One of my new favourite things, Port! Thank you Tania. If this is something you have never tried, I highly recommend that you do! Not only is it delicious and full bodied, it is made with grapes, it is fortified at 20% alcohol, and is made in Portugal.
    I am a person who seems to disagree with grain alcohol, or rather it seems to disagree with me. Sometimes I feel like this makes the selection very limited, so I was extra enthusiastic when I discovered this delectable thirst quencher.
   Somehow this beverage seems fancy to me, like it deserves to be served with expensive chocolate, or a lavish Julia Child calibre meal. Pretty sure this needs to happen.
   This fits perfectly with my Campaign to Enjoy Winter! I think that the very low temperature today (-27 C with windchill, according to the radio) deserves an extra effort to appreciate this crazy weather, and I know it will get colder…
   Last year I thought my fridge was broken (it has a history), but really it had been so cold outside for so long, the fridge no longer felt cold to my hands. Also, I'm pretty sure I got a touch of frostbite on my legs last year while I was waiting in line for 50 minutes at -21C, to get into a bar at 5am to watch the Gold medal Hockey game, in which Canada won. Go Canada!

Stay Warm.

   The day has arrived! My David Suzuki sweater is here! Is it everything I have ever imagined? Yes! Way fluffier that I dreamed, perfect timing for cold cold winter. Those knitters must have been knittin' up a storm!
   Thank you Granted Clothing, worth every penny.
http://www.grantedclothing.com
   I can fulfill my dream of sitting in my bed watching movies while wearing my cozy sweater and hooking a rug. Now you get an idea of the calibre of goals on my bucket list, I think I take the phrase "It's all about the simple things" a little too literally.
   It also makes me feel all fuzzy to know that there are people alive in Canada making a living by hand knitting. When I win a big lottery, I will buy a sweater from here for everyone I like (you're welcome).
      You can also see my new hair colours! (It's not your computer screen.) That some teal, blue and pink! I love it, and now you have the chance to say out loud all the things you don't like about it, in private. Thereby saving you from saying it to my face and hurting my feelings, which I would never tell you about. Besides, as Francis (and Ellen) says: "What you think about me, is none of my business."
   All this makes me wonder, now that the extensive wait is over and the forever desired sweater is finally in my clutches, what now? I require a new-fangled wish. Another novel want, perhaps a real goal with more objective and focus, maybe even something to add more meaning to my life! (Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.)

   In my campaign to enjoy winter, I feel as though I have to register for Edmonton's upcoming impromptu giant snowball fight! (This is a real thing.) It sounds fun and crazy and I think I might need some of that right now, don't you?
   Feeling a little uninspired… Have glitter, don't know what to glitter, and that's a problem. I'm pretty sure that there should be a glittery mood indicator, the less glittery, the lower the mood.
   After much deliberation, I did add a little glitter to my door with this big 'C' that I cut out of sticky vinyl (on my Cricut machine), sprayed with glue and coated in red glitter. Then I stuck the wreath (I received as a gift) on the door with magnets. It did make me feel a little more inspired!

On the other side of the door, was my version of a fridge, covered in magnets and pictures. It was getting a little crazy, so I took matters into my own hands. I think I will be getting more of these picture frames, I picked them up cheap at Ikea and added a tiny magnet to each corner with super glue. I liked them so much, I put some on the back door! Now that I look at these pictures, I think they need a bit of glitter, umm, a lot of glitter maybe.

That tiny black dot in the middle of the door is a tiny mustache, of course. Now I must get back to the glittering...

   Ok people, who has heard of a 3Doodler pen?
    It is the most amazing new art pen and it is for sale for the low price of about $100, and I need it. Yes, I require a pen worth $100.
   I can hear some of you saying that it better be freakin' amazing before you will deem it worthy of anyones hundred dollars. Let me assure you, it is.

   This pen writes in three dimensions with plastic. You heard me correctly. My mind is reeling at the possibilities, what materials would not fuse with melted plastic? I saw an application on fabric and that was it for me. Anyone who has not heard of this needs to look it up.
http://the3doodler.com

   I wish I could buy one for each and every one of you. I wish I had one right here so I could play with it and take pictures and show you what it can make! Soon enough…

   I did buy a different toy this summer, the new instax mini8 camera, it is a new polaroid type instant camera and I love it! It is funny how entertaining it is to watch the anticipation of a horrible picture slowly developing. I am currently using it for a different project, a gratitude scrappy journal. (May also be called an artsy fartsy journal.) I just doodle whatever, include a memento of the day and all the things I'm grateful for. It highly recommend it, both the journal and the camera!

    I'm turning over a new snowflake. I do love winter, however I'm starting to feel like maybe it's for the wrong reasons. Previously winter kept me coming back because of the cookies and hot chocolate, the movies and wool blankets, and the absence of physical activity.
   This year may be the year I learn a lesson from other frozen countries and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe take in a coffee on a frozen patio, perhaps enjoy my sheepskin rug on the hammock, have a fire and roast a marshmallow, maybe even ski. Perhaps I require a full Elsa from Frozen costume so I can go sing from the mountaintops all while spinning and flailing in a glitter throwing frenzy.
   One thing I do love about winter is burning candles, and also, glitter. So I have combined the two to make these glorious and inexpensive yet fancy looking centrepiece candles.

 These are so easy, just lightly mist all the way around with spray adhesive, then sprinkle and roll whatever fine glitter you want. I used cream coloured candles and warm gold tones, also white candles with white glitter. It looks best if the candle and glitter kinda match. Before you get all fire department on me, I have tried this and neither the glue nor the glitter causes any flare ups in the flame (but of course you should always use proper safety when using candles and never leave them unattended). I hope you give it a try, everyone could use more glitter!

   If someone told you that you could abolish most of your chronic health problems for one teeny tiny price, you might think you are making a deal with the devil. All you have to do is never eat a doughnut, Big Mac, or really anything from a restaurant ever again.
   I'm talking about going gluten free and I did make the deal. Do I miss Big Macs or doughnuts? You better believe it. Would I ever go back? Hells to the No. All that being said, I made some delicious, chewy, crusty, almost fluffy french bread. All of you who partake in the fluffy dreamlike regular white bread should probably disregard this recipe, as you are probably too tired to make it.
   This was really great with hot cheese dip or in the place of crackers, and would make really great cheesy garlic bread or croutons. (Not suitable for sandwiches)

2 1/4 tsp     yeast
1 1/2 cups  rice flour
1 1/2 cups  tapioca flour
1 tsp           xanthan gum
1 1/2  tsp    salt
2 tsp           sugar
1 tbsp         psyllium fibre
1 1/4 cups  warm water
2 tbsp        melted butter
3                egg whites
1 tsp          vinegar

   Now leave behind any preconceived notion of what bread dough should look like and just accept the process. I put all dry ingredients including the yeast (because I was using quick rise yeast) in the stand mixer and mixed it up. Then put the psyllium fibre in with the water and let stand about 2 minutes. Then I add all wet into the dry and mix it on med-high speed for one minute. It will look like a sloppy mess, but you will pour it on a cookie sheet in two log shapes and then loosely form them with wet hands. It is better to try and get the shape you want as you pour, as it does really want to stick to your fingers. Turn on the oven to 400 and let your bread rise in a warm draft free place about 20 minutes. Pop in the oven about 40 minutes. Do not open the oven, or your bread may sink.

Here it is! In all of it's glory. It really stepped up my fancy dinner of stuffed mushrooms, hot cheese & herb dip, and chicken cordon bleu crepes. I love the chewy texture of this bread and it makes my house smell like it used to, like french bread. 

   What happened? Where did I go? It has been like a week! Short answer: I have been scheming.
It's Fall, I needed some new projects, food, style,  crafts, etc.
   I fell in love with the leek, now I see why it's called the king of onions. I really only made one dish, pasta with a creamy goat cheese sauce topped with garlic sautéed mushrooms and leeks, but it was so delicious I need to put leeks in everything! I really should have taken a picture.
   I finally ordered my long coveted sweater. I'm very sure that all of you have heard me talk about a particular hand-made in Vancouver, wool sweater, that just happens to have David Suzuki's face knitted into the back of it! You heard me, his face. I have been yackin' about it for more than a year, saving my pennies, dreaming… And in two more weeks, it will be in my grubby little hands.
You can check it out at http://www.grantedclothing.com/collections/cbc/products/david-suzuki-1
Or wait for my Blog post in two weeks…
 
   Halloween was a success, ran out of candy and not because I ate it! Had some really cute and enthusiastic trick or treaters although I was not able to scare any of them. Pretty sure I scared some adults with my black teeth though.
   Also caught the costuming bug, anyone in need of costuming services? I feel like I could make costumes for the rest of my life.

   If you are looking for a movie to go see, new out is 'St. Vincent' and it's really great, funny and touching. That's right, Bill Murray is touching. I recommend it, and also, buy the popcorn. It's worth it. (But don't buy the butter, it's not.)

   The most important discovery was home made Boursin style soft flavoured cheese. I could eat a whole lot of the stuff, indeed I do. So much so that I bought a large log from Costco and made some delicious variations! Recipe is not really needed. It's about
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
Or you could use any type of spices you like!
In the one on the left, I added an oven roasted tomato, so good.

   Now, we prepare for Christmas! Hooray! (The most glittery holiday.) If I start now, I can probably glitter a lot of stuff...