Orb Chair

I fell in love with this chair 3 years ago.  We first met online.  I'm embarrassed to say its digital version caught my eye while playing one of those silly games on Facebook.  I may even have invited a few of you to play along.  The game was pointless and my addiction soon faded.  

My love of the Orb Chair was rekindled after visiting the now-defunct furniture store NOOD.  Strolling Yates St. after breakfast with my soapmaking buddies, and there it was staring at me through the modern-store window, in all its redness.

Goofy?  Definitely.  But upon the first time I tried it, it sucked me in, engulfing me with its noise-reduction superpowers and extreme comfort.  I was ready to move-in.  It had the best qualities in a chair:  large enough to accommodate my pretzel-sitting stance, room for a novel AND a knitting project.

So the chair & I dated for a few years.  I made most of the advances, visiting whenever I had breakfast at the neighbouring Rebar.  On a few occasions the chair contacted me through a flyer.  It did so again this past December.  So I cut its picture out and attached it to my fridge so we could visit more often.

This is where my great hubby comes in.  Having put up with me for the past 20 years (already!) and  without a hint of jealousy, he invited the Orb into our home as an anniversary present.  It was a bit awkward at first.  The design police would surely not approve the mixture of old/new in my living-room, but this is the new millennium and we must welcome diversity.  We're now one big happy family.  Its goofiness makes me smile whenever I see it.  Did I mention that it rotates 360 degrees?

Mom's Color Affection Shawl

I fell in love with the Color Affection shawl when I first saw it in January but had to wait until February until it was available to the general public.  I love Veera Valimaki's shawl designs.  She has released 3 striped shawls in the last year, each one a variation on the other by playing with short rows & colours. 

I wasn't sure which colours to use so I played around with various combinations.

As soon as I started with the Pink Grapefruit & Truffle (part of the Tanis Fiber Arts Clubs 2011 & 2012), it was obvious I had a winner.  

The shawl is a belated birthday gift for my Mom's February birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!

bread lessons

Like most people nowadays, I have taken a step back from wheat products in the past few years.  Couple that with weak cooking skills, it's a miracle that a friend was ever able to take me to a bread-making class at Cook Culture last November.

I had planned on watching from a safe distance.  Even when the instructor, Brad Williams, promised that any 9 year-old could make this bread, I was still doubtful.  Brad took us through a history of yeast products.  He explained that today's commercial breads are nothing like their ancestors because they are now made so quickly.  By contrast, using yesteryear's slow-rise techniques yeast enzymes have more time to digest, therefore they are better for our guts, he says.  This bread is very moist and does not get moldy, just stale.  It stays fresh for days.  One memorable quote:  "Beer is liquid bread and bread is solid beer".

I learned how to make a levain (sourdough) bread in 4.5 hrs, and a No-Knead bread in 24 hrs.  I was surprised at how easy and amazingly good it is.  One slice is a meal in itself.  Add peanut butter & honey and I'm in heaven!

I have fallen in love with making this bread.  Since November I have made over 50 loaves of various shapes/sizes/ composition.  My favourite is still a whole grain/white flour mixture.  I mill my own whole wheat flour with a Vita-Mix.  My boys like the cheese bread.

Kneading reminds me of gardening without gloves.  I do a lot of knitting and play classical piano, however I haven't been so proud of making something with my own hands in a long time.   I just wish I could make more so I could share it with more people.  It disappears very fast!

I encourage anyone to purchase artisan bread from a market and experience the difference!

Key factors in my own bread success & fun have been:
- using a digital scale to weigh ingredients
- cooking with a cast-iron Dutch oven
- keeping a bread journal & to learn from my mistakes
- cutting with a long bread knife

Yoga and Knitting, is there anything else?

Mid-March and the beginning of Spring Break.  It's been a tough winter since Christmas.  My January Yoga Challenge resolution seems long gone.  I made it home on a Sunday morning after day 20 of my Bikram Challenge, back in mid-January, and was promptly taken down by pneumonia.  2 months later and visits to the hot room are still too infrequent.  I am taking it easy because my breathing is still laboured.  My flexibility is suffering so I can't wait until I can practice more often.

I'm thankful for knitting to keep me occupied while I was really sick.  One lesson learned from battling breast cancer is to have goals each day, no matter how small.  Battling pneumonia, I was too sick to read but the repetitive motion of knitting, along with watching PVRed Tour de France 2011 episodes kept me going for a few weeks.

With knitting Christmas presents behind me I was finally able to tackle a project for myself.  Last summer I stocked-up on a few skeins of "Meadow" from Tanis Fiber Arts before it was discontinued.   A bit of back & forth knitting and "voilà", a new Azzu Shawl for me.  I love it!  It's soft, squishy, and warm.

I was able to take part in the Tanis Fiber Arts Knit-along in January.  I had not signed-up at the beginning of January because I didn't think I would be able to finish a project in a month.  Funny how things happen sometimes.  My yoga goal went down the tubes but I now have a new shawl instead.  My first knit-along, it was really fun to watch all the projects evolve and I discovered many new beautiful patterns.  Wool + pattern + needles = Joy!

Day 7 - The last Xmas Yoga class

Today was the last day of the Christmas break.  Tomorrow it's roll your sleeves up & back to school baby!  Once again, it was a real treat to practice yoga during the daytime, at 11 am.  Starting tomorrow I'll have to either go before work @ 6 am or after school @ 3:45.  The trouble with waiting for 3:45 is that sometimes I get stuck @ school and can't make the yoga class.  So it's an early bedtime & early yoga for me for the first day back.

I. was teaching today, lucky us!  She always injects her classes with tips & inspirational words.  Today's tip was about Standing Bow - to really place the forward shoulder against the chin.  I thought I was already doing that but when the class tried after her demonstration, we all grew an inch and presto!  better balance.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a real live demo is even better!

Bikram teachers often have inspirational words during class.  I should bring a pencil & paper to class to jot those ideas down because I can never remember them afterwards.  Writing something down during class  would be highly irregular and I wonder whether the paper would stay dry enough.  Today's thought was F.I.P.  The only way I was able to remember was by repeating this acronym in my head a number of times.  I. says that the best way to improve postures is through:

1.  Frequency of practice - It's true, it doesn't matter how long someone has been practising, it's how often they practice that makes the difference.

2.  Intensity of practice - It's important to try hard, or else no changes will happen.  Timely advice as I was wondering today whether I should decrease my efforts while practising everyday to make sure I don't overdo it.

3.  Perspiration ... Actually, she said Persistence, but I thought Perspiration would be funnier.  Persistence goes along with #1 & 2, as does Perspiration.  Without Persistence there is no Frequency, Intensity or Perspiration.

Resolutions & a 30 Day Challenge

Happy New Year!

Some years I make specific resolutions, other years I don't.  Is it worth making resolutions if I'm not committed to them?  Probably not.  Some resolutions are standards year after year, but not necessary measurable, such as eating better and being kinder to others in need ...  Then there's the measurable/unattainable resolution - losing weight.

Last year I purchased my first Annual Membership from Bikram Yoga Saanich  so my 2011 resolution was to practice yoga enough times to make the membership worthwhile.  I'm happy to report that I reached that goal with 136 visits to the yoga studio in 2011.  By charting how often I practised I learned that I am able to attend classes often when I'm not teaching, not so often when I'm writing report cards & practically never in September when all hell breaks loose.

This is useful information for 2012.  I have renewed my Annual Membership.  I'm not going to beat myself up when I can't go to yoga, however, I will remember how great it makes me feel, and how it keeps me healthy.  So I'll try to make it to the studio as much as possible in 2012, at least 2x a week.  I was not planning on making a resolution for 2012 but that sounds like one right there.

My studio just started a 30 Day Challenge today.  The past 2 years I have regretted not starting the year with a yoga challenge.  So this year I decided not to wait until Jan. 1st for the studio challenge and to start my own personal 30 Day Challenge on December 27th instead.  I'm still on vacation right now and it's easy to make it to the studio every day.  Today was Day 6 of my challenge.  The real challenge for me will be scheduling family, work, & yoga.  I did a 30 day challenge in April 2010 so I can do it again.  The main benefits last time were more patience in the classroom, plus I kicked a winter-long cold.  Must keep this in mind to keep me motivated.

Benefits of daily practice (so far, in no specific order):
#1  Stillness
#2  Peace of mind
#3  Getting used to different areas of the studio
#4  Increased flexibility on backward bends
#5  Stronger thighs for Standing Head to Knee
#6  Letting go of being able to see myself in the mirror

Tiny bubbles

As a school teacher, sometimes I am lucky enough to receive gifts at Christmas from students.  One of these Christmases 2 years ago a few students gave me colourful, scented, and beautifully decorated soaps, obviously handmade because each was unique.  After some detective work, I found out that one of the Moms in my class taught soap-making classes.  So I quickly enrolled in her next class, a few months later.

There is no real expectation that I will ever be able to make soap on my own, so I'm not sure the term "class" applies here.  D. guides 4 of us through the whole process.  She has a variety of colours, scents and add-ins for our soaps.  She also pre-measures all the necessary ingredients for the soap base such as:  olive oil, vegetable lard, and lye.  Not being so good with details, I'm glad D. does all the measuring so that I can concentrate on the all-important mixing and choosing the colour/scents combos.  The whole process is quite technical, and there are many places where a distracted person such as myself could go make mistakes.  I learned that all soaps contain lye (which is caustic), and that caustic = dangerous (actually, I knew this already) so I really would not want to make a mistake because someone could lose an eye.

4 of us have made soap at D.'s house twice a year since 2009.  Every session brings new scents, colours and textures.  So far I have made lemon, peppermint, blackberry, tomato-fresh, espresso, cacao, and rosemary scented soaps.

Above is a pic of my very first soap, tucked in its butcher paper while it hardens.  Lemon?

This one remains my favourite:  peppermint with black rice.  I love how the rice sunk to the bottom of the soap and looks like Cookies & Cream chunks.  Too bad I stuck my fingers on the top to check for hardness prior to cutting.  A lesson learned ... perhaps it is a class after-all.