Arm Circles: how to

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ode to the taco

there are very few things i love as much as i love tacos (whales, wolves, jeremy, the fencing scenes in princess bride). cutting out all meat minus poultry and the occasional poisson meant saying goodbye to ground beef in tacos, a difficult and emotionally fraught farewell. ground chicken isn't very satisfying and i don't like all the things i can't pronounce in soy-based, ground-beef-like vegetarian products so for a spell, we just went without. sad.

then came the wheatberry.

wheatberries are the entire kernel (less the hull) of the wheat plant. in france, people eat wheatberries as we would eat rice and in eastern europe it's used to make a christmas porridge. for our purpose and explorations we like how their texture is similar to ground beef - tender, granular, and just a wee bit chewy. we seasoned them with garlic, chili, cumin, oregano and a little curry powder and what do you know, a delicious and meat free answer to my taco addiction.

we also swapped out the sour cream for yogurt, the shredded iceburg lettuce for mixed greens and topped it off with guacamole to complete its healthy makeover without compromising any of the flavour or textures of the original taco i learned to love.
crunchy! fresh! flavourful! i can knock back 4 NO problem. 6 if no one is looking.

stop looking.

how to: make a bird face with pineapple rings and a scone

entrepreneurial air conditioning method number fourteen

wrap yourself in a sheet, lie in front of the fan, and close your eyes while jeremy mists you from head to toe with the water bottle.

take turns.

repeat.

a slice for you

corn bread is simple and delicious. especially served warm, right out of the oven. i use the recipe from mark bittman's vegetarian cookbook and i recommend it for ease of instruction and variation suggestions.

both a square tin or a frying pan will work to cook the cornbread but only the frying pan will make it look like pacman.

all the good things come in clusters

i want to tell you about pomegranate clusters. i want you to know that they're so easy and so delicious and so absolutely necessary for you to make over the holidays.

i want to add that it's a good idea to carry some with you in your pocket for sharing with strangers or treating yourself. you know, like when you're waiting for the bus.

how to: make acorn magnets

step one: collect acorns from your lawn

step two: pull their hats off

step three: hot glue a round magnet on the underside of the acorn hat

how to: make more stuff that seems impressive but really is not

freezer jam is the best thing since sliced bread and it also goes on sliced bread so that's wonderful too!

i first tried some at jeremy's dads and it's a little like the strawberry compote they put on top of funnel cakes and it's a lot delicious and you can make it in under 10 minutes and then be like 'oh i made jam and it's only 9 am!'.

it stays fresh in the fridge for up to 3 weeks and in the freezer for up to a year.

step one: wash approximately 4 cups of strawberries and remove the stems.

step two: crush the strawberries into a puree but leave some chunks. this spoon is for show i totally used my hands.

step three: add the crushed strawberries to 1 1/2 cups of sugar and a package of freezer jam pectin and stir for three minutes. you can find freezer jam pectin at grocery stores or canadian tire.

step four: ladle jam into jars, allow to sit for 30 minutes, stick in freezer or fridge.

i really can't believe how easy this recipe is and how delicious. like better than the jam that takes way longer to make by far. it doesn't last as long i guess but if you have some that's close to its expiry date just call me over, i'd be glad to help.

how to: make lemonade

step one: get your lemons and start squeezing! jeremy says if you roll them before you cut them it loosens the flesh and makes them easier to juice. it's like polite conversation before you get to the good stuff! we squeezed six lemons to make a jug.

step two: make a simple syrup by combining one cup of water with one cup of sugar and heating until the sugar dissolves. complicated syrup must have more steps than this.

step three: put a yellow dress on. jeremy said i looked like a lemon in this photo is that a compliment? i'm sure it is. lemons smell nice and roll around happily on the cutting board.

step four: pour the simple syrup into a jug with 6 cups of water and 3 cups of the fresh squeezed lemon juice. refrigerate to cool or if you can't wait, pour over ice and enjoy!

so puckery! so summery! so make some!

how to: make a tasty tuesday dinner

toast some almonds for your salad (in a pan not the toaster. unless you have a very small toaster especially for almonds. i might invent one of those soon).

make a simple homeade dressing (4 parts oil, one part vinegar, rosemary, salt and pepper)

invite the toasted almonds and the dressing to meet up with some sliced strawberries, green onion, blue cheese and mixed greens for a summery salad shindig.

put a hat on and bake some shishkabobs in the oven.

eat some fruit and cheese later when you're hungry again instead of 5 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. or eat both and just photograph the fruit and cheese.

the shiskabobs were very good for oven shiskabobs (you broil them up at the end which makes them all grill-y like on the bbq) but the salad was my favourite part. salads are so fun to invent and there's so many options for all the components like different types of lettuce and different veggies and fruit possibilities and different ways you can change the simple dressing (by adding mustard or honey for instance). a salad is like abstract art! and like abstract art if someone doesn't like your salad, tell them they just don't get it.

which reminds me i have to write yoko ono.

how to: easter egg hunt if you're home alone

step one: hide some easter eggs around your house

step two: count to ten in your bedroom. close your eyes to make it more exciting.

step three: come out. collect and eat all the eggs

how to: make sushi on saturday

step one: invite layla over

step two: do what she says

step three: bring the sushi over to steph's house later on saturday night and eat it

it was actually not at all difficult! and the rolling it up part felt really cool, like putting a seal in its rubber suit and rolling it around on the table only the seal is tiny and stuffed with rice and avocado which is maybe not the most appetizing metaphor but it's accurate! try!

ha ha ha my face. i think jeremy sees a lot of this face when he's trying to tell me something or when he's telling me not to touch something hot or just probably when he's saying anything ever.

layla was such a good teacher. when i said "how did i do" on my first one she said "really fantastic you just need to add more rice here and here" which is the mark of a good teacher when they say something nice first before they correct you. where's my job well done sticker though? or at least where's my certificate of participation.

i kept eating bits of the avocado that weren't the right size for the sushi roll. i'm such a perfectionist. also i'm such a person who makes up excuses to eat tasty looking food ingredients.

this photo is slightly blurry because i got so fast at rolling the sushi i started rolling at warp speed. it was crazy. i slowed down when my hands were smoking though cause i didn't want that to affect the fresh flavour of the roll.

et voila! looks just like real professional sushi eh?! jeremy cut it all nice on angles and stuff so basically between the two of us we can open a fancily cut vegetable roll sushi joint. screw layla! just kidding we'll mention her in the 'our story' section of the menu.

how to: play the fun image internet search game

step one: cue up the google image search finder

step two: close your eyes

step three: hit a bunch of keys

step four: hit enter

step five: look at all the neat stuff that comes up

source: all of these below pics were found using this following blind search command: gjj

how to: make a tasty before dinner treat

now that i'm a fiance, i thought i'd better start to learn some kitchen things so from time to time i'd be able to take care of jeremy in the food department instead of always the other way around. also cause 'fiance' is french and french people know how to cook.

so now when people talk about recipes and such i no longer pretend i'm listening i actually listen and try out some things to see what happens and that's where this recipe comes from! listening!

i call it 'smokey cheesy cracker (with optional piece of lettuce)' and it was a hit and here's how you make it.

step one: put some crackers on a plate. the original recipe calls for 'peppercorn triscuits' but the grocery store didn't have those so i just got a round firm-ish cracker with seeds in it.

step two: put some cream cheese on the cracker.

step three: put a smoked oyster on top of the cream cheesed cracker (if you want a nice bit of fresh crunch, put a little piece of lettuce on before you put the oyster).