Happy Friday

rhubarb, rye sourdough bread, and fresh eggs

onions and snow peas

corn plants sprouting

Things are going pretty well here.  The corn plants have almost all sprouted, and the peas are getting quite big.  I have thinned out the beets and carrots rather aggressively, so I hope that they will do well.  I have planted all of my climbing pickling cucumbers, and they look fine, but the butternut squash and zucchini seeds didn't sprout very well, so I will maybe go over to the Aveve around the corner and see if they have some plants that have already been started.  If not, then I'll just start some more seeds.  The rhubarb is kicking serious butt and I may have to split it out again to give it more room to spread.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... I received news today that the Coffee Cantata that was to take place in late September is no more.  That would make it strike two on this particular cantata... not a big surprise, really; I am steeling myself for the eventuality that Canada and Japan won't happen either.  We'll just have to wait and see.

That's the "taketh away" bit.  On the "giveth" side I received a call from the producers of that Flemish television programme #LikeMe: they are ready to record the songs for the second season, and wanted to know if Malcolm and I were free for a session next week.  The travel rules have now been relaxed a bit, and so he was planning to come home this weekend anyway, for Mother's Day, and to celebrate his 21st birthday next week, so we will go together from here to the recordig studio on Tuesday, and do our session.  His school is discussing some limited opening hours starting next week, but I really wonder why he would even bother to go into the building, when essentially all of the tools and materials required to complete his work are already in the apartment/studio.  We'll have to see how that develops.

The recording studio wanted to reassure us that they have some protocols in place to protect the actors: they have restricted the number of people in the building, and suggested that we bring our own headphones, and will be disinfecting everything diligently between each voice actor.  I'm quite pleased to be asked to make the new recordings, because at this rate, it seems likely that it will be the only income from performing I am likely to make this year.  The singing teaching is very satisfying artistically and it brings in some income, but it doesn't come close to replacing the lost concerts.  And of course for Malcolm it is a big chunk of money that he can really use for his studies and projects.

Thank goodness that Maggie's work at St. John's International School is still stable, and she has already learned of her schedule for next year, which is the same set of courses as this year.  The enrollment forecast for her school is more or less flat, which isn't a bad result given the global economic situation.  I do have some other options for earning money: Christopher next door will continue to do kitchen, dressing room, and other cabinetry installations when it is safe to do so, and I'm happy to help him out with the larger jobs, so we should be okay.  It's a bit funny to think that cabinetry work has been something I have returned to on and off again for about thirty years now... 

Tonight we made a very delicious dinner of Japanese gyoza.  These are the Japan version of Chinese pot-stickers, or dumplings, or ravioli, or pierogi, really.  I saw some Ardennes ground pork reduced to clear so bought a bunch of it.  This recipe is super easy, especially if you buy the gyoza skins ready-made, which I have read is actually the preferred method for most Japanese households.  I used the recipe of Namiko Chen, from Just One Cookbook, but you can use anything you like.  The basic idea is pretty simple: make a filling of ground pork, shredded cabbage, scallions, garlic, ginger, shiitake mushrooms; flavour it with a little bit of soy sauce, sake or sherry, black pepper, sesame oil, and salt.  Then stuff a tablespoon of the filling in a wrapper, wet the edges, and pleat-seal them up.

The interesting variation of this recipe that makes it different from how I cook pierogi is that you pan-fry them in oil first to brown up the flat bottom, then add some boiling water and steam them for
a few minutes with the lid on, and then take the lid off, evaporate the water, and then drizzle a little more sesame oil on for flavour.  Pure magic! 

While I was winding our mantel clock this evening, Maggie and I were reminiscing a little about the various lacunae that we've experienced together, prior to the current one.  You might not have heard this word before but it is the latin word for a gap, or a pause; in anatomy it's actually a hole or depression in the bone.  You might be more familiar with the word hiatus... which also means a gap, but a lacuna is sort of the same thing.  There have been a number of times in our lives when time has just stopped, the forward rush is stalled, and everyone sees the people around them for what feels like the first time, and then you basically sit around being good company with each other, waiting for the situation to change.

Me personally?  I love those moments.  I am a very busy person normally, and I relish those situations where I am off the clock, and am not supposed to achieve anything, because then I can really relax and do things that are unusual or improvisational...  The campcraft boy scout/volunteer fireman/ambulance attendant in me also really enjoys the challenge of "making do".  Maybe that's why I bake sourdough bread, raise chickens, plant a garden, have kerosene lamps, and enjoy owning a mantel clock that I have to wind?

Anyway, here are a few of those moments that we were reliving this evening:

• my year off from Queen's, and my layoff from cabinet-making in 1997-1998 (personal)
• the ice storm in Sharbot Lake, January 1998
• the World Trade Centre attacks of September 2001
• our shared parental leave for Duncan's birth in 2003 (personal)
• the Eastern Seaboard Blackout of 2003
• August to December 2007 when we were both getting to know Belgium (personal) 
• Maggie's cancer diagnosis in 2010 and subsequent treatments and recovery (personal)
• the 2010 volcanic eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland (yes I had to look up the spelling, so what)...

So really we were kind of overdue for some sort of pause.  In some ways there is a kind of freedom in this type of situation; it has its own kind or particular beauty, or at least power of memory, as evinced by the tendency of people, years later, to say in a gathering, "Remember the time that..."

I'm looking forward to looking back.  How about you?

Have a good weekend!