Going Domestic

what will they think of next?

Before we were the tenants of this townhouse, a dog was (dare I suggest that it might have been a Newfoundland dog? Or is that too ironic?). This dog kindly left behind a respectable quantity of fur, which I've had to battle with both with a broom and a vacuum to get good results. Anyway, between the leftover dog hair, dust, and crumbs from my toddler, I've been thinking that the Swiffer Sweep+Vac might be a brilliant thing to use to clean the hardwood floors. At least, it would reduce my floor cleaning chores to one "event" instead of taking separate passes with the broom and the vacuum cleaner. Perhaps I ought to check out some reviews ...

Minors Welcome

How can a person not love living in St. John's? True, we were snowed in on Saturday while house-shaking 100 km/hr winds shook the townhouse, but on Friday night we took Madeline to her first pub :)

All bars and restaurants here are non-smoking, and when we inquired at a nice-looking pub on Water St., we were told that children are welcome inside until 8 pm. So we marched inside, sat down, and had dinner. Madeline (who's just a few days shy of 20 months) sat very nicely in the booth and helped me finish off an irish strew and potato croquettes. It was a weird experience (being in a drinking establishment with my toddler, and just being in there in general as I haven't since before she was born), but nice at the same time.

three little kittens

Madeline lost a mitten at the supermarket the other night. I'm kind of sad because it was one of the hand-knitted ones, a purple and green striped number, from NONIA.  The first time we were there, I thought it was just a store that sold hand-knitted items, but it turns out that it's an organization of knitters who sell their creations to fund medical care for remote areas in the province, which is kind of cool. When Chris was in St. John's in December to find our house here, he picked up a pair of socks and a Christmas stocking. Since I've been here, I've bought M two pairs of mittens and a wool hat for myself.

I think I read somewhere that NONIA takes special orders, so hopefully if Madeline's mitten doesn't show up in the lost and found at the supermarket, I'll be able to order a matching one anyway.

crisis averted!

I'm happy. I was getting a little stressed out before as I was beginning to think that there was nowhere in St. John's to buy frozen edamame for Madeline. It's one of her fave foods. I looked at healthfood stores as I'd normally buy it at Planet Organic or Community Natural Foods back in Calgary, but we'd checked out a few, and had no luck. I even stepped into the Japanese food store, and they didn't carry it. Seems like they specialize in Pocky, anyway. But last night I noticed that there was a freezer in the organic food section at the big Dominion, and lo and behold - there was a bag of edamame! Yay!  Now the only beloved food item that I haven't found yet for Madeline is Kettle Valley fruit leather - a good on-the-go snack - but I noticed I could order it from MEC ... kind of weird, but good to know, I guess.

cod cod everywhere ...

... so I'm going to try to make a gratin. I had cod au gratin for dinner at a restaurant on Saturday night, and was impressed with a) how easy it must be to make and b) how Madeline happily ate fish. I like making casseroles as I can do all of the preparation at naptime. I think this recipe from all recipes will do nicely. Now all I need is two pounds of cod ...

I tried cod tongues (battered and deep-fried) this weekend as well. They were larger than I expected, and chewy. More like clams or mussels in texture than the more popular parts of a cod.

local and fresh

I'm not sure if I can think of any type of food specific to Alberta, but there are some things I've come across on menus here in St. John's that I've never seen before. Flipper pie. Scrunchions, which are fried bits of pork fat (something that I'd ordinarily trim from my meat). And I've already blogged about partridge berries and bakeapples. There is excellent pea soup here, and plenty of fish and chips. Chris teased back in December about how he was served gravy and dressing with his fries. Turns out it's not dressing in the Stove Top sense, but more like breadcrumbs and seasonings.

The kitchen is pretty nice here in our rental place. There is a convection oven - I kid you not!  Guess I ought to investigate how to use it. A very nice set of pans - Wolfgang Puck's name is on them, so I guess he's in the same club with Jamie Oliver and Emeril. The refridgerator has a freezer drawer on the bottom.

I know I'm getting my blogs mixed up, but I am totally making these when I've finished stocking my post-move pantry: chocolate fudge cookies with toffee and dried cherries

If I don't post for awhile ...

... or respond to any emails, I'm not being neglectful or avoiding anyone. We're just moving really soon. This is going to be my last post here before me move and I'm not really sure how fast we'll have the computer set-up and internet access in St. John's.

Five Things I'll Miss about Calgary

1. Weather. I'll grudgingly admit the chinook winds are nice at this time of year.
2. The Cookbook Company
3. Living so close to an Ikea (old habits die hard, right?)
4. It's only a three hour drive to Edmonton
5. Our home! We spent a lot of money on improvements last year, not to mention my hefty investment in tulip bulbs, and we're not going to be able to enjoy it ...

Five Things I Won't Miss

1. Not having curbside recycling.
2. Urban sprawl sprawl sprawl and the complaints from the sprawlers who wonder why they live so far away from a school.
3. The drivers who think they do not have to signal for turns, leave a decent amount of space between my car and theirs, and think that shoulder checks are for sissies.
4. The Stampede!
5. The dry climate in winter. Static cling is no friend of mine ...

'til we meet again ...

5 things in my kitchen that I will miss whilst in St. John's

1. My ramekins. Actually, I'll miss all of my Emile Henry stuff. I seriously use it all the time and ignore the Pyrex and Corningware.
2. My pantry with the cool doors and shelves.
3. The incredible amount of plastic storage containers
4. My oval dry measures and oval measuring spoons. They're practical *and* fashionable!
5. Good knives ....