Conehead Boris

This poor little noodle gave himself a stress lick while we were away for the holiday. Licked his armpit (yes, that's right) raw, pretty much, so he had to be in a cone for a few days while we applied ointment and tried to break him of the licking habit. Oh my god he was so miserable! He would try to run away from it, hit the cone off a doorway or chair leg, freak out even more and try to bolt again! There was pee everywhere because he just couldn't contain himself. He took to lying on the couch with his cone and face facing the cushion, totally the most depressing sight. One upshot is that he really sought out comfort from us while the cone was on so we got lots of cuddle time with the usually reserved Boris. He finally kicked off the cone on day four and we think he's pretty much over the stress of it. Can you imagine if people had to be put in cones for various illnesses and conditions? The world would be a tragic place - and pretty hilarious.

Why not start the year off with a goofy cat?

Preparations nearly complete

It's not quite 9:30AM here in Vancouver and I've already got the squash and potato gratin in the oven that we'll take to Rocco's office holiday party tonight. I'm imagining other house dwellers waking up and wondering how they could have slept through the day to dinner, judging by the smell. But there was no other time to do it today as I've got a lunch date, an afternoon meeting with some Emily Carr University people, a gym date (yes, you read that right) and in there somewhere I have to figure out what to wear to this party. Our sixth. Yikes.

This is the last party before we get a few days to organize, then fly to Alberta. Last weekend it was madness - 5 parties in 5 days, and that was only the invitations we accepted. On Sunday we could have gone to a Hanukkah party (we did, good dreidling!), a tree trimming party, or a contra dance. Dueling traditions! By the end of it, though we were glad we made it to every party, we were totally exhausted, way over fed, and over-peopled, if you know what I mean. This week was much more relaxed socially but very busy professionally. But, moving on, the holidays are here!

You might remember that last year I had some trouble getting into the holiday spirit. Not so this year. Maybe it was the overflowing bounty of parties, or the act of sending little parcels to fabulous people in my life (one of you has already received yours, one of you should check your mail soon!), or just the anticipation of seeing friends and family at home. Whatever did the trick, I've been looking forward to the break for weeks now. So, a big shout out to those in Alberta or traveling there in the next couple days, call me! We'll ski! We'll snowshoe! We'll hold new babies (C'mon Dawnald, I know you can do it)! We'll get tipsy and wander the snow covered streets! Not at the same time, of course.

Oh man, that squash dish smells soooooo good. Oops, I haven't had breakfast yet! No wonder I'm salivating. Enough stalling, on to the rest of the busy day. I hope you're all ready enough for the holidays and that you get a chance to down tools, put your feet up, and enjoy it this year.

Lots of love,
Liminal Me

Think before you eat

I often visit Worldchanging to see what's up with those fine folks who think so clearly about how we live in the world, and to find out what others are doing about making the world a better place. Recently they posted this public service announcement produced for Japan about national food security and public health.


The original blogger' interpretation of the meaning and influence of the PSA is very clear, and I agree with her analysis, so I'm republishing it here:

If you haven't yet seen this video from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), you're missing out. One of the cooler PSAs I've ever seen, it offers an entertaining animated rundown of food security, though the concept is never mentioned in so many words (at least in translation).

The dilemmas: Japan's food culture is slipping away; it depends dangerously on imports from a very small group of nations; Japan's agriculture economy is suffering; and Japanese citizens are unhealthy from eating too much meat and greasy food.

The solutions: Japanese citizens should think before they eat; supermarkets should buy healthy, locally produced foods and label them as such; farmers should produce more of what people need to eat.

What's missing from the minimal dialogue, I think, is a mention of the substantial changes in policy needed to help make all of these good things happen (for a background on that, I recommend Michael Pollan's recent essay).

But effective public education like this very viral video is a great first start. And the dancing cows are wonderfully, weirdly mesmerizing.

Oh me oh my!

Make sure you have the sound on for this one!

Soon to be on the menu

I've been at it again, wasting copious amounts of time on food blogs and recipe sites, ogling food porn and salivating at ingredient lists. Might have something to do with seeing The Islands Project at the Vancouver International Film Festival last week. By the time in the film they started serving an eight course meal of oysters, I was completely maxed out, and the film was *far* from vegetarian friendly, but it gave me an appetite for getting back in the kitchen.

A friend also turned me on to a food blog called 101 Cookbooks. Heidi Swanson realized that her 100+ cookbooks were packed with sticky notes and reminder tabs but that she actually wasn't cooking anything new. She vowed to try new recipes and document the journey, which brings us to her beautiful food blog where new recipes are added every couple of days, accompanied by some of the most tantalizing food photography. This week I want to try her Slurp-tastic Herb Noodles:

4 ounces thin, dried spinach pasta (thin)
1 cup coconut milk (light is fine)
scant 1 tablespoon green or yellow curry paste
1 1/2 cups lightly flavored vegetable broth
~1/4 teaspoon salt (more or less depending on the saltiness of your broth)
6 ounces tofu, cut into small cubes or pieces
1/4 cup chives, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup basil, chopped just before using
pinch of crushed red chile peppers

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. This is eventually going to be the pot you cook the pasta in.

In a separate large, thick-bottomed pot, bring 1/4 cup of the coconut milk to a simmer, mash and stir the curry paste into the coconut milk so there are no lumps. Now add the rest of the coconut milk and the vegetable broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and stir in the tofu. Taste and decide if you need to add more curry paste or salt - if you do want to add more curry paste at this point, make a slurry by combining the additional curry paste and a bit of the broth, working any lumps out - add this to the pot.

Back at the pasta pot, salt the water generously and cook the pasta per package instructions. Drain.

Just before serving stir the chives, cilantro, and basil into the curry pot. To serve, place a nice helping of noodles in the center of each bowl and finish with a ladle of the curry and tofu along with a tiny pinch of crushed red chile peppers.

Serves 2 to 4.

Since that recipe takes 1 cup of coconut milk, I went searching for another coconut milk recipe to finish off the remainder of the can. Luckily I found Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut soup that calls for seasonally abundant sweet potatoes. Sorry, no picture is available.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 (2 inch) piece fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon red curry paste
* 1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
* 3 cups vegetable broth
* 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place the sweet potatoes directly on the rack and bake until tender enough to easily pierce with a fork, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and ginger; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the curry paste and heat for 1 minute, then whisk in the coconut milk and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove the skins from the sweet potatoes and cut into bite size chunks. Add to the soup and cook for 5 more minutes so they can soak up the flavor. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of sesame oil and a little bit of cilantro.

But now I really have to get back to work! Put DOWN the food porn, liminal! Pick UP the thesis proposal!

Reader contest!

"Now I'm no meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure it's raining bitches."

First correct response wins a hella prize!

Hint: