Of Marzipan and Memories

I first encountered marzipan art on a trip to Europe. I remember standing outside a little shop, admiring the miniature pink pigs displayed in the window. They looked like plastic toys. But they weren't. Nearby a simple folded cardboard sign said: Marzipan. They were edible marzipan art!

How do they do that? I wondered. And how could you bear to eat those beautiful creations?

I recently encountered another example of marzipan art, thanks to my daughter, an avid blog-reader who passes on links to many amazing, artistic blogs. Here is one called Vegan Yum Yum. These "knit" cupcake decorations are edible marzipan art of another sort. If you want to see how it's done, play the short video clip at the end to watch the creator of these wonderfully artistic creations show Martha Stewart how to make them.

Now that is one thing I really want to try!

If you feel inspired as well, here is an online recipe for marzipan.

A picture of marzipan pigs can be found on Slashfood. I only now discovered - while looking for an online picture of a marzipan pig - that they are considered symbols of good luck in many parts of Europe, so people would buy or make them for a New Year's celebration - or any other celebration, I suppose, where you wanted to wish someone "good luck"!

The Joy of Forgetfulness...

Every year from August on, I begin to pick up Christmas gifts for my family. I wrap them, tag them, and hide them away in my closet. When Christmas time approaches, I count how many gifts I have for each person in my family, and try to even out the numbers - I don't want anyone to feel left out!

On Christmas morning, I am as surprised as the ones opening the gifts - as I have totally forgotten what I bought them!

Me saying - in all sincerity - What did I get you? has become an old family joke!

But I'm forgetful at other times too. My worst "forgetful" experience involves a skateboard I hid one winter, so that the kids wouldn't practice on the hard basement floor (though I'm not sure it is any harder than pavement). Maybe I felt they'd be crashing into walls and doorways. In any event, I hid the brand-new birthday-gift skateboard, my daughter's pride and joy. I remember thinking, the kids will find it here. I'd better find a better place... So I moved it to a "better place" and it has never been found since! I eventually paid my daughter for the skateboard that I had "lost." Years later, renovators had to remove walls after our basement flooded.

Let me know if you find a skateboard, I told the builders, but they never did.

The closest I may have gotten was once when a group of kids was playing hide and seek in the basement. After a while, I came downstairs and said, By the way, if any of you find a skateboard, let me know. I lost one.

I saw one, one little girl said.

Where? I asked.

Er, I don't remember, was her reply.

The reason I'm mentioning all this is that I have discovered that my blog site allows me to prepare blogs days ahead of time - and set the date I want them to pop up. Ideas come to me in bunches, so I work on several at a time. Sometimes I have 3 and 4 ready at a time - so I set the dates they are to appear, and move on.

And of course, when I do that, I forget what I wrote about... so those prepared-in-advance blogs are always a surprise to me too!

April Flowers

Welcome to my April garden!

Amid the shoots of summer flowers, the first spring flowers are already in bloom. These are a kind of tulip called tarda.















It's amazing that they can grow so quickly - and bloom mere weeks after the last snow!














The scilla are blooming in various parts of the yard.















Even the ivy that has taken over my rock garden is in bloom! (You may have to click on the picture to see its tiny blue flowers.)

These "appetizers" are just a taste of the feast of flowers to come!

In other parts of the yard...














the rhubarb is also growing...














... while a watchful rabbit waits.

Inspired Eating

First you eat with your eyes - then with your mouth...

I often think of this Middle Eastern proverb which a former student taught me, especially when I see blogs like Simply Breakast, which my daughter told me about...

So I am trying my hand at photographing this morning's breakfast from above. (Not an easy feat - the photographer in Simply Breakfast must be standing on a chair or a ladder and hovering over the table!) I'm standing on the dining room chair and could easily topple over onto my breakfast!














So here is my own inspired eating today - fruit salad (with yogurt) - multi-grain toast and coffee.

And for those who enjoy recipes, I'll tell you how I made the fruit salad. It was a standard dessert in the days when my kids were young - and I was trying to feel them only "healthy food."
Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 1 pear
• 1 banana
• some frozen blueberries or other berries- about 1/2 cup or 250 ml
• plain yogurt -about 2 cups or 750 ml
• granola - a few tablespoons

How to do it:

• Wash or peel - then slice - the fruit . I like to put it in a glass bowl because the fruit is colorful.
• Add the yogurt, mix and sprinkle with granola.
• For a slightly sweeter taste, add a tablespoon of maple syrup or jam to the fruit and yogurt before sprinkling the granola on top.
• Cover and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

This will make 4 or 5 servings. It makes a healthy, yummy breakfast, snack or dessert!

Sometimes It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better!

We must all have maximum mess threshold levels. I thrive with "comfortable clutter" that my husband would rather not see. I enjoy having books, knitting and sewing around so that I don't have to waste time looking when I feel like reading, knitting or sewing.

I like it all in plain view... where some people would view it as messy!

So is is somewhat ironical that I - who am constantly struggling with a tight balance between "comfortable clutter" and out-of-control messiness (created by me!) - should suddenly find myself inundated with even more stuff, as I empty out my mother's apartment. She has moved into a room in a retirement residence, and does not want to deal with organizing much stuff - so my home has become a holding area for a lot of things that will eventually go to her, or to my kids in Toronto - or as far away as Texas. While we sort through who wants what, it's sitting in piles and boxes in the hallways, bedrooms and basement of my house!

Even I am getting fed up! Day by day, as I clean and organize (my stuff and hers), my house seems to be getting worse! When will it end?

It makes me think of a Jewish folk tale about a farmer who was unhappy about his small home - there wasn't enough room for everything and everyone. Seeking an answer to his dilemma, he went went to ask his rabbi for advice.

My house is too small, he told the rabbi. My six children, my wife and I live in a small one-room house. The children are noisy - it's always disorganized - there isn't enough room for us all. What can I do?

Do you have any animals on your farm? the rabbi asked him.

Yes, a cow, two ducks, and three chickens, he replied.

My advice to you is: Bring the chickens into the house to live with you, the rabbi told him.

The farmer followed his rabbi's advice and brought the chickens into the house. A few days later, he returned to the rabbi in a panic: Rather than make the house better, the chickens have made it worse, he told him. They run around, leaving feathers and a mess everywhere. It's much worse than before.

Then my advice now is: bring the ducks into the house, too, the rabbi replied.

The farmer again followed his rabbi's advice and brought the ducks into the house. A few days later he again went to see his rabbi: Oh sir, the house is even more noisy and disorganized now than before, he told him. Now the ducks are all running around too. You have to help me. I don't know what to do.

There is only one thing to do, the rabbi said. Bring your cow into the house, too.

I don''t know how this will help, the farmer replied, but I'll give it a try.

The next day he rushed back to the rabbi's house.

Sir, the cow is knocking everything over - the chickens and ducks are running around - the house is a disaster. Your idea isn't working. I don't know what to do.

Go home, the rabbi advised, and put the chickens, the ducks and the cow back into the barn. Then come back in a few days and tell me how everything is going.

The farmer hurried home and removed the animals. Then he and his family cleaned his house. A few days later he again saw the rabbi.

How is everything going? the rabbi asked.

Oh, everything is wonderful, the farmer replied. The house is clean and quiet again. Everything is just perfect.

At times I feel just like that poor farmer! But with no end - yet - in sight!

Shag!

My mother made these pillows in the 70's - when shag carpets (so why not pillows?) were in vogue. Newly cleaned, they look as free-spirited as they did when they were first made. I'm not sure what to do with them... Perhaps store them until the "shag" looks comes back...

Has retro returned to shag yet?

Our Dirty Snow Mound = a "Green" Solution??!

It's been about 5 days since I showed you our neighborhood "snow mountain" - that ugly pile of dirty snow beside a parking lot near my home. In this picture you will have to click on it to see the pile in the distance.

I have often wondered how mounds of snow like this (and larger ones in some parts of the city) affect our weather - all that cold snow beside warm black pavement, which absorbs heat. After all, lakes and oceans next to land create breezes since the sun heats both differently. So I sometimes wonder: is it cooler in our neighborhood, or breezier, because we have this mound of ice and snow?

But to tell you the truth, I never thought that these piles could be viewed as "green solutions" - energy savers. Apparently in Sweden and Japan, snow piles like this are carefully protected from melting - covered with wood chips and a shelter - and then used for air-conditioning in the summer!

If you don't believe me, here is the article from the Ottawa Citizen.

I think it's a wonderful idea!

Now what about our snow pile? I wandered over last night and took pictures of it. It is definitely melting. We've had coolish weather and rain for the past few days, but this afternoon the temperature is supposed to go up to 20 degrees Celsius (or 68 degrees Fahrenheit) - so that means it will probably go down faster these next few days.














You can see that the path is almost clear on this side. Next time, I'll no doubt have to stand closer to the bigger part of the snow pile, as this side will have melted. When do I plan to photograph it again? When I suggested a contest, I promised to take pictures of the snow pile on all the dates people guessed at - in our snow pile contest. (It's not too late to make a guess...)

So far, I've had guesses for May 3, May 12, May 17 - and May 30. So I plan to show it to you again on May 3.

Next year, if they decide to follow Sweden's and Japan's example and use the winter snow pile for air-conditioning, it might last all summer!