where have I been?!

As I look back on my last post it's hard too believe winter ever existed.  It's been so damned hot here!!  Well, I guess it's been hot almost everywhere on this continent, except for the west coast.

Is this what they mean by global warming?  Will the heat dome eventually just hover over most of Northa America most of the summer while we suffocate in the smog and heat?  Likely.


My latest inspiration:


Chicken breast marinated in yogurt; dredged in flour s and p, and turmeric, then gently fried on both sides until golden brown.  Add about 1 cup of chicken both and prefried peppers and or mushrooms.  simmer for 5 min.  Et Voila!!  Delicious with pan fried  yellow potatoes.


                                 BON APPETIT

Winter is Waning

Apart from the few glitches, okay the many frustrating drawbacks winter presents us with, I'm still not done with it.  I still enjoy  outdoor skating at my favourite  Montreal park.  The pond at Parc la Fontaine is an excellent place to spend a late afternoon with the heavens turning from sunny and bright into night from Parish blue to indigo and the warm pinks and oranges streaking the oatmeal clouds in the winter sky. Unfortunately, like many aspects of Montreal, the city has failed to upkeep the pond after the last warm spell. The ice is bumpy and craggy and only half the pond has had snow removed and it appears that the Zamboni is on vacation and the classical radio station has been cancelled.  Why??  I thought after the groundhog went back under that we were in for another 6 weeks of it.

Don't get me wrong, I could use a vacation as much a the next person, but that ain't going to happen so I think the next best thing to do is to make the best of it. The entrances to places of worship just wouldn't appear the same in mid July or in the spring when the sweet rain is nourishing the earth and life is pooping out of each and every pore. Or during the stifling months of heat when event the urban landscape is lush and soft.  


Although I unhappy with the quality of the photographic reproduction of these drawings, I'll post them until I can replace them with an image shot under better natural light.

Johanne  2011 

Johanne 2011

Johanne 2011 

PHOTOS

                       NOT TO FORGET THE HIBISCII
              I can't hep myself when it comes to nature and it's beauty, complexity and symmetry

The Recipe

A lot of people may not believe this but we eat this at least once a week.  Spinach!

This is my very own version of Saag paneer or Palak paneer.  I've always adored this delicious Indian dish and one day attempted to wing it and this it what I came up with. 

1 medium onion

olive oil

1 t ground turmeric

salt and pepper

1 lb. baby spinach or other (washed)

1 cup sheep feta cubed or any cheese that melts easily such as cheddar.  

Dice onion finely and cook in olive oil and salt, in a skillet over a low heat until soft and glassy.  Add turmeric a and heat until it smokes.  Add chopped (optional) spinach and continue to cook over a low heat until spinach has turned dark green and soft.  I usually let the spinach sit on top of the onions without stirring  to ensure they are super tender.  Stir until the spinach and onions are well mixed together.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan and poke the cubes of cheese into the surface. Continue cooking over low heat until cheese becomes soft and melty.  Pepper.  Additional oil can be added to taste.  Serve with rice and main dish.  

This dish can be used a  delicious pasta topping as well.

                                                           ENJOY

ONE MORE THING 

What in the world will happen?  I fear for the people of the middle east.  Will Egypt survive it's transition period?  So many are on the brink o f starvation and the Muslim brotherhood seems to gain power daily.....

Libya, Iran, Algeria, Yemen, are all in dire straits while their leaders hoard what could be national wealth.  The world as we know it is changing.  I believe some of these dictators will fall but Gaddafi won't  give up.  He, like Mubarak is worth billions  like 32 billion U.S.  That's power. Libya produces 11/6 of the world's oil.  Gas prices are rising because of the turmoil in Libya.  This is only the beginning.

http://english.aljazeera.net/

Then's there's Greece.  The wages will plummet as taxes are raised.  I'm no economist but how do the people in a country suffering from huge deficits t the rest of the world survive a situation like this?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/23/us-greece-strike-idUSTRE71M1VJ20110223

Food for thought:

This is really scary!!!

When you see something on CBC late night news and Peter Mansbridge is giving you the scoop like it's soup, you know the world is going mad.  Last night there was a piece on robotic warfare. How frightening is that.  War of the worlds but not in the form of aliens attacking the earth.  Man made beasts attacking the world.  Unimaginable. Just try for a moment to grok the outcome of a war waged with robots.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/technology-robots-war.html

THEY SAY MONTREALERS LOVE TO                   COMPLAIN ABOUT THE WEATHER,
Well, it could be more like we like to complain about la Ville de Montreal andpitifully poor lack of snow removal even though Montreal prides itself on having the most up to dayte as well as the best snow removal equipment in the world.  If so why don't they get down and do it???

Hello there, I'm having a time of it trying to swallow the lack of snow removal pill in my neighbourhood in the burough of Ville Marie in Montreal, Canada.

Bike path on the left.  Looking good!

I'm not in denial of winter, just the absurdity of how this city functions.  I live on a major artery that provides one of the few north south access entries to the downtown core.  One would think that it would be  a priority to have the streets cleaned and preened before  many residential streets after a mega snowstorm.  Not Montreal. One week later only the bike path has been ploughed and of course there's NO PARKING let alone STOPPING on that side of the street!!

Is it worth the trouble?

 The signs go up on both sides of the streets and stay up for days and days before the snow removal operation  finally comes in all its glory to swallow up the tons of snow in its path.  Last week they actually took down the signs after several days without touching so much as a flake of snow.

Hint:  The Snow Removal /Towing signs are the Orange one's
 added to the regular parking signs. 

The black car on the left side of the street is parked!!!

In my frustration I wrote to the mayor  and am further venting here.  Thank you and the internet for that.  The worst thing is that snow removal signs are put up as early as 5 days before the actual removal and on both sides of the streets in the area.  On the side street where I usually park the signs were taken down after almost a week and the snow had not been dealt with.  GRRRR......and why on earth would the bike path be the priority!?!?!

Enough bitching and on to more important matters:           

                          !!   FOOD   !!      

To appease my frustration and despair I took to baking which is definitely not my forte.  But being bold and attempting to impress last week's dinner guests I took a crack at making one of my childhood favourites.  Mariannes.  I called mom and she gave me the basics, white cake batter poured into an uncooked pastry shell with a dollop of jam at the bottom of each tart. Toss them into the oven ant 350 for a half an hour or so and ice when cool.   Sounds easy enough doesn't it?  Well, I who usually pride myself on being able to whip up a  a perfect pie crust, flubbed it totally.  The crust was as hard as rock and was in total contrast to the cake batter which I borrowed from Aunt Carmen.  Now that was the most light and delicate cake I've ever made, so I guess it was only half a disaster.  I did have another chance on Sunday. It being my sweetheart's birthday I decided to bake the cake again and forget about Marianne.  I have to admit the second time around the cake was even better.  If you're interested here's the dope on the most delightful sponge cake I've come across.

                                     Carmen's Egg  Cake:

6 eggs  room temperature

1 cup of sugar (I like to use raw cane sugar)

1 cup of flour

1 T cold water

1 T lemon or lime juice (I only had lime and it was sublime)

Beat eggs separately, whites should be medium stiff. Add 1/2 of the sugar to each. Then fold the whites into the yellows.  

Add the water and lime juice.  Fold the flour in 1 Tablespoon at a time.

Butter and flour an Angel cake mold or if you don't have one of those but have a metal bowl, place a buttered, floured conical glass in the center of the bowl and pour in the batter.  

Bake at 350 for  35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool.  Ice with a simple butter icing:

1/4 cup of butter. 

About 1 cup of icing sugar

1t vanilla

1T or so milk

Cream the butter and icing sugar until you have a creamy thick paste.  Mix in vanilla and milk and stir until you have the desired consistency.  I like it to be thick yet fluffy. 

My daughter, Lyra then iced and decorated the cake with Amethyst coloured icing, cinnamon and red sugar!!  Et voila!!

         HOW CAN I FORGET MY PRECIOUS         
                               HIBISCII

ONE MORE THING:
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN EGYPT FEEL TODAY AFTER MUBARAK'S DECISION TO NOT STEP DOWN.  WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO END THE OPPRESSION?!?!
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Anti-Mubarak-Protest-Crowds-Swell-Across-Egypt--115904149.html

       !!!OMG!!!  Can this be possible....
Mubarak appears to have reconsidered
although, how can he still  have the power to appoint the army!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/feb/11/egypt-hosni-mubarak-left-cairo


http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/11/2648029/egyptian-president-mubarak-steps.html

Here we go.  I think I'm somehow managing to get this blog online.  I still don't quite know how but I have finally had luck in uploading images Yay!! Cause to celebrate.

It's been a few years since I've had a show.  Work and Momming have taken up most of my precious time.

Amazing Grace
B Haarsma 2010

I love gardening and flowers. Last fall my grifter neighbours moved suddenly abandonning this beatuiful Hibiscus tree on the balcony.  We rescued it and though trough out the late fall and early winter it lost all of it's leaves, it continued to flower up until Christmas.  I'll feature a few of my fave Hibiscus photos with each post.

How I love this photo
B Haarsma 2010

B Haarsma 2010

       
Drawing from the model:

I get together once a week with a handful of artists for a life drawing session. The studio is in the old RCA building in a depressed part of town.  The west wall is window from the waist up, which allows for great light but they are single paned and tend to frost up seriously in the winter even with a fan propulsed heater.  I personally love the amazing brush strokes of Jack Frost and  his ever changing work as the sunlight hits the windows and evens up the temp indoors and out.  

Here are a few drawings from before the end of last year.

We're priveleged to have such amazing models.  Some are artists or dancers or writers and all have years of experience.





Janice
B Haarsma 2010

 



Janice

B Haarsma 2010





Stella

B Haarsma 2010





Stella

B Haarsma 2010





  



                                                                         I love this shot

                           I have to admit this was a drive by shooting  just before winter.



The Angel
c Beth Haarsma 2010





This has been a real experience for me.



I beileve that like good wine this blog will only get better with time.





Citrus and Garlic

 summer 2010 beth haarsma



My fave Recipe of the month is:

Scallops with Limebutter.  (I tried to link to the we love seafood site but the recipe appears not to exist any longer) I've also tweeked it to my taste.

12 or more scallops

Finely grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of one lime

2 T fesh chopped parlsey or green onion

2T olive oil

5T softened butter

Flour Salt and Pepper t taste

Combine lime zest, 1/2 of the butter, 1/2 of the lime juice and salt.  Mix well.

Season scallops with salt and pepper.  Dredge scallops in flour.

In a large frying pan, heat oil ant rest of butter.  Sautee scallops, 2-3 mnutes each side or until lightly browned.

Remove pan from heat, distribute the butter mixture and the rest of the lime juice over the scallops.  Cover the pan and set aside for 2-3 minutes until the butter is melted.

Add green onions or parlsley to the butter in the pan , mix well and drizzle over scallops and sreve.

Enjoy!!