Dreaming of Tulum

My sister has always been my better half. She is my best friend in the whole world and throughout my whole life- so far and i have no doubts about the future. We are ridiculous together, lazy and whiny or motivated and fabulous, i feel infinitely loved and understood when i am with her. Which is why she is my favourite person to travel with. Although we've never done any solo traveling as adults i imagine we'd be a formidable team. Scotland in '04 (was it that long ago??) was our first experience globe-trotting as a duo and that trip will be hard to top.

So, when Kate asked me if I'd go on her impulse trip to Mexico in the spring of 2014 i couldn't really say no. We haggled over destinations and to-do's of our trip but we've decided we are going and we will drink and eat and see and explore and be lazy and return to Canada with glowing tans!

I would love to go to the little beach town of Tulum. We've been using Airbnb to scope out accommodations (how about staying in a tent, or a tree house??).

Has anyone been to Tulum, or Mexico before and have recommendations?
We have small budgets, and we don't want to feel too much like "privileged-tourists" while we are there. Things to do and places to stay that have strong environmental tract records are ideal.

(All images via google)

Right now it's snowing in Vancouver (consistent snow for the past three days!), but I'm dreaming of warmth and beaches and time with my sister.

Fresh basil pesto + exploring local grocers

A week or so ago we decided to take a little walk around our neighborhood. Not down Hastings or Commercial, the two main streets around us, but around our little residential 'hood. I soon realized that barely any place in a city is purely residential: there are a few little grocers and a hidden cafe and pub or two very close to our family oriented neighborhood. One block (one block!) from our home is a little Italian grocer. Full of pasta, sauces, sweets, cheeses, sausages, olives, and kitchen paraphernalia this little gem was a treat to browse through. We decided to make our own pesto at home and bought Pecorino romano, pine nuts, really good quality extra virgin olive oil, and a bunch of fresh basil. I was hoping for one of those little basil plants, bit I'll have to find that somewhere else.

I chopped everything by hand with my shitty inappropriate knife and it was all delicious! The difference between chopping the pesto by hand versus whizzing it in a food processor is the flavour, i think. Because all the ingredients are chopped to a slightly different size and consistency, there is immense variety in each bite. When it is all put in the food processor and blended together, each ingredient comes out roughly the same size, leaving bites uniform (although still delicious). Or maybe i'm a budding food snob with too much time on her hands. Either way, dinner was delicious.

We had this pesto with ravioli and it was delicious. So good i didn't take a picture. The next day we had leftover pesto with gnocchi (and San Pellegrino) and it was even better, letting it sit for a while made the flavours really deepen.

If your curious, I used:
~fresh basil leaves
~freshly grated pecorino romano
~pine nutes
~lots of garlic
~and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil once you've chopped it all up and made the pesto "cake"


I can't wait until spring/summer when i can have my own little basil plant on my kitchen windowsill. What herbs have you grown fresh? Which ones did you have good results with and which ones died/where plant divas?

(I'll post about my birthday soon! For now, thank you all so much for the love and very generous gifts, it was definitely a special day)

January through my phone

Pictured
1. Getting groceries from the local "country market" in Squamish, On the Farm.

2. Double grilled cheese date night at Lucy's Diner. We went for the mini burgers with goat cheese, but they were out of mini buns so we got grilled cheese, it was ok. This grilled cheese foodtruck is so much better.

3. Having a delicious lunch of sausage (!) at Bestie with my siiister. Super adorable decor and such tasty German-inspired food. We didn't realize until afterwards when we checked out their website that we were served by the two owners! When we went to pay we pulled out our debit cards from our small town credit union and our server asked us if we were from Nelson! We were so surprised, turns out he is from Castlegar and recognized our cards. We later found out it was Dane, one of the owners. I'm definitely going back and chatting them both up.

4. I was talked into the icrecream sandwich at Bestie. Creamy vanilla icecream between two house-made ginger cookies. I was in heaven.

5. Hilarious sign in a bathroom. Suffice it to say, Beyonce's latest album has made me into a full blown fan.

6. Date night at Stepho's. Huge portions of yummy Greek food for a super reasonable price point, the cheapest drinks in Canada (also maybe the worst. I don't recommend the cocktails), and a bustling vibe on Davie St.

7. So excited to open this care package from Georgia on my last day of class.


Not pictured
1. New Years Eve in Nelson. We all went out to dinner and then Hunter and I fell asleep/succumbed to our food comas before we could head out and party with our friends. So embarrassing.

2. What felt like never ending house hunting, and then finally finding our little gem of an apartment.

3. My little brother turning 14. Fourteen! Having a life crisis because i can clearly remember me at fourteen and that was 7 years ago.

4. Packing up all my things to move to Vancouver on February 1st.

I hope you enjoyed my horrible cellphone pictures!

In retrospect: Autumn 2013

Here are some pictures I took around the apartment I shared with my sister, A. and B. at Quest University during the fall of 2013.
 
I love autumn, the warm days and crisp nights. The excuse to make a couple more crumbles before the farmers market turns to the winter market. The quality of light as it slants into a room in the afternoon. The gratitude of the season, looking forward to Thanksgiving, richer foods and deeper colours. I could live in autumn forever.

 My bedroom, 

looking out on the construction of a new residence building across the road.

 Good morning sunshine, a love-note Hunter left me.

 Living room drenched in afternoon sun.

 The view from our kitchen sink.

 I love avocados.

 Typical morning.

I was obsessed with house plants when i first moved in. I bought so many, was gifted some (thanks Mamma!) and transplanted them all to new pots- gotta keep my aesthetic consistent.

 I love the difference in the leaves during autumn.

  

What is your favourite season?

The apartment: pt. 2

I went up to Quest on Friday to sort out all the paperwork needed for my March and April classes. I'll post about that soon. While I was there, along with enjoying time with Kate (i miss her so much) and my friends, i enjoyed the fast internet! I never thought i'd say Quest's internet is fast, but i uploaded all these pictures in a reasonable amount of time so there ya go.

The chair and futon came with the place. At first we where super excited about the futon but now... the novelty has worn off and we've realized it's just old and flat. But, we are still thankful to have a couch!

The pictures seemed to lighten up when i uploaded them to the blog, not sure why! An old record player Hunter found in his garage, we've got a small collection and a big wishlist of vinyl.

We bought this shelf at Ikea a little while back because it was on sale. I put it together alone on while Hunter was taking the van back to Bellingham. People are always complaining about how hard it is to follow Ikea assembly instructions, but i really enjoyed it! It was like a puzzle. A big heavy, real-life type puzzle. I think I got some of Grandpa's fix-it genes, because I also pride myself in my trunk/car packing abilities :)

My Zen alarm clock is amazing. It has "sleep trained" me. Now i wake up at the same time everyday, without an alarm. If it's the weekend i can easily fall back asleep, but if i have to get up i'm up.

I couldn't help putting a scarf over the hand-me-down tv Hunter brought. You've trained me well Mamma.

It's the little things that make it feel like home. A beeswax bee and flower candle, hand-made bowls from my brother.

Again, little touches ground me to the houses i've lived in and loved from the past. We brought pictures of Hunter's parents and have them on our fridge (i couldn't figure out the light setting to get a good picture).

That's our place! It's beginning to smell like our home. I find smell is so important. We've got our rhythms, we're mastering our kitchen, and we're able to keep the little place tidy. All in all, i am extremely happy.
Take a look at us moving in, and our apartment.

Brussel sprouts w/ sweet chilli sauce

On Tuesday night, Hunter and I decided to have stir-fry, vermicelli noodles, and roasted brussels sprouts (i looked it up, it's got an extra s on the end. Weird). The wok we were using was very finicky and less of a wok and more of a slow cooker, so we just had rice noodles with brussels sprouts and it was DELICIOUS.
I found a recipe for brussels sprouts with sweet chilli sauce that i wanted to try but realized around 7pm that we didn't have sweet chilli sauce. We do live in a city now and could have gone and bought some, but my bike's front light is dead and it is glacial temperatures outside so i improvised.

I used:

  brussels sprouts

  olive oil

~

  garlic

  fresh ginger

  soy sauce

  fish sauce

  brown sugar

  red wine vinegar

  coconut oil

  chilli flakes

~

  extra firm tofu

  coconut and olive oil

~

  vermicelli noodles

  sesame oil

I did:
Heat the oven to 400, cut the ends off sprouts, cut in half and wash. Spread evenly in baking tray and coat generously with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until almost at your desired tenderness. Remove from oven and coat with sauce. Then return to the oven and bake for a few more minutes. I put them back in the oven, turned it off, and left them in there for about 7 more minutes and they were perfectly tender without being mushy.

For the sauce: mixed together garlic, ginger, soy & fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, melted coconut oil and chilli flakes and set aside to "marinate" together while the sprouts baked.

For the tofu: cut into whatever shape you like, cook in hot wok with some oil, Asian Nori Salt, and pepper until desired crispy-ness. Set aside.

For the noodles: boiled water with some salt. Put the noodles in the bowl you will serve them in (i used a ceramic bowl), and then cover them in boiling water. Stirred them with a fork every minute or so, tasting the noodles for texture. Right before they are the perfect tender/crunchy combo for you (about three minutes for me), drained them in the sink, run a little cold water over them, and return to the warm bowl. Added a bit of sesame oil and toss.

Serve the brussel sprouts over the noodles as soon as they are out of the oven, preferably with a nice crisp beer!
My plan was to eat a whole box of Anna's ginger thins with a cup of tea after dinner, but this was so good and i eat so much i didn't even have room for cookies! I had them this morning though...

The next day we reheated the leftovers by sauteing (no microwave!) with a little extra coconut oil and soy sauce and it was as fantastic as i remembered it.

Do you have a favourite brussel sprouts recipe? I can't get enough of the little veggies lately and I'd love to try new recipes!

Care package 3.2

I am thankful for a lot of things in my life, the biggest would be my "network". The family and friends who are closest to me, who love and support me, and who show my how to live my life to the fullest.

I often take this network for granted, but when i receive something as full of love and personal attention as a care package, i have to stop and appreciate my situation.

Over the past three years Georgia has been sending me little (actually, often large) packages stuffed full of things that I've treasured: the latest package was delivered to Quest the day I was moving out.

Yes, most of that chocolate is gone.

I put this de-odor-cream on my feet this morning, we'll see how they smell tonight! I have high hopes that it'll be a wonder cream, my blundstones are beginning to smell a little funky. So far, i love the packaging and the smell is nice.

UPDATE: after walking around and traveling a bit today, my feet smell amazing! I saw the same product, but a different scent, on Kate's shelf (also c/o G) and I'm going to have to try that one tomorrow morning. I like it a lot as well, i love citrus scents.

Again, thank you Georgia for the thoughtful packages, and thank you to all who love and support me!

*G, if you don't want me writing about my next package, lemme know and i wont!*

The apartment: pt 1

I went a little picture crazy, but i just wanted to show it off! I love it, Hunter loves it, and it is very slowly but surely beginning to feel like OUR place.

One of the last jars of canned cherries i made a couple summers ago. Georgia, do you think they're still ok? I was hoping to give a jar to our landlords!

The kitchen. Mamma, notice the dish dryer we got with the Cottonwood gift card? I love it. It is the perfect size for our dishes and is so aesthetically pleasing. Georgia, I've been finishing up the bottle of Prairie Doctor tonic you sent me a while ago- the stress of moving is making my throat tickle.

 

I know it's dorky to have a picture if our food shelf... but i get to post whatever i want on here :)

I snipped the labels you wrote Georgia, and tapped them to my little containers!

The best salt IN THE WORLD. Thank you Mamma!

Our big soaker tub. I love it. Paired with the bath salts/bombs 

Georgia's given me = relaxation at it's best.  Hunter's a bigger fan of baths than I am,

he's particularly stoked on the lavender bath salts.

Love love love the citrus one. Thanks G, i'm still using the refill bottle you got me.

The best (and worst) part about our apartment? The heat is radiant, meaning the floors are heated. All of them. all the time. Really heated. We don't control our own heat, so sometimes it's lovely and toasty, and sometimes its more like a sauna and less like an aparmtnet in February.

I don't want to overload you all with pictures, so I'll give you glimpses into our living room and bedroom soon! Also, the internet is still a snail and uploading pictures to my blog practically crashes my computer. Ah, the woes of the 21st century.
Take a look at us moving in.

Hope you're all enjoying February, lots of love from us, xo.