we were out biking around in the city today, riding on the sidewalks and terrorizing pedestrians in the downtown core. it's ok - i can break my own "what the hell are you doing on the sidewalks you psychopathic bikers don't you know it's illegal" rules since i have the baby strapped to the back and the streets are patently dangerous. cole and i usually stick to the seawall, since it takes us everywhere we really want to go together, but today we had some wide-spread errands to run and the fastest, easiest, least sweaty way (well, as sweaty, but
faster!) was to take the bike.
we stopped at the library to return some things and pick up some new things. i probably should have done this stop first, in retrospect. instead, we locked the bike up outside the library and walked to iga, about a block away.
you see, i needed some certo to make jam. i am determined to make pear jam this year. for the last two years at least i've been trying to make some and each year i've been thwarted. when i was pregnant we ran out of pears while i was making it, and then i realized we didn't have the right kind of pectin... at the time we lived in coal harbour and the closet grocery store was urban fare which, although it will have fiddleheads out of season and seventy kinds of expensive sea salt, did not carry old lady supplies like pectin... in the long run
i gave up that year. and
then last year apparently i was hoping to make some but the pears got all bashed up on the ferry and i never did make any. so this year, jam... anyway, we now live near science world and of course the closest grocery store is, again, urban fare. well, i have learned to go the route of most likely success, hence the trip to the iga on robson...
cole amused himself at the store by pulling large canisters of folgers off the shelves and then ramshackling all the carefully aligned bottles of juice. it took a long time to get through the line and then when we were waylaid by some refreshing-looking free iced tea samples on our way out. the iced tea samples lady was w.e.i.r.d and she kept telling me more about iced tea even though i was backing away awkwardly with a writhing baby in my arms... she welcomed cole to earth, and that was our cue to shake a leg.
we wandered back up to the library, and cole was distracted well enough by the interesting characters sleeping on the steps and the pigeons that surrounded them. inside though? i just went in to pick up the things i had waiting on hold, and then electronic check-out refused to serve me electronically since i owe the library money, and the library is serious if you owe them money - no more books for you! cole had been occupying himself with trying to push and pull a shopping basket while i fiddled with the machine, and wouldn't let it go so we could line up to pay our fines. so we walked, at toddler speed, barely avoiding tumbles down stairs and nearly taking out a lady with not one but
two canes, towards the line. and we waited. and waited. and waited. cole became less enthralled with his basket but wanted to sit in it, and then didn't want to sit in it, and then wanted me to push him a little and then seriously would have none of me pushing him in it. and wanted a cracker but then wanted to throw the cracker on the floor and fuss. folks in the line behind us started out all "oh, so cute" and by the end were avoiding making eye contact... so by the time we paid our fines i was about as irritable and sweaty as if i'd pulled myself there hand over hand up a rope.
after a wrestle down the stairs to go the bathroom and a wrestle back up and a quick game of distraction when we saw a sample table of vitamin water (cole likes cups and colourful things, i think vitamin water is at best hooey and at worst kind of poisonous and what is it today with liquid samples?) we were back at the bike. i was prepared to ride quickly over to the park for some mandatory fun on account of it being so sunny but we couldn't resist stopping when we saw the firemen outside washing the firetrucks. cole of course made his firetruck noise and i stopped so we could watch, like weirdos.
turns out, apparently kids stop and look all the time. the firemen were so nice - they offered cole a chance to sit in the truck and brought him a swell hat and sticker and even took a photo of us together. thanks dudes!
that really perked us up... cole settled down enough to stop kicking my legs while i pedaled and we even made the trip to the park, where cole insisted on wearing his new hat, despite the fact that the wind blew it off every 1.4 seconds. very cute.
ps - upon getting home i realized we need lemon juice for the jam. i guess we'd better go get some after supper.
i know i keep bringing up the new year's baby. it's creepy, it's silly, it has a strange family history. but seriously - cole loves it! there's no way i can get him to part with it long enough to send it back into the family christmas gag gift exchange now! (hear that uncle ian - you may be safe this year after all!)
he likes to go around the house pretending to spray a hose on things. it's a game jamie started playing with him a long time ago, and he absolutely loves it.
yesterday i was straightening up cole's room - not an easy task, considering he likes to rip the books off the shelves while i shelve them and putting away his toys renews his interest in them - and we found this dead bee on the carpet. i was really excited to have a bee that we could look at up close, since cole loves bees - in books or at picnics or over in the bugs/snakes/beaver dam/quiet room at science world. i scooped him in a tissue and cole was immediately enthralled. "bee?" was a massive source of entertainment. after we put her down (on a high shelf) cole lingered around, pointing to her and wanting to touch and pat the bee. throughout the day, i milked that bee for all it was worth - a fussy moment here and there? how about we see the bee?! etcetera... i figured we should take a photo for posterity (it's kind of fuzzy and oddly focused, but it worked in the moment) and then we dug out a travel toiletry jar to give the bee a little lasting power in cole's fascinated little hands.
looking at her so up-close, i realize that she seems to be missing a leg - perhaps that contributed to her demise? and today at science world we heard that the hive's queen has gone missing and they don't know what happened to her, so i sure hope she didn't wander into our place and perish!
he loved cracking eggs! i cracked them and then gave him the shells to re-crack (and then picked out the shells in the bowl). i dipped his finger in brown sugar and got a bonkers reaction from him when he tasted it - a muymmmmyyyy kind of sound and bug eyes. yeah, kiddo - sugar is tasty. he did lots of scooping and stirring and sploshing of things, and eventually settled on stirring his own bowl that contained a spoonful of flour and a dash of nutmeg. and he ate it by the scoopful - delicious?
he loves watching things in the oven, and it was so cute watching him watch the bread we'd made together. and eating it? forget about it - SO good.
i used a modified version of this recipe. we added some dried fruit, swapped some white flour for whole wheat and it called for a hell of a lot of sugar and oil, so i changed that a bit - it could probably go down a bit more without sacrificing the sweetness or moistness. oh, and it made a LOT - an enormous loaf and we still had left over batter for 8 muffins.
what the ahhhhhh! these were spotted while antiquing by a contributor over at ohdeeoh.
i've always wanted to pick apples. i love anything that smacks of fall and i have a penchant for picking fruit, a side effect (although pleasant, and no itching to speak of) of going to u-pick all sorts of things as a kid. the berry farm of my childhood was an amazing place - not just the berries, but the roaming, the shady moist areas under the windbreaks, the off-limits pond that had frogs that peed on your hands (which you only found out about when you went to the off-limits pond), the rotten strawberry fights... but i've never actually done u-pick tree fruit, a few stolen peaches aside.
we pretty much just did the apple picking and visited the petting zoo, because i like to dawdle and cole was excessively tired by the end, but it was totally a fun trip. i will ignore the fact that they were playing country music, because although i abhor country music with all the fibres available to me, it seemed relatively fitting and festive somehow. they have fresh pressed cider too, and these delicious apple cider sluhies that are really, really good.
different apples are available at different points in the season, which lasts september and october. we picked honeycrisps and they are amazing! huge, so juicy and crispy and the picking was a breeze. i think i got the "duh" look when i asked how long it would take to pick a 10 lb bag (i had a napless baby and many amusements to consider!). it would have taken about 3 minutes, but we paced ourselves and took our time. 
we stuffed our bag to the point of ridiculousness and it only cost $8.00! i can't wait until fuji's are ready - early october, i hear - to go back again.
we were out biking around in the city today, riding on the sidewalks and terrorizing pedestrians in the downtown core. it's ok - i can break my own "what the hell are you doing on the sidewalks you psychopathic bikers don't you know it's illegal" rules since i have the baby strapped to the back and the streets are patently dangerous. cole and i usually stick to the seawall, since it takes us everywhere we really want to go together, but today we had some wide-spread errands to run and the fastest, easiest, least sweaty way (well, as sweaty, but faster!) was to take the bike.
that really perked us up... cole settled down enough to stop kicking my legs while i pedaled and we even made the trip to the park, where cole insisted on wearing his new hat, despite the fact that the wind blew it off every 1.4 seconds. very cute.
ahhh... the first week of school. i won't go on (again) about how much i love school supplies or how the kids nowadays don't seem to walk to school anymore... for us, for now, the first week of school means the blissful retreat of the maddening crowd.
cole wandered off with his bucket of markers and crayons while i cleaned up after breakfast. it was a little too quiet, in retrospect, and i was raking the debris in his room aside so i could sit on the floor when i noticed it. it will wash off, so no big deal. and it's really in a spot that could use a little jazzing up, but i don't want to encourage it, so i asked him "did you draw on the wall cole?". he looked at me and said "smiya?" (smile). oh i couldn't do anything but.
i remember this dessert from the potluck sweets table of my childhood. it was a mystery to me then who brought it - i suspect the same anonymous great aunt that brought the ambrosia salads - but it was the gastronomic equivalent of heaven to me. as a grown-up, i spent ages searching for a recipe. eventually i tracked one down. i'm not sure what it's officially called, but "weirdo delight" is what i call this combination of ingredients:
maybe peas (or other veg for that matter) would be more palatable for mr. cole if they arrived on his majesty's tray in popsicle form? he does love popsicles and i've taken lately to making smoo-cicles - just smoothie of whatever sort we're making poured into popsicle molds - and they've been a great success around here... i guess it's worth a try - why not? i think i'll make these tonight and give them a shot tomorrow - will report back.