Edible Tulip

I've Caught the COOTIES (otherwise known as being tagged)

Apparently there's this online activity that people do and it's called "tagging". It appears to be similar to the chain letter in that someone chooses you to be on the receiving end of a challenge presented in the form of a written letter or questionnaire.

I was "tagged" by Francesca of Spoon and Stem who sent me such a nice email about my blog to notify me of my recent infection of the Meme virus that I now feel obliged to participate even though it goes against all of my natural instincts which are to AVOID any organized group activity because it always leaves me feeling like I'm in a train of people wearing identical Nike t-shirts running and cheering their way to the temple to have a bit of Hallejuia sermoned up their arses. Call me cynical.

Four (out of 87) Jobs I’ve had in My Life:
1. Hot dog vendor dressed in a beaver outfit at the sleazy exhibition circa 1988
2. cemetery lawnmower
3. trailer park groundskeeper
4. Club Med G.O. in the Caribbean

Four Movies I could Watch Over and Over:
1. The Double Life of Veronique
2. Waking Life
3. Baraka
4. Rear Window

Four Places I’ve Lived:
1. Farmhouse in the Ottawa Valley (Lanark, ON)
2. Cabin on a river (Dunedin, ON)
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Echevronne, France

Four TV Shows I Watch:
I got a TV (for free from the curbside) a few months ago but I don’t watch much TV still. I watch CSI for mindless indulgence on occasion.

Four Places I have Been on Vacation:
1. Turks and Caicos
2. Dominican Republic
3. Costa Rica
4. Les Trois Vallees, France

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
1. www.kerismith.com/blog
2. www.superherodesigns.com/journal
3. www.yahoo.com for my email
4. http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/

Four of My Favourite Foods:
1. Rapini cooked in garlic and olive oil tossed with farfalle pasta and freshly grated parmesan and sprinkled with hot chili flakes
2. An everything bagel with health food smooth peanut butter and my mother’s strawberry-rhubarb jam
3. A giant salad of mixed greens (purslane, arugula, radicchio, leaf lettuce, endive, escarole) and mixed herbs (chopped mint, parsley, tarragon) with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon and ground pepper and coarse salt
4. Mutsu apples in the Fall

Four Places I would Rather Be Right Now:
1. Having a beer with my friend Dave who I miss dearly and daily
2. Sitting in the town square of Krakow drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes
3. In an after-hours medieval cellar watching Cabaret in Paris
4. Sitting in a lawn chair in the Noisy River under a big straw hat reading

Four Tags to Continue this Meme (and I’ve chosen fellow Canadian foodies):
1. http://www.alacuisine.org/alacuisine/
2. http://www.lexculinaria.com/
3. http://www.oswegotea.com/
4. http://kitchensavvy.typepad.com/journal/

Lamb Tagine

I went up north for a girls weekend with my mom since my father is away golfing with his buddies, in Georgia, in a rental house on the beach, watching the SuperBowl. So while he's in a testonerone daze for a few days, mom and I drove the country roads north on Friday afternoon talking about relationships, movies, art, inspiring women we know, finding intent and positivity in both of our rich lives, and trying to secure a moth nest inside a plastic bag. We opened a bag of what looked to be tantalizing European pretzels coated in poppyseeds but as mom pulled a long one out just as she started to turn onto the on-ramp of the highway I saw what appeared to be a thread from my off-white sweater but then as she neared the pretzel to her opening lips to take a bite a moth flew from the bag directly into my face. I squealed. And then to prevent moths and larvae erupting into the moving vehicle I shoved the pretzel bag into a plastic grocery bag and tied it securely into a knot. Those moths are now in a garbage bin just outside Howard the Butcher in Caledon East.