Le Poulet de Beurre

After years of wanting to do so, I finally accomplished home made butter chicken! Is it a bad thing that I enjoy the PC brand sauce better? Mine was still pretty bitchin. The best part was the chicken. The recipe called for the chicken to be marinated in a yogurt mix for 24 hours. The minced ginger was perhaps the best touch of all. It was mad tasty. The sauce was based with onions and a can of tomatoes with various spices, mixed with whipping cream and butter before serving.

I haven't been up to much lately. I did invite my mom down last weekend for a trip to the Wychwood Barns Farmer's Market. She treated me to a ton of stuff. From fresh veggies, to lime basil seeds, to natural spun yarn. Then we stopped into the Eco store on St. Clair, and came back to my house to meet up with an accessories artist. She only did home visits in Toronto so my mom made use of the visit to use my address for that visit.

And also, last Thursday I helped my neighbour who had thrown out his back. When I was leaving the house he was laying beside his car screaming in pain. I couldn't do much to help him. Luckily he had some back pills in his car, so I fetched them for him. And I cleaned up what he was working on and locked up his garage. I unfortunately had to leave him but told him to call the EMS if it didn't get better. A few days later I came home to find a box of chocolates outside my inside front door. My downstairs neighbour told me later that he had dropped them off to thank me. Made me feel more like a part of this neighbourhood. As little as that might be it still feels nice.

And lastly, in most amazing news, Pepsi has brought back Pepsi Lime. And I'm having one right now. And it's awesome.

Talk Just To The Stars

I'm in a relatively good mood today. I'm not sure if it's because I've started to work out again, or if I'm just getting a lucky break. When I say I've started again I've biked for two days. I'll be getting on again today, and tomorrow my mom and I are going to walk to the farmer's market in my hood. This is all leading up to a 5km charity walk up in Unionville in May. If I can up my fitness level even a touch before that time then I'll be happy.

I tried another crochet project. I'm almost out of green yarn. I tried to do this in the purple, but I was getting lost in how the stitch was supposed to look, it's harder to read on darker yarn, so I ditched it after two rows. I had an idea of making it long enough to be a head wrap. It doesn't suit me so well, but it was fun to make.


I want to attempt homemade butter chicken tonight. I just realized I don't have any butter, but that's what convenient stores are for right? I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Crochet!

I spoiled myself today and picked up a crochet needle and some yarn. More $$ than I would normally want to spend, but it will be nice to use my hands again on something crafty. I used to do cross-stitch and make bracelets with embroidery floss, so it seems crochet (pronounced: krow-shet) would be an appropriate next step. I also went to Wychwood Barns for the first time. The gourmetness of it all is above my pay-grade ($0/hr), but when I'm making money again maybe I"ll give it a real shot. At any rate, here's a photo of my first attempt at practicing my stitches. I found a really cool tutorial for a weave stitch. Once I get comfortable enough I'm totally going to try it out!



Update: So I have a bit of honing to do. But I'll get there eventually. I'm actually thinking it will be nice to make my nephew-to-be a baby cap :D

Best Only

I found my notebook, and I feel like some sort of natural balance has been restored. I also finally shimmied the rest of my furniture back into place. While cleaning my desk I found some felt stoppers so I felted the wheels on the chest and pushed it gently across the floor. Just a little at first to make sure it wasn't leaving any marks. Now I can access my drinking glasses, and start to unload the last box into it's rightful place. Won't mean much if I'm shortly to be leaving, but it feels better.

The hat party was a lot of fun. Most everyone brought a hat of sorts. Danielle took first place, apparently by a landslide, but she deserved it. She affixed a game of travel connect4 to a wool beret type hat, and actually set up the pieces so she could play it. And she even doubled it for a chip bowl at one point too. Although I started out loving my hat, I think next time I'll just take whatever reject leftovers the host has to offer.

The following night I was volunteering at the 15th Annual Comedy Cabaret for Raising the Roof. It was held down at Second City, and I was helping to run the coat check. My friend Arthur ended up helping me hang the coats, which worked out well for me because it would have been a real challenge on my own. We had runners going up to guests and bringing their coats back two at a time. Leaving them on the table as they ran off to get more coats. The show had a pretty impressive line up. There were a few faces that I recognized but that I didn't know did stand up comedy. Like, the guy from Cash Cab? Though part of his sketch was running a little charity quiz with a random guest. I should have been up there. Some of them were so obvious but they needed a hint so they won less money. For example, if you were to be dialing 867-5309 who would you be calling. And then a Beach Boys question, and the couple on stage didn't even wager a guess.

I finished Blind Assassin a few days ago. Atwood is a master of her craft, but I struggled to finish the book while I faded in and out of having my interest kept. Still, it had been on my must-read list for a while. Since it took me so long (starting in January), I've kicked myself into reading gear. I still have a load of books piled up to get through. That makes it sound like a chore, but it's not.

I'm going to take a walk to my local knit shop soon. I'd like to take on my first knitting project. With some encouragement from Sim I'm going to do it! And I've join Ravelry so I can keep track of what I've been up to. When I get to the store I'll have to look to see if I want to start a knit project or a crochet project. Opportunities are endless! (Depending on the cost of course).

And also, my mom has signed us up for a charity walk in Unionville in May. So I need to start getting into better shape. It's only 5km, but I still need to work up to it.

That is all.