Strawberry Heaven

 I'm making more of an effort with my food photography!

I try to buy local and organic when ever possible but the selection gets pretty slim during those long winter months...

I know it's too soon for strawberry season but I couldn't resist buying these organic beauties.  The vibrant red and summer sweet taste really brightens up my muesli in the mornings.  It's enough to get me through those depressing rainy days that never seem to end.  

Little B wanted in on the action and decided to cut up a dish of strawberries all by himself.  I was really impressed with the great job he did handling the knife.  Usually what ever he cuts up becomes completely destroyed. 

(note: the band-aid on his finger is from a cost-co incident and not from using a knife!)

Banyan's España

By the time I met my husband, he had done some extensive travelling and living overseas.  I had only dreamed about doing such a thing as I decided to start my career first.  Eight years later and a sacrificed career, I can happily say that I have lived some of those dreams...Our last adventure took us to Spain and Morocco where we travelled around for a month between December and January.  It was little B's first time travelling overseas and we weren't sure how he would manage.  It turns out he is a natural born traveller.  He even took his travel shots like a champ!  He kept up to our pace and stayed close.  Every hostel or hotel was his new home and was so excited to take his shoes off and jump on all the beds.  He is a bit of a restaurant connoisseur and loved to eat out for breakfast, lunch, and supper.  He tried most everything, including a bubbling bowl of snail soup.  (He really scarfed them down!)  

I was very curious to see what kind of photographs little B would take from his perspective. These are my favourites from Seville, Spain.  

I love the dynamic action shot...

McKay running to check out another hostel before we made our final decision...

My boots...his perspective saw a lot of them!

Photographing You, Photographing Me, Pt.2

The series continues...

We took these in the West End.

Such a serious little photographer.

Scribble Doodle

This is a collaborative work between little B and me.  He scribbled and I doodled.

Atwood Epiphany

I am really picky about the kind of literature I read, mostly because I fear the author's ability to create emotions in me that I don't want to feel.  I don't enjoy reading about infidelity, violence, or any other twisted human capability.  Other writings are just hard to wrap my head around, you know, the book that is just hard to get into?  A Passage To India has been sitting by my bedside for a year now, and I just can't get past the first few pages.  I like to look at it and think about its mysterious content but just can't......  However, I would like to like more literature because I love the art of writing and am amazed when a piece of brilliant work falls into my hands.  

Today I realized how much I admire Margaret Atwood.  She is a well known Canadian author and poet who has won many awards for her writings but I have yet to read any of her work.  I keep coming across interviews and talks given by her on CBC radio.  Today I listened to David Suzuki chat with her on The Bottom Line where they talked about the breath of life and death.  I am always impressed with her humorous comments, spoken with such a serious tone of voice.  Margaret has this uncanny archive of knowledge that she pulls from as she speaks.  After the show was over it dawned on me, if I enjoy listening to her talk so much, is possible that I might actually like her writing?  I am willing to give her writing a change.  

If I am disappointed then I guess she will become like my Passage to India book; I like to listen to her speak and think about all the mysterious content she has written.

Japanese Tea Time

Even though little B is my made in China baby, he has developed a strong palette for Japanese cuisine.  His favourite things to eat consist of miso soup, soba noodle salad and onigiri.  Sometimes I send him to preschool with onigiri triangles and seaweed and he happily puts them together at snack time.  When we go out to eat, he orders an avocado roll, edamame, agadashi tofu, AND his new favourite thing, the single nigiri of salmon eggs.  We have to watch him like a hawk though because he will drink straight from the soy sauce bottle when we're not looking.  

One day we came across a small tea shop near Granville Island that I wish I could remember the name of because it was a beautifully authentic Japanese tea shop.   I have to admit, I became obsessed with the whole tea drinking experience while wandering alone in Kyoto, so I was excited to find this place.  We decided it was a good time to take a break from location scouting and have a nice hot bowl of miso soup and a Japanese sweet.

  I had to include this photo because I love little B's expression.  It makes me smile every time I see it.

Totemo ouishi!

Orange You Glad?

If you have never tried a Cara Cara orange, you are missing out on something amazing and beautiful.  

I can appreciate a sweet juicy navel orange.   I usually seek out the bluebird variety but one day my life changed.   Shopping on the Drive,  I happened upon an organic pile of brilliant orange Cara Caras.  I took a gamble and bought six, not knowing if they were any good.  I don't know about you, but my luck with organic oranges have usually ended with a tart taste in my mouth.  These oranges did not disappoint!  I was blown away when I cut into one to reveal a deep orange.  I was already in love at this point but the experience just kept getting better.  The flavour was purely sweet carrying a hint of ruby red grapefruit.  Needless to say, Cara Cara oranges are a new staple in my grocery basket.