99th Post!

...Yes indeed, you are now reading the 99th post! Who would've known that a girl had that much (that little?) to say, but I have been away for 7 months now and have been blogging blogging and blogging. Blogging is Busy Idleness!

In honour of the 99th post I have a recipe I want to share. It is tasty, healthy, quick and great for a winter's lunch or dinner.

Spicy Chickpea Soup

• 3 tbsp minced ginger
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 1 red pepper
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 10 cloves garlic (yes 10!...trust me)
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 cups stock
• 1/4 cup mango chutney (available at all grocery stores in the 'ethnic' section)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can of chickpeas, white kidney beans, a mixture or whatever rocks your boat

1. In a food processor, coarsley chop tomatoes, red pepper, jalapeno pepper (remove the seeds from the peppers for less 'heat')
2. fry onions until golden in olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute. Add bay leaves and spices and fry for 1 more minute.
3. Add stock, add vegetable mixture (form #1), add chutney, add chickpeas and finally, before serving, add coconut milk. Gently heat until just before boiling. Slightly mash peas if desired. Enjoy!

(With a special dedication to Auntie Mary, along with my thanks for helping me with my knitting)

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Les Choristes

I borrowed a movie from the library last week, it was called Les Choristes (The Choir). It was excellent! For a plot review check this out. It is a movie made in France and it was touching a captivating. The main characters are: Clement, a washed up musician who takes a job as a school prefect, watching over troubled boys, Pepinot, a young orphan is is endearing, and Mohrange, a troubled youngster with the voice of an angel. Anyway if you do go to the video store, get this movie!! It is excellent (even Auntie Donna agrees, and we don't agree on movies at all!).
Everyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that I am hard as nails and I don't cry....you know, future cat lady extraordinaire! But, if you can believe it, I actually did tear up when the boys were singing. It was a combination of the beauty of the sound, along with the sincerity of their gaze towards the teacher, something so sad and so beautiful, I was (as they say en Francais), touche! Rent the movie, watch it, then tell me about it. And a final note, for all the non-Francophones, the movie has subtitles, so don't worry about language.

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Chilly days in Yellowknife...dark too. But my spirits are fine (all Praise to God), though I seem to have caught something of a cold, pretty normal for this time of year anyway. There appears to be some crazy weather happening around Western Canada! In Whitehorse (Yukon), the temperature was down to minus forty! I spoke wih one of my fellow coworkers who works out of Whitehorse and he said it felt like minus 100! A slight exaggeration on his part, but nonetheless, it must've been chilly.


I am off, good night and Peace to All! I'll be posting some pictures soon so stay tuned!