A drawing

Everything I know I learned from my cat: When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet's, pee on your owner. - Gary Smith

I have been busy… Listening to a beautiful song …

Baking a marbled cake. A childhood favorite!

Trying to photograph a red jewel that could not stand still and kept flying away…

Spring is in the air...

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.  ~Doug Larson

Quaint small village.

                       Spring makes me dream …I drew my dream place on paper!

Apple Almond cake

 I made this cake from a recipe I found in Canadian Living magazine, April 1994.

The original recipe:

1-1/2 cups all –purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup plain low fat yogurt

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 tsp  almond extract

3 peeled cored apples, thinly sliced

Topping:

3 tbsp sliced blanched almonds

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon.

In bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In separate bowl, beat eggs, stir in yogurt, butter and almond extract. Stir into flour mixture just until combined. Pour into 9-inch (22 cm) greased springform pan. Arrange apples over batter.

Topping: Combine almonds, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over apples. Bake in 350 F (180 C) oven for 60 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 8 servings.

Walk with me......... in downtown Ottawa.

Oscar Peterson

Rideau Canal and Parliament

Mackenzie King Bridge and Parliament

Fairmont Chateau Laurier

Elgin Street

Oscar Peterson outside the National Arts Center

When it is snowing again!

then a nice pot of curried lentils is in order!

 Ziniania’s Lentil curry.

1 - 1/2 cups brown lentils (pick out all the little stones and rinse them well)

1 large onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced or 1 tsp garlic powder

2 bay leaves

2 carrots diced or 1 med sweet potato in ½ inch cubes

3 Tbsp tomato paste

1-2 Tbsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp oregano

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt &pepper to taste.

Put lentils in a pot and cover them with water. Boil in medium heat for 20 minutes adding a little water when necessary. Add onion, garlic, bay leaves, and diced carrots and boil some more until carrots are tender. Add the tomato paste,(I like to mix the curry p, the garam m, the oregano and the salt and pepper in the olive oil) and the olive oil with the spices and cook for 10-15 more minutes until the lentils are nice and thick and fragrant.

The first day of spring!

I have been thinking lately that January, with the snow, the freezing temperatures, the dark days and all; it is not a good time to think about New Year’s resolutions.

The 1^st day of spring should be the perfect time for that, when everything is coming out of its hibernation, when everything is new, fresh, and full of hope…

Note to me ….I have to start walking more, spend more time outdoors, eat less and enjoy the rebirth of nature!

I love spring.

Ah the Irish.. They know all about getting discount flights.

Daylight Savings Time.

A friend send me this funny comic strip of Geluck Philippe.

It translates: I invented this clock with two dials. The first one gives us the time that it is now and the second one tells us what time is it going to be in one hour.

Ziniania’s APPLE CAKE

 

3 cups of flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 Tsp cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup veg. oil

1  cup milk

3 cups apple pieces

½ cup raisins.

For the top:

 2 tsp sugar (brown or white)

1 tsp. cinnamon.

Combined.

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and raisins.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sugar adding veg. oil.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture alternately with the milk and fold the apple pieces without over mixing.

 Spread batter in greased and floured bundt pan and sprinkle the top with the sugar and the cinnamon. Preheat oven to 350^o F (180^o C) and bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes, clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan and then transfer to a plate.

Excellent for breakfast or with your afternoon coffee or tea

I am so sorry .

We take for granted so many things in our lives, our health, our families, our friends, our good life, the place we live, and so much more.....Then it takes a disaster in a far away country to makes us think and realise how small we are in front of the powers of nature and how fleeting we are....and then we forget again....

My thoughts are with the patient, resilient, and brave people of Japan.

I am so sorry.

Friend.

In my twenties, I worked for a travel agency where I met C. She was one year younger than I was. She was outgoing, lively, adventurous and lived alone and I was shy, quiet and lived with my family. We connected and became friends. We stayed in touch even when our lives took us to two different continents, her in Australia and me in North America. Now we send each other photos and e-mails and she still is more adventurous than I am.

I keep thinking... where all those years went, my dear friend.

CANADA EH?

                                                            Amazing !

I love Paris in the springtime..........

photo from the book Paris la nuit.

Years ago, my uncle (my mother's brother) who lived in Paris, France at the time invited me to stay with him and his big family to study French and even pay for my tuition. I accepted his offer with a lot of joy. I stayed with my uncle's family for two years while I went to Sorbonne. It was the first time away from my family, but my uncle and aunt made me feel welcome and at home. I enjoyed being a student in the quartier Latin. I remember being with two other girls Zana from Yugoslavia and Leigh from Canada in the jardin du Luxembourg and eating pommes frites (french fries) in a splendid spring morning. The three of us explored Paris, we walked, took the metro and visited museums with the student budget that we had. Zana was going to be a museum curator and she made us visit every church and cathedral we could find in sight. I loved nature and we went to parks like the Bois de Boulogne. On weekends, we had a beautiful family meal with my uncle's family. The menu was always roasted chicken with spinach noodles that the kids liked.
I am so grateful to my uncle and aunt for giving me that opportunity. After all these years, the memories are still vivid in my mind and i can still picture the open windows over looking Rue Molitor.

When I was young, my aunt my mother's sister, used to take us to outings with my cousin, my younger sister and me. One of them was the circus. So this painting that i did long ago, is for all the great memories that we shared together.

Rainy , grey , solitude.

10 favorite smells.

1) The smell of the ocean.Brings back childhood memories.
2) Lilacs and orange blossoms.
3) Freshly mowed grass in a summer afternoon.
4) Fresh, crisp ,cold air.
5) Mint from the garden.
6) Pine needles in the summer heat.
7) The smell of fresh brewed coffee.
8) Suntan lotion .
9) Cinnamon and Lavender.

10) The smell of roasting chicken in the oven.

Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver. Gilles Vigneault

Dreaming of spring

Blue Day

Tracks

chickadee.

value , light, form

cardinal in pencil

together

almost frozen.

red fruits.

stew goodness for a cold day !

pine needles and snow

going home

hide and seek

old school house