Backyard Chickens & Chocolate Mousse

The weekend before last was long weekend and the weather was much nicer than forecasted. Saturday was our friend Henry's birthday and he hosted a backyard barbecue. Earlier this spring he built a chicken coop to house three Rhode Island Red hens. Being into what I call food politics and local eating, I was pretty stoked to check his operation out.

Henry said his chickens lay an egg a day. It was super cool to see the eggs he had collected in his fridge because they ranged in size from a small ping pong ball to the size of store-bought eggs. Not that I was surprised, but the contrast between nature's variety and the homogenous offerings in our industrial grocery stores was striking. He was generous enough to give me a half dozen eggs.

I was super excited because I had never had farm fresh eggs before. Right away I made knew what I'd use them for: Julia Child's chocolate mousse that calls for farm fresh eggs. The next afternoon I bought dark 75% cacao Ecuadorian chocolate and whipped up my first chocolate mousse ever. David Leibovitz shared a close adaptation of Julia Child's original recipe. It made quite a lot so I brought it to share at a beach barbecue that evening.

Peter and I ate the remaining mousse for dessert the next evening on our balcony, which he had finished re-flooring. With candlelight and a glass of beer, it made for the perfect ending to the summer's first long weekend.

(Photo of chicken by Henry)

The Cascades

I've had a couple of great weekends in a row now. I went over to Victoria the weekend before last to celebrate Kristen and her boyfriend Alex's birthdays. They made a compelling argument that Victoria is the Canadian Portland, but that's another post.

The next morning, Monday, I met up with Jacky, who was in Seattle on business from Washington, D.C. To get there, I took the Amtrak Cascades train, which I was so stoked about that having to wake up at 5:00am didn't even bother me.

The train ride down to Seattle was beautiful as tracks seemed to trace the coast. Just over the border there was a beautiful evergreen forested area (though I wasn't able to get photos because I was on the opposite side of the train).

Having come from Victoria the day before and having just finished watching Season 2 of The Killing on Netflix, which his set in Seattle, I was feeling pretty pumped about the Pacific Northwest. The region definitely has some commonatlies, namely the Pacific, evergreen trees, and affinities for coffee and craft beers. What's not to love?

I'm vaguely aware of the Cascadia movement, but I think this Young Pacific song would be an appropriate anthem:

Take me back to the North Cascades

A place where I feel I was raised

A Long Short While Ago

This day almost passed by unremarkably. It rained, I had dinner and great conversation with a friend I hadn't caught up with in a while. Then something earlier this evening sparked my memory that this day two years ago I was spending my last night in France in Toulouse with Emily.

We had spent the day visiting Carcasonne and after dinner in Toulouse we went for a walk and ended up sitting along the bank of the Garonne river. Emily took the photo above and I think it captures the reflective mood of the evening. I was sad to be leaving, but at the same time I felt ready to be going home.

I cherish the memories of my all-too-brief sojourn in France. These days when I recall a specific memory I can't believe it's been two years since I've been back.

(Photo by Emily)

Goldeen

When I was in Toronto, a glimmer of gold around my cousin Vivian's wrist caught my eye. She was wearing the Fishbone Malone bracelet by Toronto-based indie jewelery designer Ashleigh of Goldeen. I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but  I was really drawn to this piece.

I bought one for myself and have worn it every day since it came in the mail last week. What I like about the fishbone bracelet is that it's a naturally-inspired form that feels delicate and ladylike while at the same time being edgy. The San Jose Olé earrings (pictured center) featuring turquoise stones, have a beachy, bohemian aesthetic. Their name inspires dreams of travelling up and down the coast of California, as though a character in a Kerouac novel.

Nostalgia, which Ashleigh cites as inspiration, permeates the feel of Goldeen, including the handwritten tags. I asked Ashleigh a bit more about what inspires her: "I use a lot of vintage findings and try to add my own twist to them, like hand painting the chiefs or the bone earrings with enamel, or using them in an unexpected way."

Goldeen makes jewelry for women and men. Ashleigh also works with beads, gems, and semi-precious stones. You can see more of her pieces here.

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Disclaimer: Goldeen did not pay me to write this post. I did ask Ashleigh if I could blog about Goldeen and she included the earrings as an unexpected surprise. This post comes from me genuinely thinking she makes cool stuff.

Kimchi is Yummy (Really)!

I've never been a picky eater, but something about how Andrenne, one of my room mate in France, described Kimchi totally turned me off from wanting to try it.

While I was in Toronto, though, trying Korean food with my cousin Vivian who taught English in Korea was at the top of my list of things to do. So on my last night in town before going to the airport, we met up and headed to Toronto's Koreatown for dinner. She had a few dishes in mind of what I should try, so she scrupulously read the menus posted in the restaurant windows.

She ordered bibimbap (isn't that the most amusing name?) and a seafood soup dish. While we waited for our food to arrive, Vivian explained to me that Korea is a food-centric culture. Koreans, she said, will greet you asking, "Have you eaten?"

The waiter brought us six different kinds of kimchi, which I tried, and loved. I immediately wondered why I had been so reluctant to try it with Andrenne and Katherine in France (though I'm not sure if I'm quite up to making my own yet). We mixed in kimchi and sriracha into the bibimbap, and savouring the first delicious bite, I declared Koreans the original put an egg on it people.

The most recent sabre-rattling from North Korea seems to have settled down (or the media has moved on). I always wondered what it was like to be in South Korea at such a seemingly tense time. When I asked, Vivian told me that people back home in Canada would be flipping out, but things would be fine in Busan, where she lived, and people just went about their day-to-day activities.

I found this so strange, that I asked my friend Andrea, who is currently teaching in Daegu:

So, I live in Daegu. Which is a lovely (enough) little town about 2 hours from Seoul on the super-fast train. It's actually the third largest city in the country, with a population that hovers close to 3 million people, though it has a decidedly more insular vibe, which makes it feel smaller than Seoul or Busan. I think this also lends to the fact that people here seem to feel fairly removed from the on-goings with North Korea.

I mean, for one thing, the entire nation has been dealing with these tensions with their neighbours to the north for over half a century. They've grown accustomed to the antics of the succession of Kims that autocratically rule above the 38th parallel. So, as far as I've heard, even up in the capital they're feeling fairly nonplussed about the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the western media is apparently making it out like we're on the brink of nuclear annihilation (eeeeek). I've received numerous messages and emails from concerned family and friends over the past week... when, in reality, if it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't even have heard much about this.

If you're curious about Korea, Andrea--who previously taught English in Georgia--writes a clever travel blog. Janis of the blog My Suitcase Heart is also teaching English in Korea and takes magical photographs.. These shots of the azalea festival are especially dreamy.