Jultember in a single word...

to be perfectly honest... i briefly considered doing a post-a-day during Jultember. however, as i have been genuinely struggling to find the will to get out of bed some days, said effort was doomed to failure before it even started. so, i took the occasional photo of the random nonsense i got up to over the course of a month that began in one season and ended in another.

this year's balcony garden project has been a literal oasis. beyond being lovely to look at, living like we do in an apartment in the middle of the city, it is especially nice to occasionally harvest something just moments before it ends up on the dinner table.

the inclusion of more flowers in this year's garden meant that there were even more colorful creatures stopping by for a visit. i was (pleasantly) shocked to see a ruby-throated hummingbird zipping around one afternoon (the visit was too brief to get a photo). one almost forgets that there is (non-squirrel) wildlife in the city, and we will definitely be planting even more welcoming flowers in next Summer's garden.

i did have to rescue a visiting cicada from potential death-by-adorable-cat. i formed a human shield between the two, until the cicada eventually climbed back through the netting and  flew away... then i spent the rest of the day threatening to climb a tree to strangle a cicada (perhaps it was the same one) whose noisy antics was driving me up a wall.

the animator was most amused.

him: if you hate that noise so much, why didn't you just let the cat kill it?
me: that would be cruel. they're annoying, but they're cute.

i found myself in need of a quick pick-me-up one random afternoon, so i made some candles. this was my first time using wooden wicks. i am hooked!

the light is stronger than with the cotton wicks, but the candle burns so slowly that it feels like it will last forever. i burned this one for close to twelve hours, and the jar was still near-full. i approve.

i have been neglecting my knitting projects, partly because it was too hot to be bothered, but mostly because i just stopped caring. this top was intended to be part of my Summer wardrobe. maybe next year.

that is some of my own hand-dyed yarn. i will talk more about the genius/lunacy involved in getting this effect on a cotton-based yarn if/when i finish the top.

 

i did manage to (finally) complete another pair of socks (more about that some other day) for the animator, which i started back in April. i also finished spinning the charcoal-grey yarn that i talked about in that same post. there is enough of this to make a whole garment, so now i just have to find a pattern that is worthy of this special yarn.

it is hard to maintain consistency across such a large spin, but i am satisfied with the end result. this is begging to be turned into a comfy cardigan.

i added some new yarns to my stash. i got a sweater's quantity of each color. they knit up into such a beautiful fabric. the fiber is a cotton-acrylic blend that will make for some comfy allergy-free sweaters for me.

i usually avoid wearing browns, but this warm gold was created to be worn next to my skin. this just screams AUTUMN!!!

we consumed a ridiculous amount of iced tea earlier in the month. there was a stretch of a couple-few weeks were the temperature in the middle of the city was hovering around 40°C (104°F), with the "feels like" temperature a few degrees above that. it was... brutal.

this was a particularly hot, dry Summer, so it was a great relief when the rain finally came about halfway through the month. which brings me to the point of this pointless thing...

if i had to summarize this past Jultember in a single word, it would be "tomato".

we got a large box of veggies from his parents' garden, including about twenty-five pounds of tomatoes... because his father is that lunatic. i roasted half of them (like i did last Summer), and the rest were turned into many tomato salads. [random aside: that plate with the chip is older than both of us.]

that particular salad was served along with a heaping plate of Greek-style lemon chicken and potatoes (made by the animator). said dish was flavored with fresh oregano and thyme from our little garden. the leftovers were equally amazing the next day.

we sent a photo of the salad to his dad, who was impressed by my neat arrangement of the slices... then he immediately began amassing another box of tomatoes. you know, in case we were in danger of running out of the stuff.

meanwhile, every now and then, one of us would step out onto the balcony, and return with a handful of freshly-harvested tomatoes. there is presently a large container of fresh tomatoes occupying half a shelf in the fridge, along with three containers of garlic-roasted tomatoes, all waiting to be used up. it is at the point where we are putting tomatoes into just about everything we consume.

the veggie haul from his parents' backyard also included several heads of celery. i chopped a few stalks at a time, and stored them in the freezer for the coming soup season.

we transplanted a couple of the smaller celery plants to the balcony garden project...

and i placed the bottom of one of the chopped up heads of celery into a pot of soil, where it promptly started to grow new leaves.

then, without warning, Jultember was through... and with it went Summer.

now we are racing toward the part of the year that i love most of all. i ventured halfway across town this past weekend to get my first taste of this year's harvest of concord grapes. i actually bought three containers of the stuff, but the first one disappeared within minutes of getting them home.

but the best bit came when the animator was checking the weather forecast earlier today.

him: apparently there is a typhoon forming somewhere in Asia that is going to bring an early Fall to Canada.
me: that must be one powerful typhoon.
him: it's the butterfly effect.
me: yeh, but with like every butterfly on the planet flapping extra hard. 
him: the last three words of this article should make you smile. you ready for this?
me: go ahead.
him: "definitely sweater weather."

yep. still smiling.

13: Buffalo by way of Baghdad...

the problem with this whole "write down all the stuff running through my mind, then pick one at random" approach to a month of blogs is that now, two weeks later, i am struggling to recall what i planned to say on the subject for today.

other than... if i ruled the world, there would be a law banning the consumption of iceberg lettuce... except in tacos. naturally, he loves the stuff. i would suggest some sort of couple's therapy to resolve this conflict, but they would probably recommend that we both seek professional help. 

my lettuce of choice is romaine.  

when you chop off the hard, "stemmy" bottom from a head of lettuce, do not simply toss it away. 

stick it into a corner of a garden, or a flower pot, and it will continue to "grow"... well, sorta. those tiny leaves deep in the center of the stem that had not fully developed will take this opportunity to grow a bit, and you will have what i once heard being referred to as "reclaimed lettuce"

just do not expect to "escape the agro-industrial-complex" or any other such silly thing (which was the claim being made by the individual who coined the phrase). what you will get—at best—is a handful of small leaves. so, while you are probably not going to survive the Apocalypse on "reclaimed lettuce", it might make for a cute  little salad or a bit of garnish on some other meal... which brings me to today. 

there is a Middle-Eastern grocery store on the other side of our neighborhood that sells marinated chicken wings that are the base of one of our favorite Summer meals. i add a splash of Sriracha hot sauce, and put them into a super-hot oven on a cookie sheet.

while they roast, i chop up whatever veggies we have on hand that would be good for dipping. today's assortment includes red pepper, baby English cukes, and (non-reclaimed) romaine lettuce. 

when they are almost ready, i give the wings a quick brush of a bit of melted butter mixed with more Sriracha, and return them to the oven until they are toasty and browned. it makes for fantastic oven-baked "Buffalo wings". well... Buffalo by way of Baghdad, that is. and i serve it up with blue cheese dressing for dipping, and a garnish of a reclaimed lettuce leaf. insane amounts of yumminess. 

delusions of Thailand...

[i just dumped a ton of photos on the 'puter, so that should (hopefully) provide some inspiration for a few posts in the coming days/weeks. no promises though, as i am not quite through my latest bout of stoicism, which is just a fancy term for being wholly underwhelmed by life. wrote this one last night...]

it is Friday (i think) afternoon and storming intermittently here in Montreal. i rather enjoy the lighting and rain, but heavy thunder tends to leave me feeling unnerved... or maybe it was the two double cappuccinos (which i have taken to calling a cappa-cappa) i had earlier in the day. either way, i am feeling equal parts anxious and excited. the former i blame (mostly) on the weather, but the latter is all about the wings.

let me pause to explain that chicken wings may just possibly be my favorite of all the major food groups. they possess the perfect blend of collagen-rich skin and tender, flavorful meat, making for what is—sans doute—the tastiest part of the entire chicken. while i am usually wary of genetic modifications in plants/animals intended for food, i fully welcome the prospect of chickens each bearing a dozen (or more) wings.

for now, we stuck with the standard two-per-bird wings, which were cut in half. note that i did not discard the little wing-tip section, as that tasty little nub may just be my favorite bit of the thing. don't judge me! my favorite animator gave the chicken a generous dusting of kosher salt, black pepper, and smoked paprika, with a dash of ground ginger, ground cumin, and five-spice powder, then placed them in a 425°F oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet. that combination of spices had definite echoes of the east, so i set out to create a sauce that did the same. 

the first step was to open the fridge and stare blankly at the contents while waiting for inspiration to strike. we occasionally purchase a pre-made sauce/dressing called Memories of Thailand which would have been a good starting point for a quick marinade. it is a Thai-style sweet chili sauce of such lackluster flavor, one would be left to assume that the person who invented said condiment once visited Thailand and found it to be a very boring place. surely i could make a tastier version of such a thing. 

the key to my desired sauce was a balance of sweet (honey and brown sugar), sour (fresh-squeezed lime juice), and spicy (sriracha and chopped pickled Thai chilies). now, let me be clear here... despite my very tropical background, i am something of a wimp when it comes to intensely spicy food. so, while this sauce was spicy, it did not possess the level of heat that earns you a t-shirt for surviving some sort of killer-wings challenge at your local hole-in-the-wall. that is most definitely not my thing. 

to this (moderately-spicy) mixture i added crushed garlic, finely-grated fresh ginger, a dash each of hoisin sauce and soy sauce, and a splash of toasted sesame oil. then came the controversial (in our household) ingredient. fish sauce. truth be told, i am not a fan. i totally get that there is a certain je ne sais quoi that relies on the presence of fish sauce lurking in the background of a given dish, but it tends to be too much for my liking, leaving the dish overpowered by the unmistakable quoi that is the essence of rotted fish. 

me: why do we even own fish sauce? i hate this stuff.

him: are you kidding me... it's awesome. we should put it in more things.  

i am fairly certain this is why couple's therapy was invented. however, i acquiesced and added a splash to the bowl, then offered up the resulting mixture for judgment. he stuck the tip of a (freshly-washed) finger into the bowl then gave it a taste. 

him: wow!!! it's like 'memories of Thailand'... but sooo much better! 

i took a taste, and i was inclined to agree. 

the chicken wings had by now been roasting for about half an hour, with a quick flip halfway through that time.

the bowl was a bit too small for the task, so the wings had to be coated in two batches, then returned to the oven. 

what followed next was fifteen (or so) minutes of what i like to call intense basting. this was his job, and it consisted of opening the oven every couple-few minutes to brush the wings with the sauce that remained in the bowl, until said sauce was all gone. i cannot begin to explain the delicious fragrance wafting through our place. it was a magical blend of garlic and ginger with the spicy notes of five-spice and chilies and the caramelizing honey and brown sugar, all enveloped in that unmistakable, effervescent burst of lime. it is crazy how fifteen (or so) minutes can suddenly seem like an awful long time. 

finally, they were done.

the objective here was not to (attempt to) recreate the crunch of deep-fried wings, but to produce something decadently sticky and sweet, with a glaze that looks/feels like warmed-up marmalade right out of the oven. that is some seriously sexy sticky stuff!

i served up the wings along with slices of cucumber and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, and that combination proved to be absolutely divine. having never traveled to Thailand, it would be dishonest of me to present said sauce as a "memory", but i prefer to think of it as a "delusion" of something that just may be Thai-worthy.

this was a sticky, sour, sweet, spicy treat tailor made for a Summer day. the cilantro offered a lovely bit of herby freshness and the cucumber slices provided the right amount of cool to balance the (moderate) heat. this was a thoroughly perfect meal, and we were too busy coming up with terms to describe the incredible flavors to be upset that our poor tomato plants were being knocked about in the torrential rain and wind. he did have to attempt a quick rescue in the midst of an impressive display of lightning. after all the stress of caring for our tiny garden, every tomato counts.

____________

it is now extremely late in the evening. i am catching up on my latest k-drama, in between working on a lovely, lacy, completely itch-free sweater for self. my multitasking skills usually allow for knitting while watching things, but the combination of lace charts and subtitles means i have to alternate my way through this project. oh... and i may have also recently finished my third cappa-cappa of the day. sad, but true. it should be noted—lest anyone assume i am running out to the coffee shop multiple times a day to purchase overpriced coffee drinks—that this stuff is a mix. a wholly, totally, and completely addictive mix that i literally find myself drinking all day. no... i do not have a problem.

i have tried it in three flavors so far: Cappuccino, Mocha, and Vanilla. it also comes in unsweetened, decaf, and Caramel Latte varieties, but that last one just sounds completely unnecessary. i prefer it with one pack each vanilla and (plain) cappuccino. not only am i fond of blends (i am a complicated lady), but two packets makes for just enough liquid heroin to fill my warrior princess mug. i do not have a problem.

most fun part? it foams up on contact with hot water. i am fairly certain that this stuff will eventually be shown to cause every known kind of cancer.

the frothy layer looks a bit less frightening after a stir.

so, that is my latest obsession, replacing my usual obsession of drinking four (or five) large cups of tea per day, plus the one (or two) normal-sized cup of herbal tea i frequently have before bedtime. no... i definitely... definitely... do not have a problem.  

champagne wishes and parmesan dreams...

no exaggeration... this is the single tastiet meal i have had in a very long time.

it all began when i plucked a leaf from a basil plant....

then realized that i have way more of the stuff than i can use.

i took this as a sign from the cosmos that it was time to make more pesto, so i snipped a healthy bouquet of the fragrant leaves, and headed for the kitchen.

it takes very little to make a pesto. purists may scoff at the suggestion, but it really is a "use what you got" sort of recipe. the classic formula consists of basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, and a dash of pine nuts. i buy pine nuts maybe once every two or three years, but i almost always have walnuts on hand, so... walnuts it is! note, i did not bother to crush the peppercorns or the coarse sea salt (the pinkish stuff next to the peppercorns). life is too short.

i did, however, take a minute to faux-blanch the basil leaves, as it helps to preserve that beautiful green color. this step required a container of ice water, a kettle of hot water, and a heat-proof container.

the whole process took about a minute flat.

spread out the basil on the paper towel...

and give it a roll and a light squeeze to soak up all the water.

then toss all the ingredients into a blender, along with a very healthy drizzle of olive oil. do peel the garlic, but the blender will do the rest of the work. ditto for the parmesan, which i broke into small chunks, but i skipped the grater.

all it takes is a few pulses in the blender...

and a quick transfer to a clean jar. worry not. the stuff left on the sides and bottom of the blender will be put to use in a minute.

air is the enemy of pesto, as it will turn the whole mixture to a muddy brown. the blanching slows down that process, but you still want to add a thin layer of olive oil to the top of the pesto and keep it capped and refrigerated. use fresh pesto within one to three weeks, or it can be frozen and stored for several months. pro tip: pour it into an ice tray, then store the frozen cubes in a freezer bag, and you have handy portions of pesto to add directly to hot pasta.

at this point, add a splash more olive oil to the blender, just enough to mobilize the residual pesto, and pour it over some pieces of chicken (i used boneless, skinless thighs), along with a dash of salt and pepper.

give it a mix to coat the chicken...

then the container of chicken and the jar of pesto are ready for the fridge.

here you can clearly see the oil layer on the pesto. i tend to add a splash more olive oil to the jar after every withdrawal to keep that layer intact.

some few/several hours later, put a grill pan on medium heat and open a bottle of white wine. i happen to have a bottle of bubbly on hand, so that i what i am using. i will not go so far as to actually call this stuff champagne, as it is an incredibly affordable (cheap!) sparkling white wine bottled right here in Quebec. you can buy it—along with a decent assortment of other affordable wines—at your local dépanneur (which is Montreal for bodega... which is New York City for convenience store). seriously, any white wine will do, and i suspect beer would work equally fine.

add the chicken pieces to the heated pan, and cook undisturbed for approximately eight to ten minutes (depending on size and thickness). this is a good time to grab a glass and have a splash of that affordable champagne sparkling white wine.

flip the chicken, and wait another eight to ten minutes...

then pour in some of the bubbly.

i did not measure, but there was about a cup and a half of wine added to the pan. the objective is to have enough liquid for about five mins of cooking.

it looks pretty yummy at this point, but we need to finish cooking the chicken and reduce the wine to make the tastiest sauce imaginable.

you can either stick it into a hot oven, or cover the pan and finish cooking on the stove. it was not worth the trouble to heat the oven, so i covered it with foil and left it on simmer for about five minutes (peering in once or twice to make sure the wine had not evaporated completely and adding a small splash as needed).

when the chicken is ready to go, grab that jar of pesto from the fridge...

and add a dollop to the reduced wine sauce.

swirl/tilt the pan to combine, and spoon the heavenly nectar over the pieces of chicken.

then grab a plate and enjoy!

for the most enjoyment possible, serve with pasta tossed with even more pesto. you will thank me in the morning.