Food Blogging

I don't why why it's taken me so long to start to really check out food blogs. I do check them out, though, all the time. They both inspire me and make me hungry. On weekend mornings I usually get up, feed the cat, make myself a cup of coffee or get an icy glass of water or diet coke and turn on the computer. As always, I hit all my bookmarks listed (almost all of which are on my sidebar) and then I surf food blogs, starting with my favourites (I just added some links on my blog, which will surely expand.) I flip through the pictures and recipes until I'm so hungry I can't stand it, and go make something to eat. I just discovered this blog tonight. Click on "YUM" in the categories. Holy YUM Batman!

Anyhow, it just occurred to me a few moments ago that with my new camera I can do a bit of food blogging myself! How cool is that?!? I'm looking forward to it.

Likewise, I'm looking forward to cooking for my family back in Canada this summer. I'm starting to freak out a bit about the fact I have only a few weeks left here. Sometimes I consider extending for a little while, maybe a month or so. It's just me getting so nervous about change, and - I think I've said it before, but I'm massively concerned about how my too-heavy socially-inept cat is going to fare. In the next little while I'm going to have to take him in to have the required rabies vaccinations, and it breaks my heart hearing him wail when he's being taken to the vet. This time, though, I'm going to sort out a proper sized carrier instead of stuffing him like sausage into casing in the carrier I brought him to Korea in almost 2 years ago, when he was just about half the beast he is today. Those of you without pets or a big love for animals night not understand. My friend and former co-worker in Japan tries to spur me on, "Jenn, it's just a fuckin' cat!"
While that might be true, he is, afterall, a cat - we've also developed a love just a few notches above Tom Hanks in "Castaway" and his beloved volleyball "Wilson." I'm not joking, man!

While in Canada I plan on earning my keep wherever I'm staying, with friends or family. Most of my friends will head off to work during the day (SUCKERS!!) and I'll stay behind napping, watching entire series on DVD, and cooking for their return home. It's a good trade off, and I'm looking forward to proper kitchens with proper counter space, proper ovens, and microwaves and the like. I was thrilled to hear my brother report that he is "totally into spicy food these days, and is addicted to jalepenos and jerk chicken." This, from a guy who wouldn't touch a pepper (and they're not spicy in the least) until his 30's when he married an Italian and was forced to. Just to say that he was SO STUBBORN in years past. The guy had a frigging nervous breakdown in Japan over wasabi while he was visiting me there. (Again, I'm not joking!)

I love cooking for my mom and grandmother. They share a 2-storey house which has been divided into 2 separate apartments. So common in Canada. My mom and I were talking a couple weekends ago about how no one's cooking there these days, despite the fact that they have 2 big fridges and a chalk-full deep freezer between the two of them. I stayed with them for many months before I came to Korea, and often cooked. I would make dinner maybe 3 nights in a row, and on the fourth we'd have a smorgasboard of leftovers with a nice salad. Saturday and Sunday lunches are great there. Always soup and salad and sandwiches. Followed by naps. Perfect. Truth, I can't wait to get back there and just spend TIME!

I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, either, but I have a studio of sorts in my mother's garage. In the warmer months, I work outside in the backyard. I make mosaics! Last time I visited, in April 2004, I was so surprised at the amount of materials I have, and half-finished and finished pieces I had completely forgotten about!
Here's a dresser I made for my best friend's birthday:

It's meant to look like a jeweled scarf thrown over the top, and the sides are hand beaded. Her birthday's in July, so I spent a lot of hot sunny days in the backyard slaving over this, sanding, painting, varnishing,...and that's just the wood. Working with tile and cement is hard on the hands. I was always full of scratches and cuts. With this dresser I had a hard time with the cement. I screwed up the ratio of water to cement and it set all cracked and crumbly, so I had to grind it out and do it over. This piece was a gift which literally contained my blood sweat and tears in its composition. I loved it though, (and kind of wish it was mine!)

Here's a ceiling from the main floor bathroom of the same friend. After showing her sketches of ideas I'd had, she nixed them all, so I asked how about something "free flow?"

The theme here was colour and shape. I was just alright with the outcome; I loved the earthy colours we chose, but I prefer a more identifiable scheme. She loved it, though, and said her husband and her spent many hours smoking in there enjoying it! It was kind of hell to work on, though, with cement falling in my eyes!

Back in my mother's garage, I have loads of tools and tile and stained and vitrious glass and varying colours of cement. Surely there's enough to keep me busy during all the time I stay there, though I know I'm going to end up being a gypsy like I was the last time I was home, and end up visiting friends and family all over the province. Cooking and creating. (My niece is going to go mental over the art projects I have planned for us!)

I'm still not sure what I want to be when I "grow up." My dream job might be a commercial artist, creating or installing massive mosaics in homes, swimming pools, or stores. Since I was a kid I thought the coolest job would be a writer for SNL. I'll probably end up a high school English teacher, or a grade 2 or 3 teacher. I'd love to be a chef, but I can't stand heat, so have no business in a kitchen really.
Whatever.

Like the food blogging I intend in coming weeks and the summer I intend in Canada, it's gonna be good. I'm happy!