Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Working on another house

HouseMike1
One of these days people will ask me how come I have a cooking blog, since it looks like any construction job can get me away from the pots and pans in no time at all. My last post is dated almost a month ago. During this time I've tried to keep in touch and read and comment on my favourite blogs, as a way to let people know that I'm still breathing.

My son bought his first house, a nice house in a great location with "good bones" but in need of quite a bit of TLC. In the photo you do not see the jungle of vines that was hiding the front door. I wish we had taken a picture before we started the work. By this time I had cleared all the vines and was about to start painting the windows white. Although the windows themselves were white, the surrounding metal was black, as were all the doors. As it is, and since we can only work on the weekends, it was a bit of a race against time - once the temperature gets below 10ºC you cannot paint. We had some frustrating weekends full of rain but we lucked out in the last weekend of October. Mild weather allowed us to finish all the exterior repairs. There was much work my son did but I will not bore you with the details. Suffice to say we are now ready to start working inside. Here is viewew of the backyard before we cleared the weeds and mowed the lawn.

During this time I spent my weekends going up and down ladders either painting or sanding. By the end of the day me knees were killing me and I was so tired that either cooking or blogging was just too much work. Fortunately Loblaws, my favourite supermarket has an excellent selection of delicious prepared foods. I love their Vegetable Lasagna with 7 Cheeses, which is enough for six to eight servings, the Shepherd's Pie (they say it is enough for 4 people, but I liked it so much I had seconds), and the Moussaka.

UneSimpleSoupe
Last week I made another pot of soup, this one losely based on Clotilde's Une Simple Soupe. I had it several times with a fat slice of organic bread and some unsalted butter. This recipe of hers was the first recipe I ever tried when I first discovered the blogosphere back in December of last year. I tried her soup recipe and was hooked on Clotilde's blog and her recipes. The rest, as they say, is history.

10 comments:

Cerebrum said...

Good to see your alive Ana! I've been away from my blog quite a lot lately too - we just can't do it all at the same time...

Elvira said...

Admiro essa sua energia, Ana! E ainda lhe resta tempo para cozinhar coisas deliciosas... Estou feliz por a ver de volta!

Bom trabalho!

Ruth Daniels said...

Glad to see you posting again. I do know how life can get in the way of blogging and even cooking, for that matter.

The soup looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!

Anonymous said...

You're back and better than ever. Thank you for the delicious soup picture. I hope the weather today didn't depress you too much. There was a mini blizzard in Ottawa!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. That soup looks nice and warming. Your son is a lucky fellow to have such alot of help!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that "before" pic of the backyard reminds me that I really need to clean up my own neglected garden.

That soup looks yummy.

I miss Loblaws. We don't have Loblaws out here in Vancouver (but I can still buy President's choice products at a local grocery store.)

Anonymous said...

Hi Ana,
nice to see you're back on track ;) We seem to have the same fondness for some hearty, down-to-earth soup... Just finished my third bowl this weekend (potatoes, leek, zucchini,..) and it was just perfect for this dirty weather.

Anonymous said...

Love the color of this soup....looks like a perfect fit with the snowy day we are having here on the Prairies. Hope you will come for a visit and more soup/bread recipes at my site too, the beet borscht is the best, is it ok if I brag!!!
Cheers from the snow-covered Canadian Prairies!

Ana said...

Zarah: Pity that life sometimes gets in the way. Hope you are done with your exams.

Elvira: Obrigada. Eu gostaria de tar mais energia do que a que tenho. A construção não me deixa muita energia para cozinhar.

Ruth & Gigi: Thanks.

Sarah Lou: Winter is here isn't it? Bummer!

Lindy: Thanks! Well, my son also helps me and I really like when the two of us work together. It is kinda lonely to work on your own.

knifeskills: I hear you. I love Loblaws. Their organic section is getting bigger and the prices are really good. More expensive than the non-organic, but still better than health food stores. More big chains should get into organic. That would give a boost to organic farming.

Nicky: Potatoes, leek and zucchini...are you planning on posting the recipe? Sounds yummy to me!

Geraldine: Thanks for visiting. I'll check your site soon. I make a point of checking all Canadian blogs.