on being a simple minded foodie.

i'm a foodie, in that i like to eat. a lot. my life tends to be mostly consumed with food related conversations, meetings with friends, and time spent surrounded by food food. i'm a foodie in that i like watching people cook FOR me, and i enjoy the spoils of friends who do enjoy cooking - and make me their guinea pig.... i have good friends.
when i became 'vegan' (quotes, because it's the easiest thing to call the way in which i eat) 6 years ago, my lifestyle made a quick turn towards spending hours each week figuring out where i could get the best nutrients, when, how to consume them best with one another, and so on. i have charts, and schedules and vitamins and the like, in order to keep this temple (aka. my body - which by the way, would be a failure of a temple. falling apart by the second. one of those castles in ireland that no one sees, because it's halfway to falling off of a cliff) chugging along. combine veganism with multiple health issues that require a strict regiment of medication at very specific times during the day, and you have yourselves a mess of a woman who can't cook well, but needs to be eating nearly once every hour, AND taking medication every 3. as a result, i spend far more time that i ever thought that i would, considering my food choices, making meals for the week on sundays, freezing things, and looking at recipes (which i rarely follow, so this could be taken down as a complete waste of time... though i love the pictures!). i can't follow direction, so long winded and complicated recipes have NO place in my head/apartment/kitchen.
so, though i can't cook extravagant meals like a ton of my friends, nor do i have to patience to do so, i have a knack for looking in my fridge, seeing what is in there ('vegan cheese, naan bread, cucumber onion and tomato, and some leftover black beans? PERFECT!') and creating something (usually) edible. and, if i ever reach for a recipe, it tends to be something like a 5 ingredient, walk-away type one. 
unfortunately for me, i also like fancy things. don't get me wrong - a loaf of focaccia and some oil and vinegar do me fine for the most part. but everyone likes a little something special in their lives every now and then. i, for example, enjoy grapefruit perrier more than i care to admit (to the tune of a bottle a day... tee hee). 
so. the dilema. combine my lack of patience/time/care for recipes that are longer than 6 ingredients, and take more than 20 minutes of my time, and my love for the finer things in life.... and you have a conundrum. 
so what is one to do? find the easiest - yet fanciest - recipes you can, and make them CONSTANTLY. and that's what i do. 
some of my most faves?:
lavender lemonade (droooool-y). i've been making this FOREVER, and when i saw this on this blog, i was so excited to see someone had actually shown me how to ACTUALLY make it. and put photos to boot! recipe here
vegan cheese sauce - a total staple in my place. i make huge batches and freeze it. so. good. this is a great, not-many-ingredient version.
i make vegan lasagna a ton - to freeze, to bring to parties, etc. I use this recipe, but no vegan cheese. straight up seasoned tofu. and i make it into actual lasagna - not rolls. it's goooooooood.
another freezer friend to my lasagna and cheese? butternut squash soup. i've been diggin' adding other squashes too, and i blend it like crazy. so amazing. and warm. and yummy.
and my main grain - my love affair with quinoa. this website had this recipe posted way long ago, and she redid the recipe! it's amazing now....
oh. and stir fry. all. day. long.
enjoy your cooking!! (i'm going to eat - these photos made me hungry).

things that have been in my ear lately

just some music i've been digging lately. and by digging, i mean playing on repeat until everyone around me becomes obsessively annoyed with me.
perfume genius: dark parts
"i will take the dark part of your heart, into my heart"
perfume genius is from seattle, called this most recent album, 'put your back n 2 it', and his mom is in the video. need i say more?
bobby womack (ft. lana del ray): dayglo reflection
"Watching from a distant constellation. Eyes I can see the world unchanging hills. There's still unfalling waiting... Time with you is that love is the only truth"
bobby womack’s first album of original songs in 18 years - yesssss boi. amped for this whole album, but super digging this lana del ray accompaniment.
chromatics: these streets will never be the same
"spent my life inside this room. and disappeared some more each day. i couldn't run away from you. you kept me hanging on the line"
the video was shot in Las Vegas, Mexico City and Montreal. and blurry. love it. i often listen to them when making jewelry, as i find their music calming and easy to listen to, without causing an all out dance party (this is a serious concern for me).
tim hecker: the piano drop
tim hecker recorded the new album 'ravedeath, 1972' in reykjavik last year... in a church. using an organ centrally. awesome.
dead ghosts: that old feeling
"i could say it but you wont believe me. you say you do but you don't deceive me. it's hard to know they're out there. it's hard to know that you still care"

just plain good, with a crazy weird video. love.
enjoy!

camp + quarry

i've been torturing myself again via internet exploring.... i find myself entrapped in the maze of spectacular jewellery designers and photographers, and generally amazing people who share loves that i do. and through this maze, i somehow stumbled onto this wonderful wonderful blog - a lady who i want to be friends with, and hike with, and play with antiqued metals and gemstones, and silk and cotton scarves with. i think i'm in love with her, and it's taking everything in me to not stalk her (sarah, if you read this, i'm not creepy. i swear).
her blog - shop - camp + quarry - is a wonderful mix of all things i am in love with. hikes in the great west coast, jewellery design by the lovely sarah - including gemstones, antiqued metal, and dyed silk scarves - small bits of graphic design, sharing of art work, and general musings on life.
first, please observe the stunning beauty that is vancouver and the surrounding area. she posts photos of her hikes, her daily adventures, and simply absorbing all that is her lifestyle on the great west coast. this was where the torture came in - how can you look at these photos, and not want to be part of this landscape.... ALL THE TIME.
(for the record, i need to be on the west coast more than once a year).
second, guys - SHE MAKES AMAZING TO-DIE-FOR jewellery!!! see, soulmate. she utilizes fantastic, natural materials, with great chain (man, the mix of her chain usage is off the charts), and awesome wintage charms or findings - like brass posts, and fantastic shapes. i adore her work.
and then music. like this. drool. (uh, hello... james blake's 'i never learn to share' on her 11-11-11 playlist? amaze).
soooooo i basically love her. you will to. check her out in a few ways.....
great interview with sarah here   //   her etsy store here   //   her blog of awesomeness (where all the photos are from) here   //   twitter here   //   her 8tracks (which are kickass) here
all photos from sarah: sunday walk   //   sunday walk   //   whyte lake   //   disconnect   //   best friends necklace   //   petrified wood necklace   //   pink agate geometric triangle stone

my (boring) weekend in summary

sorry friends... this is likely going to be one of the most boring 'weekend in summary's to date. what with the recent mono diagnosis, the majority of my weekend was spent sleeping. how wonderfully exciting.
this is what happens when you mix (9-5) work and... well, work. see that leather? yea... be excited; playing with new geometric designs; pink?? what??; toronto on friday - perfect for a night of movies and hanging out; not before the gloom cloud hung over everything downtown, and flooded union station; last design for the summer 2012 line.... almost ready for release!; my new (temporary) work desk, while i am in the process of building my custom desk for design work. new work corner - i can feel the productive-ness climbing! (excuse the mess - still working on the organization of the corner)
thursday (since the weekend was fairly boring and uneventful, i'll include my thursday night this time): i worked from home, as i had just confirmed my suspected mono diagnosis, and after work, worked on some new desgins - for both the summer thackeray's vanity release (coming!), and toying with some custom designs for weddings, and maybe even (gasp) fall? then, headed out to meet the girl who began as my friend's girlfriend, who has now become a wonderful friend - abby - as we had a full night sushi date planned. a sushi dinner filled with amazingness, only to fill ourselves to prevent further drooling at the film, 'jiro dreams of sushi'. if you can, see it. awesome. wonderful. to die for. don't go hungry. we then walked most of the way home, and parted ways. went home, exhausted, and slept well.
friday: woke up wanting to die, but knowing that i had a very important lunch meeting, trekked into work - just before the rain started to fall. the rest of the day consisted of wetness - union station in downtown toronto flooded (craziness!), and i walked home from my lunch meeting - arriving back at the office drenched. hilarity! thus, my evening involved me, warm dry clothes, and being in bed by 9:30 watching 'new girl'. alone. it was marvellous.
saturday: slept late (14 hours of sleep STILL doesn't feel like a lot at this time), and then went for a walk. since i can't currently work out (see: mono), i had to exhaust some energy somehow - walking to dufferin mall, and browsing (and maybe buying things) worked. i then stopped to chat with erin for awhile, while her and tonka (new 'puppy' to our shared home - and by shared home i mean i just squat live there) gardened. then, showered, packed, and headed out to meet my friend. had a quick nap, and then we were off for a 70th birthday celebration (now THAT is the kind of event i could handle this weekend!). great food, great wine, some great speeches, and lovely sentiments, and a fantastic slideshow of old photos. such a touching evening - and i was lucky to be able to be a part of it. the evening ended fairly early, and crashed shortly after leaving.
sunday: again, woke up late, and spent some time hanging out with my friend's family. we then headed out to see their new home being built - and my construction fascination was just twitching (i would go back in time to be a builder if i could). had a late lunch, then a nap, and then stopped for a last coffee (and quick freezie pit stop), before parting ways and heading back to the city. when i arrived home, i unpacked, caught up on some 'gossip girl' (i'm not ashamed!), set up my new desk - that erin so wonderfully has lent me until i build my custom wall length desk/entertainment centre/organizational office - and caught up on custom orders, and birthday gifts. went to bed, and read a bit, before passing out.
hope everyone had a FAR more productive weekend than i... the summer is here - weekends are packed - so i imagine things will only get nutty from here!
AND as a special monday treat... some of the BEST memes from the union station flood on friday... why not make fun of a bad situation? of course, my fave:
happy monday all!