Organic Granny

I love tissue paper art.  I love working with a medium that doesn't smell or end up in hard-to-remove globs on clothing or furniture.  I love the colours.  I love the fact that it is a pretty inexpensive way to express myself.  I love layering the tissue and seeing what emerges. So, one dreary day I got out the layers of coloured paper and decided that I would do an ocean piece.  I had purchased a couple of canvases at the local Dollarama ($4 each I think), and I had a good supply of white glue from other projects for myself and my granddaughters. I cut out different configurations and colours of layered waves and billows .  I changed the trees and mountains into just the dark band of sea along the horizon.  I did this over a series of weeks when the urge hit.  This morning I collaged a sort of seashore with some money plant husks, quinoa flakes, and a few kinds of salt: ground kelp, celtic sea salt, and some pink Himilayan salt. Finally, after that had  come together, I

Root veggies, like carrots, potatoes, onions and beets have a high profile in Canadian winter meals.  Not only were they easily stored for most of the cold season, but they are also hearty and lend themselves to a great sense of satiety.  Today's recipe for roasted beets and raw walnut cream is an adaptation from the cookbook called Whole Foods To Thrive by one of British Columbia's stellar athletes who eats "high raw", Brendan Brazier.  My husband is a fan of Brendan's, and also really enjoyed this meal. INGREDIENTS: (To feed 4) 4 Beets Method : Preheat oven to 450F/232C.  Wash up the beets (scrub if necessary) and wrap in aluminum foil.  Roast in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  When they are cool to touch, peel off the skins and slice into strips (as I did), or cube. FOR THE RAW WALNUT CHEESE: 1/2 C. Shelled Raw Walnuts Juice from 1/2 Lemon, or from 1 Lime (which I used) Zest from fruit (optional) 1-2 Clov

This is the bitter-sweet time of the year when parents are sending their kids back to school ... or when kids have made the actual flight from the nest.  Sweet for some parents who are overwhelmed with responsibilities and jobs and who are happy to see the kids "safely" back in school... but bitter when parents are not ready to release their quickly maturing child to a non-familial environment, like a school, a college, a work place, a move far away from home for whatever reason. These are some of the schmaltziest, most gratuitously sentimental songs ever recorded.  They exploit the tenderness that a parent (or grandparent) has for a child, the fears they have for their loss, and subconsciously, hark right back to a time when the listener was negotiating his/her own passage to independence from her/his family of origin. Some of this music will sound downright cornball, but you will likely catch a phrase that will touch you heart, and you will generally begin tearing u