Tag Archives: autumn

To everything there is a season

24 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by in Health, philosophy, photography, therapy, Warm fuzzy

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and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Ecclesiastes 3 King James Version (KJV)

Central Experimental Farm and tractor

Central Experimental Farm, reaping what was sown 2016

For me, 2016 was a year full of challenges and opportunities, reunions and departures.

I can accept that winter is here and we should acknowledge its presence as part of the cycle of life. Also, I can’t afford to travel to somewhere exotic or warm…

Central Experimental Farm December 2016

Central Experimental Farm December 2016 – Covered up and ready to start all over again

As a parent and grandparent, I have concerns for the future of our planet and humanity now that the pendulum has swung back to allow for unbalanced, machismo leaders to take the reins of power. Many of us are wondering what the heck went wrong…  Yet, I can cherish the moments I had with loved ones this year and will embrace naive hope for sharing happy times with them again.

My gift to readers of this blog is another time-lapsed photography project. You may remember and hopefully enjoyed the four seasons with two trees from the autumn of 2014 and summer of 2015, and that whimsical cat grass grow-up project this past summer.

This latest obsession was started with joy as I celebrated new opportunities and gave thanks while waiting for the weekend bus near the Central Experimental Farm.

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Thank you for dropping by. I hope you enjoyed that. Here’s a soundtrack and some nostalgia for those of you born before 1963…

You can also visit the Tabby Cat’s blog for the recent offering or my pen name’s blog to see what she is up to.

Wishing naively for peace on Earth and good will…

T

 

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So I forgot to add garlic

16 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Food and Cooking, Health, pets, photography, therapy

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It has been a relaxing day.  Pretty relaxing week off too.

I am learning from the resident felines to not get worked-up about house cleaning and all those unglamorous domestic duties.

cats lounging on couch

Cats know how to relax

It’s a rainy week but that’s fine.  I am still enjoying the happy times from our Thanksgiving weekend.  I have nowhere to go until tomorrow so I decided to get in some comfort food cooking.

Okra stew simmering

Okra stew simmering

Surely like thousands of other Canadians, I was getting tired of turkey leftovers so I made some sticky rice and okra stew.  I added in leftover sliced onions, cooked potatoes and some ripening tomatoes. Funny thing is that in my relaxed, “don’t give a hoot” state I forgot to add the garlic!

It still turned out to be a tasty comfort food treat.  Two out of three humans agree. One hasn’t tried it yet.  

Bowl of Okra stew and sticky rice

Okra stew and sticky rice serving

See below for the basic process and improvised recipe.  It’s quite easy and likely contains some of the needed vitamins for your winter-prepping body.  I don’t know about the sticky rice though.  That stuff is sticky and likely full of carbs.

I don’t usually add potatoes.

This stuff tastes best out of the pot.  Reheats don’t receive as many approving grunts.

 

 

Interesting situation… One of my resident youth became frustrated with seeing the baskets of nicely sorted dirty laundry, lined up and waiting on my bedroom floor for the past three days. She was also running out of clean clothes so initiated the process this morning.  Good!

Another young person went out in the rain to apply for a part-time job then picked up some much-needed groceries. Good!

I think they’re tired of seeing me lazing about, watching my NetFlix shows (hellooo, Jean-Luc) and spending hours online.  Hmmm.  

My devious plan is working. 

That Okra Stew – pictures and a rough recipe: 

ingredients for okra stew

Ingredients: Chopped okra (slimy. ick), diced tomatoes (preferably canned and skinned), chopped onions (not necessarily sliced like these leftovers) and chicken bouillon. Chopped, cooked potatoes are optional.

 

cooking pan with ingredients

Take one non-stick pan or stewing pot, put on element at medium-high. Add a splat of butter. Sauté onions and brown the potatoes.

Adding in an unsolicited plug for Stokes and the awesome Remy Olivier pan I invested in a few weeks back.  At the behest of a resident young person who also shares in cooking tasks, we threw out Teflon pans and pots that were flaking.  Non-stick, teflon pans are not good for your health.

adding chopped okra to the stew

Add the chopped okra. Stir and stew on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

adding diced tomatoes to okra stew

Add the diced tomatoes and chicken bouillon (mixed in a cup of warm water first).  Stir.

simmering okra stew and rice

Cover the stew and simmer for about 20 minutes. Cook some rice (optional). Young resident prefers sticky/sweet rice with her okra stew.

simmering stew in pot with clear lid.

Let the okra stew simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes. Works best using a pot with a clear lid.

Serve.

Kick back and watch a few more episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation.

Thanks for dropping by.

Stay warm, dry and cozy. 

T