Sourdough Cheddar~Jalapeno Bagels

Doesn’t the name alone just make your mouth water? Since Spring of 2020 (when the world was thrown into Covid Chaos), I have created and kept a Sourdough Starter and have been experimenting with all things sourdough since.

Those that know me, know that I LOVE a really good bagel, always have, ever since music class in Grade 7 when I first introduced to them (why music class you wonder? I have no idea, must have been part of the curriculum lol), anyway, since then, I have adored bagels. Even traveled to Montreal for their famous bagels (which did not … Read more...

Playing with Colour…

One of the benefits of having to spend hours on my rear….I get to write more! Along with some really, really, REALLY light-on-the-cardio-system activities.

Like planting flower and pepper seeds and dyeing yarns! Both of these activities are considered playing with colour, one starts out as a teeny seed and bursts into colour, while the other starts out as a bare skein of yarn and it too…bursts into colour!

The main reason to play with colour this time of year is to break up the visual assault of the stark white landscape outside the window. Yes, I moved to a … Read more...

Still here, and trying to find time to write

It is February already, boy time just screams on by the older I become. I think my problem is too many irons in the fire, too many things I want to do and not enough time in general to fit everything in.

Weaving is a devout passion, dyeing yarns pretty colours is a fun and distracting activity on cold, snowy winter days, oh and gardening…it may be mid February,  but the grow table was just set up and today will be pepper seed starting day. 

There are other pursuits,  knitting and spinning that are present in either mind or action, … Read more...

Cheddar Jalapeno Sourdough Bagels

I am turning into a bagel junkie, actually, I think I always have been a bagel junkie since I “discovered” bagels in Grade 7 music class.  I bet you are wondering why our teacher brought in bagels and cream cheese into her music class that day, well, it was because we were studying the soundtrack for the 1970 rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. So what does bagels and cream cheese have to do with a rock opera? I have no idea as bagels originated in Jewish communities in 17th century Poland… but I … Read more...

Spring Crocus Flower Tea Towels

Sometimes when I create new designs for weaving, I am not 100% sure of how it will actually translate to the woven cloth. Even though I use weaving software to design using approximate colours, at times there are variables that you might not be able to account for.

Not so with this design as between the use of colour and the weaving draft (pattern), these towels turned out EXACTLY how I envisioned they would!

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This is a limited edition of 6 towels for this Spring, not be repeated until Spring 2022 and as of today’s date, 5 of the 6 … Read more...

Weaving Inspiration

Go look out the window, yup, right out the back door you will find my little herb garden patch, and in it, Spring bulbs poking their sunny, bright faces out of the soil after a long winters sleep.

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Spring is my favourite time of year as all the new growth “springs forth” and finally dissolves the bland whites, greys and browns from winter. I grabbed my camera and took loads of photos of the little clumps of green, purple and yellow flowers, and afterwards, while looking at them on my laptop screen, an idea formed on how to best utilize … Read more...

It’s A Green January

In a corner of the livingroom here at the Homestead sits a folding blue patio table adorned with 3 pots and a small overhead LED light strip.

What are the lights focused on?

Cilantro!

20210106_0937012 pots that are overflowing with bright green leaves and stems that are standing up amazingly well from my daily assault with the scissors since they sprouted over a month ago. I simply cannot go the entire winter without fresh cilantro. Yes, I could buy a sad looking bunch in the grocery store, but they would last a week at most before becoming limp and mushy … Read more...

Walking Carefully Into 2021

Well, 2020 was a complete $hitshow.  My only bright spot was my 2 week vacation in Cuba back in January 2020 before the pandemic and lockdown hit.

Hubby and I bailed southern Ontario on March 25th to spend the rest of the year at the Northern Homestead. Best decision ever. In our remote area, there is not a whole lot of people and the case numbers low compared to Toronto and expanding area.

I spent the summer enthralled in my gardening, helped hubby side the new garage and 3 season room addition, among many other construction tasks.  Managed to get … Read more...

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Spinach Frittata

This morning I woke up to the sound of gunshots, don’t worry though, it wasn’t directed at any humans, just the annual Fall duck hunters blasting my duckie buddies out of the water.  It makes me sad, but I know people hunt to put food on the table and I am ok with that aspect, after all, I am a meat eater myself.

So to keep my mind off the hunters, I headed to the kitchen to make a fabulous Sunday brunch frittata.  Yesterday I had cleared out the raised garden beds except for the carrots and came away with … Read more...

Welcome to 2020!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What a weird looking number. I thought the Year 2000 was strange looking, and now 20 years have flown by.

I have been pulled in many directions in recent months and there was the whole December holiday hoopla which basically rendered no time to do anything blog related.

Once I return from vacation at the end of January, I will endeavour to get back to blog mode when I get back. Until then, I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season and I wish you all well … Read more...