At Mom's house for Christmas

This is the back door of my Mom's house (it is the primary entrance).

My mom's kitchen: small and cluttered and perfect.

I was at my Mom's for Christmas. A cozy place on the edge of a small town, full of cooking and talking about what to do with life and eating and reading through cook books and listening to music and more cooking and talking and eating and trying new wines and well, celebrating I guess. My mom is passionate about food and almost every moment that we are together is spent on food: planning, preparation, cooking and eating.

The view from the house to the back yard

The view into the living room from the kitchen.

The all important bowl of clementines nearly lost in the chaos of the kitchen.

This year we found a fresh Ontario rack of lamb on our city grocery shopping trip (it is ridiculously rare to find this in the small town stores). She followed a simple recipe and it was incredible. Rub garlic on the meat, then smear amply with butter and leave garlic pieces on top and place on a rack or directly inside a shallow oven dish or pan. Cover the bone tips with foil. Let it sit like that for an hour or so, preheating the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Then cook for about 25 minutes per pound or until it is cooked to your liking. We served it with mom's garlic mashed potatoes (boil garlic cloves with the potatoes, drain and mash with just milk first and then add butter, salt and pepper and mash some more) and a simple salad of baby spinach with thinly sliced red onion on top with a drizzle of mom's favourite fancy sesame oil and salt and pepper. We were not particularly hungry for this meal since we had enjoyed filet mignon with asparagus for lunch and her favourite breakfast: poached eggs with bacon. It is always a race against time ... how many of our favourite meals can we fit into a limited number of days!?!

The rack of lamb ready to go into the oven.

Mom's gloriously messy kitchen table - Hallelujah!

When I opened my suitcase upon returning to Toronto I found many treats that she had snuck in while my attention was diverted. So sneaky and so generous and good.

Grandpa's Stuff

Last month I went out to Manitoba to my Grandpa's place and while I was there I took some photos of his collections of useful stuff ... I find these things intensely compelling and tenderly heartbreaking.

In Canada ... oh, the countryside ...

Back in October my friend Kate and I turned our backs on Toronto for a too brief stay at a beautiful refuge in the forest in eastern Ontario. A simple cabin far from everything except endless trees and a tiny peaceful lake - it had a wood stove, no running water or electricity but a back-up propane range ... we brought food ingredients, big sweaters, knitting and books and writing/drawing/painting materials, Kate brought her ukulele and guitar and we packed some bargain scotch too and we just melted into our surroundings. I didn't want to leave. I want to live in the forest. Is that so much to ask?

As embarrassing as it is, I am including something that I wrote while I was in my melted state:

In the canoe with a glass of scotch and a low golden sun and Kate with her ukulele on this little lake that I love. So calm - the water, music and me. The cool air and sunshine, the tree reflections on the water's slightly rippling surface, it completes me for this moment ... makes me right. My hair has become metallic gold across my eyes, blowing in my face gently. Please lake, save me from the ugliness of this world. Please let me take your strength with me away from here into the human wilderness.

Back In Toronto ... eating well at home

An old breakfast standard of mine on this grey, rainy Monday morning.

Simply any type of apple cut up with plain yogourt on top - I like Astro Balkan style original. I often put other stuff with the apples, like pieces of banana or dried prune or any fruit really and I like chopped raw almonds on top (or any nuts) and if you like sweet things, honey or maple syrup is good on top too.

Back In Toronto

After two months of being back in Canada I am beginning to feel somewhat adjusted.

One of my favourite things about being here is having my kitchen to cook in again.

Toronto is wonderful in the autumn ... and as it becomes colder it is a pleasure to stay indoors cooking my favourite things, or trying out some of the recipes I learned in Italy ...

Some (more) beautiful things from the farm

At Pasture

In the morning and evening we spend hours watching the sheep and goats eat in various unfenced pastures surrounding the farm. The kids practise head butting, running and elaborate jumps - they are incredible to watch. We return to the farm when the animals have had enough to eat - they just start walking in the direction of the stable when they are finished. We watch the sun evaporate the morning mist and we watch it set behind the Alps in the evening - the pastures are silent except for the singing of birds and baaing of sheep and bleating of goats.