me and m.e.c.

me in Taiwan waiting for the sunrise atop Alishan Mountain

I have been heading towards this job for years now. Ever since graduating from Algonquin College with a Diploma in Outdoor Adventure, I have been gaining experience in the industry and in different work environments, which have all been crucial to how I experience this new job today. That's what everything comes down to... out past experiences help determine how we experience the things we do today.

I now work for MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT CO-OP!

I just finished 2 weeks of training with a few more to go. Training that consists of literally testing all the outdoor gear we sell in the store. M.E.C. is the Toy'r'us for adults outdoor enthusiast. All the gizmo's and gadgets, sweaters and tents, and gear you could ever want.

I have been nervous, excited, calm and exhausted, these feelings changing likes waves depending on what I would be doing next. But I feel good. And that's all that matters.

m.e.c. you make me look forward to winter. You surround me with people who boost my own enthusiasm for the outdoors. You all speak my language. You all recycle and know what composting is.

My mind can grow, heal and rejoice at my job... this is going to be easy to get used to :-)

I earned a badge for my Dirt Pudding!

My recipe for Dirt Pudding was featured on The Back Burner today.
Click on the badge above to see the post.

The Back Burner features receipes uploaded from The Key Ingredient, the recipes come from all over, usually with pictures and a commentary. We all know that some recipes never turn out right even if you follow them precisely, so its refreshing to see real recipes in action.

Funny Munday

What's on the menu...

Round up those veggietarians and fry 'em!

-Photo found on Flicker

Everything tastes good when campfire is involved

Left over Red Lentil and Cauliflower curry from the Veganomicon, and Garlic Naan

Marinated Tofu, Rice Cheese, fried eggs and fresh blueberries.

Just a peek into our Dinner and Breakfast over campfire. We went up to the Elora Gorge Conservation area this summer and had a fantastic time. Clear, deep lake swimming, fishing, hiking...oh and eating!

Make the reservations, fill the cooler, pack the car and GO!
Don't think, Don't stall, just go!

1 - 2 - 3

Summer this year has been the most rewarding summer I have ever had. And the most thinking I have ever done, in one small period of time. Hop into my head and I'll tell you all about it.

I don't usually stop and think about all the good things there are, because I am so busy living through the daily stuff. Unless a cool breeze blows my way, or something beautiful catches my eye, I don't stop moving. I never stop moving. But this week, I have had alot of time to think, which is what vacations are for right? But this vacation I took to get away from daily life. I took it to find the connection to myself that was quickly slipping away. The hustle and bustle of daily life, is a common theme for almost everyone, which leads almost everyone to say the same cliche lines like 'You have to stop and smell the roses or time will pass you by" things like that, ya know?

I am a victim of always thinking one step ahead. When I am eating breakfast I am thinking about lunch, when I am driving I am thinking about what I will do when I get there.

I saw an ad in a magazine for Le Creuset cooking ware, and it showed one of their amazing pots on the stove beside a pile of fresh veggies and herbs, and in the background a group of smiling women around a table. The caption was "This is my Happy Hour" and I laughed because that is the perfect way to describe what I feel.

So I stopped to think about all the good things...

Everyone has their release, and as Happy Hour at the bar is a relaxing thing to do after a hard day, my kitchen is the bar to me, and food is the vice that grips my racing mind and brings me back to the ground.

Standing in my kitchen, chopping, smelling, washing, dicing, every step of the way, is pure instinct. I can pick up two items and smell them and know if they will taste good together. I know by the sound of the oil in the pan if its too hot, I know by the way a mushroom cuts under my knife how old it is. I know by the density of the pizza dough, how long it will need to cook and what temperature I should put it at, so that it cooks slow enough to cook the veggies on top while not over cooking the crust. All these things calm my senses. Knowing things without a doubt, calms me, Life, on the other hand isn't a bowl of produce, I can't anticipate it.

My routine has been thrown off lately. My direction in life is changing. My habits, my complacency in the job world is gone, I am back on the market. There is nothing more sobering than updating your resume and putting yourself through job interviews. Some say that starting fresh is invigorating and wonderful when you are moving in a forward positive direction. But dammit its scary! Its like being the new kid in school, so much to learn, and yet, so much excitement.

But things are different, the jobs I am applying for are in the Adventure Industry, well, the gear and equipment sales of the Adventure Industry. But long story short, is that I know Adventure gear and equipment like I know food. Funny eh? If you were camping, climbing, paddling, hiking, skiing, in hot, cold, wet, dry, high, low, I would know what you need to outfit your entire trip.

So here I am waiting for calls from future employers, waiting to go to another interview on Monday and cooking, at home, on a much needed vacation.

But no matter, what, everything always comes back to food.




Roasted Veggies

2 cloves Garlic
10 cherry Tomatoes
10 yellow Heirloom tomatoes
2 jalapeno peppers
1 green pepper
a few turns of fresh cracked black pepper
a pinch coarse sea salt
a few gulps of olive oil

• Slice these all together roughly, toss with olive oil and place on tinfoil. Bake in preheated oven set at 350 for about 20 mins, you don't want the garlic to get too brown so stir the veggies around on the baking sheet every once and a while and pull them out when they are soft and roasted.

• Dump all the veggies into a small high sided container and add:

a handful of fresh chives
a handful of fresh basil.

• Pulse with hand blender a few times for chunky sauce or lots of times for smooth sauce. Toss over some warm pasta with:

a small tab of butter about 1 tbsp.

• A Delicious side dish to accompany a piece of pan fried salmon, or tofu or chickpeas!

Always come back to the things you love.

earth+water+sun= life

I picked up a mixed packet of wild flower seeds at a local flower shop and threw them into some soil, watered and waited and here they are (except for the portulaca). I planted these a little later in the season, so they are just coming alive now, which is nice, because many of my other plants are finishing off their season.

Like so many gardeners, many of my tomato plants turned into trees bearing just a few green tomato's which never ripened before their branches broke and withered away. There has just been so much rain. I mean, I wasn't complaining, since carrying my watering can into the apartment for refills, 8 times a day, was tiring! But the rain was just too much, this season. So chop-chop went a few of my saddest tomato plants to make room for those that were producing.

These are some photos of the tomato's I harvested this week. Mmmm, roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and Hosin sauce.

It is late August, you can feel the night becoming cooler, and I can't help but think that summer is coming to an end. I am dedicated to my outdoor space though, still clinging to the idea that I can sit out there anytime I want.

Coltrane and I still frequent the garden daily. I end up checking all the veggies and pulling off dead leaves, he sniffs around, chases flies and eats any flecks of grass that try and poke through the stones. We are a good team!

Summer is and will always be, my favourite season!

words

Be the change that you want to see in the world. - Gandhi

Action expresses priorities. - Gandhi

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - Gandhi

Where there is love there is life. - Gandhi

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Gandhi

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. - Gandhi

Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.

- Gandhi

The pleasure lies in making the effort, not in its fulfillment. - Gandhi

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind. - Gandhi

It is health which is real wealth, not pieces of silver and gold. - Gandhi

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. - Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Gandhi

All true art must help the soul to realize its inner self. - Gandhi

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They are simply words, arranged in different order. Words which you can choose to hear, or choose to ignore. Each day that passes, Words are getting stronger. When I lived overseas for a year, I entered an English word vacuum. No longer susceptible to subliminal messaging, subconscious reading. There was a splodge of English here and there, but as the Chinese language is mainly symbols and characters. I found myself grasping for books like I was gasping for air. I would lay on the couch all day, and read, line after line, feeding my mind with what it craved.

But why did I crave the Word? Why do 'we' crave the word?

Actions speak louder than words... I want words. I want them on my shirts, I want them in my kitchen, I want them on my body.

Words speak to me.

These quotes I found today, will be stamped on my walls within the week. Why? Because I have lost focus, things have been blurry. I have been back to Canada for years now, but with the onslaught of English advertising, highway signs, cereal boxes, that need to read, left me. It didn't even leave a forwarding address until today. Today it called from within and told me I need to start CHOOSING what I read.

I only really know one language. One set of words which when arranged in one way, makes me feel good, while when arranged in another can shift my world, bring me down, hustle me out of my drive to be me.

Since positive words make me feel so good, I must surround myself with them. I will let these words affect me, effect me, penetrate my being. I want these words to be my mood, my mantra, my food.

What do words mean to you?