Catching Up

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, we celebrated Panda's 15th birthday with these Toasted-Almond Caramel Dacquoise. Yes, they are the same ones featured on the cover of the February issue of Canadian Living. I already had 4 egg whites left over from a dinner party chocolate pudding and plenty of almonds, so it was a stroke of serendipity. They were amazing.


What a disappointment when I realized that moving to Ontario would mean no more fresh herbs from my balcony in the winter. (Duh!) So my solution is a fluorescent tube set up in the basement on an old Ivar bookcase. I hope to extend our little grow-op to include salad greens and, of course, we'll start our seeds for the garden here.

This is my current home decorating project. It may be a long, long time before it is finished, but when we finally have new pinch-pleated drapes for the family room, I'll post another picture.

Apologies for the quality of this photo, but it's darn hard to catch something like this on film. So now you know why I must keep our kitchen counters absolutely clear of anything remotely edible. Or even chewy.

Things I have rescued from Moxie's mouth:

• $20 bill & $5 bill
• socks
• panties
• oven mitts
• kitchen towels
• chicken legs
• dead mouse (found on a walk, NOT in the house!)
• reading glasses
• paring knife
• CD's
• envelopes, paper scraps, toilet paper rolls
• guitar picks

Things missing in action:

• $12 worth of Oka with Mushrooms cheese
• three days worth of vitamins and anti-inflammatory medicine from pill case (found in pieces)
• bruxing guard (only some pieces found)
• many kitchen sponges, which do turn up eventually, if you know what I mean

Mox, we love ya, but man, you are one dumb doggie sometimes.

A Sure Sign of Procrastination

When the bookkeeping is piling up, what do I choose to do with my time?

Here is a sample of what I'm doing today: No Knead Bread, whole wheat and walnut version. I thought you'd like to see it before I nibble those scrumptious walnuts off the top.