because you never know what will lead to what

This entry began as a response to mum of two's (and a half?) comment in my last post, but took on a life of its own after I started doing a bit of research, so I figured I might as well post it as a separate entry.

Snort. Yeah, it IS an ignorant quote, but I couldn't resist teasing you. I Googled Geoffrey as well, and didn't find much other than that the quote first appeared in the New York Journal-American in 1961. And in one site when I clicked on a link to get more information all it said was, "Alive: no." Well, not a big surprise with quotes like that! :))

Good grief! No wonder we both had a hard time finding anything—the last name was misspelled! But the saddest part is that while Googling the quote I found his name on I don't know how many sites ALL spelled the wrong way. The author's surname is actually COTTERELL, and hopefully that will give us more to go on.

You'd think I'd know by now though to carefully check quotes and their authors before posting them as I've run into this sort of trouble before. Usually finding that what I thought was a full quote was actually only half of a quote. And of course the most interesting half wasn't what I had originally included! The checking of various sites also led to me writing a completely different post than intended, and that itself was a reminder to never assume that I know for sure what I'll be writing about. It's also a lesson to trust the creative process and go with the flow.

But back to Geoffrey Cotterell who started all of this. Unfortunately I didn't find out much more even with the correct spelling, but it turns out the bloke was an English writer born in 1919, who published a number of books including Go Said The Bird, Amsterdam; The Life of a City, and Tiara Tahiti, which I believe was turned into a film. I also found a couple of old but amusing Time Magazine book reviews for Strait and Narrow and Westward the Sun. But I'm not sure if he is in fact not alive, as a couple of sites only included his birth (i.e. 1919-) and not his death, so he may still be a very much alive and kicking (although not exactly young) 88-year-old.

Oh, and who knew that the quote would also end up in a book that I happen to have sitting on one of my bookshelves? And that I would only end up realizing this by doing a search on the Internet? Yes, you just never know what will lead to what!

is this true, mum of two?! ;)

"In America, only the successful writer is important, in France all writers are important, in England no writer is important, and in Australia you have to explain what a writer is." —GEOFFREY COTTRELL

clarifying an earlier comment ;)

Ha! That Maxine....

enough already!

I am SICK TO DEATH of hearing about ____ and ____ in the local nightly news. And that's part of the problem. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll probably watch the Oscars on Sunday night just like many other people, but that doesn't mean I want to be exposed to details of the personal lives of American celebrities every single day. Hello? Most of that stuff used to be nicely confined to tabloids and specific television shows one could simply avoid, but now there are times when the second storyline in our local (Canadian, I might add!) daily news show is about one of their stupid antics. Um, why is this considered news? Aren't there more important things happening in the world?

Grrrr.

don't forget...

...to stop and smell the flowers

am I a Luddite?

(A Luddite is generally defined as one who opposes technical or technological change.)

Maybe, snort. No, that telephone is not the one I use anymore, but in some ways it might as well be. And I like having it around, as a nostalgic reminder if nothing else. I did finally graduate to a cordless phone about a year ago, but in defiant opposition to the tyranny of multi-tasking (those of you who KNOW me know how I feel about that!) I still refuse to do anything else when using it. Oh, but I do like walking around when talking to someone, so can better see the value of it. But a cell phone? Nope, not me. I don't WANT to be accessible at all times, thank you very much. In fact, half the time my ringer is off anyway as I often just get annoyed at being interrupted. What can I say? I'm a true introvert!

MP3 players? iPods? I'm surprised I even know the terms, although if I'm honest, about all I know about them is that they're musical gadgets of some kind. I have a Pentium II computer with, wait for it, a whole 1.96 GB. Sometimes I even have to clean my disk space if I have too many windows open and a blog is particularly large. I have Windows 98 and just tell Microsoft to go away when it presents me with Windows updates. This new Vista thing? Not interested.

Now am I telling you this because I think I'm in the right? No. I realize in fact that I should probably try to keep up more, but just can't be bothered. I guess I kinda figure that the stuff I have is still working well enough, and given my natural dislike of change (yes Dakota, I know, LOL), I prefer to leave things as they are. Snort.

:)

Please paste your submission into the body of an e-mail. Like the Buddhists say: NO ATTACHMENTS.

(Found in a website's submission guidelines.)

from my inbox

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?" Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval, and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be the masculine gender ("el computador"), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on
2. They have a lot of data, but still can't think for themselves
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem, and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model

Snort. What do you think?

sunday morning ritual

The dark blob in the lower left-hand corner? KJ of course!

ah, but when? WHEN?!

"Winter always turns to spring." —NICHIREN

winter wonderland

February 14/07, snow as ordered by a certain mum of two, no doubt ;)

Why, you might be asking yourself, are there lawn chairs on my deck in the middle of winter? No, it's not extreme laziness on my part (not that you were thinking that of course—were you?), but my landlord screwed them down permanently. I don't mind. If nothing else I can quickly see how much snow has accumulated. And see the ground right below the fence? That's how close to the house the train tracks are!

romance versus love

"In real love, you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person." —MARGARET ANDERSON

I first came upon this quote in Gloria Steinem's Revolution From Within, specifically in Chapter Six, Romance versus Love. I liked the quote, and the rest of the chapter as well. It made sense, and her argument that romance has its source in incompleteness of self while characteristics of real love are similar to marks of high self-esteem, was one I could see. She outlined those characteristics (p. 275-6) and I think they're worthwhile listing:

* Each partner feels loved for an authentic self. Romance, on the other hand, is about possessing and changing another person.

* Each one knows she or he could get along without the other—but doesn't wish to. Free choice is essential to love. We can't say yes to anyone unless we can also say no.

* There is plenty of room for playfulness, lightness and humor. When two realities bump up against each other in intimacy, romance views the contradictions with anger or disillusionment, but love acknowledges them with humor.

* Each partner feels empathy for the other. Each partner maintains a strong internal center, yet can also see life through the other's eyes.

* Love is not about power. If we love someone, we want them to continue being the essence of themselves. If so, then we can't own, absorb, or change them. We can only help them to become what they already are.

Right on Gloria! And as she also aptly states, "There are many more people trying to meet the right person than to become the right person."

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

guess Blogger didn't like the note

How do I know? Well, when I went to leave comments on Dakota's fine blog, it wouldn't let me see the letters I needed to type in for visual verification. All I got was a red X. And then when I went to add this post it had me sign in again as if it didn't have a clue as to who I was! Guess I've been told. Snort.

p.s. yeah, I know, I'm sure it's got nothing to do with me personally, but hey, as a blog writer I get to take artistic license with just about everything, no?

note to Blogger

Yes, I know that the new version of Blogger is available and I know that you want me to switch, but I'm just not ready. And frankly, trying to push me to switch over by having me type in my user name and password when I want to leave comments is not gonna help me do it any quicker. Why? Because (as various family members and friends will attest) I can be very stubborn and HATE being told what to do. Urging and cajoling won't help either. And you know what? I'm not so sure I like the new format I've seen so far anyway. Nah, I'll just stick with what I've got, thank you very much. In other words, leave me alone! Snort.

a traditional Canadian dish

Okay, apparently butter tarts DO qualify as being a real traditional Canadian dish, and I even found a recipe in one of my books. I've never made them myself as I don't care for them much (too sweet for my taste), but in case you want to try it out, here it is:

Butter Tarts — 12 medium

1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup raisins
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tablespoons cream (or evaporated milk)

1/4 cup cream (or evaporated milk)
12 uncooked pastry shells

Mix all ingredients except for last two until combined.
Divide filling between the twelve tarts.
Pour a little of the 1/4 cup of cream into each tart dividing equally. Do not stir.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake 10-15 minutes more or until a golden brown.

Let cool in pan. Remove carefully.

good question!

I am interested in real Canadian cooking now, so tell me, what is a traditional Canadian dish?

I hope you didn't think I was ignoring you earlier Dakota, but to be honest I didn't know. "Is there a traditional Canadian dish?" I asked myself. When one of my neighbours and friends was of the opinion that the answer was no because most people here have roots in other countries, I decided that my best bet was to Google. I'm glad I did because the first page I looked up, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), asked the same question: Is there such a thing as Canadian cuisine? Whew! At least I'm not a complete idiot I reassured myself. After all, if the CBC has to ask the same question, than the answer isn't completely obvious. And to be honest some of the dishes they end up mentioning, like poutine and tourtière, are in my opinion, more French than Canadian. Hmmm, okay what do other sites say?

Here we go! This blog entry discusses the whole thing in a much more intelligent, articulate way than I could, so I'm gonna let them do it for me.

Oh, and here's a thread tossing around some answers as well, but basically I think few foods would really qualify as being traditional Canadian dishes. At least, not items that the average Canadian would identify or consume on a regular basis. Except maybe Tim Hortons (a national doughnut and coffee shop chain), which is practically revered as a sacred institution.

Ahem, the following is my own personal rant, and NOT the view held by the vast majority of Canadians.

Come on people, what is this strange love affair you have with Tim Hortons? The coffee isn't that great (if you want to have REALLY good coffee then you need to fly over to Holland—on my last trip there I absolutely LOVED every single cup I had in every single restaurant and café) and are you that lazy you can't make your own? You'd really rather hand over your hard-earned money to drink their dreck than learn how to make a half-decent brew yourself? Hmmm?

Um, I hope these sites give you better information than I could Dakota, but I'm also going to use the excuse that since I'm technically not a Canadian, I'm allowed to let myself off the hook! :)

Zen mondo (scripture)

Monk: I have just entered the monastery: please give me some guidance.

Master: Have you eaten your rice gruel?

Monk: Yes, I've eaten.

Master: Then go wash your bowl.

ten super foods

How many of these do you eat?

1. almonds
2. black or green teas
3. tomatoes
4. salmon
5. broccoli
6. dark chocolate—70% cocoa solids
7. garlic
8. apples
9. pomegranates
10. yoghurt

Okay, I admit, I originally included in brackets why these are supposed to be super foods, but to be honest I didn't know what half of the terms were and how as a responsible blog writer can I include stuff I don't know the meaning of? Snort.

By the way, I consume pretty much all of them except for almonds (I have shelled peanuts or sunflower seeds instead), and pomegranates—too messy! :)

How about you?

Oh, just rifling through my file drawer I found another 10 super foods list! Here goes:

* sweet potatoes
* grape tomatoes
* skim or 1% milk (or soy milk)
* broccoli
* wild salmon
* crisp-breads (like Wasa)
* butternut squash
* citrus fruits
* beans
* spinach or kale

There. Now you can't say I never provided you with nutritional advice. ;)

recipe time

Because I can't stop thinking about food I decided I would give you the recipe for my pea soup. I must warn you though that I'm a lazy cook and don't believe in precise measurements (which can result in a slightly different dish every time), pre-soaking, rinsing (surely a little dirt can't hurt!), or pureeing. I also usually prefer recipes with no more than four ingredients and less than ten minutes of preparation time. Like I said, I'm lazy.

Just As Good As My Mom's (Or Even Better!) Pea Soup

* 1 bag of dried peas (and remember, don't bother rinsing or pre-soaking—who has the time?)
* 2 (at least) onions, chopped
* 2 (or however many you like) celery stalks, chopped
* 3 (or however many you want) carrots, chopped
* some people use potatoes (I don't)
* salt and pepper to taste
* many cups of water (okay, about 8-10, or enough to leave 1-2 inches of boiling room at the top of whatever pot you use)
* 1 smoked sausage (also known as Farmer's or coil sausage I believe, or "rookworst" if you happen to live near a Dutch store)

Take the smoked sausage and let it well up (but don't boil!) in a pot of water. Remove the sausage when it looks nice and plump (maybe twenty minutes?) and put aside for later. Take the water the sausage was in and use that as part of the cooking water (that way you'll get some of the flavour already). Dump in (yes, no need to be all precise about it, LOL) the rest of the ingredients in a big pot (remember to leave room at the top) and let simmer, covered, for a good long while. Two hours minimum I would say, but really, the longer this soup simmers the better so if you have the time, three or four hours is fine as well. Cut up the sausage in pieces (small or large, whatever you want) and throw them back into the soup about half to three-quarters of an hour before you think it's done.

Oh, and anything you may have read about how the soup thickens and tastes even better the next day is absolutely true. But don't worry about how thick the soup is when you warm it up again as it'll get thinner with cooking, so don't you be diluting it! Make sure to cook a nice big batch and put the leftovers in containers for later. Yum!

a treat or a temptation—you decide

Häagen-Dazs Mayan chocolate: described as a rich chocolate ice cream with a fudge swirl and a hint of cinnamon

Indeed. I bought a container today as it was on sale for half-price and I wanted to try this new flavour, but most importantly because I forgot why I had banned this gooey delight so many years ago. I must say though that I started out well enough and had three scoops in a bowl after lunch for dessert. I then had another three scoops in a bowl after dinner for dessert. The three words "in a bowl" is key however because I forgot the cardinal rule about Häagen-Dazs: never EVER stick a spoon (no matter how small) in the container and proceed to eat. Repeat, NEVER ever! Before I knew it the entire container was gone and I remembered how I used to inhale this mound of sugar within half an hour at least once a week in my earlier years. I then made the mistake of looking at the Nutrition Facts and learned that I had consumed 80 (eighty!) grams of fat (48 of which were saturated), which represented 124% of the recommended daily value. Yikes. I quickly consoled myself with the knowledge though that I had also consumed 8 grams of fibre and 20 grams of protein although somehow that didn't really seem to lessen the impact of the number 80. Sigh.

Ah well. Luckily I have been blessed with a fast-working metabolism, so am not too worried. And if I happen to buy it again, I'll make sure to remember the rule!

(still) speaking of food…

…I ran across this page a while ago poking a bit of fun at, well, traditional Dutch cooking, and as much as I may feel compelled to vigorously defend my culinary heritage (I've lived in Canada for over 30 years but still retain Dutch citizenship), I can't really say they're wrong, snort. But I will say that even though the meals my mom cooked might have appeared bland, they tasted anything but. Man, she's a good cook! Make sure to check out the recipes, which include some of my favourite Dutch foods—yum!

Um, not to boast or anything, and my recipe is a bit different from the one included in the link, but I must say I make an EXCELLENT pea soup. Just saying. :)

you are what you eat

Well, if that's the case, then some will consider me mushy, bland and boring. What am I? Oatmeal! Yep, I eat oatmeal every single day. Except for the occasional eggs, sausage and toast eaten at a restaurant, I've pretty much had oatmeal for breakfast for at least the past ten years. Why? Because it's the only food that sticks to my ribs for at least three hours. I've tried a lot of other things, but everything else leaves me famished in less than half that time, and believe me, not only does my blood sugar level drop quickly, but my good humour as well. Now I'm not talking about instant oatmeal, which is just a whole lot of sugar as far as I'm concerned. No, I make oatmeal with the stuff you use for baking, or sometimes when I want to feel even healthier, the steel cut kind. With soymilk, not water.

The other habit I won't give up on is having my big meal of the day at noon. Whatever I would normally have for dinner I have at lunchtime instead (even when working I'd simply bring something I could heat up in the microwave), and the old sandwich and fruit I have for dinner. Works for me as the few times when I have deviated from it my system didn't like it at all. If I don't have a big meal at noontime I could have three dinners in a row and still end up feeling hungry by nine. Strange, I know, but that's me I guess.

Oh, and I used to love the UK television show You Are What You Eat, but no longer have cable so can't watch it anymore. Pity.