Regular readers will know that Nick, with his years of experience working in restaurant kitchens, is the main cook around here. He follows the practice of 'slow food' as much as possible, which basically means preparing whole foods that are made from scratch. He takes great interest in food preparation and I am the very lucky beneficiary of his hobby.
However, I've always been a keen cook as well, and add to the daily smorgasbord every so often. When I first made this Cabbage and Vegetable Soup for him and he deemed it to be very good, saying that I could make it anytime I wanted and he'd be very happy to eat it, I knew I had a winner.
I should say at this point that I've never had my own 'Baba' (Polish Grandmother) but did get to enjoy the company of my high-school boyfriend's Baba. While I couldn't always understand what she was saying, I most certainly understood that I loved her old fashioned Polish recipes. And of everything she made, her Cabbage Soup was my favourite. It's kind of like Cabbage Rolls without all the work involved and I've been making a version of it since I was a teen, and still love it.
Over the years I have modified Baba's recipe, to exclude the ground beef she used to put in it, but if you want the beef, just saute some, drain the fat, and add to the pot with the stock. I also switch between using green and red cabbage, as they have different nutrients and it's good to include both in your diet (but note that using red cabbage adds a distinctive red hue to your finished dish, as seen in my pictures today.) The third change I made was to switch the white rice in Baba's Recipe for Brown rice, because, of course, it is a more healthy choice, (but feel free to use white rice if it's what you enjoy.) Finally, I add some beans to the mix (Kidney, Romano or Chick Peas, based on what we have on hand) for some protein and extra fibre.
A couple of months ago I included the picture above, of the little yellow house in my monthly Bits and Pieces post here and many of you seemed interested in what was happening to it. (It is located at 618 Richmond Street just east of Bathurst.)Built in around 1870, this house would have been one of the first buildings in the area and would have stood alone surrounded by open land. This was when the streets were still dirt roads, and a good 30 years before cars were introduced. Running water had just begun flowing as it was being built, but it would be decades before there would be electricity here. The now busy intersection just to the north of it, Queen and Bathurst, wasn't developed until about 30 years later, in the early 1900s.In 1876 the little house was registered as having been the home of a Miss Mary Franklin, who was a school-teacher.(I discovered that thanks to the research of a Toronto historian whose blog I like, called 'Taylor on History'. He photographs and researches all kinds of old places in the city and his post about this particular house is here.)While the house was built on the very edge of the more developed part of Toronto, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere, because there was a market square located within an easy walk, to the east (beside the park at Brant Street and Adelaide Avenue West today). And, I've read there was a school there, too, which is where I imagine Mary would have taught. She certainly would have been quite the modern woman at the time, living on her own in that little house. I think school teachers had to be unmarried ladies back then but I’m not 100% sure of that.The saying 'if walls could talk' comes to play where this building is concerned, as it would have many stories to tell about change. Neighbouring houses were replaced with ones built side-by-side, creating a tight row. I wonder how whoever owned it at the time, felt when a 6 story 'tower' was built right up next to the house, in the 40s or so.When I posted this picture below of the house in early January I mentioned that it and its neighbours to the east were going to be torn down to make room for a new condo tower.
* * * UPDATE : Autumn 2024 - This location on Romni Wools has closed permanently. I’ve loved shopping there since I was a teenager and will certainly miss it, as will, I’m sure, many yarn lovers in the neighbourhood. It was a wonderful place. * * *—————-On with the original post :Yesterday I took a trip to a yarn shop in the neighbourhood called Romni Wools. To say I found a lot to choose from for the crochet project I had in mind is an understatement. There is so much gorgeous yarn in this place that you almost have to see it to believe it. I just have to let the pictures do the talking, as far as showing you the huge selection goes, but keep in mind that I only took pictures on the main floor of the store. There is also a jam packed huge basement, stocked with all kinds of discounted choices too.Romni Wools has been in business for more than 40 years and carries hundreds of brands of yarn from around the world, specializing in natural fibres including silks, cottons, linens, mohairs, angoras. wools and some blends. When I was there I overheard a woman asking for bamboo and she was lead straight to a large selection of that. There are also lots of knitting needles, crochet hooks and other equipment for sale too.I'd venture to say that few people living around here can remember a time that Romni Wools wasn't part of the neighbourhood, as it has been there at 658 Queen Street West (north side, one major block west of Bathurst St.) for a good 30 years. It is still owned by one of the original founders of the store and is managed by her son. (She was actually in the store when I was.)
I received this interesting old St. Patrick's Day card in a mixed lot of vintage greeting cards that I bought off ebay once. I think it is probably pretty rare because not only is is a St. Paddy's card, it is also a birthday card. Pretty specific, to make a birthday card for a particular day of the year.As for putting an approximate date on this old card, I had to do a bit of greeting card detective work. It is marked as a 'Hallmark Coutts' card, meaning it would have been produced during a period after 1948 when the smaller Canadian Greeting card company, William E. Coutts was partially purchased by the much larger American greeting card company Hallmark, and before 1958 when Hallmark bought the company outright, as presumably they would have stopped including the 'Coutts' name on the logo after they gained full ownership of it. (Although I might be wrong on that assumption and can find no information on what happened to the Coutts name after the purchase and exactly when they stopped putting it on their cards.)
No doubt, this chubby squirrel I happened upon during a walk the other day was very cute. But this post is not so much about him, but rather about what he was doing and how it came to be that he was doing it.
He was in a little park I passed through, hopping about searching for just one more peanut. Shells were scattered all around in the snow, and clearly there had been a feast.
White Out
Witnessing the Beginning of Change
A Lazy Saturday Morning
Pear, Feta Cheese and Cashew Salad with a Tarragon Dressing
A Moleskine Notebook becomes a Thank You Card