May 14, 2012 – Until recent years you never would have convinced me to eat corn before late July at the earliest. The best corn was at the farms in August. And the very best corn (after that grown on my grandparent’s farm) came from DeMille’s in Salmon Arm.

But recently corn is showing up early in the grocery stores. On a whim I picked up a few cobs last week and they languished in the fridge until yesterday.

And what a surprise! It was really, really good!

Corn reminds me of lazy summer afternoons in the Shuswap. Cool mornings in the orchard picking cherries, then as the heat of the day crept up, it was down to the lake to cool off. Dinners were later in the evenings, and featured fresh vegetables picked earlier that day. Fresh fruit, right off the trees, for dessert. It’s the taste of late summer. And it’s a nice taste of summer to come yet. Promising the senses that natures best is just around the corner.

April 25, 2012 – I cracked a walnut open for our little monster Senegal parrot and decided to get up close and personal with it. Another example of how fascinating small things really are if you just take a closer look. Nature makes the best art!

March 10, 2012 – Do you ever go out and have this happen to you at the restaurant?

An empty cup. A stream of dark golden, steaming, fragrant liquid gurgles and fills it to the rim. Two creamers dribble in. Torn paper, and a teaspoon of golden crystals tumble in and disappear below the surface. A metal spoon clinks and a vortex develops, blending-it all. The spoon rattles to the saucer. Lift, breathe deeply and inhale the intoxicating fragrance, sip, sigh. The perfect proportions. Halfway through the experience, a silver carafe appears from nowhere, suddenly the coffee cup is full to the rim again, perfect proportions Lost. Disruption. Now what? It’s all messed up now. How do you add more than one creamer, but less than two, how much sugar to replace to get back to that perfect proportion. I hate that.

Not today though, because my coffee was made in our machine, I get to drink it all before making a fresh one. No messed up proportions today.

But some sad news. The Vancouver Playhouse is closing. The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company almost reached 50 years of operation. One of the longest running theatre companies in Canada, and like so many other arts companies, just didn’t manage to make it through in today’s economy and government cutbacks. Subscriptions have been dropping, I suppose people are more interested in sitting in front of a box (TV or computer), or Tweeting or Facebooking, to go and support the arts. It’s sad, and not just because we have two tickets for a show next month (that may still go on – apparently there are negotiations going on to try and honour the commitment to the company from Winnipeg that was scheduled to put the show on here), but because the city will have lost something culturally important.

February 27, 2012 – Don’t you just love curry spices? They are so warm and fragrant and the tastes they combine into are so fabulously deep and complex.

Yup, love curry.

Must resist, must resist!!!

Just realized this is photo number 50, a milestone photo, and I didn’t really spend a lot of time looking for something of any real interest because I didn’t realize it until too late in the day.

We had a lazy morning, I spent an hour and a half chatting with my mom on the phone, did a bit of grocery shopping, a late afternoon lunch at Seymour’s Pub, and then spent most of the evening working on some flyers for a motorcycle/scooter parking protest that I seem to have gotten myself involved in as one of a small group of organizers. But at least I sucked Kirk in with me

January 31, 2012 – Garlic is not only good, it’s darned good FOR you too. Protection against colds, and of course, it keeps those pesky vampires at bay

January 30, 2012 – Once upon a time I didn’t like pistachios. I don’t know why, I just didn’t. But tastes change, times change.

Jan 3, 2012 – Quick shot today. I was out on the road all day and running like mad to get home and gt a few things done before I have to head out and teach a class that I’d forgotten started tonight.

A yummy keylime bar for you all.

Keylime Squares

Ingredients:

Crust
1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
grated zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1. Mix together crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, an butter, until well combined. Press into the bottom of a parchment lined 9×9 inch baking pan. Place in refrigerator or freezer until firm

2. In a medium bowl, combine 3 Tbsp sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in the sweetened condensed milk, then the egg. Add the lime zest and juice; stir until just combined and immediately pour the filling into the crust.

3. Bake in a preheated 325C oven for 25 minutes (or until the edges look firm, but the centre is still slightly unset). Cool completely. COver and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Cut into bars. Serve chilled with whipped cream, berries, of just as they are.

An idea blatantly stolen from a Flickr contact (but I did tell her I was going to be a thief). Her Daily Challenge a few days ago was “What Money Can’t Buy” and her answer to it was “Someone To Share Your Morning Coffee With”.

That resonated with me and so I plagiarized (with proper attribution though – see below).

I loved the concept and grabbed. Unlike hers (www.flickr.com/photos/sue90ca/6587535547/) though, it’s unlikely that mine will be Explored.

Companionship doesn’t have to mean your soulmate (but in my case it does). It can mean a friend, a family member, a loved one, or someone that you just enjoy sharing time with on any random occasion. If you have a few of those people in your life, ones who will drop everything to be with you on spontaneous whim, then you know that you are rich beyond measure. Those people are worth cultivating in your life.

I wish you all someone to share a cup of coffee with!

Once a year we buy each other things we wouldn’t normally buy and stuff each other’s Christmas stockings with them. For me, one treat is goldfish crackers. Don’t ask me why, but I love them! And that’s precisely why I NEVER buy them! Because I’ll eat an entire bag if given the opportunity.

I showed a little restraint tonight when the bag was opened, but they’ll probably be gone by tomorrow. Cheesy, salty, garbage. I eat so well most of the time… I suppose we all deserve to indulge our weak points once in a while.

Ironically, I just looked back through last year’s 365 and noticed that my photograph for December 29th 2010 was rather similar. See? Like I said, I tend to get these things once a year.