Saturday, after a day of doing two loads of laundry and some shopping I decided to do some cooking as evening approached. I made a fresh salad of romaine lettuce with croutons along with a simple home-made oil and vinegar dressing (olive oil with white wine vinegar). That was just an appetizer. Then I got down to business making up some home fries with diced onion. When those were done, I grated (coursely) some asiago cheese over top. Sometimes I use emmentaler or gruyere, or what ever is available. If I had meat, I would have chosen bratwurst or hot Italian sausage but since that wasn't available I had to do without.

The top photo shows the plate of home fries and the second pic is a close-up. A wedge of asiago cheese is shown below. Sunday evening I just had sandwiches with fine liverwurst on olive bread along with orange-spice black tea, nothing particularly fancy. Then late this afternoon (Monday), home as it was a statutory holiday (Victoria Day), I cooked up some beef vegetable soup from scratch (as usual) using a cheap cut of beef I picked up Sunday afternoon while in Vancouver. Everything was slow cooked and then I had some for supper with some to take in to work on Tuesday (yes, the work week starts again, though only four days as opposed to five).

As for teas, its a mix this week with orange-spice black tea, or rooibos vanilla tea, or bengal spice tea or loose-leaf green tea with some fresh ginger root, again nothing fancy just healthy stuff. Have a great week where ever you are!!! - V.

It's snowing!!!

Today has been a slow day though the week has been far from that. I slept in until nearing 10 am but then I'm up by 5 am on work days, so weekends are good times to catch up with some sleep since six hours a night is about all I get during the week. After having a shower and getting cleaned up, I made breakfast followed by some work behine the computer where I'm trying to find some photos taken of the Lions Gate Bridge last summer (2007). I must have them on a disk since I can't find them on the laptop's drive nor on the external hard drive. If I can't find them, I'll have to take some new photos (they are on the old hard drive but its debatible if I can retrieve any files off of that one, for now anyway).

By late afternoon, I was busy in the kitchen cooking up some soup from scratch: diced onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, cubed beef, green peas plus seasoning like ground pepper, sea salt, italian seasoning and oregano, along with freshly boiling water. Then the soup was allowed to slow-cook on low heat and then after an hour or so, supper was ready. I'll have the rest Sunday at suppertime. Its good on a cold day and warms up the insides! The pepper mill is broken but there are others coming out of storage, so I won't bother to replace it.

Weatherwise, it was snowing, then raining and then snowing again all day Friday. Today was cool (just above freezing) with the sun appearing during mid-day but that changed this evening when the snow arrived again. This time the snow was accummulating some. The winds are currently out of the east with large flakes (wet snow) falling. The temperature is expected to drop to about -4 tonight. I walked over to the grocery store at the mall across the street to get some groceries but on my return to the apartment complex, someone from a second floor balcony asked me about the weather now that I've been across and back. I told him it wasn't too bad. I put up with a lot worse in Ontario (those in the lower mainland of British Columbia are really spoilt in that sense, weatherwise). The thought of driving in a white out with the snow coming down so hard that seeing beyond the windshield was impossible and then having to feel my way off a highway to less harsh weather conditions came to mind when I said that. Most of Canada gets to experience winter conditions but here they are blessed with mild winter conditions if there is any snow at all. I am sure those of you that live where there are real winter conditions can come up with some real stories to pique our interest.

In other news, I am on to coming up with a name for a holding company and also for a new website for my photographic work. This was going to be the case with Brad here but once I've got all that decided, I'll go forward to purchase a domain name for the website and work on acquiring some nice web designs for the new site. I'll look at purchasing some new camera equipment, along with studio lights, starting in January. If Brad had been hear by now, this would have been well underway by now but perhaps there is a method in all this madness. I have been taking land and seascape plus wildlife photography up to this point but I plan to branch out into taking photos of some hot guys, so soon after the equipment is bought, I will be looking for models. Brad was to be the first one as well as a partner in this effort. Once the website is established, I plan to post the link on this blog. There will be more news as we get closer and into the new year.

The movers will be here on the 20th, a Saturday. I am looking forward to getting the apartment properly furnished. Its been rather baren up to now and after that day, the apartment should be in better form to receive guests. That's the plan! When I set up plans and details that go with them, I am focused in getting them completed. Carry through on what's been started is my motto.

Things are set up for the auctioneer. The sorted items are to be picked up after January 7th when the auctioneer returns from vacation. More on this and other matters later!

Soup's on

After my last post, I spent the rest of the evening preparing the ingredients for cooking soup (chicken with rice and vegetables) and then got down to business. The soup is now complete with the aroma wafting thoughout the entire apartment. The ingredients are simple enough: diced onions, celery, carrots plus a mix of white and wild rice with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and herbs to taste. Olive oil was heated in a pan first and then the onions added allowing them to soften. Then I added the chicken (in this case breasts) browning on both sides. Then I added the vegetables plus water (freshly boiled). The rice was added and topped with more water. The whole thing was then slow-cooked for over an hour with the lid on. Soup done in this way lasts me about two days unless I have company in which case it doesn't make it past the first! Now if you excuse me, I'm going to have a bowl before I retire for the night. Speaking of which, have a great night! - Volker

Another update

Last evening I received a call on my cell phone. It was from my cell phone provider with a survey and an offer. I ended up getting a second cell phone free included in my current plan and its for Brad's use so he can keep in touch with me and others. When we are spending time together working or having some fun is one thing but the new phone will allow him to call me if I am away at work or in transit to share a business idea or some other thought. Someone was trying to deliver the phone this afternoon but I was at work at the time, so it will be delivered to my work place likely by Friday. I was pleasantly surprised since I didn't expect the phone until early next week with BC Day on Monday (a civic holiday). More on all that later.

Meantime, I am cooking as I write. I have a stew on the stove slow cooking away (chicken legs with diced potatoes, onion, leek, carrot plus herbs, freshly ground pepper and sea salt, together with some water). The whole apartment has the aroma from the stew everywhere. I've enjoyed cooking since I was a teen and have become more daring as time moves on with more complicated recipes. However, often I use no recipe and just use ingredients on hand (a little of this and a little of that). I hope to share my culinary skills with Brad and at the same time, enjoy some of the talents he has to share with me. We can both benefit!

So this is the civic holiday weekend coming up (BC Day). Since I am off on Monday, the holiday, this makes it a three day weekend for me. Should Brad arrive (and I am hoping this is the case), I have great plans for us. Some options are a lunch in White Rock, a Saturday evening watching the fireworks at English Bay, a trip to Burnaby Mountain (lovely view of the lower mainland, the Georgia Strait and the islands) and a hike on one of the many trails on Hollyburn Mountain, just to name a few ideas. Of course, there are many more and lots of time to see the many places of interest. Then the pride parade is coming up this Sunday in Vancouver which is a must-see event for both of us. This will also mean lots of photos of the sights and of both of us.

Then I am also so looking forward to going sailing with Brad and see his nautical skills first-hand. There is so much yet to come! Have a great week what is left of it and then an awesome weekend whether it's a holiday where you are or not! - Volker