bon voyage to me!

I'm going to Amsterdam and I'm taking my camera with me!! It was a GREAT DEBATE as to whether I should take my camera with me to Europe. I love taking photos and I very much love looking at the photos once I get back from a trip, but my camera is my most loved possession and if anything happened to it I would be devastated. So it was tough. In the end I've decided to take it with me to Amsterdam and Berlin, and then send it home with my sister before heading off to the country of pick pocketers. Sound ok?

bompa

My grandfather passed away on April 16th. His funeral was really great, although I think the saddest day of my life. His obituary is also really great, and describes him perfectly. He was a true gentleman who lived with grace and charm. He started the most amazing family. I will miss him soooo much. And I will continue trying to make him proud for the rest of my life. PS. My cousins and I called him bompa. Totally made up word.

a new start

Three weeks ago I received my iron ring, signfifying the end of five long years of hard work and dedication to my engineering degree. But before I'd even gotten a chance to take a moment to really appreciate the fruits of my labour, school reared its big ugly head and said "You're not done yet my dear!!"  During the weeks following the ring ceremony I had a seemingly impossible schedule of major project deadlines and final exams to contend with. And just as soon as I had given over all my energy and emotional resources to my school work, I found out that my uncle - who is also the best Godfather any girl could ask for - was diagnosed with colon cancer. Arrrghhhh. BUT I knew as soon as he told me that he would make it out of this with barely a scratch. Statistically speaking we know he's going to be fine, but on top of that he's got the most amazing attitude and I don't think there's been one minute in his lifetime that he's wasted on feeling sorry for himself.

Speaking of feeling sorry for oneself, I guess that's what this post is all about? Because I also wanted to tell you that last Sunday night, when I got up off the couch after watching an excellent episode of Mad Men, I went to my computer and found an error message on its screen: "Disk read error." Nooooooooo! My computer broke. The hard drive broke. It's gone and I can't get it back. Luckily all my nicest photos are on this website so I'll be OK (photos are the only thing I can't bear to lose). (Also PS I wanted to say that I wasn't able to edit out the scratches and gross parts of these photos without my Photoshop.) K but you know what? I'm over it already. More stuff happened since then, which distracted me and also put things in perspective. Plus I think I need to take a cue from my uncle and not waste one more second feeling sorry myself. After all, it's springtime, my favourite season, and a time for new beginnings. I am graduating. I have one exam left. Then I'm going to Europe for a month. Again: what more could a girl ask for.

james st north in the spring

Part of a series called "Things I'll Miss About Hamilton". (This series exists mostly in my imagination.)

the bolognese sauce

Spaghetti bolognese is one of the greatest loves of my life. I love it. There are about a million ways to make bolognese sauce. Last week I made a particularly delcious version of the usual bolognese sauce after reading this piece of literature on bolognese sauce. The post gives a recipe for bolognese sauce that was "passed down through an unbroken chain of Italian grandmothers," calls for ground beef that has been ground up right in front of your eyes, and contains the phrase, "I certainly hope you're not using domestic prosciutto." I didn't use domestic prosciutto, don't worry. I didn't use any pork at all, just beef. And I bought the cheap pre-packaged beef. But when it came to the tomatoes, I had to follow the advice the author gave. Or rather, his command: "...you are REQUIRED BY ME to be using a 28 ounce can (or cans) of whole, peeled San Marzano tomatoes. In this matter there can be no dispute. If you find yourself unable or unwilling to use San Marzano tomatoes I refuse to allow you to make my Bolognese." I scoffed. They're tomatoes, right? Canned tomatoes! What difference could it make? But then when I got to the grocery store and I saw them there, next to my usual Unico tomatoes, and they were $4.29 each instead of $1.29, and I thought how ridiculous it would be if I spent like 15 dollars on tomatoes to make a stupid sauce, and then the next thing I knew the San Marzano cans were in my cart. And then that Sunday I made the most delicious batch of bolognese yet.

P.S. I'm not going to post my recipe because it's still being constantly re-worked and adapted and perfected. It's in essence the exact same as the Italian grandmother recipe, except I don't use ham/pork roast, I can't afford to put wine in it, and I have a secret ingredient THAT I'M NOT TELLING!!!!!!!!! But I just realized you can see it the picture up there.

addendum

valentine's

I like Valentine's day. Why not? We had heart pancakes for breakfast.