20 Feet from Stardom

I'm definitely late on this (seeing as it won an oscar and all) but A and I just watched this documentary last night and we loved it! It's available on American and maybe even Canadian netflix right now. The movie provides an interesting look at the music industry and reeaaaaly makes you want to get up and sing!

I've been thinking about joining a choir lately because I used to be involved in choirs in the past and I've been missing that act of communal singing, there really isn't anything like it. This movie was helpful in re-igniting that desire, singing is just so wonderfully therapeutic.

Lucinda Williams - Passionate Kisses

I've been a fan of hers for a long time but I recently started listening to her again. She has such a distinctive voice! This album will be on repeat for a while I think!

Peter Doig & Summer Rolls

The weekend started off on a good note. We went for drinks (5a7) in Old Montreal on an outdoor terrasse that had beautiful views of the Saint Lawrence and Old Montreal. We may have been a bit too enthusiastic for patio weather as it was pretty chilly but we warmed up quickly after a few drinks. 

 For months I've been trying to get to the Peter Doig exhibit at the Montreal Arts Centre. I had never heard of the British artist before but the publicity surrounding the event had me intrigued. On Saturday we finally had the time to go (no paper writing, yay!) and it was very rainy so it seemed like the best use of our time. His work really impressed me (not that I'm hard to impress). After taking an oil painting class early in the year we were a bit more knowledgable as to how much effort goes into creating a painting. It really is a long and well thought out process! This one above was one of my favourites.

 I also really loved this one. Peter Doig uses lots of vibrant colours but also uses the colour white in a very stark version of the colour. I loved how he drips paint down the canvas, so neat!

Above is his most famous work, the red canoe. We thought it looked like Alcatraz in the background. 

 Saturday night I finally got around to making fresh spring rolls or Summer rolls as they're also referred to. I have intended on making these healthy treats for YEARS but for some reason they always seemed too difficult. After making them I can assure you they are anything but difficult, very easy in fact! What I love about them is you can really make up your own recipe as to what fillings you would like. Picture above (in very dark and dim lighting because it was raining and our kitchen lighting is brutal) are all the veggies, noodles, herbs and egg chopped up uniformly, all ready to be rolled up!

 For our spring rolls we included a scrambled egg pancake, julienned red pepper, carrots, avocado, rice noodles and basil or cilantro (A really dislikes cilantro but I love it, compromising here was very easy!).

 Yum!

And voila! The finished product all wrapped up and ready to be dipped in a delicious homemade peanut sauce.

Summer Rolls a la Brooke: makes 5 large rolls
5 sheets of rice paper
2 eggs
Half a red pepper, julienned
2 medium sized carrots or 10 baby carrots, julienned
1 avocado, julienned
1 cup of vermicelli rice noodles
Basil (either 4 springs for 9 springs depending on the ratio with cilantro)
Cilantro (about 1/4 cup finely chopped for 3 rolls, more if using in all 5 rolls)
*I also think green onions, baked tofu, julienned cucumber and/or a lettuce of some sort would be a great addition!

Peanut Sauce:
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon-1/2 teaspoon of red chill flakes depending on your spice preference
1 tablespoon agave nector
1/2 cup coconut milk
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons of lime juice (I only had lemon juice and it worked just fine!)
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter

1. First make the peanut sauce, blend all the above ingredients together and add a little bit of water if the mixture needs to be more creamy. Set aside until rolls are all made.
2. Make your egg pancake: whisk two eggs together and fry them in a small frying pan, flipping over once to evenly cook both sides. After the pancake has cooled, chop in half and then chop julienne style.
3. While making the egg pancake, make the rice noodles as instructed on the package (usually place in salted boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes, strain, dry and set aside).
4. Make rice paper according to the package instructions.
5. Assemble! I placed the rice noodles first onto the rice paper in the centre, then placed the red pepper and carrot on either side. After I put the herbs (either basil or cilantro but you could also put both) on top of the noodles followed by avocado and egg. To fold the paper, fold either the right or left side of the paper over the filling, tightly. Then fold the top and bottom of the rice paper leaving only the right or left side. Then fold the right or left side tightly over the other folded parts.
6. Cut in half or keep whole, serve with the peanut sauce and enjoy!

We really liked these summer rolls and I will definitely be making them again in the warmer months. I may also use this peanut sauce recipe and fiddle around with it to make Pad Thai, updates on that to come!

Short Visit Home

I was lucky enough to spend some time home (near Toronto) this weekend for Easter. I got to visit with a few friends, relax and spend time with family. Pictured above are some old trees that line the driveway of my childhood home. After the ice storm this winter many of these trees lost their branches but they seem to be going strong now! This picture doesn't really put it into perspective but these trees are so tall and beautiful. We are lucky to have them.

 One of the best parts of the weekend was a visit to my old university town, Guelph. I met a friend there for lunch at one of our old favourite vegetarian restaurants and it felt so surreal to be back there. I hadn't been back to Guelph since I graduated almost 4 years ago! When we move back to Ontario I hope to spend more time visiting that area, it really is a nice town. 

Easter was great. My parents hosted 30+ of our family and I made these bird nest macaroons which turned out awesome! They were very easy and look so cute, I may make them again. We don't celebrate a big religious Easter, for me its more about welcoming spring and all of the changes that come during this time. It's also just nice to have a reason to celebrate with family and friends. 

After a long winter it felt really nice to get away from the city for a few days. I've been a bit frustrated with Montreal lately due to a number of things: ridiculous politics, the language barrier, unfriendly atmosphere, etc. I found myself desperate for Halifax numerous times, missing the friendly people and the ocean breeze. Everyone keeps telling me that the summers here are wonderful and will make me feel more at home. I really hope so! Coming home (back to Montreal) actually felt exciting this time. On the train ride home I read a blog post about a couple's trip to Montreal. They had never been before and were so enamoured with the city and all it's charm. They went to lots of interesting restaurants and shops in my neighbourhood, just raving about all they had to offer. This blog post really put things in perspective. I am so fortunate to be able to live here! I hope I can embrace this city like I was able to do in the fall during the summer. Things will be very, very busy with me wrapping up school but I know I'll find some time.

Hope you're all enjoying this lovely spring weather. It is so sunny here today and I went for a great, long run up the Mount for the first time since moving here. It felt amazing!

Lykke Li

I haven't been able to get this song out of my head! I love it's simplicity, especially that piano. Lykke Li is becoming a fast favourite of mine.

Irises

I've been buying flowers like mad this past week. Irises are one of my absolute favourites and I'm not even sure why. Maybe its the colour? The odd shape? The lovely name? Whatever the reason I'm happy they're in season!

Here are some pictures of my seedlings having just been planted. This year I'm going to try growing a couple of flower varieties to make our front balcony look cheery. I'll also be growing cherry tomatoes, green onions and sugar snap peas (yum!). So far no sign of sprouting yet but I'll give it more time. Heres hoping this summer is a gardening success!

Spring!

Spring is here!! We've now had quite a few days without a chance of snow and the sun has been so bright. Yesterday I went for a nice long walk to grab a few things for spring. I bought this new table runner (stretched my budget quite a bit but I'm so in love with it), picked up some tulips and irises and bought some seeds for my balcony garden this summer.

Yesterday I finished my last day of classes in my academic career, theres still a lot more for me to finish before I graduate from my Masters but I'm trying to relish in this small milestone. Its pretty exciting! Thats what I told myself when I bought an obscene amount of flowers anyways. 

The best part of spring for me is the improvement in mood. I've been able to run outside almost every day and it makes such a difference. I feel much more sprightly! Shopping for flowers was also such a lovely experience. My favourite flower shop was teeming with rare orchids and many other spring flowers. I could have spent all day in there. The owner was actually friendly to me too (usually he's a bit grumpy and preoccupied), maybe its the effects of spring?

Egg Drop Soup

Last week I decided to make an old favourite based on a recipe I discovered on pinterest. A few years back I worked as a caregiver for a Chinese family and the mother would make this soup once a week for lunch for the kiddos, it was always a big hit! This modification to the old one I used to make includes sesame oil, green onions and delicious ginger. It is incredibly easy and was so flavourful. I think we will be making this a lot now!

Ingredients:

4 cups or 1 pint of good quality chicken stock/veggie stock 

2 tbsp corn starch

1 tsp ground ginger (or a little more if you love ginger like me)

1/4 tsp of garlic power or garlic salt (just make sure you don't add too much salt at the end!)

3 eggs

1 tsp of sesame oil

4 green onions sliced thinly (you can use both the green and white parts)

1/2 cup of frozen corn

salt and pepper to taste

* I also think you could use fresh garlic and ginger for this recipe but it would be more work and would include chunks.. to each their own though, chopped finely I think it could be good!

To begin with heat the chicken stock over medium heat and whisk together with the cornstarch, ginger and garlic power in a medium saucepan until there are no lumps left. Then bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.

While waiting for the chicken stock mixture to boil, whisk the eggs in a bowl.

When the broth comes to a boil remove from the heat. Whisk the broth in a circular motion and slowly pour the eggs into the soup to create those lovely egg ribbons. The whisking must be relatively slow too to get lots of ribbons.

After you've poured all of the eggs and made egg ribbons whisk in the sesame oil, green onions (save some for the garnish) and corn.

Serve with green onions and fresh grated black pepper on top. Yum!!

Based on this recipe with a few modifications: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/egg-drop-soup/ 

This winter….

This winter starting off well. I had heard about how long and freezing Montreal winters can be so I chose to embrace this winter by spending lots of time outdoors hiking, skating and visiting to Quebec city for Carnaval where we even went dog sledding (I got in trouble for petting the dogs, big surprise there). After February, the magic of winter had long since faded and the fact that it snowed a few days ago has made things even more lack-luster. The snow is all slushy and brown, people are grumpy and just plain exhausted from the freezing wind! Everyone reassures me that the summer in Montreal makes things all worth while and I cannot wait to drink wine in the park (it's legal here!), start my balcony garden and bike to work. I sure am proud to have made it through this winter and spent much of outside (although we did binge watch House of Cards on netflix… who didn't?) but spring and summer will be welcomed with open arms!

As for the pictures, these are just a summary of some winter highlights: our trip to Quebec City (such a charming city), my belated Christmas gift from A: an oncidium orchid that smells like vanilla and chocolate, i'm obsessed, skating on the giant pond in la fontaine, drying valentine ranunculus and lastly the bustling art festival nuit blanche. 

Bring on the spring mother nature!

This is amazing

Bought this yesterday for a study treat. This is the most amazing chocolate bar! My new favourite. 

Low-key weekend

In so many ways I am glad this week is over. It's been rather stressful here due to my semester coming to an end. After a day spent in the library studying I came home to Huevos Rancheros and A and I went walking in the cold for a hot chocolate. Both were amazing. It's really winter here now. The temperature drop is always hard to get used to but I'm really looking forward to the snow. Apparently Montreal really shines in December before it gets unbearably cold. 

Went out for a nice breakfast this morning and found a lovely note from an old, great friend of mine. I love snail mail and I loved hearing her stories and adventures. 

Date night

Pretty modest bowling shoes eh? They didn't dare cramp my style.

My dress looked neat in the glow-in-the-dark lights.

Last night A and I went on a date night. Lately we've been doing our own "date night" for one another once a month. One of us plans an evening or afternoon for the other person and all the details are kept a secret! So far we've only had one each but they're really fun. It's a nice experience planning for the other and also great to not know what's going on, especially if you're usually the planner in the relationship. So, for A's date night I made plans for us to grab some Indian food and go bowling! We both love Indian food and this spot we went to was amazing. I had heard that this place was really popular on weekends so we arrived early but there was still a sizeable line outside of the restaurant and almost around the corner! I could talk in length about how disorganized and frustrating this process of waiting in line was (especially since you wait in line next to people's tables while they're eating, completely crowding their space) but I won't because everything else was really great. This restaurant is a BYOW with no corkage fee, one of my favourite things about Montreal and the food was top notch and reasonably priced! We ordered one eggplant dish that blew us away and my usual favourite okra dish was superb. We ate to our hearts content and had an excellent time.

Next we headed to a bowling alley which was once again packed but we were able to snag a lane. It was glow-in-the-dark and super hilarious. Glow-in-the-dark always makes me laugh and I love how elements of people's outfits or face suddenly stand out so much more, its really cool. Alex was a real champ and got so many strikes I lost count. I'm pretty sure the lanes were slanted or something, it was getting a bit ridiculous! Although, I didn't do so well so who knows!

All in all it was a successful date night. It's a really fun way to add some spontaneity to your relationship which isn't always easy to do. I can't wait to see what Alex plans for me in December!

Also, I took this photo on my walk home from school last week. All of the leaves are gone now but I feel lucky to have spent a fall season in this beautiful city. Now if only winter would settle in, definitely not enjoying this dreary in-between time.

Weekend at Home

This weekend A and I went to Ontario to visit my parents, sister and her beau. It was my mom's birthday and we had a lot of great family time and way too much rich food! We also went for a really nice walk along Lake Ontario where we saw a rainbow over the Toronto skyline in the distance, so lovely. Its a bit warmer in Ontario and a lot of the leaves are still on the trees. I just love fall, I am truly trying to enjoy every last little bit before it's over. As soon as we arrived back in Montreal the temperature began to feel much colder. It hasn't gone above 0 degrees in a few days now, it seems winter might be approaching faster than I'd hoped! Still, with winter comes awesome things: skating (I am so excited to skate on the ponds in Montreal's parks), hot chocolate, Christmas, snow, skiing adventures, warm soups and stews, etc. 

My mom was kind enough to give us a few ikea frames she had lying around and we were able to frame some art we bought on our adventure to the Eastern Townships a few weeks ago. They look lovely (and very fall appropriate) in our bedroom. 

It was great to be home and spend time with the family. It got me all excited for the Christmas season, one of my favourite times of the year! Still though, it is only November.. I have to pace myself.

Woke up to this stunning sunrise outside my window this morning. One of the perks of daylight savings.

Chili

One of my favourite things to cook and eat is Chili. I love that Chili can easily be made vegetarian and it is so delicious and healthy! I made a big batch (another plus is that it freezes really well) last night with delicious cream biscuits (I substitute with ww flour and put cheddar cheese on top). I thought I might share my recipe here. There are definitely a lot of ingredients but generally the meal is quite cheap when you consider how much the recipe makes.

Ingredients:

1 Large Red Onion

5 Cloves of Garlic

Olive Oil

2 Sweet Potatoes

4 Big Carrots

4-5 Stalks of Celery

3 Peppers (variety is good: one green, one red, one yellow, etc)

1 can of Kidney Beans

1 can Mixed Beans

1 can of Black Beans

1 cup Frozen corn

1 large can of Diced Tomatoes

1 large can of Crushed Tomatoes

* Ives veggie ground 

1 cup of Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded.

As far as spices go I use: Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder and Chili Flakes. Both the Cumin and Chili Powder are used liberally, probably close to 2 tablespoons each if not more. When you are making a big batch the spices don't go too far and I like my chili with a lot of flavour. Salt & pepper depend on your preference. Remember that the tomatoes tend to be saltier but you also need the salt to help the flavours meld and come out.

*optional: this stuff looks like ground beef and tastes really good, I usually put it in for my non-veggie Partner but the Chili is delicious on its own too.

1. Start by chopping all the vegetables. Onion and garlic are chopped finer but the other ingredients simply need to be chopped uniformly so they cool at a similar rate. 

2. Places the onion & garlic in one bowl, the sweet potato, carrot & celery in another and the peppers in their own bowl.

3. Strain and thoroughly wash the beans, these can be put in their own bowl. Also strain the diced tomatoes and set aside.

4. Heat a large deep pot and once warm place around 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the pot.

5. Once the oil is hot, put in the bowl of diced onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until the onion is more translucent. During this time I also put a tablespoon of Cumin & Chili Powder and coat the onion and garlic with these spices. If you like a spicier chill you can also add the Chili Flakes at this step.

6. Add the bowl of sweet potato, carrot and celery. These need time to cook. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, put the lid on the pot and set the timer for 20-25 minutes. Make sure to stir every once and a while.

7. When these vegetables are cooked but still have a slight crunch add the peppers and cook for 5 minutes.

8. Add the bowl of beans and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring and adding more spices if you desire.

9. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes and the cup of corn. Here you may wish to add even more spices upon tasting the flavour. 

10. Let the chili slow cook for about 20-25 minutes more (meanwhile put your biscuits in the oven) and towards the end add the Ives veggie ground. Make sure to stir frequently.

11. Portion out the steaming chili into bowls and serve with shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled on top and a piping hot biscuit, yum!

There you have it. Lots of prep work but a relatively easy meal! Its perfect for cooler fall & winter nights.

Montreal

Well things have been slow here as of late. A lot has changed but I'm hoping to get back into the blogging once again, hopefully this time it sticks! This summer was amazing. A and I went backpacking through South America and California for 3.5 months and man was it incredible. Still cannot believe we did all the things we did and it's all over! I'll hopefully post a few pictures from our travels sometime soon.

For now though, we are living in Montreal! I am going to school here so we have moved from Halifax (so hard to leave and I miss that city every day). We really like it here. It is definitely way bigger than any other place we've lived but its pretty fantastic. We love our new apartment, so large and so cheap (thank you rent-control)! Here are some pictures from our travels around the city. In many ways it feels like our summer travelling hasn't ended because we've been able to explore so much since we've moved here. It's pretty awesome getting to know a city.

One of our first stops was Old Montreal, here is the stunning Notre Dame.

So far my favourite park is the small Outremont park which is surrounded by old victorian homes.

Another great park is La Fontaine, theres a huge pond running through it. I can't wait to skate on it in the winter!

Oh geez. I am posting way too much about parks... this is the view from Mont Royal of downtown (one of the biggest parks in the city).

Drinking wine (trying to be stealth) in La Fontaine. 

Here is our apartment! This was when we had just moved in but this is a massive double living room, compared to our quaint Halifax abode this is a major upgrade. We are really enjoying the space.

Some new plants!

Well thats it for now. I will post a few more pictures & stories in the days to come.

wild

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It was so great! I haven't read an adventure novel in a long time and it felt so refreshing to read one coming from a female perspective, someone who was honest and relatable. I am certain that one day I will hike the Pacific Crest Trail, it sounds so challenging and beautiful. What an incredible accomplishment.

If you're in the mood for a good read, read Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

flowers & valentines

I've been receiving some pretty awesome flowers lately from A, which has been really nice. The lilies pictured above smelt amazing and made our apartment so fresh! The second picture were my valentines flowers, they are gladiolus flowers and are such a beautiful poppy red. A also made me the sweetest card, a picture of a valentine he made for his mother 17 years ago, so so sweet. On valentines day we went to our favourite greek restaurant and had such a nice meal. The restaurant gave every lady a rose (A was mad that the men didn't get roses too, haha) and the food was, as usual, amazing. For an extra treat we went to a cheesecake restaurant next door for dessert. I got the white chocolate mint cheesecake which was delicious. All in all it was a great day! I even got a valentine from my dad which is a nice tradition, he loves to say that he was my first valentine.

Even though valentines day can be a bit problematic, due to its exclusive nature, it felt nice to celebrate and appreciate the love I have in my life. I hope to have many more like this one.