I love this photo. I just want clean white sheets.
Was it The Velveteen Rabbit that had the image of the counterpane as a rural landscape? I remember this really vividly, for some reason… the little boy looking over the contours of the patchwork bedspread, all the different paddocks.
(I am taking a day off from my life today. Or am trying, at least.)
I’m trying to be kind to myself at the moment. I’m busy, despite my best intentions, and am slowly realising that I really need to learn to take my time over those small, everyday things… instead of rushing around all the time. Old, bad habits die hard.
My sister Claire has made this muesli for years. And I have started making it recently, too. I know that some people sit and drink a cup of tea in the morning and take their time over breakfast, but it has never been something that I’ve been good at. But I am trying!
Caramel Muesli (for want of a better name)
Mix in a big, microwaveable bowl…
3 cups rolled oats
½ cup rolled barley
½ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
½ cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashew nuts and hazelnuts are all good!)
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup wheatgerm
¼ cup oatbran
In a smaller microwaveable bow, mix…
4 Tablespoons of runny honey
2 Tablespoons of oil
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
and a little bit of salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon etc etc
Zap the liquid ingredients in the microwave for 1 minute until bubbly. Then pour over the mixed dry ingredients and stir.
Microwave the muesli for 4 minutes. Stir.
Microwave for 1 minute intervals, stirring after each, until the muesli is golden (usually about 7-9 minutes in total).
As it cools it will firm up and go crunchy. When you pour milk on it, it turns the milk to caramel. Mmmmm.
(Did I mention all indredients are negotiable? Try different grains and nuts… I’d be interested to hear your awesome combos!)
I have had a lovely, rainy Saturday.
I got up and went to the Everleigh Farmers’ Market. Ate delicious things. Got muddy feet. Caught the train to Central. Walked up six graffiti-laden flights of stairs. Went to a great vintage clothing sale. Walked back to Newtown. Tried on clothes in Yoshi Jones (they don’t have the beautiful retro, graphic skirt that I have loved for ages in my size any more… woe is me for missing their sale last week). Browsed multiple bookstores. Looked at the Araki book. Bought fresh produce at Alfalfa House. Crashed briefly. Went back out to Reclaim the Lanes. Got sidetracked. Went and ate pastizzi. Came home and drank ginger beer. Cooked with someone I love. Drank too much red wine. Watched the West Wing. Waved goodbye. Basked in solitude. And now I’m about to curl up on my beautiful red bed and read.
It’s still raining.
A perfect day.
I just bought my first fine art print! I have been obsessing over dkim’s prints for ages and will one day have a house full of Charley Harper.
But for now, I am the soon-to-be proud-owner of a Julie Morstad.
This is the artist that did the cover and liner note illustrations for Neko Case’s spectacular (and much cherished) album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and I’m pretty sure she is also responsible for the super awesome video clip for the first single from Neko’s current album, Middle Cyclone. If ever a music video was made for me it was that one: kestrels, bookcases, girls in knee high socks, a killer whale, and a beautiful siberian tiger. I discovered today that she has also done a stunning set of ABC cards that I simply must own. Isn’t the U for Umbrellas one delightful?
Obviously, I am a fan. I am really excited and can’t wait for my new print to arrive. It doesn’t even go with my room, really… but I have always loved it. I first saw this particular illustration at tinyshowcase and have been rather obsessed with it ever since. I do love tea, afterall… and am an expert dish stacker from way back. I know this is only the beginning of an owning-art obsession… I am going to have to make friends with a picture framer.
Nothing else much to report. I haven’t done much this week except go to work, come home and cook, make and enjoy sprawling all over my beautiful stripey red bed, watch Dollhouse, and hang out with Dave. All incredibly rewarding activities, to be sure.
I don’t have time this week for anything other than a brief post collecting some random moments.
When Andrew Bird tells me not to worry about the atmosphere, it eases my heart in so many other ways.
Last night I stood in a dark, dripping room and found myself grinning ear to ear. It was like some sort of time slip. Silence, just off a busy street. So exhilerating.
I took a break this week from the 800+ page novels I have been trying to read over the summer in order to dip into something comforting: In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje. I am in love with giant engineering feats at the moment, and beautiful prose. I just want to disappear into the deep snow of upper america and the streets of Toronto for a little while.
Fresh raspberries. Figs. Plums. Homemade Baba Ganoush. Beetroot with leeks in cream sauce. This week has been a good food week. I want to eat like this all the time. Just fresh, slow food. Or sometimes just fresh, instant food. Did you know there’s a vulgar way to eat a fig?
