It's been a memorable summer - memorable for being the busiest and most intense period of time since... I'm not sure when. By about the end of July, when it looked as though the entire summer could pass without taking advantage of the season, we made up a Summer Fun List. It had such things on it as "eat corn and blueberry pie and other summery stuff"; "ride bikes"; "read a book"; "go on a hike by Mount Baker"; "have slushy drinks"; "spend time on the deck"... We didn't cross off all the items on our list, but we did remind ourselves of what we should be doing at this time of year.

And we had one vacation, on Mayne Island. We had pounced on booking this cob house (which is clearly a hobbit house, right?) back in the spring when we saw that there happened to be a half a week during the summer when it wasn't reserved. So we went, and ate at the (really excellent) local restaurants, and hung out at the water, and napped, and visited the farmers' market, and took walks in the woods. We also found a book in the living room of our cottage about building cob houses; apparently drum circles are very important. 

Now it's time to contemplate the Fall Fun List. It's time to get back into knitting, to actually read a book (didn't cross that one off the summer list), to bake with apples and butternut squash, to take walks on crisp days, and be cozy inside on rainy days. Bring it on, fall! 

I am seeing too many photos of waffles.

I was intrigued several years ago when a co-worker made a comment that people, like fields, need fallow time.  While I haven't been completely idle these last few months, I've certainly had less of a to-do list mentality.  My goal for January is to lower my expectations of what will be accomplished, and to pick one small task or activity and just focus on that.  Bake apple cake.  Write a letter.  Put something away that's been sitting out for a long time.  Watch Gilmore Girls and knit.

This cardigan has been on my radar for some time, ever since it appeared in a Debbie Bliss magazine a couple of years back.   Over the holidays, I finally bought appropriate yarn for it, and am just finishing up the right front.  Kimono sleeves are knit concurrently with the front and back pieces, and it's hard to tell intuitively exactly what's going on and how it will come together and fit.  This is one of those times when I'm just blindly trusting the pattern.  No doubt it will be fine.

And while it's mid-January, it's not too late to announce new year's resolutions.  What's in store for 2013?  Eating more often at French restaurants.  And reading another Daphne du Maurier novel.  Resolved!

Life bunches up sometimes, you know?  While there has been a reasonable amount of couch and pajama time over the last couple of weeks, I've also been out a fair bit and have been mostly focusing on getting things done. 

There was one morning last week where I left the house to go to work and got about a half a block before I realized that I wasn't wearing a bra.  So yeah, that's where my head has been at (or not) lately.

Yesterday I got home from work feeling tired and dealing with an all-day headache, and had the energy for exactly the following:  making vegetarian poutine, knitting less than a round on my sock-in-progress, googling some Okanagan bed and breakfasts, and getting under a quilt and watching Bette Davis' first film:  "The Bad Sister" from 1931 (also starring Humphrey Bogart).

Today life is back to normal, and this weekend I'll be puttering around: making Smitten Kitchen's pumpkin cinnamon rolls, cleaning out my kitchen cupboards, and taking stock of all the half-finished projects strewn around my living space.  Maybe I'll go to the UBC apple festival; maybe I won't.

It's going to be coolish and rainy here for the next week.  Time to hunker down.  On a fall note, I've discovered salted caramel mochas at Starbucks - a calorific cup of happy joy! And of course, Thanksgiving (aka the best holiday of the year) was lovely.  The menu:  roasted potatoes, baked cauliflower with cheese sauce, cornbread stuffing with cranberry and orange, lemon-y green beans, and pumpkin cheesecake.  (All from Nigella's Feast.)

These pictures were taken on my birthday, a few weeks ago.  This is part of the Metlakatla nature trail (near Prince Rupert), and while I was only able to go 1 - 2 km down the 10km trail, I definitely want to go back and see all of it - forest-y bliss!  

And now for a little pie talk.  Pastry is not my forte; I feel pretty confident about baking in general, but when it comes to pastry, I am not my mother's daughter (my mom has nailed down pastry-making; she also has firm beliefs about lard and can crimp a pie crust like nobody's business).  However, my confidence level has just gone up a notch.  This week I made a pie and it was a winner:  thank you, fast-easy-flaky piecrust recipe.  It's made in the food processor in about 2 minutes from start to finish (I know - cheating).  I didn't have sour cream on hand, so I used plain yogurt instead.  The recipe is similar to the Smitten Kitchen galette dough, but even easier to make - no freezing of ingredients and no using a pastry cutter.  Then things got even better when I washed out my food processor and made this incredibly delicious ginger-scallion sauce.  And then I had a pile of dirty dishes. 
The end. 

Things around here lately have been about day-to-day life.  Appointments and work.  I've been doing some spring cleaning, decluttering, and replacing or getting rid of anything that I feel negative about.   Goodbye, 3 blackened and gungy cookie sheets and hello beautiful, pristine, over-priced cookie sheet from William Sonoma.  Goodbye, old condiments that have been in the fridge far too long; goodbye frumpy functional skirt.  Goodbye everyday dishes that I never liked and goodbye jeans that make me feel meh. 
This week I've also been having January-in-June:  watching episodes of Nigella Express and Nigella Feasts; reading through Posey Gets Cozy archives from fall/winter; watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time; turning on the fairy lights.
Last night I made a fantastic bagel melt from Rebar: toasted bagel with melted blue cheese, and then pear slices, arugula and rosemary on top.  I also made rosemary-garlic olive oil which made my apartment smell amaaaaaaazing.

In the spirit of out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new, I'm finally going to update the pictures in these 4 white picture frames in my living room.  This is an excellent opportunity to get into scherenschnitte (traditional papercutting) and to put some black and white designs in the frames.  For papercutting inspiration, I go here (wonderful art) and here.

In foodness, Tara and Susannah and I had a lovely Saturday brunch at Bird's Nest.  Tara introduced me to the Sweet Sugar Bean blog (the breakfast tacos are fabulous); and last night I was greedily purusing Joy the Baker's archives (why yes, I do believe I'm the very last person on the internet to read Joy the Baker).

Last week, I searched for art on etsy, and came across Janet Hill's work in about 2 seconds.  It was a rare instance in finding something perfect on etsy right off the bat; I could easily have purchased her whole portfolio since I love her aesthetic; the print here is the one I ended up getting (now on my dining room table and awaiting a frame).

I just read the following "style tip" in a magazine:  Tuck a lace-overlay top into a pair of matching shorts for a sophisticated romper effect. 
Marie Claire, down what garden path are you leading us?

A few days ago, Tara let me know about a new-ish bakery - Cadeaux - that we need to check out.  While googling reviews for it, I came across a fantastically-inpiring local blog -  the culinary adventures of a greedy guts - and now have a much longer list of restaurants to visit, as well as a resolve to have brunch at West.

At knit night on Thursday, there was talk of making your own ginger beer (apparently very easy), and installing an ipad mount above the sink to make dish washing enjoyable (the best reason for getting an ipad that I've heard).  Tara made an amazing beet dip.

Yesterday after work, Elisa and I went for a drink at  the Gerard Lounge in the Sutton Place Hotel.  It was pleasingly quiet and dark and full of old people.  The complimentary snack consisted of addictive Japanese rice crackers.  It makes me think that old-school hotel bars are where it's at. 

On a completely different note, someone suggested a little while back that I get on Banana Republic's mailing list.  If you like their clothes, please know that you if you subscribe will constantly get coupons in your inbox for 30-40% off their merchandise.  It makes me wonder - why would anyone pay full price there?

And finally, I dare you to listen to Blue Moon and not feel better for having done so.

This weekend wasn't eventful by any stretch of the imagination.  Still, thanks to Susannah's recommendation, we had dinner from Sushi Aoki on Friday evening, and it may very well become my new go-to sushi spot.  I like to say that in Vancouver you can never be more than 2 blocks from a Starbucks and a sushi restaurant.  Most sushi places are similarly (and cheaply) priced and are just fine, but it helps to know which restaurants have really good food as opposed to just average fare.

On Saturday I spent some time at Kidsbooks (as they say, the largest and best children's bookstore in Canada), and discovered a lovely mobile that I could see buying for myself, and my new favourite book for toddler-aged children:  "I'll Save You Bobo" by Eileen Rosenthal.

Based on Tara's recommendation, I bought "Detective Blue", which I really got a kick out of, as well as an updated version of The Princess and the Pea with fantastic graphics.

Despite the middling reviews, I quite enjoyed "Our Idiot Brother".  It helps to go in with no expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Today I found myself in Stanley Park.  Can you see the racoon?  He had just wandered to the safety of the bushes from the putting green. 

The flowers gardens were lovely, but it was almost as interesting to see how many people in the gardens were busy taking pictures of the flowers.  It was amateur photographer day. 

And upon coming home, I managed to open a bottle of wine with one hand.  Well done, if I do say so myself!