Category: photography

From garden to kitchen: Zucchini

Last week I found this monster zucchini hiding behind a garbage can full of crazy potato plants (more on those later). Under this stealthy cover the zucchini was able to grow beyond tasty eating size and into what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do-with-this proportions.

So this:

Monster “Ambassador” Zucchini

Became this:

Monster Zucchini = 8+ cups when grated!!

Became these:

Zombie Chocolate Chip Cookies (x 2 batches)

And this:

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

And last, but certainly not least in taste, these:

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

And yes, despite this flurry (fury?) of baking, I did manage to get some writing done last week.

In the kitchen: possessed (suicidal) bananas

Michael, while packing for his lunch, found these in the cupboard this morning:

After staring at them for a moment – cut him some slack, how often do you come across suicidal bananas – he laughed his ass off and then took the one which declared itself “like brains but better” for a morning snack.

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ETA: Currently eating the “Come on! You know you want to!” banana, as, it turns out, I did totally want to… just now. It’s tasty.

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Thanks to The Bloggess for the idea!

In the garden: pepper

This is the largest pepper I have ever grown (in the 3 whole years I have been gardening – ha!). I attempted to grow peppers for my first 2 years by seed and was never successful, so this year I purchased 2 plants (a chocolate and an orange pepper), planted the seedlings in containers by our south facing house wall, and waited. They are pretty protected from the rain and hopefully retain the heat the longest (when it is actually sunny) out of any other spot in the garden. I purchased this particular plant at the UBC garden sale.

Supposedly, if the weather permits, this pepper will eventually turn orange (it is a “true” orange pepper) and then I will snap another picture – right before I exuberantly eat it!!

In the garden: Sweet peas…

These sweet peas just came into bloom (that is how awful our weather has been in Vancouver this spring/summer). They are in the window box on the kitchen window so I can see them from inside while prepping dinner or baking – so pretty and sweet (they are obviously aptly named). The pinks really stand out against the mountain of green that is this years garden.

Joanne’s Birthday Socks

A very lovely friend of mine turned 30 last week [ah, 30 I remember you fondly, as you blew by many, many years ago] and I wanted to help her celebrate this milestone in style, so I knit her some socks:

And last Monday, in a brief sunny break, we sipped iced tea in the garden and Joanne modelled her socks for the blog. Here is a detail shot of the stitch pattern and yarn:

In the skein I really though the blue and pink were dominate, but, as you can see, the purple won the pattern.

I don’t think they could be more perfect for my vibrant and, still so young in age but wise of heart, friend.

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Pattern: Bois de Rose Socks – a well-written pattern that complimented this gorgeous variegated yarn just perfectly, plus it’s FREE on Ravelry!

Designer: Nicole Masson [aka stefanina on ravelry]

Yarn: CashLuxe Fine by SweetGeorgia Yarns  Colourway: Stella – This yarn is so soft it is yummy, and the colours kick-ass! Plus it’s LOCAL = one of my favourites!!

My Ravelry Project Page

I am not a late bloomer…

…I’ve just had buds forming for a long, long while now.

[Oh! You thought I was being deeply and unusually personal for a moment. No, no. I was personifying the baby apple tree:]

[Or Not].

On a gardening note, I was really hoping that those ants were eating those aphids, but alas it seems (according to google) they are farming them, and possibly attempting to protect them from the rainfall we had moments before I took this picture.

[Who the ants represent in the extended analogy of the apple buds being me, I have no idea… not sure I like the idea of being “farmed”. The protection bit is certainly sweet, but a little rain has never hurt me].

The End.

[Thank goodness, that was almost awkwardly self-reflective].

Writer thwarted, once again, by feline

As I am puttering around this morning–feeding animals, emptying the dishwasher, turning the tomato seedlings–I find I have the opening scene to my story, THE NINTH DRAGON, running around in my head… images, full sentences and all. So I hustle into the office to jot down these thoughts only to discover that I am out of scrap paper. Serendipitously (hopefully!) I have used an entire draft print of my novel, AFTER THE VIRUS, to brainstorm a series of short stories set in that universe.

Anyway, I remember I have some coloured paper upstairs that is who knows how old (5 years maybe) so I grab a 1 inch stack, title and date the top page and settle in to write out the first scene (or at least the parts I have running in my head).

I swear I only turned away for a second, but that is all it took to lose the paper to Leo, pen and all.

I seriously hope this isn’t a commentary on the quality of the writing–the paper makes a better bed than book? Or perhaps I really should just stop reading into every little thing the cats do. They like to sleep on things–end of (potentially dull) story.

Insert even cuter picture here:

Now get back to work! Me, not you. You feel free to do what pleases you.

AFTER THE VIRUS — 1st Draft Book Cover

After spending hours taking photos, photoshopping photos and fiddling with combining photos into a book cover, I decided to scrap everything and try out a text-based-only book cover.

And you know what? I like it. Very much.

What do you think?

Feedback welcomed and always appreciated.