the trail - but a little further down the trail where there was once a steep 75 foot gravel decent to creek-level bog with rickety under-serviced walkways, this behemoth now spans the creek bed (and then some)....

You can see the old walkway far below and a trail marker at the right of the picture where the original trail goes back into the bush. It should go without saying that at this time of year and with the amount of rain we just had, this span of trail would normally have been impassable without a canoe.

The new bridge does offer a nice view, but again I wonder how many snails, newts, frogs, and herons will be missed because they're 100 feet below me.

Soon after this large bridge, the trail returns to single track root-laden muddy clay goodness. I really hope they keep it this way, so that the best of both worlds can be enjoyed. I fully intend to see how much of the original trail still exists in the redone parts also. There were certain points where I noticed that instead of paving over the old, the paved parallel to it.

I've been posting a lot of Whitefish Island lately, and I felt it was time for a break.. that's what led me here this morning. Now that I did the trail, it's the trail itself that will keep me coming back, with new avenues to explore old ones to rediscover, and tons o' mud to track through my wife's kitchen. :)

Okay Carmi, you remotely viewed my digital camera's media last week.... Does lightning strike twice? Is the next Thematic Photographic bridges or what?

A Murder (&) Mystery

2011-04-25T14:52:00.000-04:00

I returned to my secret little bench this morning for some relaxation and to appreciate some Easter Monday sun. After a short time sitting, however, I found myself inexplicably drawn to do some exploring across the pond in front of me, where an area of the island was recently cleared to develop new paths.

A million years ago (2006) when I worked at the public library I did some digging in the archives and came across a city development map of the island from the 1970's...

It so happens that the newly cleared area is the plot below marked "area of most intense historic use".

It looks like a clear and burn was done to the area last year and with spring growth only just beginning, I figured today was an opportune time to poke around.

There were plenty of broken bottles segments and ceramic shards but nothing large enough to be truly eye catching. I did, however, come across a mostly rusted away axe head and some other piece of iron with a filigree pattern on it - I think maybe a decorative part from a wood stove?

As I made my way back to where I parked my bike, Something dark and smooth caught my attention in a dense boggy patch. A little digging and soggy foot later I was holding what I thought to be a smooth river stone. This in and of itself would be a strange thing to find on the island, as the top layer is made mostly of jagged sandstone and limestone. Both are very porous and soft, and so never seem to get a smooth finish.

...and then when I held my "rock" up to the light...

One of my favorite books, "The Stone Giant" by James P Blaylock talks about petrified drops of stone giant blood, and being the nerd that I am, it made me think... wouldn't that be neat? Of course, it probably isn't giant blood at all, and is most likely part of a glass bottle that was somehow melted in one of the clear-cutting fires and then hardened smooth with no flat edges. Somehow.

That was the mystery part of my adventure. Then I looked up and saw the murder....

....of crows in a tree. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for girl and four for boy. Five for silver, six for gold, and seven for a secret - never to be told. And at once, I knew my blob of petrified giants blood would remain a mystery forever. :)

Nostalgia Saturday #1

2011-04-23T19:16:00.000-04:00

Are you reading this first?

Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?

bench-mark

2011-04-22T19:42:00.000-04:00

I mentioned last in my post about Whitefish Island that I sometimes bike off the beaten trail, affording a greater opportunity to discover things not yet captured by my lens. Today was no exception. Not only did I off-trail bike, but when the terrain became too rough I parked my bike and walked for a ways. Then I found this:

Who knows how long it's been here who built it and to what end?! This isn't just impromptu seating for an out of the blue bonfire; It's actually constructed, with notches taken out of the legs and underside of the bench for stability, then fastened together with bolts that are now seized by rust. The thing really is in the middle of nowhere, with ~~none~~ barely any of the typical litter one might expect to find around such a comfy and solid bench . And now it's my secret meditation spot. Shhhh.

Anyway, it is by sheer happenstance that I took this photo and then found out that Carmi decided this week's thematic photographic is "please be seated". Good mind reading, my friend. :)

Worded Wednesday

2011-04-20T10:41:00.000-04:00

Yup. Worded Wednesday... I'm being adventurous and doing my own thing. I'm feeling particularily inspired to blog this morning because I just discovered I can transfer my old blogger address (this one) to my newer Google account thus eliminating the hassle of signing out and in and out and in every time I want to blog. It was as simple as adding the new account as an admin author and then removing the original author. Long story short - blogging just became easier to do. Yay!

So, big surprise, I went for a bike ride around Whitefish Island yesterday.

Over the past 10 years, I've probably made 500 visits to the small island across the Sault Ontario Locks. It's become my destination for everything from meditation and connecting with nature to getting some exercise and finding adventure. It never ceases to amaze me that even now, after so many visits and exploring, I still come across things previously overlooked.

Take the following sign for example:

I first read this sign in 2004, and made an extensive search for power dam remains on more than one occasion, and never finding them. Just yesterday, I finally did.

A thin layer of fresh snow and frozen ground allowed for easy biking through the fields on the east side of the island. This also provided a nice canvas on the Island for the wildlife to write their story on. Note the fox tracks above which led me off the beaten trail and eventually to stumble upon the weathered and eroded ruins.

At first I dismissed it as more sandstone debris from the digging of the canal. Much of the island is built on that, but a closer look proved otherwise. This sandstone is mortared together in the style of cement for a foundation of something larger.

Here and there deep square holes exist where timbers have long since rotted away.

I know it's not all that old, but it thrills me to discover these things and it makes the hairs stand on the back of neck (if I had hair on the back of my neck) nonetheless.

Just to the east of the forgotten man-made dam foundations, a somewhat newer dam exists to span the channel. This make-shift bridge of beaver engineering was no doubt where the fox was heading. As you can see, it's still winter here and if I were a fox I wouldn't want to get my feet wet in that cold water getting to the other side of the island either.

So there it is. One of about 2 dozen posts that I've taken pictures for but haven't gotten around to writing. That said; there is certainly more to come.

The Bus Stop

2011-04-13T17:53:00.001-04:00

Weight a minute....

2011-03-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

So, I'm a baker of delectable cakes, breads, and pastries... or was up until about 2 weeks ago. This profession, along with my age and some changes in lifestyle has caused me to gain a little extra weight.

When I was a kid, I was always the scrawny kid in class. I TRIED to gain weight, but to no avail. When I was in college and for the ten years that followed, I spent most of my money on cigarettes and hard liquor which only helped to keep my slim physique. I'm 6' tall, and up until I got married 4 years ago, I never weighed more than 155 lbs.

Today, I weigh in at a bulgy 202 lbs. and something needs to be done about this. I know it's not that bad but it feels bad to me.... 50 lbs more than I'm accustomed to, and it all seems to be belly. I feel pregnant.

I'm starting an unofficial weight watchers points plus diet today using formulas and calculators I found all over the intertron. My target weight is 177 lbs, and I want to achieve this by swimsuit season. No joke. Let's say May 25th.

Anyway, that's all. Just wanted to put this out in the universe for some semblance of accountability.

Thanks Sis

2011-03-23T20:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't been blogging for a while, partly because of my crazy work/parenting schedule, but also because it had been decided some time ago that we wouldn't be renewing the explorationnorth domain (runs out next week) and I didn't feel like advertising yet ANOTHER blog move (to back here, obviously).

Anyway, I didn't want to write posts on a blog that wouldn't exist in some months, and was then further frustrated by not being able to quickly and easily export posts from that wordpress blog to this blogger blog. I had kind of given up on blogging all together.

Then my sister started blogging. :)

And I started commenting.

Now I HAVE to start blogging again. I miss it too much. For a while, I think I forgot what it was I really enjoyed about it... and that is writing something that makes somebody else want to say something back and interacting and engaging with people.

Oh yeah, and narcissism. :) Can't forget that.

Anyway, thanks sis, for getting me back into the hobby. The posts I've written over the past year on explorationnorth are safe on my hard drive, but I'm not going through the trouble of re-posting them here and re-hosting the images on blogger etc... I didn't have much to say last year of great importance, and that which I did, I'm sure I'll cover here in due time.

As for the crazy work schedule.... that's on hold for the time being, as the crazy parenting schedule got a bit crazier one week ago today and I'm on parental leave. ;)

So now, not only do I have tons to blog about, but I might be awake enough to actually do so! And my sister will be relieved since I can now start writing my posts here instead of in the comments of her blog.

The Battle of Fort Creek

2010-07-14T23:04:00.000-04:00

You know in that movie Wall-E how all the people of the future is obese, lethargic people because everything is made automated and/or too easy for people? I honestly think we're heading toward that. We're all going to be fat due to the fact that we're paving nature. Not everything in the world has to be wheelchair accessible... what then, would motivate those people to get up and out of their wheelchairs?

Canadian Mark is unimpressed...

Looking North at Trail-head

In the three years leading up to Y2K it wasn't uncommon to find me here on a daily basis during the summer, biking and exploring the miles of mountainous, twisty, single track trails infested with gnarled exposed roots and rocks. Then I got lazy for a bunch of years, followed by getting excruciatingly busy for some time. Now I have an inch too many on my waist, so now I'm back to work it off.

He's the Map

I started my ride heading west today, along the old trail. At first I was impressed at how some of the muddy pot-holes had been filled in with fine gravel, but then the trail opened up completely into this....

Canadian Mark is REALLY unimpressed...

It presumably goes on like this for the entire orange and green loops of the trail. I couldn't complete the circuit, as giant machinery blocked my path, continuing to dig up and flatten my beautiful fort creek. I suspect they plan to pave the trail when finished, much like the hub trail at the bottom of Finn Hill.

I turned around when I could go no further, and decided to tackle the trails from the other direction....

Trail-head of west trails

I was glad to see that the machines hadn't made it into this section yet. All is as I remembered it; twisty, lumpy, constantly changing elevation, and just dangerous enough to keep one on their toes.

The trail I remember....

Single track, as it should be.

Hang on tight

After navigating 5 steep ravines and about 2 km of trail (as seen above), the trail opens up into a clearing where Fort Creek runs through fields of tall grass and cattails. A small bridge exists over the creek, where I found the wee snail you see below.

The Grumpy Snail

Bridge over the Creek, Fort

Green waves of cattails

Just after this portion of trail, I connected back up with the construction crew and the demolition of my beloved trails.

Stupid man, and his machines.

I'll be curious to see what exactly comes of all this, and if it's as bad as I fear, what's next... pave the Voyageur Trail? What really gets me is this is all being done by, or with the approval of the conservation authority. What exactly do they think the meaning of "conservation" is?At least Hiawatha is privately owned and safe from the civil engineering monster. For now....

ew.

2010-04-09T21:26:00.000-04:00

So, it was discovered recently that my wife has a gluten intolerance (to say the very least). A direct result of this is a sever lacking of bread-type products in our house. Now, I know what you're thinking, and I would buy my own glutenous products except that I usually get my fill of gluten strands at school and work, leaving the house with no temptation for my poor, poor wife.

Anyway, while trying to piece together a snack tonight the only starchy type platform I could find to hold my sloppy joe mixture containing slivered dill pickles was half of a day old frozen spinach and goat cheese pizza on spelt crust. Yes, spelt.

I figured I'd better top that fucker with con queso for good measure.

Now, it's not as gross as it sounds. In fact, it's likely much worse. There are no words to describe the foul emotions running through me as I (even still) continue to eat this monstrosity, scooping up the cacophony of topping with salt and vinegar chips. I can't let it all go to waste.... and I am hungry.

I just find it strange, that for some months I've been all about gourmet food, classic french cuisine, and creating it all from scratch..., and now tonight, with my wife gone out for the first time in months. It would seem I've de-evolved into a "bachelor chef" within minutes. So gross, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

My wife is all dolled up right now and at a show with her friends. I'm sure she'd say it feels good to be "a girl" tonight. I'm eating processed foods never meant to be combined (for good reason) while drinking a strong german beer. I'll gladly admit that sometimes it feels good to just be "a guy". I have a strong feeling that at some point tomorrow, I'll feel differently. ;-)

reboot

2010-04-09T08:14:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a hiatus from blogging, facebooking, etc just for a bit while I figure some stuff out. I'm not ditching technology for good, but I feel it's hampering my abilities to see myself for who I really am; and without that vital peice of information, writing with thoughfullness and creativity just can't happen.

Canadian Mark will be back after these brief messages.

Steve

2010-04-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

I mentioned previously the reality invents itself, well it would seem that this time I invented reality. We did end up going to Whitefish Island for a walkabout this morning, and the chocolate themed dinner didn't completely photograph for me.

Anyway, while on our hike we met a friendly wood duck who introduced himself as Steve. Although he was the only wood duck amongst a plethera of mallards, geese and seagulls, he said he wasn't lonely at all and seemed to get along great with all his feathered friends. "In fact," he said, "I kind of enjoy being the centre of attention."

Of course, all anyone else heard was "quack".

True story.

Life IS Stuff

2010-04-01T07:26:00.000-04:00

I was all set to post that I wanted to seek out an adventure today.... to do something fun and planned, take pictures and thus have something to blog about. Of course there's not REALLY anything wrong with that.

Or is there?!

Number one, I have to go to school in some hours which would prevent most scenarios of walking about from happening. Secondly, what's wrong with letting adventure seek me out? Why not let "reality invent itself" and find the adventure and life lessons in that?

Tonight is a theme dinner at school, and as has become standard practice I'm likely doing buns and desserts for the event, followed by sauteing something during actual dinner service. Sounds kind of mundane on the surface, and is certainly routine for me...

but...

Tonight's theme is chocolate!

I'm confident I can find adventure in that. :-) I'm bringing a camera tonight. In fact, I think I'll bring two.

Tired and Happy

2010-03-31T08:06:00.000-04:00

I even went so far as to change the address of my blog so I wouldn't only write about myself, but in the end... or at least for this post, it's what I'm going to do.

When I walked into work at 4:08 AM, the security/maintenance dude looked at me and said, "You look drunk".

I was shocked at first. Sure I had one beer before bed only 5 hours previous to the comment, but I was a far cry from even tipsy.

"Nope, I'm just tired and happy." I replied to him.

Thinking about my life since we had the kids, and I started school, and then got a full time job, I began to realize that I've become a miserable individual.... On top of being two dimensional! I have been looking at things from a very dismal point of view: I do this and that because I have to, and there's no other choice.

Not only is that statement not true - I made many choices bringing me to today - there is falacy in having a dismal point of veiw of it all. The me of three years ago would have taken my situation and made an adventure out of it. When life throws a curve ball, well that's just reality inventing itself. You have two choices: You can embrace reality and do your best with what your given - proudly struggle through the worst of it and beat back other parts with a pointy stick, or you can submit and simply go through the motions blankly - subconsiously building self resentments.

My wife posted last night about "Your Own Best Effort" and at first I took that to mean judging other peoples actions and assigning each with a yay or nay. Having wrote what I just did and reading her post and further discussion on the issue, I can see it has a lot more to do with the choice to check out of or engage with life, along with one's perspective on either of those choices. You choose to love it or hate it either way and from this veiwpoint, there certainly is a black and white right or wrong associated with behavior.

So, moving forward (and also backward in my case, I guess) I choose to engage with life, as I mentioned in previous posts. Further to that, and to get back to the point of this particular entry, I'm choosing to enjoy that. Tackle challenges with gusto, and see the trials and tribulations of life as high adventure - not mere time consuming tasks. I intend to learn all I can from any situation, as I've done before, and explore the nooks and cranies of every predicament to ensure I've taken all I can from life experiences. I'm taking it all back. And thus, I'm tired and happy.

As the wise and great Elmo once said, "It's all about your point of view."

Certainly not mine

2010-03-31T03:46:00.000-04:00

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and
you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin
bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children"

--author unknown

Want

2010-03-30T03:43:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while I compose an "I want" list. This is one of those times. Just putting it out there in the universe.

I want patience, tolerance, and the ability to understand regardless of how little sleep I get.
I want more sleep.
I want to learn the ways of The Force
I want romantic evenings.
I want some days off from work and/or school.
I want to approach my potential.... Always growing.
I want to listen when the universe is giving me answers to asked questions.
I want to disconnect from crazy, not disconnect from society, and be able to recognize the difference.
I want more time.
I want something wrapped in bacon.
I want to listen and understand.
I want to be heard and understood.
I want to be happy.

A Bunch of Nutters or A "Knead" for Personal Growth

2010-03-29T18:26:00.000-04:00

So, I haven't done this in a million years.... blogging with pen and paper - on the back of my notes regarding crustaceans and mollusks no less!

Anyway, I got to thinking about some things while kneading the dough for cinnamon rolls this morning (as I do). A line from the movie Ratatouille echoed in my head as my gluten strands began to develop.... "we are not mere cooks; we are artists!"

The past few days, I've really begun to realize how easily one can fall into the routine of things and become two dimensional - merely a cook. How true - this fate nearly fell upon me. I stood at the border between being a human being and a human doing - But no! I.... am an artist.

I then began thinking of all the other staff around me; the night cleaners, the breakfast cook, the prep cook. We are all artists in a microcosm, interconnected in one larger picture. It's quite easy to see it in a kitchen, how all the actors perform together for one perpetual cause.

Is the rest of life so different? Could we not say that we're all a bunch of nutters performing together in some effort to make sense of it all - to create something better that what we have individually?

We should.

It relies heavily on having that third dimension though. I used to have a very strong third dimension myself, until I let work, parenting, and school consume me. I ceased (nearly) being a player in the game and very nearly became an observer, like so many automatons in society today.

If we had more artists, the picture would be grander, life more complex and wonderful, etc... So how does one begin to convince the masses to wake up? Having seen both sides of the coin, I can safely say it's better to be a nutter than it is to be in a coma.

Rockstar

2010-03-29T03:45:00.000-04:00

I can still feel a slight tingle from the excessive amounts of caffiene, guarana, ginseng, and taurine that were soaring through my body some hours ago. I had drank two cans of Rockstar, two glasses of diet Pepsi, a coffee, and a big ol' hunk of 55% dark chocolate. Zing. It's not that I needed all of that to stay awake through supper, but once you get into a serious caffiene/energy habit, the tendancy is to take it all the way.

[rant] ANYway, this isn't the Rockstar I had intended to talk about. What I meant to write is that Canada needs another Rockstar PM, like Trudeau only with a mohawk. I feel a large part of why the political system doesn't *work* in Canada (aside from having horrible representation/region ratios) is that the candidates are too boring. Only boring people *cough conservative cough* are voting and the opposing parties are led by a dick and a whackado - but these people are still boring nonetheless. [/rant]

Seriously. We need a Rockstar.

Why I don't get Sociology

2010-03-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

It's not that I don't understand what it is, it's that I don't get how we can take what we learn from social theory and put it to a practical "here's how we can make society better".

From what I've seen in my 33 years here, people are what they are and interact and change largely due to media influence, financial circumstance, religious views (or not views), and political agendas.... (most) individuals aren't going to change their behavior and interactions based on the theories of a sociologist.

From what I understand, a social theorist can use theories or combination of theories to further break this down and examine the finer workings and create new theories. But really to what end? Maybe I've missed the point entirely, in which case I'd enjoy clarification.

Also, I'd like to take a moment to say that I love my wife very very much. :-)

I Zombie

2010-03-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

For too long now, I feel I've just been going through the motions. I wake up (at 3:20 AM), call my cab for work, check the weather network and read facebook gossip, go to work and bake the same eleven things (muffins, cinnamon rolls, croissants, rum cakes, cookies, apple pies, apple mary, caramel drizzle, brownies, foccacia bread, and pizza doughs), come home and attempt to stay awake enough to be sure that the kids aren't killing each other, cook/eat supper, do dishes, bathe the kids if it's an even numbered day, watch some nostalgia critic, and go to bed.

The whole thing is way beyond predictable.

It didn't used to be this way.... I seem to recall having a life with some randomness and adventure.... something about a Canadian Dream.... something about Action.... I always had a camera in my pocket. I definitely remember having thoughts and opinions about things, and when I wrote I wasn't the subject; I was the writer.

I'm taking it back:

The thinking, writing, photographing, interacting, pondering, publishing, engaging, and such. I'm taking it all back. I am Canadian Mark! This is the Canadian Dream in Action! May The Force be with us all!

Strawberry Linzertortlet

2010-02-04T19:53:00.000-05:00

One might assume that time would extend as they sleep less and less. But no. Working 40 hour weeks and schooling full time as well seems to have sped time up. I feel old. This made me feel better though....

I invented this recipe as a way to use old stale cinnamon buns without having to make strudel dough. It does, however, require linzer dough:

Ingredients:

200 g butter
150 g sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
½ tsp salt
60 g finely ground walnuts*
70 g finely ground almonds
1 egg
¼ tsp vanilla, kirsch, or other liqueur
250 g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

*Traditional linzer dough uses hazelnuts here, but I find walnuts or pecans work nicely too.

Method:

blend sugar, salt, butter, and spices until well mixed (not creamed until light!!)
add almonds and walnuts and blend in
add egg and flavorings. Mix until just absorbed
Sift flour and baking powder, add, and mix just until evenly blended

That's really all there is to the dough. Remember, it is like a short dough, so handle as little as possible, refrigerate for easier handling and don't over-mix!

For the tortlets I photographed above, divide the dough into 12 portions and press into tart tins. This should create shells about 5mm thick. Fill with the following:

Strawberry Strudel Filling

Ingredients:

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped
150 mL strawberry dessert topping (as for waffles or ice cream)
1 - 2 finely ground cinnamon buns

Method:

Mix it all together.

Fill each unbaked tart shell to the brim with filling and bake @ about 350° F for 20 - 30 minutes.

I love the taste of these things. It reminds me of the strawberry shortcake ice cream bars that Dickie Dee used to carry when I was a kid, waaaaay back when kids played outside (allowing Dickie Dee ice cream vendors the potential to make a profit, you see). Scrumptious strawberry nostalgia right there.

But I digress. I'm old.

Pretty Things

2010-01-28T20:33:00.000-05:00

I made some pretty things today with choux paste, mascarpone cheese (flavoured with blue Hypnotic liqueur, mango juice, and vanilla bean), and candied blood orange and star fruit. As I got up at 3:00 AM this morning, worked 7 hours and then went to school for 8 hours, and also have to get up at 3:00 AM tomorrow - I'm not in any shape to get into the details of how it was done. I'll try to fill in the gaps tomorrow, but until then - enjoy photos!

That's funny... They don't look like little cabbages to me.

2010-01-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

When I got to work today, I found a requisition for baked goods to feed 200. It didn't matter what the baked goods were, but my instructions were specific in that they said to "show off". Who am I to refuse such a request?

Among other various petite fours, I made a great variety of eclairs and cream puffs including a flock of 56 swans. The ones you see above were actually from a function in December... I just forgot my camera today. I don't know why I do it, but it seems any time it's up to me to choose something to make for a function, it involves pâte à choux, which translates to cabbage pastry in English. It's not that the dough smells of cabbage, but that's maybe kind of what it resembles if you pipe it out into rounds after baking. Yeah.... I don't know. Most people just call it eclair paste.

Anyway, I guess I do it because I've done it enough that I know what the results will be, and it looks classier than butter tarts. Gosh is it ever labor intensive though, doubly so when it's piped, cut, and then reassembled into swans afterword.

There's a million recipes floating around for eclair paste, and is a standard in most baking cook books. I feel it kind of redundant to repost it here. If you're really stuck, this one is as traditional and accurate as it gets.

So, I actually formed blisters on my hand from incorporating the 18 eggs one at a time into the 8 pounds of clay-like batter.... manually.... with a wooden spoon. Yes I complained the whole time, but that's just the relationship I have with choux paste, and it's how I know it will turn out. It has to hurt.

I used pastry cream to fill the small round shells I made, and then drizzled them with tempered chocolate. For the swans, I made a white chocolate German butter-cream filling, simply by mixing regular white chocolate butter-cream and vanilla pastry cream together. And it was good.

But I digress. Once you know eclair paste, and especially if you also know pastry cream the showing off comes all to easily, and people are quicker to be amazed than one might expect. The compliments far outweigh the blistered fingers. :-)

Leftovers

2010-01-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

I know I'm in the right profession because I was all excited to finish my baking requisitions at work early today so I could come home and... do more baking.

A while back I made cinnamon buns for the neighbor, but as it turned out he wasn't home to receive them and as a result they went stale. As the buns sat on their plate turning into wonderful cinnamon sugar croutons, I pondered on what I could do with them (other than bread pudding).

Strudel it is! (my first time!!)

Austria and many other central European countries enjoy fresh breads and pastries. A lot. I'm told the reason strudel contains bread crumbs is in part because of this reason; to reduce the waste of breads that have gone stale. I did a quick bit of research on the interwebs and can't seem to find any supporting document to this claim. Allow me to simply cite and/or thank "The Yodeling German" for that one.

So, I chopped up some very ripe apples I had on hand and tossed them with some nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts (walnuts compliments of my mother in law)

I didn't go too crazy on seasoning the apples because my bread crumbs were already seasoned from being cinnamon buns.

And here I have to confess.... I did not go through the trials of making traditional strudel dough. I instead thawed a box of filo pastry leaves, layering five sheets with melted butter spread inbetween. Next time, I will do it all from scratch... mark my words. If anything, the real fresh dough might be easier to work with than the frail, dry, break-apartyness of the filo.

After baking @ 350° F until golden brown, I brushed generously with a slurry of simple syrup, cornstarch, and cinnamon.

Finally, I iced the thing with flat icing and promptly delivered it to the neighbors who were home this time. It could very well be that they saw me coming with cinnamon buns last time and decided to hold out for something better....

They did indeed get something better. Mmmmmmmmm. Serve with vanilla pastry cream, pudding, custard, or ice cream!

I'm Hungry

2010-01-20T22:53:00.000-05:00

I first started blogging in 2004 as "Canadian Mark". I blogged (and still do) off and on about a great variety of things including: photography, parenting, Canadiana, Star Wars, cooking, nature, and so on and so forth. I made many friends along the way, one of whom is the very inspiration for this post.

Carmi Levy at Written Inc. hosts thematic photographic every Wednesday, where a theme is picked and his readers post a fitting picture on their own blog. It helps get the wheels of creativity going and also helps to connect people of like minds. Great guy, Carmi.

This weeks theme is "I'm Hungry", and I thought I might take the opportunity to share some photos from the archives to potentially wet a few appetites. I'll probably post recipes for all that you see below, but if you want one sooner that later, please let me know in the comments.

White Chocolate Eclair Swans

Ontarian Apple Pie

Strawberry Meringue Pie

Apfelsine Schocoladentorte (Orange Chocolate Torte)

Well.... I'm hungry again. See ya!

Something that isn't Baking

2010-01-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

It's cooking instead :-) Of course, if you'd rather have baking go here.

It's thematic photographic time over at Carmi's again with the subject this week being "I'm Hungry". I just can't help myself!

So here's the thing; I am hungry... always! It didn't used to be this way. When my wife and I began dating, she lovingly called me Skeletor. Anyway, fast-forward 3 years (almost exactly!) and my three favorite friends in the kitchen are butter, bacon, and 35% cream. I've always loved cooking, and since I started the culinary program at the college my technique has grown (along with my waistline) to match my passion.

But I digress. It is thematic photographic, and so I have to choose a picture of food or something relating to "I'm Hungry" to post. I know just the thing...!

The above photo was taken nearly three years ago either shortly before or shortly after my wife and I decided to marry. The meal about to be put down on the table was spaghetti with a rustic home-style red sauce made with an entire roast of beef, Vienna crusty bread, field greens with balsamic vinaigrette, and of course a bottle of Chianti.

Now I really am hungry.

Excuse me.

(side note: the meal described above was cooked entirely by my wife. Even though I talk a big game about how I cook, and seldom let her in the kitchen these days, she sure knows what the hell she's doing too!)

An Experiment....

2010-01-20T08:04:00.000-05:00

Firstively, let me start by saying I know I didn't blog yesterday and yet my blog mandate clearly states that I will blog every day with a new recipe. Well, I'm changing it. I'll blog whenever I bake. That's usually at least once a day; sometimes twice, and sometimes every other day. The bottom line is this: If I only post when I bake there will be more creative and rich posts filled with pictures, stories about how I burn myself, slice fingertips off, and all that other fun stuff. Deal?

That said....

I'm attempting to post while baking this morning. It's a new recipe I'm creating on the fly for orange chocolate chip muffins. I've always felt that once you introduce chocolate into a muffin, it becomes more of a cupcake, but hey.... breakfast is breakfast!

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
1 cup melted butter
2 Lg eggs
zest and juice from 2 Lg oranges
1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

combine dry ingredients and mix well, but don't sift
combine wet ingredient and mix well
combine the dry, wet, and chocolate chips, folding just until incorporated
portion into lined muffin tins
bake @ 350° F until done (about 25 - 30 minutes)

How it all went down:

The kitchen smells like burnt orange now, but I'll get to that a little later....

Depending on the size of recipe, I usually use a fork or whisk to uniformly blend dry ingredients together. Not necessarily what the tool was designed for, but it works well.

Even though it costs a little more, I always try to use free range and/or organic eggs in my recipes. Once incorporated into baked goods, I don't think there's a real difference in taste but it still makes a difference ethically. The eggs I'm using today however are neither free range or organic, but do have a higher level of omega 3 fatty acids due to the diet of the chicken. It's my first time using these eggs and I'm not sure how I feel about it. If the recipe flops, I'll be sure to look in their direction first.

I got a micro-plane for Christmas. Aside from my french knife, it's probably one of the most used pieces of equipment in my portable kitchen. It's pretty grate. :-)

It already smells good.

For muffins with berries or chocolate chips in them, I often mix the dry and wet part way, then add the fruit or chocolate, and then complete the combining process. This way everything gets mixed evenly without creating those evil gluten strands. (Evil to muffins, anyway)

Into the oven to bake for 30 minutes and.... the tops collapsed. :-(

I think I portioned to much into each muffin cup and they couldn't hold their own structure. Some of the edge muffins even spilled over the side creating the lovely burnt orange smell I mentioned earlier.

The most important thing, of course, is the taste.... which in this case is phenomenal. I'll surely make these again, but also fully intend to mess around with the amounts of leavening agents, portion size, and oven temperature. I like my muffin to have a nice crested top, not some crazy plateau. In the meantime if anybody in blog-land decides to try fixing this recipe or has other ideas, feel free to suggest something.

The perfect chocolate chip cookie

2010-01-18T20:27:00.000-05:00

After long and arduous searching, near-endless taste-testing and adapting, combining recipes and adapting some more, (and then much more taste-testing!) I do believe I've finally stumbled upon....

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
(yeild: about 48)

Ingredients:

¾ cup room temperature butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 Lg egg
1 Lg egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup 55% cocoa Belgian chocolate chips
1 cup 72% cocoa Swiss chocolate chunks

Method:

combine flour, cornstarch, and baking soda and blend with a whisk - set aside
cream butter and sugars together with wooden spoon
add egg and extra yolk continuing to mix until just absorbed
add vanilla continuing to mix until just absorbed
add dry ingredients and chocolate, folding until just incorporated
drop onto parchment lined pans
bake @ 345° for no longer than 10 minutes (cookies will appear undercooked when they come out - they should!)

I think they stay chewy past three days, but to be honest they've never lasted that long.

Mojito Brownies

2010-01-17T19:50:00.000-05:00

The other day one of my bosses requested that I come up with a few different brownies featuring mint. Of the three varieties I created today, this is the one I like best so far.... (this is a lengthy and involved original recipe, allowing me to feel less guilty about the fact that I posted rice krispie treats yesterday)

There's rum in the brownies, schnapps in the ganache icing, and oodles of chocolate throughout. 100% awesomeness. This can all be done with extracts, of course, but the real booze gives it a nice punch - especially since this brownie attempts to mimic a cocktail.

Chocolate Mojito Brownies
yeild: one 20" x 12" hotel pan

Brownie Ingredients:

454 g butter
230 g the best dark chocolate you can find
125 mL white rum
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
8 Lg eggs
½ tsp salt
125 mL cocoa
750 mL all-purpose flour
zest from 4 limes

Method:

melt butter over medium heat
remove from stove and add chocolate (chopped fine) mix until smooth
add rum and mix well
set aside to cool slightly
cream eggs, salt and sugars with beater at medium speed until light and fluffy
reduce to lowest mixer speed, then add chocolate mixture and lime zest
add flour and cocoa, mixing until just incorporated
pour into prepared pan(s) and bake @ 350° F until done (about 25 minutes)

Topping Ingredients:

400 g dark chocolate
200 mL 35% cream
200 mL peppermint schnapps
100 g white chocolate

Method:

heat cream and 100 mL of the schnapps to almost boiling
remove from heat and add chocolate (chopped fine) mix until smooth
add remaining schnapps and mix well
set aside to cool slightly
melt white chocolate in a double boiler
set aside to cool slightly
pour chocolate schnapps mixture over cooled brownies and allow to set 10 minutes
spoon slightly cooled white chocolate into piping bag with 2mm plain tip
pipe straight lines across top
draw back of knife through lines in opposite directions to create herring bone pattern
refrigerate at least 20 minutes to set

If I could do it over again (which I plan to do of course!), I'd omit the chocolate in the brownies and replace the cocoa with as much ground coconut making it a blond brownie, better complimenting the refreshing tropical flavors. For the topping, I would use white chocolate where dark chocolate was used, and melted green molding wafers for the marbled lines.

The end. Sleep happens now.

Rice Krispie Treats

2010-01-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

No I'm not really posting this recipe.... okay, maybe I am. Does that make me lame? It's just that I don't have time for much else right now and as it is, I had to travel back in time in order to post this on Saturday.

I'll make up for it tomorrow (tonight) with my mojito brownie recipe!!

Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

5.5 L Rice Krispies
900 g marshmallows
454 g butter
125 mL vanilla

Method:

in a double boiler melt butter and marshmallows
add vanilla
take off heat and add cereal. Mix until uniform
glove up and/or coat hands with canola spray
press treats into one full hotel pan
if anal like me, flatten down smooth with back of a spatula
let cool completely!

Seriously though.... the next recipe will be the bee's knees!

The Good Neighbor

2010-01-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

The position of "baker" is very enviable. Everybody likes the baker, as most people like some sort of baked goods. Aside from good old fashioned money, I've received no end of compliments, coffees, bacon, caramel machiattos, etc... in trade for my baking or the hopes that something will be baked in the near future.

What happened today though surprised me a little. Just before supper there was a knock at my door. I answered it to greet my neighbor, no doubt there to complain about the excessive dog poo, I surmised. But no! He had been out shopping and witnessed some guy saw through the head of a hammer with this fancy knife and had been so impressed that he had to buy one for his baker-cook-neighbor.

I wouldn't have considered this neighbor to be a friend, and to be honest, I can't even say I know his name. I see him on occasion when I take the dogs out and perhaps once a month when we pass in the halls of the college. What does one do in return for such a gesture as a random knife gifting?

Cinnamon Buns

Ingredients:

white bread recipe
½ cup soft butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
raisins*, pecans, walnuts, orange zest, etc... (optional)

Method:

1. After dough has rested, roll into a 12" x 15" rectangle

2. Cream sugar, butter, and cinnamon together

3. Spread mixture evenly over dough and sprinkle with nuts, raisins, or whatever else your heart desires.

4. Roll from a short end of the rectangle and cut 2" slices.

5. Pan into medium/large muffin tins (lightly greased)

6. Let proof for about an hour

7. Bake @ 350° until tops are golden brown (about 25 minutes)

8. Let cool for 10 minutes and then plate for delivery to your neighbor who's name you don't know/can't remember.

I personally enjoy a little flat icing drizzled over the tops of these, but this is strictly optional and certainly doesn't make them any healthier. As it is, it's like eating candied bread. Mmmmmm.

*Raisins and other dried fruit should be plumped in boiling water before use

Basic White Bread

2010-01-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

It was only last summer that I began experimenting with yeast. Considering how long I've held baking as a passion, I don't know how I managed to avoid it - or why? It would be as if Jaques Cartier had come to the America's and didn't step foot off PEI for 20 years after arriving.

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to discover that yeast is my friend. After several weeks of experimenting, I came up with my own bread recipe that seems to work quite well and is also rather versatile. I've used this recipe for plain loaves, cinnamon buns, dinner rolls, and even thick crust pizza.

Canadian Mark's White Bread (with pictures of me making it!)
yeild: one loaf

Ingredients:

¾ cup warm water
2 tsp instant yeast
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
¼ cup vegetable oil

Method:

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a liquid measurer and whisk until uniform

2. Place flour on (preferably wooden) work surface and create a well in center

3. Drop egg and oil into well

4. Mix with one hand from the center of the well while slowly incorporating liquid with the other hand until all is blended together. If end dough is too sticky, add flour. N.B. It is much easier to incorporate more flour to a wet dough than it is to add more water to a dry dough!

5. Knead for 5 - 10 minutes or until a smooth ball of dough is formed

6. wrap it and let it rest at least ten minutes, allowing the gluten to relax and make the dough friendlier to work with

7. for a basic bread, shape the dough into a loaf on a sheet or in a bread pan and let rise until double ( about 90 minutes)

8. bake @ 375 until done. About a half-hour.

And now I too require a rest to relax my own gluten. Goodnight folks. Perhaps tomorrow we'll do something a little more interesting with this bread dough.

I should be sleeping, but....

2010-01-13T20:45:00.000-05:00

I bring another recipe to you today from the Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book. I have to work at 4:30 AM tomorrow and really, it would have made more sense for me to be sleeping than to be playing around with muffin recipes but this is just the kind of guy I am. I had two cans of Pepsi Max before supper keeping me alert physically, and the drive to not dissapoint my four readers (Wife, Mom, Jessica, and Carmi) keeping me on my toes mentally. So, without further ado....

Click image to make larger!

I made several adjustments to this recipe before even attempting it as written Instead of shortening, I used butter simply because butter tastes awesome - especially when paired with things like oatmeal, brown sugar, and cinnamon. And speaking of spices, another adaptation I made to the recipe was the addition of several pinches of nutmeg.

I have a German heritage after all!

I added my blueberries directly to my dry ingredients, so that when I stirred in the wet stuff it would incorporate just as fast. The recipes says to fold them in, but my method reduces the risk of over-mixing and gluten development. Nobody likes a glutenous muffin. Well, maybe the weirdos.

I baked them 50 degrees cooler and had to spin my pan around halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking because my home oven is difficult like that. They looked and smelled wonderful though!

Where the recipe suggests to remove from tins and serve warm; this would work well if using parchment liners. If, however, you're like me and don't have such clever devices on hand and instead trust on a lightly greased tin for muffin removal, I would suggest letting these muffins cool for 10 or fifteen minutes in the pan before removing. The mess you see below is the result of removing a hot muffin.

It is a very delicious mess, mind you.

Just a quickie...

2010-01-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

I received two rolls of film for Christmas... both black & white, one 125 ISO and one 400 ISO. If it's not minus one million tomorrow, I intend to shoot all or some of that film in a winter walkabout.

There. Now I'm committed to do something that isn't baking. :-)

Something Important

2010-01-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

When you learn to cook, it is discovered that most of the thousands of sauces in the world are derivatives of several mother sauces (tomato, bechemel, espangole, veloute, etc...) The same idea holds true in baking, and what I want to discuss today is the mother of baking mother sauces:

Pastry Cream
(dust off your baker's scales, this is a classic recipe that depends on weight, not volume)

480 g sugar
2 L milk
8 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
150 g cornstarch
120 g butter
30 mL vanilla

Method:

In a heavy saucepan, dissolve half the sugar in the milk and bring just to a boil.
With a whip, beat the egg yolks and whole eggs in a stainless-steel bowl.
Sift the starch and remaining sugar into the egg. Beat with the whip until perfectly smooth.
Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating in the hot milk in a thin stream.
Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
When the mixture comes to a boil while stirring, remove from the heat.
Stir in the butter and vanilla. Mix until the butter is melted and completely blended in.
Cool quickly in a shallow pan* and whisk before using.

*note that plastic wrap should be put down directly on surface of pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming and also inhibit bacteria growth.

This stuff is wonderfully versatile. It forms the base of many cream pies, puddings, donut and cake fillings, eclair fillings. It's important to know how to make this stuff.

Oh, and also... when you get to step #5, it's important to note that this stuff is like napalm. If you stop stirring for even a moment it will splatter, stick to your skin, and burn through 2 layers of skin at least. Not to scare you away or anything, just be cautious. I know these things because I've been there.

In other news, I got a new tool box today for my portable kitchen!

$27.97 at Canadian Tire - I'd link to the item on their website but it's not listed there. I'm quite impressed with the thing. It's large enough to hold a full sized text book plus my thousands of baking/cooking, yet it's small enough to stand upright in a locker. It's like the TARDIS of tool boxes.

Consequently, the book shown above is the source of the pastry cream recipe I shared this evening. It's sort of become my baking bible.

The way it crumbles....

2010-01-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day back at school in a new semester of culinary management. Tomorrow I'll be in the land of cookies as my class and I undertake the arduous task of baking some 2000 cookies for charity. Maybe. Tomorrow also happens to be a scheduled province-wide student walkout protesting a pending teacher strike that has the potential to set students back a full year in their programs.

It's a pretty crap decision to have to make. I love baking cookies, and doubly so for charity; but I also want to voice my opinion on this strike issue, especially if a yes vote on the strike means another year before I graduate.

I already know I'm going to school tomorrow, but I'm not going to learn or even have my attendance taken. I'm going to help make cookies, and that is all. Now, as my title suggested; a cookie recipe (my favorite):

Mayan Chocolate Sparklers

Ingredients:

¾ cup shortening
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ cups cocoa powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Beat shortening, butter and sugars until creamy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time.
Add next 6 ingredients, mixing until incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Roll in 1” balls, don’t flatten.
Roll into cinnamon and sugar topping.
Place on prepared cookie sheets, about 2” apart.
Bake @ 350° F for about 10 minutes (should still be soft in center)

I made these for the first time this past Christmas and I see no reason why they shouldn't make it into the regular rotation. Despite the title of this post, these cookies are exceptionally soft and moist with no crumbling tendency at all. The pepper gives them a nice little unexpected kick. Truly good food for a picket line. :-)

FRR47AHUVW7N

Butter Tarts

2010-01-10T19:05:00.000-05:00

Five days, and I'm still at it! Yay me!

I've worked a large percent of the holiday season and I'm beat. I don't at all feel like blogging, and I don't think anybody would really notice at this point if I didn't. I need sleep. I'm not giving up that easy though. Remember the pie dough we made yesterday? A single batch of that should fill a dozen medium tart tins....

Butter Tarts

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
½ cup corn syrup
1 tbsp vanilla

Method:

Cream butter and sugar together
Add eggs an mix until incorporated fully
Add remaining ingredients and mix well
Fill unbaked tart shells a little more than half full
For the mundane, add a few raisins or pecans to each tart. For the adventurous, add dark chocolate chunks, craisins, or goji berrys.
Bake @ 350° F for about 25 minutes

I have made literally thousands of these. They're good. I'll perhaps expand on this after school tomorrow. Then we'll do a yeast recipe. Gluten Nacht!

Pie dough

2010-01-09T19:15:00.000-05:00

I think I was shown how to make basic pie pastry before I was taught how to scramble an egg. When I'd visit my Memere as a child of 5 or 6, my favorite thing to play with was a half batch of the recipe listed below, along with some cookie cutters, a bowl of cinnamon sugar, and some raisins. To hell with playdough, I wanted the real thing!

I have friends and relatives with all sorts of crazy pie dough recipes. Some include eggs, others vinegar, and one that I know of utilizes a can of clear soft-drink. Crazy. Mine is pretty basic in comparison. Flour, shortening, and water - room temperature. I don't even bother with the dash of salt anymore. For a double crust pie I typically use:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup shortening
½ - ¾ cup water (depends on humidity and brand of flour)

Method:

Cut the shortening into the flour using a pastry blender or the backsides of 2 butter knives.
Do this until the pieces of shortening are about the size of lentils or whole oats; not walnuts or peas!
Mix in water with a knife or fork until a dough forms and just begins to get tacky.
Let rest for at least 20 minutes, preferable somewhere cool.
turn out portions onto well floured surface and roll to several mm thickness.
baking times depend entirely on what you fill this dough with. Usually at a temperature of 350 - 370°.

This recipe will give enough dough for a top and bottom crust, plus a little extra to play around with.

There are many recipes I make that require this dough, so I'll be referring back to this post often.

Here I go again...

2010-01-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

I tried not to do it... I tried REALLY hard, but there was no escaping it. It drew me in and held me in vice like grips, the way it mostly always does. I fought the urges valiantly, but triumphant I was not. Defeated now, with my head slung low, I bring you the following message:

I started a new blog.

It is here --> Anyone Can Bake!

(P.S. blogging about photography, parenting, Nintendo, bagpipes, and anything else not baking related will continue on this site... hopefully with more frequency than what's been happening of late)

Lemon Blackberry Muffins

2010-01-08T20:06:00.000-05:00

I actually made these muffins three days ago, making up the recipe on the fly as I oft do for these sorts of things. That said, they were really, really yummy.

Really though, I'm just posting this recipe now for the purpose of squeezing in some more info about this blog... recent changes, updates to mandate, and so on and so forth.

Firstively, every post henceforth shall contain a recipe of some sort. Eventually I'll get around to indexing all these recipes in some sort of searchable database. Now, won't that be nice?

Secondively, my first post on this blog makes little to no sense now, as I've changed the title of the blog from "flour" (what was I thinking?) to "Anyone can Bake", which is sort of a play on Guesteau's book "Anyone can Cook" from the movie Ratatouille; A movie I'm guaranteed to watch at least 4 times a week due to my two year old's affection for the film. In all honesty, despite it being Disney I have affection for the movie too.

Thirdively, here's that muffin recipe I spoke of earlier:

Canadian Mark's Lemon Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour
1 cup white sugar
½ cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup melted butter
4 free run eggs
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 pint blackberries

Method:
Standard muffin method.

blend dry ingredients together
mix wet ingredients together
combine wet with dry, add blackberries, and mix until just incorporated
fill lined or greased muffin cups level with top
bake immediately @ 350° F until done (about 20 - 25 minutes)

This should make about 12 medium sized muffins, or one 8 inch round coffee cake.

Early Ontario Sour Cream Biscuits

2010-01-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

I'm going to cook my way through "The Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book" in one year!

Pfffttt... no. No I'm not. I will however share a recipe from said book that I prepared last night. Beef Stew was on the menu and I wanted some sort of quick bread biscuit for the sopping up of delicious red wine infused gravy.

I grabbed the Laura Secord book, which is filled with a strange mix of odd, obscure, sometimes hokey, and finally traditional recipes - I absolutely love this book, and plan to do a full review on it in the foreseeable future. Anyway, I flipped to the page containing the traditional tea biscuit recipe, only to be swayed by the recipe previous to it:

"Early Ontario Sour Cream Biscuits"

Ingredients:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ cup shortening
1½ cups sour cream

Method:

Blend together dry ingredients
Cut in the shortening
Stir in the sour cream
Turn dough onto floured surface and knead 8 to 10 times
Roll out or pat ½ inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter, upturned glass, etc...
Bake on ungreased sheet @ 450° F until light golden brown (about 15 minutes)

So, they're basically tea biscuits with sour cream used in place of milk. The blurb before the recipe in the book states: "These rich biscuits reflect the German predilection for sour cream in cooking, which has influenced many of our (Canadians) recipes.

I don't know about German influence, but they did turn out to be very edible biscuits. I couldn't even post a picture of one now because they went directly out of the oven and into our mouths without stopping a moment to pose for the camera. Next time, I promise not to be so forgetful.

Gluten Tag

2010-01-07T19:47:00.000-05:00

Hi! I'm Canadian Mark. You may remember me from such blogs as "Canadian Mark", "2ubes", and the ever ill fated, "up yer kilt!" It's one week into a new year and I'm as much a new person as I ever was, hence the new clean white blog simply titled "flour".

So; why flour, you ask?

Because this shall be my blog about baking, and flour is of utmost importance to my trade. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together -- No... no, that's The Force. Flour is pretty good too though. I like what it's done for me, but not so much what it's done for my midsection.

Anyway, I love to bake more than anything in the world - to the point where I want to share it with the world. Daily. That's right, I'm going for a post a day on this one, whether it be a full blown recipe or a cheesy one liner intended to make you roll your eyes. Let's see just how far we can take it.

I give it three days. ;-)

The Jagged Path

2009-11-25T17:48:00.000-05:00

I'm often quite mystified by life's intricacies. If you were to ask "Kindergarten Canadian Mark" what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer would be simple: A baker, and possibly also a dentist (so I could double profit from my customers once I rotted out their teeth) Baking has been my passion since forever ago, and now finally it's what I get to do for a living.

I can't help but reflect on the insane amount of side-stepping it took to get me where I am now... A detour here while I tried my hand at the retail game, and a side-rail there when I married and had children, and then many, many other stops, pauses, and in-flight movies in between of course.

After so many years I've come to realize that the bottom line is this: Even though the journey hasn't been a straight course, and was filled with pitfalls, trials, and tribulations at every turn, I'm grateful for every step of it. It's the path that brought me here, with the perfect wife, two beautiful children, and a firm foothold on the career path of MY choice.

/gush

A guy walks into a bar....

2009-11-13T22:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it was actually a bar & grill (also a hotel, banquet hall, and restaurant too).

Anyway, I walk in, resume in hand, and ask the man at the greeting station if I can speak with the kitchen manager. The man asks me why and I reply that I'm looking for employment as a baker or cook. He crooks one eyebrow when I mention "baker" and sends a runner to get the manager.

The greeter casually asks me about my baking experience, and when he discovers I have experience with yeast breads he smiles, shakes my hand, and says "You're hired."

A moment later the kitchen manager is standing behind me. I'm introduced and asked to sit down for a quick interview, to which I of course comply. As he escorts me away from the greeter's station, he quite bluntly tolls me that the greeter I had just been talking with is in fact the owner of the entire hotel.

Nothing is finalized until after a formal orientation on Monday, but from my understanding the hotel is opening their own bake kitchen for breads, cakes, and pastries and they want me to run it! There were all kinds of things said during the interview that sent happy chills up my spine, like "creative license", "new signature peices", and "brand new equipment".

This is something I've wanted to do since kindergarten! When I quit selling diamonds two months ago, and at the same time decided I no longer wanted to be an electrical engineering student, I had pretty much convinced myself that the road to becoming a professional baker would be a long and arduous one.

I'm so very, very glad I was wrong.

Hey! I remember blogging!

2009-11-07T00:48:00.000-05:00

When I opted out of electrical engineering to take culinary management, my prime motivator was that I didn't want to work in a hot, noisy environment once I was out of school and into industry. Har har har. Seriously though, culinary school doesn't even feel like school. It's too fun. It's like there's no such thing as "work" if you absolutely love what your doing, and I certainly do.

About the no blogging: I kept telling myself that I didn't want Canadian Mark to turn into a "food blog", but that's pretty much all Canadian Mark does anymore, so what the heck....

And so, hence forth, or for the next little while at least, enjoy my rants, raves, and reviews about food.... cooking, preparing, burning, first aid.... Good fun. I guarantee it.

Coming up next: Laughter will surely ensue as Canadian Mark prepares Lasagna, salad, and meringue nested caffè del cioccolato bavarian cream for a friendly Saturday night supper.

I love the smell of gluten in the morning....

2009-09-25T00:23:00.000-04:00

And so it happened, just like that. Yesterday I got paid for 2 dozen cinnamon buns, making me a "professional baker". I was so excited I quit my job selling diamonds. True, the worth of a cinnamon bun isn't nearly that of a diamond....

Or is it!?

No. It isn't. I do love what I'm doing though, and that's worth more than money. Then again, with enough money I could get a larger off-site bake kitchen with industrial size equipment to handle industrial size orders - which will make more money.

I'm going to have to sell an awful lot of cinnamon buns.

Slumbering Behemoth

2009-09-17T23:35:00.000-04:00

This week's Thematic Photographic at Written Inc is "Urban".

I immediately thought of this photo taken during the summer of 2006. Carmi described the urban world as one that is "paved and repaved". It really got me to thinking about how the concrete jungles we create for ourselves have their own intrinsic balances much the same as ecosystems of a rain forest have theirs.

For example, the pile of ruble above was the remains of the Memorial Gardens; An historic arena torn down for a more modern centre with a higher seating capacity. I'm reminded that there's a delicate balance between holding on to the past for it's sentimental value and historical significance and tearing that same past down to make way for tomorrow's progress.

The bigger reminder, of course, is that we should neither focus the most of our attentions on the past or the future, but on the present where it matters most.

Blogger A La Carte

2009-09-16T21:31:00.000-04:00

I'm away more than I'm home now, doing the whole school thing. I'm really loving the culinary program and it always makes me chuckle a little inwardly to think that when my daughter sees me go off in the morning wearing my white jacket and hounds tooth pants she likely thinks I'm going to be playing with rats all day.

If you happen to have a twenty month old addicted to Pixar's 'Ratatouille' I'm sure you'll understand.

As you were.

Four Years and Four Days Ago....

2009-09-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

....I was taking pictures of a black squirrel playing with 3 phase power. I find it amazing how abundant these squirrels are now, when not more than 15 years ago they were really quite scarce.

In fact they're so popular now that I don't even bother to dig my camera out of my pocket to photograph them. Tomorrow I'll make a point of taking a picture of every one I see on my 5 km walk to and from school, just so I can prove to Ratty how big of a problem it is over here.

(That said, I'll probably not see a single one)

A long walk at the locks

2009-09-08T22:36:00.000-04:00

When I have something of great weight on my mind, I often ask my Jedi Ghosts to share their perspective on the situation. This seems to work best when I ask out loud, and so usually I do it where there's no people around to give me strange looks and/or send me off to the funny farm. I ask, and almost always, they do answer.

Of course, they don't answer back as tiny voices, or even (sadly) as glowy translucent figures of Obi Wan, Yoda and Anikan.... but after I speak to them, I tend to see things under a new light at some point thereafter. Sometimes it's a very subtle sign indicative of a yes or no answer, but more often it's something obscure that I notice that starts a chain reaction in my brain, ultimately making me see the universe a little more differently (clearly?) than I had before.

No, I'm not on drugs.

Anyway, yesterday was one of those fateful walks, where my Jedi ghosts and I had a long conversation. I had both the kids with me; one in the backpack carrier, and the other in the stroller. Usually I'm alone for this kind of thing, and wasn't sure if it would at all work in the company of my children. I walked and I asked, and then walked some more.

Then it hit me. My children themselves were the answer I was seeking.

I don't want to spend 60+ hours a week doing crazy engineering school to then work in a dangerous industry for 60+ hours a week while my kids grow up, especially if my wife intends to pursue her PHD after her masters and then teach/write curriculum/do research for 60+ hours a week. If this were all the case, who would be raising the kids?

I want something that allows me to spend more time with the little ones, or at the very least something that compliments my wife's potential work schedule. And besides that, I want to do something I love. I don't want to run the risk of making the same mistake my father made, which was taking the most available job at the time that paid the most money. We had no want of material things, but he was bitter and resentful about it, hard as he tried to hide it. Considering the dirty and hot environment where he worked, I don't blame hime one bit. (Picture below somewhat related)

I want to be a happy and loving father for my children. And so, with that in mind, I dropped out of electrical engineering today and bought two sets of chef whites and a fancy sharp knife. I have a year of theory ahead of me, starting yesterday followed by 6000 hours of paid apprenticeship culinary training.... because damn, but I love to cook. And eventually, not TOO far into the future, I can do it from home as a consignment pastry chef or caterer or whatever. The potential exists.

Anyway, that's the meaning behind the crazy past few cryptic posts. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

3.14 - The edible version

2009-09-07T20:31:00.000-04:00

Healthy breakfast or not, it's been a while since I made one of these....

I'm going to have to do something about that.

A Red Dragon Draws Near....

2009-09-06T22:58:00.000-04:00

When I was 12, I remember opening one very life changing birthday gift. It was the first Dragon Warrior for the NES - one of the first role playing games ever released for a console in the western world. One of the neat (and often overlooked) features of this game was the ability to copy a saved quest into another open slot. This way, if you wanted to try something daring you could test it out first in a copy of the quest you had been working on without really risking anything.

I sometimes wish life worked that way with now being one of those times. To be able to copy my life into an empty slot and try something completely unexpected and different.... I have some contemplating to do, and precisely two weeks to do it in. If any Jedi Ghosts happen to be reading this blog, I could use your guidance here. If my mother happens to be reading this blog, before freaking out, let's do coffee.

Aside from all that, Dragon Warrior was and still is a kick-ass game, except those Red Dragons were a formidable opponent to face before finding Erdrick's Sword, which was inevitable.

Basset Hound.

A certain hunger...

2009-09-05T20:40:00.000-04:00

My grandfather-in-law (Baha, as Chicken calls him) is a very wise man. I say that because it is very seldom that he speaks anything without a definite purpose, and quite often what is said (or left unsaid) makes the listener think and contemplate, even hours or days after a conversation. I have a great deal of respect for the dude, and always value his opinions and perspective on a given situation.

So, Baha was over for supper tonight, and now as one might expect, I find myself in deep contemplation. I cooked the supper tonight, which was lasagna with my homemade tomato sauce and garlic bread made on my own loaves of bread. As is almost always the case, the meal turned out well and everybody seemed to enjoy the food.

Before I continue my story, just let me say that I don't cook to impress others. It's not about some ego trip that I've created something that other people are enjoying, but at the same time I'm not in the category of people that view food as fuel, required to live. I cook because I love food. I love the taste of it, experimenting with it, sometimes just the feel or smell of it. Cooking is, quite simply, what I love to do.

That said, I got a call from Baha about an hour ago thanking me once again for the supper, and then he inquired why I'm going to school and not just opening a restaurant, as my talent so obviously lies in cooking. Because this was the third or fourth time such a question has been asked, I had a ready answer and explained about electrical engineering having a better paycheck and job availability and such. Cooking is for fun and just part of the retirement plan....

Or is it!!?

When I entered the office to type up this post, a certain wall hanging above my wife's desk caught my eye. It reads:

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." --Buddha

And this is what I'm now contemplating. If I'm doing what I have to do now in order to comfortably do what I love in the future, does that count, or should I be taking more direct steps toward what I love right now? Until a viable opportunity presents itself, I'm staying with my current plan, of course, but on the other hand, if any of the six readers that read my blog should want to own a restaurant. I know a decent chef who would make time to run your kitchen.

Return of the Beaver

2009-09-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

The family and I took a walk after supper to see if our beaver friend would be available for a visit. We didn't come across any as friendly as last night, but we did see a family of of beavers in the distance as the sun set.

They may not be the best pictures of beavers in the world, but I think they're nice photos nonetheless with their orange tones and the reflection of the bridge and such.

It was a nice evening for a relaxing after-supper walk. I'm feeling the urge to explore more unfamiliar (or at least less-blogged-about) territory. Perhaps the future will hold a walkabout in a more urban setting, capturing different sorts of wildlife. Or perhaps the future will hold more beavers. This is, after all, the Canadian dream in action.

Fried Chicken

2009-09-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

For just 20 months old, the chicken proves to be quite a complex individual. I think she must get it from her mother.

Despite being incredibly tired and mid-tantrum when this photo was taken (you can see a tear on her face), she was still goofy enough to be sitting in a frying pan, and still enough of a ham to say cheese for the camera. And then the crying resumed, followed shortly by napping.