Cards Made By Shakti

Readers may recall that my on-line friend Shakti and I did a bunch of things (virtually) together during the month of June. Amongst them were a Picture an Hour post, each taking our shots on the exact same day. We also each baked some bread from scratch, a first for both of us.

And since we both like to create greeting cards, the final thing we did together was make each other a card. With the mail having to be sent to/from Canada to the United States, the results of this final part did not make it in time to post in June though!

We both cheated a bit and went beyond simply making one greeting card for the another. Here is the lovely set of handmade greeting cards I received from Shakti. Aren't they great? She has a Cricut Die Cutting Machine, so was able to make some collages with some very interesting shapes.

A Little Trip

Nick and I took a little road-trip north to visit my parents for a few days last week.

While we were there we enjoyed a beer-tasting event of microbreweries from the region. While I've been to quite a few wine tastings, I have only ever been to a beer tasting once before. It was fun and interesting trying out the varieties of beer and really noting how different the flavours are. In the photo you can see that I also sampled some cider that one of the breweries was serving. All in all, my favourite taste of the day was the Amsterdam Natural Blonde Lager.

Cool Cat

Although I am a cat-lover through and through, I admit I know very little about breeds of felines. Most cat-parents adore their mutt cats and not much is said about breeds, unlike with dogs where even mixed breeds like Cockapoos exist as a pedigree themselves. As far as cats go, of course we all know what Siamese and Pursian cats look like and I once visited at a home where there were two cats that looked like cute little leopards, but most cats are not special as far as breeds go, making them no less loved by their bi-peds!

We have no idea what kind of cat Eddie is, though I have tried to research it to see if I could figure him out. The closest I got to is thinking he might be part Ragdoll, based on his personality. They are said to very friendly and behave more like dogs than most cats, much like Ed, however they are mostly white with points of colour and our boy is about half white and half coloured. Oh yes, and they have very blue eyes, therefore declaring our green-eyed friend to not be of this breed. Regardless, of being anyone special we love him as he is (as regular readers know too well!!)

This week-end though, while visiting my parents, we saw a very special cat called a Cornish Rex. Here he is in the window of his shop. This breed of cat dates back to the 1950s, when a litter of kittens included a single newborn who had an inexplicably short and curly coat of fur. Then that kitten was bred and the characteristic repeated itself. A further breeding experiment lead to the curly coated cats being crossed with Siamese cats, which resulted in this breed which sports a very short coat of curly hair and big ears.

Food Friday : Making Sushi Rolls at Home!

Making sushi rolls at home is pretty easy and lots of fun, not to mention you get to eat your creation!

I first discovered how to do it when I decided to treat Nick to a homemade sushi dinner for his birthday one year. I had such a good time going around to the Asian shops in our area buying the little dishes, bowls and platters that would make the meal more authentic and enhance the surprise. And for added enjoyment I wore the Japanese kimono I have which was a gift from my father from one of his many business trips to Japan.

I also picked up the only kitchen tool that was absolutely necessary in the making of this dish, which was the sushi rolling mat. Aside from that, you will need:
- Roasted Nori (which are the seaweed sheets),
- Sushi rice (which is a short-grain rice and is necessary to make this dish work because it is stickier than regular rice),
- Seasoned Rice-wine vinegar (which is used to flavour the rice after it has been cooked. You can season your own rice-wine vinegar by adding sugar and salt, but we just buy the kind that is already seasoned. It will say so on the bottle),
- Brewed Soy Sauce (we use the Kikkoman brand. Note brewed Soy sauce is different than regular but it is very easy to find).

Extra items that are nice but not absolutely necessary include:
- Wasabi (which is a green paste made from horseradish. It is hot and spicy so used with care. It comes already mixed in paste-form or in a powder form that you add water to.)
- Pickled Ginger
- Mayonnaise and Hot Pepper Oil to make Spicy Sushi Sauce (mixing these two ingredients together will give you the exact sauce Japanese restaurants use to turn your "tuna roll" into a "spicy tuna roll". We like to serve it with any type of sushi because you know I love the spicy stuff! You can also make this by adding hot sauce to mayonnaise and adding hot pepper flakes.)
- Black sesame seeds (found in Asian markets)
- Caviar

Choose whatever filling you want, as long as they are cut in thin pieces:
- avocado, carrot (slightly steamed after cutting into long thing strips), cucumber, green onion, soaked dried mushrooms, tuna or salmon (cooked or raw), sweatened and cooked egg, cooked shrimp. The familiar California rolls are made with avocado and pollock (a fish used to imitate crab. It may be an imitation but it's real fish and is good!) and topped with caviar.

We made a combination of vegetable rolls and shrimp rolls, using the left-over grilled shrimp from last week's barbeque (shown here: Barbecuing Fun).

To make sushi rolls: Cook sushi rice as per the directions on the package. Note that you use less water for this type of rice because it has to be more dry to properly form the rolls. We cook ours in the microwave oven (which in my opinion is the best rice cooker going, for any type of rice) for 40 minutes at 60% power. Mix cooked rice with seasoned vinegar, breaking up all lumps. We use 1 cup of rice to 1 1/2 cups water + 1/2 cup seasoned rice-wine vinegar.

Lay a piece of Nori on your rolling mat (note some rolling mats have two sides; make sure the side with rounded edges is face-up so it will roll better. If your mat is the same on both sides, ignore that part. Busted: If you look closely at the pictures you'll see that Nick has his mat upside down!) Spoon on some rice, add your toppings, and roll! It may take some practice but you'll get it, and then you'll be very proud of yourself. Seal the edge with some water. Cut the long roll into bite-size pieces. Dip one end into black sesame seeds if using, or top with a small mound of caviar. Serve with wasabi, soy sauce, pickled ginger and spicy sauce.

It's easiest to make all your rolls and then cut them into pieces. Extra uncut rolls can be stored in the fridge for a day or so.

Motion Picture Show

A week ago Monday Nick and I went to a movie matinee. This may be strange but it was only the second time we've ever gone to the movies together since we met almost 14 years ago. It's not that we don't like movies because we both do ... it's more that we don't often like the same ones, and we watch on our home screen. But after this recent outing to see a film on the big screen we have resolved to try harder to come up with movies we'll both like and go, because it was really fun! (Insert 'doh' a la Homer Simpson here)

We went to see Hunger Games, at my suggestion because I had recently finished reading it. Yes, I am late to this party but better late than never, right? I thought the movie was great and a very good representation of the book. Nick also liked the movie, though he found the premise of the whole hunger game thing to be unbelievable.

The theatre* is a neat one that is within walking distance. It has the look of a place that should be in Vegas and the fact that we were there on a Monday afternoon meant that we were almost alone, giving the experience a twilight-zone feel.

I'm not sure if you've seen such a contraption but they had this beverage dispenser that offered you a choice of endless combinations of flavours, that the young man taking our tickets was more than happy to show us how to use. Yes, getting a drink at the movies has now become rocket science! The choice we went with was so (surprisingly) good that I am trying to replicate it at home in a healthier version, which I'll share here soon.