it's the weekend: freshen up

 Elizabeth Taylor - gorgeous even when she wasn't glammed up.

watch.  Did you watch Mr. Rogers growing up?  I sure did.  PBS Digital studios has done this remarkably touching and humourous remix of some of his wisdom.  "It's good to be curious about many things."



listen.   The twee pop of Dream Diary is such a throwback it makes me feel like a girl of 17 again...



admire. Julia Rothman's Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life makes me want to pack up and move to a farm.  Informative and charming at the same time.  I like that.

make. On Sunday after my lovage revelation I was chatting with my grandmother about it and she informed me that if I could find a use for chickweed, we'd be in business.  And then this recipe showed up in my Twitter feed.  Not sure that I'll be making the River Cottage chickweed pakoras any time soon but it was a funny coincidence.

breathe. Vienna-based photog Akos Major's series Still is a visual vacation from the over-stimulation of ever day life.

the secret garden

On Sunday, before the truly depressing weather and not one but two flu bugs set in,  I escaped my kitchen adventures (see here and here) to get some fresh air in the Fredericton Botanic Garden.  Hugging the southwest edge of Odell Park, a wander through the Botanic Garden is a great way to clear your head (and snap some lovely photos.) 

live as well as you dare: 20 ways to be happy, circa 1820

"14th. Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue."

I'm not sure I agree 100% with all of English writer and cleric Sydney Smith's suggestions to his friend Lady Georgiana Morpeth in 1820 but most of them hold up.  What would be on your list?

 

16 February, 1820

Dear Lady Georgiana,

... Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done - so I feel for you. 

 1st. Live as well as you dare. 

2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75 or 80 degrees. 

3rd. Amusing books. 

4th. Short views of human life - not further than dinner or tea. 

5th. Be as busy as you can. 

6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you. 

7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you. 

8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends, but talk of them freely - they are always worse for dignified concealment. 

9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you. 

10th. Compare your lot with that of other people. 

11th. Don't expect too much from human life - a sorry business at the best. 

12th. Avoid poetry, dramatic representations (except comedy), music, serious novels, melancholy sentimental people, and everything likely to excite feeling or emotion not ending in active benevolence. 

13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree. 

14th. Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue. 

15th. Make the room where you commonly sit, gay and pleasant. 

16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness. 

17th. Don't be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice. 

18th. Keep good blazing fires. 

19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion. 

20th. Believe me, dear Lady Georgiana,

Very truly yours,
Sydney Smith

lovage, actually

Levisticum officinale (Garden Lovage) Otto Wilhelm Thomé

"I chose this for you because you seemed like the kind of person who'd be up for trying something new."

It's five o'clock on a drizzly Thursday afternoon and the line-up at Real Foods Fredericton  stretches through the small storefront and out the door.  Leah Antsis is walking me through the contents of my weekly grocery box. Among the still-crisp Honey Crisp apples, Chef Carson's new spring greens and the first local organic tomato of the season, she has tucked a Ziploc bag filled with fresh chives and... leaves that look like the sort of thing you'd yank out by the roots if you saw it growing in your garden.

Leah explains to me that it's lovage, that it has a flavour reminiscent of celery (the hollow stems make excellent straws for your Caesars, she says) and hands me a recipe for "Old-Fashioned Lovage and Potato Soup." Which of course I had to try.

the preservation society

I don't proclaim to be an expert on how Edie Sedgwick spent the mornings after Andy Warhol's Factory parties but I feel fairly confident that  they did not involve pickling a pound of asparagus spears.   But there I was digging out my canning supplies the morning after a large evening at a 1960s-inspired benefit for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (a party so fun I forgot to actually take any photos. oops.)

When starting out canning the first step (well, the  first step for me anyway) is to get over the conviction that botulism-poisoning is imminent for one's family and friends.  As with most fears, your best weapon against this is information. Get yourself a good book on canning, educate yourself on the process and the dangers, be vigilant about prepping your materials, ingredients and water bath properly, pay close attention to processing times and temps and, for pickling, use the vinegar with the proper acidity and in the proportions called for in the recipe.  While you don't need to arm yourself with several thermometers and a roll of litmus paper, you should adhere closely to the recipes and directions.  So if you're the kind of cook who prefers tossing ingredients into a pot to see what happens rather than following a recipe, canning may not be for you.  Might I suggest flavoured syrups or a nice sorbet?

There are a number of great resource books out there but I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Canning for a New Generation from my friend Jennifer and I really like the approach author Lianna Krissoff has taken. 

We can pickle that after the jump.

june

it's the weekend: get out and shoot things

Jimmy Stewart. With a camera. That is all.

Watch.  This week we got our first look at what promises to be an epic screen adaptation of Les Miserables.  I'm not going to lie, watching this for the first time with my theatre chums nearly led to some ugly crying. 

Listen.  And on the theme of ugly crying, May 29 marked the 15th anniversary of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley at age 30.  His only complete studio album, 1994's Grace,  remains one of my top summer evening soundtracks.  Here's one of my favourite tracks.  The bridge will tear your heart out.

Admire.  I am just so taken by this book of: Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from the Collections of the Smithsonian Museum  If you follow my Facebook page you know that's I was particularly smitten by architect Eero Saarinen's list of his wife's attributes - so candid and honest and real; I'd take it over a sonnet any day!

Make.  As the warm weather moves in and clothes get lighter, my patience for bulky purses and wallets is in decline.  May be time to whip up a simple vinyl billfold.  

Breathe. I'm playing hooky this afternoon and heading here.  The weather was inclement during my last visit so I'm look forward to enjoying it in the sunshine.