The Fall Garden

     For the past month or so, the garden has not been very exciting, mostly because it has been a very monochromatic green.  With the onset of fall, things are starting to colour and the garden is coming alive again.  Not only are the leaves changing colour, but various seeds are forming and making themselves known.  The above is a shot of our poor, old dying Sugar Maple with a young, brilliant red offspring in front of it as well as some mauve Asters and a reddish Bladdernut shrub.

     Although we have four different colours of Asters - mauve, purple, white and pink; the mauve ones predominate and are swarming with different kinds of bees and wasps.  The look especially beautiful contrasted with the yellow Black Eyed Susans.

     The Sumacs are just starting to turn red and I love their pinnately compound leaf structure, and their gnarly stems that remind me of arthritic fingers of the elderly.

     In the backyard, we have Kentucky Coffee Trees that resemble the Sumacs in leaf shape, except they turn lemon yellow and they are on upright stems.  As well there are the Walnut Trees that are dropping their astringent "bombs" all over the back yard and are a favourite of the squirrels.  Above is an Allspice that has had a great year for seed production.  The fruits/seeds turn bright red and the leaves yellow nicely.

     We have brought a lot of the houseplants in for the season as there have been frost warnings, although we have yet to have a frost.  A lot of the Geraniums have been put back outside, by the potting shed of the garage, so they can soak up some more sun and create some contrast with the reddening Virginia Creeper.

Toronto Visit

     This past Thursday was my Toronto book club and I decided to take the Friday off so I could sleep in and see the Ai Weiwei exhibit at the AGO.  We had a good discussion about the Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath, mental illness and feminism, and the food a la CC was great!  I slept in until 9 the next day, something unheard of for me, but I must have needed the rest.  I hurried off downtown, so I could get into the AGO early before the crowds.  Interestingly, there were lots of high school students at the exhibit, so it was interesting to see it through their eyes.

     Ai Weiwie designed the famous "Bird's Nest" stadium for the Beijing olympics, but distanced himself from it once he realized how poorly Chinese people were being treated by the government.  In the exhibit, he takes a lot of old and everyday objects from Chinese society and reconfigures them into something new.  The image above is a bunch of stools that have been joined together using ancient Chinese woodworking techniques to create something sculptural.  The image below is of Han dynasty vases dipped in modern, brightly coloured paints to represent the old and new of Chinese culture.

     Weiwei was very affected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, especially as many schoolchildren were killed in shoddy "tofu" buildings.  The government refused to release actual numbers of those killed, so Weiwei went around and recorded as many as he could.  One wall of the exhibit had the names, ages, addresses etc. of as many children as he could identify - very powerful and compelling.  He also collected rebar from the sites of the earthquake and laboriously straightened it and arranged it into a landscape-like sculpture, seen below.

     After that show, I had a quick look at my favourite permanent exhibit of Henry Moore sculptures and a look at the AIMA/AGO photography finalists.  I then headed over to Chinatown, which seems to be shabbier and grimier than ever.  I also walked through Kensington Market, which had a lot of empty stores and was also looking in rough shape.  I have a feeling that those two areas are going to be the next sites of condo development/intensification, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a fire helped that along.

To the Lake and Back

     I have been off work this week for a "staycation" and today was the first day I managed to go out an a bike ride. I went down the hill and got onto the Trans Canada Trail that follows the Speed River up to Guelph Lake.  The sun was shining brightly, but there was a bit of a cool breeze in the air, so it was a perfect outing.  For the most part, the river valley is untamed, and quiet except for the birds and insects. The picture above is the end of my ride, where the Speed River comes out of the dam at Guelph Lake.  The yellow of the Golden Rods matched the painted part of the dam well, and there's also a bit of blue in the sky and on the front of the parked truck, as well as a bright red sign at the base of the dam.

     At the top of the hill, you can look down into the river valley, where some brave soul was fishing in the malodorous and scummy waters.  Still, from a distance, the lake looks cool and inviting.

     On the way back from the lake, I alternated riding and walking because I wanted to take my time in and amongst the forest and stillness.  There are many cedars which have a very beautiful reddish bark, and the forest floor is covered with the also-red fallen needles. The trees were planted in straight rows, which makes for a dramatic vista, and makes me feel like a fairy-tale character, following some quest/journey.

     One of the more interesting plants I saw on my ride was the spiky cucumber-like vine above.  When I was kid and was walking along the creek bed in a forested area, I came across these unusual seed pods for the first time and imagined that they were some kind of alien life-form and was excited, and a little scared,  about my discovery. It turns out it's just Wild Cucumber (Echinocytis lobata), a native Ontario Wildflower!

     The light at this time of year is quite spectacular and casts lots of interesting and spooky shadows.

     While riding through Riverside Park, I stopped to take some pictures of the pedestrian bridge over the river and caught a seagull mid-flight.

Summer Bounty - Part III

Red Currants simmering

     One of my favourite discoveries this summer has been the joy of making jellies.  It was something I was always a bit afraid of, thinking it would be difficult and time-consuming, but that could not be further from the truth!  Two weekends ago I made my first-ever batch of red currant jelly and last weekend I followed up with my first-ever batch of black currant jelly.  Knowing that currant season is short, I was thrilled to find more red currants at the market this morning.  I bought two pints, rinsed them well and followed a recipe from one of my mother's old, English cook books, Practical COOKERY for all, which I'm pretty sure is from the '50s.

Mash

                                         Red-currant Jelly

     3 lb. red currants     3/4 pint water     Sugar
     Time: about 50 minutes.  Temperature: low to moderate

Method: Put the fruit into a colander and spray with cold water to clean.  Do not remove the stalks.  Put into a preserving pan with the water.  Bring very slowly to the boil.  Cook the fruit very gently until all the berries are pulpy - about thirty to thirty-five minutes.
     Strain through a jelly bag and leave to drip for several hours.
     Measure the juice which is collected, then pour it into a pan and bring to the boil.  To each pint add three-quarters to one pound of sugar, stirring until dissolved.  Continue to boil briskly for ten minutes.  Test for setting.  Pot and cover.

Jelly-bagging!

     The above is the recipe verbatim but I should add a few of my own notes: preserving pan?  I used a regular pot, no lid necessary, and mashed the fruit with a potato masher after it had simmered and become soft.  This time round, I added a crushed, dried pepper to the mash to give the jelly some zing. I bought a jelly bag from a local kitchen store and it was the perfect size for the rim of my Mexican glass pitcher, which had the added bonus of being useful for pouring out the juice after the three or so hours of dripping.  N.B. do not squeeze the jelly bag to get more juice as this results in the jelly being cloudy, instead of lovely and clear.

Finished product

     Serving suggestion: every weekend, CC and I have cheesy bagels.  We get Montreal-style bagels from the market, toast them and then I add sliced cheese - CC likes cheddar, I prefer spiced Gouda or Oka - and then put them under the grill in the oven until the cheese is runny.  Lately, I have been spreading jelly on the bagels, post-toasting and pre-grilling - the colour is great, and the taste is tres je ne sais quoi.

Summer Bounty - Part II

Apricots, washed and ready to go

     Saturday in G-town is market day, and I love checking out all of the fresh, local produce.  Lately, I have gotten into canning and have found it easy and satisfying, especially when you get to enjoy a taste of summer year round.  Today, I bought a quart of apricots, to make some more apricot chutney (I made a batch 2 weeks ago, but have already given lots away).  I follow the following recipe, but changed it to accommodate the weight of fruit: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Apricot-Chutney-102012.

Half the recipe's worth

     It's quite simple to follow.  Chop the fruit according to preference - I like smaller pieces because I use small (125 mL) mason jars.  In a large pot combine the cider vinegar, fruit, spices, finely chopped red onion and raisins - I used a combination of small, dark Thompson raisins and the larger, golden raisins to provide variety in colour and texture. Allow to simmer, uncovered, for an hour, and then add to pre-sterilized jars.  Voila, you now have a delicious accompaniment for cheese or meat.  The batch I made before was great with sausage rolls and Shepherd's Pie, but let your imagination run wild!

Ready for simmering

                                      

Yum!

Summer Bounty - Part I

Raw

     Two weeks ago, CC had a fall from a ladder while pruning some vines away from the roof of the house.  He unknowingly disturbed a wasp's nest, they attacked, he panicked and fell, fracturing his tibia.  He had his surgery just over a week ago and his been home almost a week.  His parents came by last weekend bearing gifts of fresh fruit - grapes, cherries, plums and peaches.  As CC is somewhat bed bound I spent most of today in the kitchen dealing with our bounty of fruit.  I made a fruit salad with some of it and stewed the rest.  For the raw fruit, I just cut them in chunks and sprinkled freshly-squeezed lemon juice over top to help preserve them.  For the stewed fruit, I cut them as above (sans grapes), added some of last weeks leftover blueberries and an apple, and cooked them slowly in a pot with some sugar and Calvados.  It's a great way to get rid of overripe/bruised fruit (gag).  I like the fruit salad with yoghurt for breakfast and CC likes the stewed fruit with muesli for his morning start.  Both are packed with fibre, vitamins and nutrients, a good start to any day!

Ready for stewing

Ready to eat (bowl not included)

Graffiti - Art or Vandalism?

     Down the hill from us is a trail that goes along the Speed River and passes by an apartment building.  The wall adjacent to the path is the side of the underground parking, and is not pretty, to say the least.  Lots of "kids" (read ne'er-do-wells) hang out down there at night, letting off fireworks and getting up to other mischief, including spray-painting the wall.  Recently, after some years of some quite interesting painting and scrawling, the owners of the building painted the whole "canvas" grey.  Well, it wasn't long before some creative types set to work making the bland, grey canvas into their own studio.  Sure, there are some tags and other ugly bits of work, but I'm intrigued by the "stencillers", who clearly have put some time and effort into their work.  I thought I'd share some examples with you.