Out to See a Band at The Bovine Sex Club
On Thursday we went to see a band called Sister Hyde at a club called The Bovine Sex Club. This is the same band we went to see in the fall, that I posted about here. They are so good that we wanted to hear them again, and The Bovine was the perfect venue for them.
I've also talked about this place before here, when we went there for New Year's Eve, the one before last. It's a place that both of us have been going to for some time, before and after meeting. Our band has played on that same stage a couple of times too.
Spiced Molasses Syrup : Good in So Many Drinks
Inspired by a lovely hot drink that I sampled in December at the Christmas Market (seen here) I set out to replicate the warm flavour by making a seasoned syrup, that I could then combine with other things to make a variety of nice tasting beverages, both with alcohol and without.
Now I am in love with this stuff and actually need to make more because I've used it all up. The taste instantly brings to mind my favourite Halloween candy when I was a kid - those Molasses Kisses, that used to come wrapped in waxed paper printed with a Halloween motif. I would gladly trade my Skittles and Sour Peaches for those any day.
First, let's talk about Molasses ... We had some in the cupboard because Nick used it recently to make some homemade baked beans. The buying of it was funny though, as we had no idea where to find it in the grocery store. We looked with the maple syrup, jams, honey and sugar, which are all in completely different sections of the store, so we followed one another this way and that, in a Laurel-and-Hardy-like fashion, looking for the stuff. Finally we had to ask someone who worked there. The first person gave us a blank look. She had no idea what we were talking about. Nor did the next guy we asked. Finally, someone who overheard what we were looking for lead us to the section of the store that contains baking ingredients, and there it was. Later when we were in the check-out line, the first woman we had asked about its whereabouts, came over to have a look, asking 'What is it?'. We told her we needed it to make some baked beans and she laughed. I guess making your own baked beans is a funny thing to do in this neck of the woods. For the record, the beans turned out very nicely.
Molasses is the thick syrup left over from the making of refined white and brown sugar, and contains many of the plant minerals and nutrients from the sugar cane, that are stripped out of the refined stuff. In fact, it has so many nutrients in it that it is most often sold as a component of animal feed. So while our bodies still process it the same way as they do white sugar, at least we get some minerals and vitamins from eating molasses, making it a healthier choice over regular sugar.
In using Molasses as the main sweetener in this syrup (although there is some white sugar in it too) I was trying to make something that added some sweetness to what it was used in, but in a somewhat healthier form. Also adding other flavours to the mix, like clementine orange, nutmeg and cinnamon, my thinking was that a more flavourful sweetener would result in not needing as much to make something taste nice, because we're all being warned to keep our sugar consumption in check. Now, I'm not claiming that this is a healthy recipe but rather a healthier one versus a plain sugar syrup regularly used in cocktail making.
Oh and the aroma while making this is really worth mentioning. It makes your kitchen smell so good while it's cooking that it could be used as a room fragrance.
At the Art Gallery : The Great Upheaval
You may recall me saying before that my friend Meghan is a member at Toronto's major gallery, called the Art Gallery of Ontario, or the AGO for short. With membership comes the privilege of treating a guest to any of the travelling exhibits that come to the gallery, at no extra charge. And since we both share an interest in art, I have been lucky enough to see all that has come to Toronto in recent years, with her. It has been quite wonderful and I really appreciate being invited. We make great art buddies.
(This is not to say that I am her only friend with such good fortune, as her membership allows for as many visits as she wants, and working in the neighbourhood of the gallery, she goes fairly frequently and sees the special pieces multiple times.)
Our Pet Birds … ok, Not Really but Sort Of
I awoke this morning to the sound of tapping beneath my bed. Tap tap tap ... pause ... tap tap. I wasn't alarmed though, because I knew what I was hearing as I had heard it before during the previous week. It was Nick down in the kitchen, rapping on the vent that leads from our stove-hood to the outside of the house, with a wooden spoon. Why? Well, it seems that after years of us all merrily sharing the same outdoor area, a clever sparrow (or two) has figured out how to lift the little metal door flap that covers the vent, and to get inside the pipe.
How they do this is a mystery to us, because as I say there is a metal flap that covers the hole to the outside, that they must somehow lift and get under, all the while having absolutely no place to perch because the opening is flush with the brick wall.
We thought maybe something had happened to the flappy thing so Nick got up on the ladder to take a look the other day. Nope ... there is nothing wrong with it at all. What has happened is that a particularly agile little bird has figured out how to get around it.
Sometimes we can hear him (her? them?) chirping away in there. Turning on the fan does nothing to disturb their glee at finding a warm place to relax.
We have decided that two solutions will be pursued ...(1) we will replace the metal flap with a more secure fixture. (2) we will look into getting a bird house for them.
Because we love our little sparrow friends (previously seen here and here). Just like 'our' squirrels (seen here, here and here) we see them as our own pets who, of course, aren't really pets. They are the wild ones that stick around our yard the whole year long, to be glimpsed at from our windows and laughed at because they do funny animal things.
These pictures were taken through our kitchen window using a telephoto lens. I'm not sure if these are the same birds that were in our vent though.
At Home : Dinner and Movies with a Friend
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