Christmas for me is all about family. I can hardly imagine spending a Christmas anywhere but with my family, probably because it has never happened. It's not that we do anything special, or that the season itself is particularly meaningful but we have our traditions, and I love them.
Every year we spend Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house in North Battleford where my grandma puts on a fabulous feast! She changes it a little so that it's always something new, but the timeless classics were there: a fish dish, her famous mushroom gravy, the ethnic dish none of us know the actual name for but which we affectionately call "shnikies." This year my aunt & uncle from Calgary weren't able make it, so the evening seemed a little subdued. The "kids' table" still held my brother, my cousin and I, but the youngest is now eighteen! We were having so much fun, all the "adults" envied us!
We always open presents on Christmas Eve. We used to play the gift exchange game on Christmas Day, but we now do that on the 24th as well, so as to include my Aunt and Uncle who spend Christmas Day with their other family. We sing carols, eat more desserts, drink more and sometimes play cards and play with our gifts. It gets late, so we go home. This year my brother and I stayed up over a few beers until 4am (the beer, unfortunately, ran out). My parents started a tradition of buying new pajamas for Christmas Eve, and I love the feel of comfy new clothes to sleep in! Christmas morning, the four of us open our stockings, I try to visit with a friend and people start coming over for version two of the previous evening, this time with close friends as well. More eating, drinking, card playing and fun!
I was happy (as always) to get back into town, just so I could spend time with my trusty old computer and write this post! Geez, I really need to get a life!
I win my own contest for best chili!! I'd better write down what I put into it before I forget!
1pkg lean ground beef (can use ground turkey, or tofu, or whatever suits your fancy) -- approx. .5 kilos
1/2 onion, chopped
1 or 2 celery sticks, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow or green pepper, chopped
1/2 medium-sized or 1 small zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 can bean medley
1 can kidney beans (in chili-spiced sauce)
1/2 can corn
1 can mushrooms
1 can (oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (19 oz) diced tomatoes
5 Tbsp Chili Powder
3 Tbsp Frank's Hot Sauce (I used chili & lime flavour)
Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onions and celery to the juices. When onion is half cooked, add peppers, zucchini and cook for 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add canned ingredients in order listed above. Stir and add chili powder and hot sauce to taste. Let simmer for 1-2 hours on low heat. If chili seems to thick, add juice from corn or mushroom cans; if too thin, simmer uncovered until desired consistency.
A nice alternative/addition is some salsa in the mixture for a nice Cajun spicy flavour. I didn't add any this time - I thought it would be hot enough without.
If you follow this recipe, remember it's a guideline, not written in stone. Let me know what kind of results you get!
The Canadian winter has deigned us worthy and has graced us with her presence once again...
There's something about this cold, just knowing that outside the wind cuts through a jacket and moisture in the air freezes to your face, that makes me shiver just looking at the chilly streets outside. The air is full of steam and exhaust, the snow blows off the rooftops, the few people outside huddle for warmth inside their jackets as they dash into a nearby building. I know I will have to go out there soon, and I can feel it already.
And the biting cold outside awaiting me pushes me inward so that I'm more introspective. I become a homebody in the winter, indulging in books and movies when I would normally be rollerblading, walking outdoors, sitting on a patio with a beer, watching the people walk by. There is no longer anyone to watch, only the desolate snow and frozen emptiness.
My apologies to everyone else, but I have to admit that the best birthday present of all was the wake up call from Kirstie who, half-way around the world, had been celebrating my birthday for almost a day before she had a chance to wish it to me personally - from a phone booth in the rain somewhere off the coast of India at some ungodly hour! Mostly it was so overwhelming... And Kirstie seems to always remember, where I almost always fail to. Honourable mention also goes out to two more: Jesse who managed to find his way to San Francisco for the weekend and was able to manage to both get me a generous gift of a lovely 26 of gold tequila (delivered via Jonesie! Thanks!) *and* call from the lovely island of San-something-or-other. The other, my brother who just showed up at my door in the evening with a card, an apology and an "I love you." I was shocked, touched, and very happy!
These three stand out more than the others but that doesn't make the others less touching! In fact it does the opposite - gathering with friends at Chianti's and then afterward, the Black Dog Freehouse, was quite the wonderful treat! I haven't been out for a night on Whyte Ave with a group of friends since Cory's and Jesse's birthdays in August. It certainly felt well overdue! They definitely did their share of showing me a good time.
And thanks out to all of those who couldn't make it but sent their wishes and thoughts in other ways! I thank you all, it means so much to me!
I realized recently that most people who haven't spent a winter in Canada wouldn't know of the long nights we endure while the sun is making our friendly southern hemisphere a wonderfully hot paradise. My Australian friends would probably find it hard to believe that the sun doesn't shine when I get to work, that it rises and sets within seven hours, while I watch the day pass from my office tower window.
It came as a revelation today as I thought about this morbid darkness that encompasses our lives for so many months - we live in Mordor. That land where the sun always seemed to be setting (or just rising), where the gloomy shadows spoke of evil forces... all this seemed to hit too close to home as looked out the window at an overcast, dark, windy noon-hour.
And that wind - here in the downtown core, it never ceases. It is perpetually whipping between buildings, playing with the commuters as they rush between buildings and parked cars, daring to cross the streets outside because the pedway would take a few minutes longer. Instead of mountains, we have looming towers imposing their corporate will upon every facet of our daily lives. The bums and the beggars prey on the unsuspecting, compliant people who come here believing it to be the center of power from which they can launch their own careers and selfish endeavours.
Okay, maybe it all seems a bit jaded, but you would be too, looking out at this perpetual darkness that brings me back to the setting Tolkein created so richly in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. And maybe I'm really looking forward to the release of the Return of the King extended edition. 11 days and counting...
