Reminiscing Fall

Snowy Day

Where does the roof end and the sky begin?

Little Garden - Part Two

It's been a week and our little garden has started to show some buds. The lavender is doing great, and the thyme and oregano are following along. There has been some slow development from the parsley and arugula, but the rosemary seems to be the shiest of them all. I will keep you posted!

 

 

Eating Vegan in Iceland

Eating vegan while traveling is already a challenging enough thing to do. Having snacks is a must, as you never know when your next meal might be. Add to the equation traveling to Iceland, known for it's seafood and cured shark (yup, that's a thing), and I was panicking before landing. However, my fears were in vain, as tourism is a significant part of Iceland's economy, and they definitely want to take care of us! 

Our hotel, the Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Natura, had an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet that included the usual staples, but also a variety of fruits, breads (including gluten-free - not that I am, but that's how much they appeal to travellers), and home-made jams. They also had soy milk to have with our cereals, and delicious vegetables.

We also discovered Cafe Babalu, a small cafe in the center of Reykjavik, which had a delicious vegan chilli and carrot cake for dessert, as well as an assortment of yummy teas!

We were also spoiled by Chef Baldur Öxdal Halldórsson, Head Chef and owner of the Lindin Restaurant in Laugarvatn. Since there was nothing vegan on the menu, he prepared a special dish and dessert for us, which included a sweet potato puree, barley with vegetables, salad, and a beet dressing. My mouth is watering just thinking about that meal. Add to it a good wine, and the fact that we were coming from the spa next door, and I can easily put this dinner in my top five... ever.

Besides the memorable vegan food that we got to enjoy on our trip, we also enjoyed the sights of over a dozen waterfalls, mountains surrounded by beaches, rainbows on top of glaciers, and the gentlest of Icelandic horses. Definitely a place I want to go back to!

Site Plans

Chickpea Power Salad

This is my go-to salad for potlucks, but I also eat it a lot for lunch because it is super easy to prepare, it's full of protein, and it tastes amazing.

Mix 2 cans or bags of chickpeas (make sure you leave them in water overnight if you're going with the uncanned option) with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers (I put green, red, and yellow but whatever you have in the fridge is fine) and red onion. For the dressing put some spoonfuls of hummus  (more chickpeas, yay!), lemon juice, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix it in and enjoy!

Little Garden - Part One

When it comes to vegetables and herbs, it doesn't get better than growing your own. After one of my best friends gave me a basil plant and I could taste the difference in freshness and flavour, I decided to start growing my own little garden of herbs. I bought a couple of sets to start off with, and this is the beginning of sprouting lavender, thyme, parsley, oregano, rosemary, and aurugula. I will post more photos as time goes by to see how the garden is doing.

Reminiscing Summer

Pasta with Avocado and Lemon Sauce

Easy to make and my husband's new favourite, this pasta is a fresh and zesty summer day heaven in your mouth. The original recipe is from The Oh, She Glows Cookbook and can be found here, but I have changed the sauce a bit, mainly on my husband's demand to add more avocados to everything, always. Just mix the following in a blender or magic bullet:

- 2 avocados

- 5 small cloves of garlic

- 1/2 cup of fresh basil 

- Juice of one large lemon

- 1/4 cup of fresh parsley

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 1/4 cup filtered water or more (to add if it's too creamy)

Combine sauce to your cooked pasta for a delicious, fast, and healthy meal. I also like adding a bit of extra parsley at the end for texture and colour, and of course a fresh basil leaf!

Enjoy!

Vanishing Ice

Yesterday my husband and I had the pleasure to revisit the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. This is where we got married. It is also where the new exhibition Vanishing Ice is taking place, showcasing art from 1775 to 2012 that depicts beautiful yet sometimes worrisome icy 

landscapes. The show is a combination of breathtaking beauty, a sense of exploration and adventure, but also a wake-up call to the dangers of climate change and the fragility of these ecosystems.

Some of my favourite pieces include Alexis Rockman's Adelies (2008), a demanding painting depicting worried penguins atop a drifting piece of ice. The size of the canvas and the seductive hues of blues and greens draw the viewer's attention among a sea of art. Each penguin's expression is unique, and the eye of the viewer jumps from one to the next. The detail of the drifting ice however, is what makes this painting stand out, it looks as if actual ice crystals were slowly melting away into the sea.

Cynthia Camlin's Melted 4 (2008) is another highlight of the exhibition. Her use of watercolours and acrylic paints to illustrate a melting iceberg is as exquisite as it is striking. The boundaries of this gigantic iceberg, softly complemented by the ephemeral watercolours, contrast with the geometric shapes and darker tones of its interior, giving the viewer a sense of grandeur and of the opposite forces at play in nature.

A hundred-year-old photographs by Frank Hurley and Herbert Ponting, and classic painting's like the Group of Seven's Lawren Harris' Isolation Peak, Rocky Mountains (1930) allude to discovery, exploration, and the undeniable awe of nature. However, the viewer's attention is carried elsewhere with pieces like Paul D. Miller's Manifesto for a People's Republic of Antarctica (2011-2012) and Jean de Pomereu's Fissure 2 (Antarctica) from Sans Nom (2008), which clearly illustrate the speedy melting of the ice caps and bring awareness to the action that must be taken to preserve this awe-inspiring landscapes.

Vanishing Ice will be on at the McMichael from January 31st until April 26th, 2015. For more information you can visit their website at: http://www.mcmichael.com/vanishingice. The exhibition was originally organized by the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA. You can see the individual works at their website at http://www.vanishing-ice.org.

"The ice and the long moonlit polar nights, with all their yearning, seemed like a far-off dream from another world - a dream that had come and passed away. But what would life be worth without its dreams?" - Fridtjof Nansen, Farthest North (1897).