Saturday Snapshot: Always look on the bright side of life

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted (now) by Melinda at West Metro Mommy. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Melinda's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

A few weeks ago I had the good fortunate to take in a local production of "Spamalot." Although the sound was not perfect, the show was a most excellent good time! Still giggle a little when I think of the bunny. I was not expecting the ending; suffice to say the actors could barely keep it together themselves when they were through a bit of a curve ball.

Saturday Snapshot: Ground Control to Major Tom

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

This was an exciting week here, all related to activities I had not participation in other than as a ecstatic observer.

The most exciting was the return of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield after 144 days in space. I along with thousands of others followed his journey via his twitter feed and followed the live feeds of the return overseas. The photos and videos he took were/are spectacular. I am still awed someone in space--in SPACE--was communicating so freely with the world. And a Canadian too!

 

I loved his final transmission, so to speak, which was a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (which is available on Youtube). Do want to give a shout out to Emm Gryner, who completed the piano arrangement for the cover. I met and interviewed her years ago, so feel a distant connection to the whole thing. Read how she became involved in the cover on her blog.

Not quite equally exciting was Chelsea FC's win over Benfica to win the Europa League Football Championship. Been a roller coaster year for the Blues but a bit of joy at the end for all us fans!! Well, and the players too. :-)

Saturday Snapshot: Support Through Daffodils

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

April was daffodil month here, in support of Canadians living with cancer. I wore this daffodil pin in memory of my aunt and in honour of many friends who have battled cancer over the years.

Who would you wear it for?

And because some of you are surprised/dismayed by the weather where I am, April 30 brought forward wind flurries, snow flurries and rain. A cornucopia of weather!

 

And just a bit more to wake up to on April 30.

Saturday Snapshot: Winter for Spring

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

We had a lovely relapse into winter this month. April Fool's Day brought us this:

 

April 13 brought this:

  

And April 20 brought a little more:

I love the snow but my enthusiasm is starting to wane!

(Oh, and FYI, I've hit Instagram as an experiment. If interested, look for hopechaser11!)

Saturday Snapshot: Happy Birthday!

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

We are celebrating the 100th birthday of our city library this year. A great announcement was made two weeks ago that all new and renewals would be free for the whole year! Such a great marketing move to bring people into the fold. Happy 100th Birthday!

Saturday Snapshot: Spring Flurries

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.


This past Thursday we had a lovely gift to celebrate the beginning of spring - 30 cms of snow via all day flurries! It was quite pretty to watch the flurries, and was grateful I didn't have to go out at all. Lots of traffic accidents around the province that day.

I took this around 7:30am:

And this one around 1pm (see how large the snow flakes are?):

Accumulation on the balcony:

Saturday Snapshot: Sweet Rolls

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Back to baking again here, and trying out a new recipe and spelt flour. I had not baked with yeast for at least 12 years; it's always made me a bit afraid. Well, that and nothing beats my mom's homebread bread so why bother?!

But I wanted to continue trying out different tastes (hence the spelt) and recipes so I decided to try raspberry sweet rolls. Here is the final batch prepping for the oven. I ran out of parchment paper so foil had to substitute to line the pan, but this actually worked out better in the end.

 

The rolls turned out pretty good for a first time try, though the bake time provided with the recipe was too long as the raspberry juice at the bottom of the pan got a bit scorched. I revised the timing and all worked out well.

I am going to try this recipe again with blueberries and apples later on. Think they would work well with the nuttiness of the spelt flour.

Out of the oven and ready to go into my belly!

 

Saturday Snapshot: Inspiration Wall

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

New phone finally! Which means, of course, a random photo to test out the camera. This is the 'inspiration' wall opposite my desk in the den. I purchased these a couple years ago on Etsy from NayArts.

Saturday Snapshot: Research Project Remembrance

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Cleaning up my phone in anticipation of finally getting a new one (I must, I really must) and came across a couple photos taken last year.

Way, way back when I worked as a scholar-in-residence for a local foundation. During my tenure I completed a personal research project on the subject of hope and music lyrics. I stopped by the foundation on a whim one day and I was thoroughly surprised to see an abstract of my project displayed in the study room, along with abstracts for all the other original research completed at the foundation to date.

 

Icky photo for everyone but it did and does warm the heart to know original research I produced has not been buried or forgotten. That's all you could ever want as an aspiring academic, especially when you are the topic of your own research!

Saturday Snapshot: Search for Banana Bread

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

I bake banana bread every month or so, whenever I happen to have fresh, very ripe bananas lying around. I've been trying to find some different recipes than just the basic one I've used for years. It is an awesome recipe but like to have some variety in the freezer for lunches and snacks.

I came across a recipe for a cinnamon banana bread, and thought I'd give it a try. It was a bit of a challenge, as the batter was dense to work with even before I got to adding all the flour. Also a bit problematic was halving the dough, then layering with the cinnamon and sugar and then adding the rest. Dense doesn't always make for a pliable product.

 

It turned it alright, though I won't try this recipe again. The swirl part comes from combining 1/4cup sugar with 1tsp cinnamon, which seemed off to me in proportions. I halved the sugar, as that is a lot of sugar and put in more cinnamon. It tastes good but am going to continue looking for more banana bread recipes. If you have any, pass along!

*Eventually I will get a new phone--I have to--and this weekly entry will become more than cooking and baking. Maybe. ;-)

Saturday Snapshot: Hunting for Fritters

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Through no forethought on my part this particular segment seems to be turning into a weekly food post. This is largely due to my phone being on its last legs and my being unable to use its camera unless the phone is plugged in. It is also due to my being mainly at home these past months and needing something to occupy my time. Sooooo........

I've been looking for great vegetable fritter recipes for awhile and finally decided to just try a couple out last week.

First up was Curtis Stone's crispy vegetable fritters made with carrot, potato, and zucchini. Not too impressed, bland. They turned out okay but I obviously did not get enough of the moisture out of the vegetables. There is only one egg to coat all the veggies to get them 'crispy' and for that to work there needs to be minimal moisture. I thought there was but apparently not.

Next up was Smitten Kitchen's broccoli parmesan fritters. Holy yum! Mine don't look as good as hers and likely don't taste as good either but they were well-received. I liked the idea of slighty steaming the broccoli first then mashing it a bit rather than it being raw. Think it helps combine it with the fresh parmesan. These are great as a side or as a snack. I think I'm going to try this recipe with cauliflower at some point.

Still looking for recipes; if you have any please pass along!!

Saturday Snapshot: 'Nuff Said

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

:-)

Saturday Snapshot: Vegetarian Lasagna

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Needing something to do Thursday I decided to make a vegetarian lasagna for the first time. I love mushrooms, so researched a few different ones and came up with my own recipe. This could have gone any number of ways but it turned out pretty good.

Quick saute of the mushrooms - cremini, white, and portabello with some garlic and butter. This was just the first batch; lots of mushrooms involved in this creation.

Steamed some spinach then chopped it into this appealing green sludge.

 

On to the bechamel sauce, which I'm still trying to perfect. I don't use whole milk which could be part of the issue. I stirred in the chopped spinach at the end along with salt and pepper.

 

The fun part - layering! I used freshly grated parmesan and mozzarella cheese; most recipes I looked at just used parmesan but I love mozzarella!

Forty minutes later - viola!  It could have used a bit more punch with the spice combo but it got great reviews. I ended up with way more than I anticipated but good to have some to freeze for later.

Saturday Snapshot: smart. witty. literate as hell.

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

This is one of my favorite lounging around t-shirts. Unfortunately the website is no longer active but the associated book club and forums are still alive. They are located: www.chicklitforums.com.

Saturday Snaphot: Chalkboard Project

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Here's one of my latest household projects - a 'chalkboard' addition to the entrance hallway. I had a picture rail from Ikea so I placed it underneath to give an illusion of having a real chalkboard. Finally I have a place to log miscellaneous notes rather than scribbling on the back of receipts and reminding myself to remember I need something or need to do something! :-)

The whole exercise was quick and easy and clean-up was a breeze. I also completed a smaller version in the den beside my desk to keep a running task list for work.  Now I just need to figure out what to do with the almost full pint of paint left.

Saturday Snapshot: New Year's for the Win

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Behold my new year's present; I figure it must be a good omen to win something on the first day of the new year.

Happy New Year!

Saturday Snapshot: Distraction Through Baking

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

I've had a lot on my mind the past few weeks, and the weight of all the waiting, worrying, stressing was beginning to be too much. I decided to do some baking as a distraction; plus, who doesn't enjoy the smell of fresh baking?!

First up, carmelitas from Lulu the Baker. Just butter, sugar, oatmeal, chocolate, and caramel. Insanely sweet but oh. so. good.

I love oatmeal, so oatmeal apple cookies with brown butter icing and cinnamon dusting via Lauren's Latest were next on the menu. Moist and chewy with a bit of a crunch, the cinnamon in the cookie and the icing pulled it all together really well. Had one for breakfast this morning!

Decadent peanut butter banana chocolate chip cookies just had to make an appearance. I finally found a recipe that doesn't turn them into mini cakes over at Home Sweet Goodness. I have a client who loves peanut butter and she was ecstatic when I presented these yesterday.

And lastly, I do enjoy shortbread and this lime poppy seed shortbread with a Callebaut white chocolate drizzle and sugar sprinkle is delicious. I love baking with lime and this has just enough to give a pop of citrus.

Saturday Snapshot: Crafts as Far as the Eye Can See

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

After being holed up at home for most of the week working, I really needed to get out and clear my head. I bundled up, headed out, and arrived at the Butterdome Craft Show. This show is a big deal in these parts, with vendors from across Canada descending on Edmonton for 4 days of crafty goodness.

I had not attended for about 5 years so found myself wandering up and down the aisles in search of something unique, something worth buying. Alas, there was nothing that caught my eye enough. It was interesting though, to come across vendors who I remembered from my first show twenty years ago.

(FYI - "Butterdome' is the colloquialism for the University of Alberta's Universiade Pavilion, because of the buildings bright yellow exterior. The Pavilion is the multi-purpose arena which houses soccer games, field hockey games, ceremonial events (i.e. Remembrance Day service), indoor track, etc, etc, you get the picture. It is also where the world's largest dodgeball game took place in February 2012!)

Saturday Snapshot: Holidays in the Tube

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

I came across these holiday ornaments of sorts on my travels this morning. They are mini televisions with holiday scenes embedded. You can turn the right dial and some of the figurines in the middle of the scene move around. They are cute but $80 plus battery costs did not make them cute enough!

Saturday Snapshot: Art Missing

Saturday Snapshot is a weekly meme hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The guidelines are to post a photo that you or a friend or family member have taken and then link it back to Alyce's original post for the week. Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

A nifty example of art as advertising as art located on a local bridge. Sometimes the simplest concepts resonant the best!