Sunday Brunch and then Dufferin Grove who-Park

Started the day with vegan version of what I'm calling "Bournemouth Breakfast" because when I was in Bournemouth this time last year, all I could eat for breakfast at the hotel was the beans and tomato. Here I've added the Tofurkey brand sausages, D's flaxseed sourdough and fresh avocado (not shown).







Svetlana stretched out in the sun next to my desk. Her favorite place is the sunny spot. Prima must have been unaware that Sve was here because she usually doesn't allow such a thing to occur.



It was gorgeous out so we headed to Dufferin Grove to skate. It was our first time out this year. I'm not as wobbly this year (I think). The music reminded me of my roller skating rink days in the 70s/80s. The puppets I think were part of a celebration, along with the d.js. Usually there's just some quiet piped in classical music (the skater's waltz and that kind of thing). Lots of wee kids. When D. and I arrived, I turned to him and said: "did we forget something?"
D: "What?"
Me: "Should we have kids with us?"
D: "I don't think Svetlana would like it here."

It's all families on Sundays. No, i wasn't suggesting to D. we get going on having kids. We have our kitties and that's good for us.

Once I got going i felt okay and was able to do a couple of rounds on my own. The wee ones you really have to watch out for when you're a wobbly skater like me because they just go and go and go and will take out anything in their path.
Anywho...it was very festive and fun.







The blue and yellow hat I knit for D. because he wanted a hat with earflaps and in the St. Louis Blue colours to go with his Blues jacket. Later I lined the hat with fleece to make it extra warm.

here come the puppets 

dj at the rink. It was 70s disco and 80s pop music day. 

 

 

puppets 

Dufferin Grove rink 

mardi gras day at the rink? 

So, it can't be that bad right? Right? Wait, I'm going to think about this too much and then mellow out for a while...

Maybe I'll start a new exciting project and then save the world and party, but at the party I'll keep in the background and be "quiet and reserved." Maybe I'll take another test to be sure...

You Are 25% Addicted to Blogthings

Okay, so you know how to take and post a Blogthing. But you're no addict. (Hey, this quiz *proves* it!) For you, Blogthings is more of a healthy habit. At least, that's what you tell yourself!

How Addicted To Blogthings Are You?

I can't stop! Obsessive personality?

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

And then I saw the Superheroine test...

I'm a definite sucker for these things and I love the "superheroine" character and I loved the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (no calls were answered on Tuesday nights).

You Are Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"We saved the world. I say we have to party."

What Superheroine Are You?

I'll stop overindulging in these things, but it is a nice change from Olympic fever.
I have to go to work!

My temperament? Really? Let me overthink this....

Thanks from The End of It All who retrieved it from Wandering Coyote.

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

Wow for 4 or 5 questions this seems like a pretty apt description.

Olympic overload

I've reached Olympic overload. I can no longer bear to watch Olympic coverage on any channel. It's all become one big blurr of events. Don't misundertand, it's a wonderful competition and all the athletes are amazing. Hurray for all of them! However, I've overloaded myself with the spectacle of winning and I no longer want to see people compete at a frenetic pace or passion to win in that brief window of opportunity that is present for just a fraction of a second for them to reach their dream. It's overwhelming. Furthermore, since it's been the only thing I've been watching this last week (I miss movie nights!) and I've been watching the same formula on every channel, it seems like one long day. I even feel a bit jet lagged watching evening events in the day and vice versa. You can see how confused I am.
On top of it all I've watched myself and those around me get caught up in the dramas that the media enhances to try and make the athlete's drive more dramatic, to make that plummet down the mountain seem like the athlete's last chance at happiness. It's taken over our lives. Now I feel nauseous.
So I'm happy to be going to work if only to break up with the Olympic coverage for a day (okay I admit i had the Russia/Finland hockey game on in the background. See? It's just background noise now).
I'm out the door and moving on.

Ruggles of Red Gap

Sitting in my living room I heard a strange noise. There's a door between our apartment and my sister's apartment so I checked the door and guess who?



Ruggles of Red Gap was squeaking at my door. It's not really a meow it's more a rubbery squeak. Our apartment is his new thing. He loves to visit and just hang out. Sve and Prima don't really mind. They're really good with him. He sits at my feet under my desk or just stretches across the floor. Hope this hasn't gone too far already.

Interior activites. The Marvel Quilt.

A beautiful day today, it's very spring-like. A perfect day to run outside! I walked to drop off an application at one of whoville's optical retailers and envied the runners I saw go by. The sun came out and there was just a bit of a cool breeze. It was definitely above zero because I didn't need a hat and on my way home even went without gloves. The park must have been lovely to run in. I just can't risk it. Any pain and I need to stop.

So it's on to interior activities, knitting, quilting/sewing, and baking. A few weeks ago, D. rescued this beautiful little sewing machine from the side of the road that had been ditched by someone. It was just sitting there outside of his workplace. He brought it in and plugged it in and it worked! D. doesn't know much about sewing machines so he thought it best to bring it home for me to check out. I don't know much about sewing machines, but everything looked okay. I did a few test stitches and saw smoke. D. took the wheel and the motor started to spark so we decided to see how much it would cost to refurbish it.



Here it is! That's our dear 17 year old Svetlana in behind it on the table. One of D's sweaters I made him is on the table waiting for a seam repair (hey, I can knit but I'm still learning the finer points of finishing). It has zig zag, buttonholes, and reverse which is a big step forward from the old singer that sis and I have been using. I'm pretty excited.

This machine gave me a chance to finish my quilt. Of course I've been using the quilt on the bed anyway, but the borders were not quite right so I re-did them on the Marvel sewing machine and now I can sleep more peacefully.



And here's the quilt. It's made from donated fabric that a kind friend gave to me. I went through the scraps, collecting until I decided to make a quilt. It took me a year to complete (just because I'd put it aside and come back to it again and again). My only expense was the cotton filling and the thread! Not bad.



I'd like to hang it outside and take a photo for better lighting, but it's a little chilly and I've really nothing to hang it on. I'll wait until the summer before I put it away during the inevitable heatwave.

Vegan Lunch Box

Julia reminded me of the vegan lunch box site from Schmoo blog. I've added it to my "notable blogs" list for all to click, view and drool. Thanks Julia.

Coretta Scott King Vegan and Animal Voices radio

I was just listening to Animal Voices on the radio and heard that Coretta Scott King was vegan! One more reason to admire this woman and the legacy of her family with compassion towards all living creatures.

I'm sure I've mentioned this radio show before since I do appreciate the existence of it. Oh yes, I mentioned it when I was excited about winning the Vegan Essentials gift certificate. I still haven't used the g.c. yet. It's too hard to decide on what to get so I'm waiting for the right moment. I have a year to use it so why rush?

Today on Animal Voices they also discussed the use of horse meat (exported mostly, but also available in Quebec and Vancouver, and hidden in pet foods) as a nasty industry that needs to be regulated. Horse in slaughterhouses is just a really nasty affair and apparently the video footage will confirm yet another horrible suffering of an animal in a slaughterhouse. You can click on the link above if you want the details. Animal Voices puts up transcripts for each show. PETA is also currently taking action on this issue. So you could follow up there too.

On a more positive note our dear sweet Chengo is on his way home from the vet. His food was changed recently to Wysong and he got crystals as a result, but fortunately with some minor invasive treatment he has passed them all at the vet and can return home with lots of meds and some new prescribed food. I was so worried about the little guy. It's always frightening when they want to keep your cat overnight. Apparently other male cats have proven to show problems with Wysong and Wellness and it is even showing up in some dogs. Chengi is on his way home with his mum as I write.

Sidelined

All the websites and reference books seem to be telling me the same thing, I have Achilles Tendonitis. No, this isn't a doctor's diagnosis. Perhaps that's my next step and then I can be directed to physio. This is not good. Not only does this not feel good, but it changes my training schedule. To sum it up, if it hurts I can't do it.
How did this happen? Too much pace and/or incline too quickly. It could also be further aggravated by my expired shoes. If the cushioning has gone then the achilles tends to stretch more than it probably should (age is a factor too). The dreaded treadmill has much to do with it. No one runs at a consistent pace as the treadmill encourages. They can automate incline changes, but perhaps pace should randomly change as well. Since I've noticed the pain, when I run inside I have started to adjust my pace every five minutes, checking in with how I feel on the treadmill. Now I need to think about a heel wedge for my shoe, icing after a workout and stretching, not going in my sock feet indoors and worst of all considering if yoga is perhaps overstretching the achilles. No yoga?! Maybe I should switch to the much slowed restorative classes at the end of the day as opposed to the vinyasa flow of the regular ashtanga class.
Now I must adjust my training schedule. I was hoping to do the Missisauga half marathon in May, but that may not be in my sights for now. So I need to re-think my training yet again for 2006. I settled on the Missisauga run when I realized that I couldn't afford to get to the Tofino run and now...more frustration. Maybe I can do some 5 or 10 k runs for fun?

slow food

Last night cbc inserted a "cultural moment" into the Olympic coverage. This is where they explore the culture around the place where the event is set. Last night was a segment on slow food. D. was aware of it and so I watched it. Of course I then realized that this is what the symbol at Fressen (my favorite vegan restaurant) is about and what they mean by slow food. Ding! The light went on in my head when I made the connection. Becoming vegan, consuming mostly organics, and my desire to eat foods that are seasonal and local is all coming together. A little slow myself sometimes.

venture over to Vegan Freaks

It's worth checking out Vegan Freaks. There is a posting about how shelter dogs end up in labs as testing animals. It's horrific yes but a post worth reading and one of the comments does recognize a similar story done by the cbc a couple of years ago.

B horror movie where the B stands for "bad"

When A Stranger Calls 


I don't even know why I am wasting my time writing about this. I suppose it is to warn anyone from seeing it. Rent the original if you want to be bored, don't bother seeing this remake.
In general I don't see remakes, but the opportunity to see a film with a friend who is also a horror fan led us to this film. True, I don't regret going because I did really like the North by Northwest style house in the film. However, a house can't carry a film I learned. Even the House on Haunted Hill needed characters for it to be spooky.
When A Stranger Calls is pretty thin in terms of story. As a horror film it's a feature length cliche of teen girl (Jill Johnson) with boyfriend troubles who is stalked by an unknown killer. Her best blonde friend is killed (who by the way was played by an actress who was at least 30 as my film going friend pointed out). There's the usual suspenseful creaky sounds that Jill Johnson pursues only to be suprised by nothing there. Even these supposed suspenseful scenes are anything but. This film even has a black cat for good measure. The only great moment for me was when the glass to the indoor aviary was broken open and there's a close up of the black cat eating one of the canaries. Unfortunately, this is a flash on the screen and has nothing to do with the rest of the film. It foreshadows nothing. No one gets killed (except the blonde bimbo and the live-in maid, but she has no lines) and we are bombarded with annoying phone sequences -- that at times lack logic -- and even more confusing moments with the house's security system (is it on or isn't it?). The feeble attempt at some sort of storyline with Jill and her boyfriend is left hanging and so what. No one cares if they get together or not. He's never thought to be a suspect so who cares. The bad nothing-but-expository dialogue we've endured gives us nothing to care about or even hope for.
As for the killer in the traditional serial killer issued outfit (akin to prison garb with black boots), there's no explanation of who he is or why. When we are given a long moment on his face at the end it means nothing. Is this supposed to be burned on the mind of Jill Johnson? Why she wakes up screaming in the end, I don't know. This isn't Carrie. She didn't wrong someone and watch her whole school burn to the ground in a bloody massacre. The killer doesn't make it scarier, but at least gives her something to run from. I think at least in the original there was some attempt to make us feel sorry for the killer's warped world.
When a Stranger Calls? Try not to be aware that there's a camera and crew there.
When a Stranger Calls? Wandering aimlessly through the rooms of a posh house will not help.
When a Stranger Calls? Hang up.

Lying Tart!

I forgot to mention this with regards to my early Sunday morning commute to see red Fred. The local paper, the Sun, has a box on our corner and it's the trashier of the local papers. So there's usually a deadly picture or a shocking headline to make you fear life itself. However, Sunday morning was a picture of Jennifer Heil smiling. In big bold black letters it read:
LYING
TART!

I stopped in my tracks and did a double-take. It took me a moment to realize that the newspaper box frame had cut off the first letter of each word. The "F" and the "S" had been cut off.

Monday

Starting a new day.

Cat sitting is over. My sister has returned so I don't have to care for her brood anymore. She's also helping me out by looking after red Fred today (even though I do kind of miss going to see him). So my cat sitting is over. I'm a bit relieved really. Last night I felt quite tired from it all even with D. helping me out feeding my sister's cats in the morning while I went off to see red Fred. My own cats were becoming quite needy. D. leaves so early in the morning for his long commute to work so the cats just rely on me for attention in the day. One morning I was trying to get ready in the bathroom and Prima and Svetlana were like a circus act, weaving around my legs, jumping from the bathtub to the sink to the bathtub to the sink etc etc and then both were on the sink while I'm trying to put contacts in my eyes. I finally had to say enough and I picked them both up and put them out in the hallway. It was getting to be cat crazy. You've seen the cast of characters so you know Rupert, Penny, Chengo and Ruggles were just as needy (especially Rupert and Chengo). You can't just dump food in a bowl and leave. Each cat needs attention, each one needs to be acknowledged.

Oh yes, I was starting a new day. Just me and my cats and back to writing and job hunting since I did one catering shift last week on Wednesday.

I was called on the day of the event, which was just a sit down dinner for 10 people in a house not too long a commute from home so it was all good. Lovely old house that looks partially renovated while trying to maintain the old bones of the house. This was refreshing to see since so many of these wealthy homes are gutted and rebuilt from the bottom up so that all is left is the exterior facade and maybe some old windows. Generally though the houses are gutted and rebuilt to look Restoration Hardware. In sum, they are quite bland. Thus, this house was refreshing. The couple were lovely. Two very sweet dogs lived there. The woman greeted us after walking the dog. She wore a full length down coat and a big ol' fur hat. I try not to react too startled when people greet me with fur on since it happens so much in the work I do. She's very nice and relaxed with us and doesn't mind that her cutlery doesn't match or the plates and wine glasses are odd shaped. She overlaps two different table cloths in order to cover the length of the dining table. So this all bodes well for me because she's fairly casual about it. Don't misunderstand though even though nothing matches, her mismatched things are beautiful. The cutlery is still silver, some of the stemware is still Riedel and the mismatched tablecloths are Provence prints,and the placemats she bought at the Met in New York. The crowd for dinner are predominantly artists so methinks this is part of her mismatched design plan.
I digress.
Back to the fur hat...
At the end of the evening I feel like I've had enough. It's been enough work since there was just two of us on the job and Sharon was in the kitchen the whole night cooking while I served hors d'oevres, did a little bartending, served dinner, cleared, helped with dishes etc etc. It was a busy night. It all went smoothly. So at the end of the night the hostess tells us she has no cash for a tip, but will write us checques. Sharon and I gather our things and I casually toss my tibuktu bag on the couch. This bag has a PETA logo stitched into it that I bought from PETA many years ago. Usually, I'm discreet about the logo in these homes for the same reason I served lamb stew that night without complaint -- it's my job and I'm not there to offend the client. The hostess hand me the checque and says, "Oh, PETA. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Are you vegan?"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "My sister is vegan! I know all about it. Do you know Farm Sanctuary?"
Me: "The one in New York?"
She nods and hurries into the kitchen.
Me: "Of course I know it. I'd love to go someday."
Her (from the other room): "My daughter goes every summer with her cousin and the two of them help out around the farm."
She returns to me holding out a photo.
Her: "This is my daughter with the pigs. These two pigs were rescued from the slaughterhouse."
Me: "They're beautiful."
In the photo are two young girls (around 10 or 12) hugging these beautifully full grown large pigs lyiing in big bed of straw. It makes my heart melt, it's such a moving photo because I hope it changes these girls lives. I understand that they have the privilege of wealth so that their kids can go to places like this instead of summer camp and their lives will be changed forever. They will learn about the things we aren't told about animals when we grow up.

On Saturday I'm at red Fred's and we've done some bonding. He's eating. I turn on the t.v. to see what's what and am immediately caught up in a TVO children's program that is in the midst of a visit to a sheep farm in England somewhere. Lambs are being born on a regular basis it would seem. This is the spectacle of the animal world that children are riveted to so I see the attraction. We get to watch the spectacle of a "lambing" (a birth -- see i've learned something already). there is no explanation of why there are so many sheep in such a small space nor why the lambs are being born so regularly and are hopping around the space with blue numbers painted on them. What the children's show doesn't permit is a view into the lamb's future which is slaughter. How do you explain that to your youngster? The solution. Don't tell them about it and make this sheep barn seem as natural as the Old MacDonald song. From a very early age we learn that farms are natural, eating meat is natural but there is no connect shown between the two. A step is omitted.

Next.

Another channel has this crazy show called Maralee Dawn and friends (the friends are two puppets. Maralee is a ventriloquist). The theme music is "merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream" that you'll remember from the Row Row Row your Boat fun times in nursery school. Maralee's show is a Christian emphasized program where, for example, she has a talk with an Elvis impersonator who tells us there is "only one king" and corrects one of Maralee's friends when they say Elvis is the only king. The impersonator says that no, "it's Jesus Christ. We should want to be like Jesus. The king of kings." Again I digress.

In a section of Maralee's show titled "Adventures in Scripture" we visit a zoological garden where we are invited to watch penguins swim merrily around a pool. These penguins, we are told, are rescued from an oil spill. The narrator continues to tell us the generic facts about penguin life. No explanation is offered about the oil spill being a problem nor is there any explanation about penguins not really living in a pool in a "zoological garden." We learn to identify the bird but not the bird in its "natural" environment. There is no explanation offered of their real world location. Therefore, this scene is normalized. A zoo is shown to be a normal habitat of sorts. Animals are experienced through zoos.

Understand that I never see children's programming (except for maybe Yoho Ahoy when I manage to catch it) so this is a revelation for me. I know we can do better. Adult programs are no improvement. We have "nature shows" that need to contain a voice of God narration to give us a traditional dramatic narrative with Aristotlean like build up in order to keep us from changing channels. Darwinism is endorsed as is the heterosexuality of animals (when it is proven that the animal world is completely bisexual). Furthermore, the presence and necessity of presence of humans is also shown as normal.

I know there is no simply solution to our co-existence with animals. We can't ignore our imprint on their lives and how we've altered their existences with no regard for their needs. Yes there are amazing organizations and people doing incredible things to improve our relationships with animals worldwide. I applaud them, donate to them and encourage others to know about their work. My concern is what I've mentioned above, the misinformation we give our children about our relationship to animals. These shows don't have to be done away with (although I wonder about the Elvis impersonator???). At some point in a child's development do we not have to come clean? Fur is an animal's skin torn away. Milk is meant for baby cows and not the only source of calcium. Meat is factory farmed. Wild life doesn't really exist. Do we not have to tell them the truth at some point?

Okay, I really digressed there. This was supposed to be about Monday. Monday being a new day...

in memory of

Cats, cats, cats, cats and more cats. I'm cat sitting. There's actually not much sitting involved more feeding, watering and scooping. Very little sitting. red jane (see the End of it All blog link) is shooting a commercial in Chile and I'm now looking after her glorious red Fred. He's beautiful as you can see from the pix on her site. He came right out of hiding for me and I did get to do some sitting because Fred and I aren't too familiar with each other so we spent a good while getting to know each other. He bit me in the head! It was a friendly bite though. He's very playful and likes to rub against his sisal post. After getting acquainted he spent some time marking my bag, rolling on it and rubbing his little face on it. Oh red Fred!


The "in memory of" is for Mama Sita who left the cat world last February 9th. We miss her here in whoville. She was much loved and gave much love in return.
She was 13 or so when my sister and mother rescued her in the early 90s (can't remember the exact year). She had kittens with her and the whole lot was fortunately rescued from the Montreal winter. Sis took her in and Mama had a good life. She was able to live in places in the city where she could go outside and catch mice, chew on grass and all that good cat stuff. She was incredibly intelligent and was very good at communicating what she needed or what was bothering. Her eyes were very expressive and bright. I don't have picture to post unfortunately, but hopefully in the future I can scan one so all can see how lovely she truly was. We miss you Mama and are grateful to have known you and spent time with you during your life.

what is the sound of one needle knitting?

A very thoughtful friend bought a knitting book for sis and I. It's called "Mindful Knitting" by Tara Jon Manning. It's about knitting as meditation. The author's passion for knitting led her into a graduate program in textile design and she talks about how her studies led her to "explore the relationship between the work of the hands and the qualities of the mind." If you've been reading whoville for a while now you'll know that this book is right up my alley.

The book offers a progression in knitting from a very simple pattern to ending with more complex stitches to meditate upon. The intention of the book is to develop your mindful focus as your knitting skills progress.

I've only just started reading, but am completely won over by her approach. I am even looking forward to knitting the first pattern which is a garter stitch scarf. This is something that might be last on my list these days since I've knit so many scarves for so many people in so many colours, patterns and lengths. However, the reason I am excited about knitting a garter stitch scarf again is because Manning's offers new directions to take your focus when you get to that bored point and to take time to "stay in the present moment as each stitch is formed."

In other knit news...

Still working the Grace pattern from knitty.com. Phew! I took it apart and decided to try it again using circular needles as far as I can on the body before the shaping takes me back to two needles. I prefer the circular needles so far and am just excited to try something new.

If anyone has combined knitted pieces and fabric garment pieces together do tell. I would like to explore things like knit sleeves on regular t-shirts or vice versa or half and half knit and fabric things like...whatever. I suppose the only thing to do is go for it.

Today I vegan...

Today I vegan my day with a shot of espresso in my favorite
Juventus cup, which I won in a Christmas party prize draw (what luck that the cups had my team on it!). It's the small things that give me pleasure. I vegan my day with spicy scrambled tofu (yellowed using Tumeric), home-fried potatoes just like mom use to make, fresh gorgeous ripe avocado, D's sourdough, pomegranate smoothie, and a soy vanilla macchiato (courtesy or our shiny custom made Saeco machine). I love brunch!

Today I also vegan my day with my favorite t-shirt from Vegan Essentials that reads "Vegetarianism wish you were here!" and there's a sillhouette of a couple of palm trees and a pig on that sanctuary paradise.

Today I vegan a search in the tva.ca directory and found two new vegan delightful blogs that I've added to my "notable blogs" in the sidebar. They are: Post Punk Kitchen and Bunnyfoot.

Today I vegan giving into my Tuna-Free Salad Sandwich craving. When I went to fluville in January (see my archives if you're really that concerned), I had a strange Tuna salad sandwich craving that disturbed me. I recalled being sick as a child and my mother giving me a tuna salad sandwich (my favorite comfort food as a child) that made me feel almost instantly better. Anywho...I consulted my trusty Vegan Planet (I highly recommend this cookbook by Robin Robertson. I've made numerous recipes from it and none have failed or let me down in anyway. Do I need footnotes in my blogs? If i can figure out how to footnote properly, I will). Vegan Planet's Tuna-Free Salad Sandwich is unbelievable delicious and tasty like the real flavored thing (It's the taste of the sea) without the cruel suffering or mercury (Note to newly pregnant friend G: mercury free! If you get that craving make this recipe!).

Tuna-Free Salad Sandwich (I've made it so many times I'm writing it from memory)

1 can of chickpeas (or you can soak your own -- you need about 15oz)
1/2 cup of blanched almonds (I've also used raw almonds and it works fine. I've also recently
discovered soaked sunflower seeds in my ventures into Raw
cuisine and I suspect this would work well too, but I haven't actually
tried it)

Pulse these two in a food processor until roughly chopped.

Add:

1 tbls of lemon juice
1 tsp of kelp powder (granules) *this is the key ingrediant to give it that flavor

Blend until well combined.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in:

I/3 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup of Vegenaise (or your own favorite vegan mayo -- you can make your own too with silken tofu)
1 1/2 tsp of Dijon mustard
1 scallion minced (personally, I haven't tried it this way because I'm allergic to scallion)

salt and pepper to taste

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors blend. Enjoy!

I can't refrigerate for the 30 minutes because I can't wait and it tastes just as good.


***

Where I've Been Surfing

The Meatrix

If you've seen The Matrix you should see
the Meatrix.
Educational and entertaining.


Generally, I don't endorse car culture but I came across this honda civic add where a choir is used to make the noises of a car on the road and all the sounds that entails. You can check it out
at: http://www.honda.co.uk/civic and watch the video and even watch the making of.
I'm not entirely sure what this says about the human/machine relationship, symbiotic? Maybe J.G. Ballard said it all in Crash

***

In other news...

Thursday

After a 12 hour fast, had some bloodwork done to satisfy my doctor's desire to make sure my B12 is where it should be. Felt pretty weird since I usually snack about every two hours. All I could think about in the doctor's waiting room was the LARABAR in my bag, waiting for me to tear into it. I don't remember eating it that's how hungry I was.

After sufficient lunch (Soba noodles with a nutty sauce stir fry) and digestive time I ran in who-High Park for the first time this year! It was so nice to be back. There were a lot of dogs and their walkers, but I managed okay (I have a big dog phobia). I stuck close to another runner just ahead and tried to look the other way as I passed a Shephard. Progress.

The run felt great. Not sure how far I went. It's just good to run outside again. The weather has been so mild the outdoor run is unavoidable. I'm trying to stretch the life of my running shoes that I'm pretty certain have expired. I inserted some nice gel insoles and that give a little cushioning, but if anyone has any other tips or advice please let me know.

New screenplay idea is developing. I'm very excited about this. Hopefully, it's going somewhere. Help me with this one Universe.

Friday

Downward Dog Day. Few people turned out for my favorite class which meant more hands on correction and adjustments from both the instructor and her teaching assistant. The teaching assistant was great and really attentive. Usually they just adjust, but this one asked questions about where I was feeling the stretch (pain!) and it was much more interactive.
Overall, I didn't have a good class for some reason (water retention?), but I still enjoyed it and did benefit from it.

Time for that Tuna-Free sandwich before the 3rd period of the Blues game starts.

teen stories

I've seen enough movies this year about teen angst. Let me clarify, I've seen enough movies this year and probably this lifetime about teenage boy angst. The most recent film that I saw with this subject matter was Thumbsucker. Don't misunderstand, I did enjoy the film. What initially drew me to the film was being a Tilda Swinton fan. Once into the film however, the strength of the story and the characters kept me engaged to the end. I did notice that I was really interested in what happened to Rachel (I think that was the character's name). I suppose that's one of the nice things about Thumbsucker is that not all the blanks are filled in for you. It doesn't really matter what happened to Rachel, and there's enough there to see how she's transformed and to wonder why. What resulted from this is a renewal of my interest in the teenage girl story. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to the horror film in my early years of studying cinema. Actually, I had always enjoyed watching horror movies and being scared. Film studies just gave me an opportunity to look at the horror film in a new way. Even in their, at times, poorly written stories these films are often about teen girls or stories about women. True women are often monstrous and even the female hero is often undermined by her Otherness or by a man stepping in. I could write a thesis about it. Ha, ha.
Anywho...
Teen life can be a traumatic time for most, but I don't think enough girl stories are seen on screen. Yes, they do exist but they are far less common than the boy stories. It reveals who is writing the stories and who is making the stories.
In part of my story writing life, I've never been able to really capture what I want to say about being a teen girl. I suppose I'll take another stab at it and maybe the screenplay is just the format I've been waiting for.
What I want to ask of anyone reading this is if you could offer your own tragic or joyful moments of being a teenage girl. If you don't want to comment with a name then go for the anonymous option or you can email me if you'd rather. It's a bit of research for me.
Hopefully, you'll respond.