New Tori Amos album finally grows on me

After giving it a rest for a couple of weeks, I listened to it on the train again yesterday and liked almost every track. After awhile, you start to hear what's underneath the surface and get into the flow and now I rather like it!

One side effect is that I have caught myself singing one of the more catchy lines under my breath in public. Unfortunately, that line is:

That guy
At night makes me scream

Let's hope I can keep this under control.

Another leftovers recipe using remnants of canned tomatoes, green pepper, onion, and garlic

Another experiment that turned out well.

The leftovers:

• 1/4 of a green pepper (sweet)
• 1/2 can of tomatoes

The rest (there are all things that any self-respecting kitchen has in stock at all times)

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 handful dry farfale
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1.5 cups water
• pinch of dried Italian herbs
• ground black pepper to taste
• parmesan cheese for dressing

Most of the leftovers recipes I've come up with lately have been the all-in-one-pan type. Cleanup is a lot easier! So, this time I tried cooking the dry pasta directly in the ingredients rather than preparing it separately in water, and it worked pretty well.

I used a sautee pan. I think it's essential for this because the large surface area lets you reduce the liquid very quickly, so that you can cook the pasta properly but without having too much water left in the sauce once the pasta is cooked. You could probably try with a smaller pan and less water, but then the surface area is also useful for the sauteeing part.

First, dice the onion, mince the garlic, and roughly chop the green pepper.

Heat a sautee pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil right away and when it starts to smoke, add the onion, garlic, and green pepper. Sautee for about 3 minutes, shuffling with a spatula periodically.

Add a pinch of dried Italian herbs. This is usually cheap and in the dried herbs section labelled as "Italian seasoning" or something like that. I wanted to use basil, but there's none in the garden yet and I didn't have any. Don't over-do this "pinch". If in doubt, under-do it. Mix in and sautee for another 1 minute.

Add the Balsamic vinegar and stir it in right away. It will probably sizzle quite violently. Sautee for another minute or so.

Add the canned tomatoes and stir. Bring to a fast simmer.

Add the water and return to a fast simmer.

Now, add the farfale and stir it in so that it's submerged in the liquid.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and it should come down to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 12 minutes, stirring periodically. If it becomes too dry, add more water a small amount at a time and half-put the lid on the pan if it seems necessary (this will slow the evaporation of liquid).

It should have thickened up at this point. Season to taste with ground black pepper. Let stand in the pan for about 2-3 minutes, and then serve with grated parmesan on top.

Note that I didn't add any salt at all because canned tomatoes are usually high in salt, and parmesan has salt in it, too. If yours aren't, you will probably want to add salt.

Technorati: leftovers, recipe

Rain barrels and mosquitoes... and goldfish, all in or near Georgetown

I was surprised to read in today's Georgetown Independent that the town's rain barrel sale created havoc on town roads due to the incredibly high demand for the at-cost pricing of some rain barrels that the town had set up an event to sell. Apparently, they came stocked with 300 barrels and were sold out within 30 minutes.

That is a very nice thing to hear, though I wonder why there is so much interest. Clearly the town was not expecting it. But you can't water your lawn with a rain barrel and you can't drink the water, so what are the intentions, I wonder? Are vegetable gardens really making that much of a comeback?

On the topic of rain barrels... obviously, mosquitoes are a concern because rain barrels are a body of water that sits still for quite awhile -- until you use some water or it rains and starts to fill up again. You can get closed barrels and install screens, but did you know... that you can put a goldfish in your rain barrel and it will eat mosquito larvae? As long as there's oxygen going in and out of the barrel and you don't completely drain it and run the poor goldfish dry, you can do this, apparently.

In other news... the house next door to me hosts drug dealers and the house across from me has now been condemned. 2 down, 1 to go... maybe the fact that they just busted a $1 million grow-op just outside of town will keep things at bay for awhile. Honestly, I would not be surprised if half the rural area was hosting grow ops. It is happening in BC.

Technorati: rain barrel, Georgetown, mosquitoes, goldfish

Garden update : May 2009

Baby salad greens poking through. Putting these in a barrel, surrounded by gravel and sand seems to be a very good slug deterrent. That's well-suited to salad greens, too, because you cut them early and the others fill in the gaps left behind. So, you don't need a lot of space unless you eat way too much salad.


I've uncovered last year's attempt at soil rehabilitation (sheet mulching) and planted vegetable seeds here. I posted last year around the same time of year when I started that sheet mulching experiment.


I put a number of different tomato varieties here last year (I wrote about it back then) and it's a very good sun trap. This year, I'm going to interleave pole beans and peas. In all of my planting, I try to avoid too much of the same crop in one spot. Just as banks collect money in one spot for bank robbers to steal, putting a crop all in one place seems like it'd just attract more and more pests that like that crop.

New forsythia: one more step toward the evisceration of grass. Mint in the barrel is on the way back.

Crate Designs review: good post-purchase support

I wrote a bit about Crate Designs not too long ago. The furniture I bought from them arrived a couple of weeks ago but was parked in the living room for a week or so because the room it was destined for wasn't ready to receive it.

It's very nice furniture and is of high quality but, unfortunately, when I took the protective plastic that was holding the drawers and glass doors closed on a credenza unit, I noticed a big crack bisecting one of the glass panes. I asked the company about it, thinking I might be able to go and pick up a replacement glass pane from their store or something like that but, to my surprise, they actually came to my house today and installed a new pane!

This company has a lot of things going for it. It makes nice, solid furniture that seems to look better with age, it's made locally, the salespeople know the furniture very well, and they always seem to deliver when they say they will and, in this case, went well beyond my expectations.

So, I think it's worth posting this just so that others know about them. I've had two furniture orders with them now and everything has gone perfectly both times.

Technorati: Crate Designs, review

Muesli review: Finax, Bob's Red Mill, Dorset

Muesli seems to me to be a good cereal. It's the only cereal that I eat nowadays because I've come to the conclusion that all boxed cereal is bad for you, whether or not it's organic, low sugar, high fibre, granola, or loaded with vitamins and "essential nutrients". On the odd occasion that I do go back to the usual boxed cereal, I can tell it's no good because of how it makes me feel: highly-strung and feeling full but still hungry.

But, muesli doesn't seem to have these problems. It's a dry and relatively-raw cereal without any fancy sugar-based varnishes, crunch enhancers, or funny shapes.

I'm going to briefly mention three types that I've tried over the past few years: Swedish Finax, American Bob's Red Mill, and British Dorset. I was also going to include Bulk Barn's no-name muesli but they changed it recently to have some hard, gritty pieces in it. That's fine if you're going to cook it, but I eat it cold with milk so I don't buy it anymore.

Finax
Finax isn't so subtle in their marketing, with a big "GOOD FOR YOU" plastered on the front, as if it's the name of the muesli (it very well may be the name). It's mostly made up of flaked grains with a sporadic scattering of sweet pieces like papaya and raisins. It's a good cereal for a small bowl because there aren't any big pieces to come rolling over the top when you put the milk in. Because the sweet things are so sparse, it seems like a lighter cereal and doesn't sit around in your stomach for hours or have any adverse side effects. In fact, after I eat it, I feel like I might be ready for a half-day's work at a Swedish social democratic government job (though of course I'd take a full day to do it).

In Canada, you can get it at Superstore.


Bob's Red Mill
Bob's Red Mill is probably what you'd call a "hearty" muesli. It has a serious, earthy look to it and has some dates and raisins for sweetness. The sweetness is higher than Finax because there are more sweet pieces, and the flakes are larger. It also has a lot of sunflower seeds compared to most mueslis, which over time I haven't come to like very much. Everything else in the mix crunches in your teeth nicely, but the seeds slide around sometimes or just get in the way.

In Canada, you can get it at a number of places that carry Bob's Red Mill stuff (usually in its own display). Superstore carries it.




Dorset
Dorset is like a "deluxe" muesli, regardless of the version you choose (there are many). The simplest version has whole hazelnuts in it, for example. It's also loaded with dates and raisins and the sweetness (though natural) is the highest of the three. It's not TOO sweet, but it's on the sweet side. Combined with the relatively large amount of nuts, it turns out to be a pretty rich cereal and I don't like to eat it every day. But, this is what I remember as "muesli" -- fitting, since it is British and I grew up in England. At the same time, muesli isn't a British invention so it's likely a British interpretation.

In Canada, you can get this at A&P/Metro. Foodstuffs in Georgetown has a few of the varieties, too.


Summary
So, really... I liked Bob's Red Mill at first but over the long term got tired of there being so many seeds. I don't like lots of seeds in muesli. Finax is the best "every day" muesli because it's light -- not too rich and not too sweet. Dorset is a good "special" muesli for when you want something a bit sweeter and heavier and it's fell well-balanced, but I find it a bit too heavy for eating every day. Maybe you can call it a "dessert muesli" :) This is based on their least-extravagant muesli. I've tried a few of the others that they make and they're all about the same as far as the heaviness goes.

Technorati: muesli, Canada, review

Ray LaMontagne concert : April 15, 2009 : Massey Hall : Toronto, ON

It hasn't been that long since I saw Ray LaMontagne in concert because I saw him last year at Danforth Music Hall. It was just as good the second time around -- this time at Massey Hall -- and I haven't got much more to add.

But, this review of the concert at Jam! is a pathetic review, giving it a mediocre rating apparently only because RL didn't talk very much during the show. Maybe this is important to someone who either (a) wants to have something different to say in a review or (b) doesn't care about the music, but even with both of those in play, you'd have to be pretty insensitive to notice that the reception to the concert was very enthusiastic and nobody seemed to care about any of the points she raised because they were there for the music. It's a rude and insulting review written for the type of people that wouldn't really care about the so-called showmanship even if it was there (and I'm not sure that it wasn't there, anyway... there was nothing at all missing from this show).

It reminded me that I also saw world-class flamenco guitarist Paco Pena in the same hall last year, and he didn't say a single word -- about 50 words less than RL did last night. But so what? It was one of the best flamenco shows I've ever seen and I don't have a single negative memory.

We need more good musicians: we don't need more amateur comedians. Ray LaMontagne is better for being the former and for not trying to be the latter.

Technorati: Ray LaMontagne, Massey Hall

P.S. The gallery seats at Massey Hall -- those above the balcony -- are actually pretty good. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the hall is so shallow, and the gallery seating is staged at such a relatively large angle that you get an excellent view of the stage. In some cases, they would be better than the floor seats. I had floor seats at Danforth Music Hall last year and the view was larger but not as broad.