EDM 179 - Draw an onion

These green onions always seem to be the epitome of freshness. One of the best things to do with them is to make Crispy Green Onion Pancakes, a Chinese street food. They are made of unleavened dough rather than a batter, and require a bit of patience. But if you like making bread like I do, then this is a recipe that is worth the work.

Green Onion pancakes

3 cups of flour

1 cup of hot water

Chopped green onions

Sesame oil

Salt and pepper

Peanut oil

Put the flour in a bowl and add the hot water to it. Stir until it comes together in a ball. Turn the ball out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until the dough is silky and smooth. (yeah, the directions are a bit vague but making bread is like that). Put the ball of dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the dough onto a floured surface again and knead for 1 or 2 minutes until it's no longer sticky. Now comes the fun part. Cut the dough into pieces, depending on how big you want your pancakes. Roll the piece into a round thin shape about 1/8 inch thick. Brush with sesame oil, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and then the chopped onion. Roll it into a cigar shape, then coil it into a round shape, and then roll it out til it looks like a tortilla. Cover with the plastic wrap, and continue with all the rest of the dough pieces. Heat the peanut oil in a frying pan until quite hot, then quickly fry the pancakes one or two minutes until crispy. Flip and fry the other side. Serve smokin' hot with soy sauce. Delicious!

EDM 18 - The view from a window

There are several, large, noisy, busy crows that live in the poplar trees just across the street. The sturdy poplars have lots of crooks in the branches for supporting nests, and the trees are tall enough that the nests are safe. Lately, they have been venturing onto our property and taking over the tall spruce trees as well. Almost every night this spring, when the sun goes down, and the world takes on that odd colorless one dimensional feeling, a crow has come to roost on the tallest tree. This tree has a tall, thin leader branch and the crow perches on the very top of it. It is too thin to support his weight so each landing results in a gentle bob of the branch until it surrenders to inevitable and bends over. The crow then sits there motionlessly, silhoutted flatly against the sunset until it is fully dark. Although the crows are noisy and obnoxious during the day, this seems an almost meditative and solitary behaviour. I wonder what he's thinking.

EDM 178 - Draw something red

I took my first trip to the Farmers' Market yesterday, just in time to catch the first shipment of B.C. cherries. Oh, how wonderful! The cherry orchards in the Okanagan area were hit by frost and cold temperatures and some of the crops were destroyed. The damage was hit and miss, though, so some survived and I was delighted to see them (as were many others, those beauties were flying off the tables!) It's a good thing we are never forced to pick a "favorite" fruit or vegetable, because it seems that whatever is on the table at the Market is my current favorite. And of course, they were perfect for this week's challenge - that voluptuous shape, the luscious mysterious colors, the bold sheen. Watercolor in Moleskine.

“Life is just a bowl of cherries, don't take it serious, it's mysterious. Life is just a bowl of cherries, so live and laugh and laugh at love, love a laugh, laugh and love."
Bob Fosse

Canada Day, Draw a flag

Today is Canada Day, celebrating our nation's 141st birthday. This year also marks the 400th birthday of Quebec City, founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. It is the first place in Canada where European settlers spent the entire winter. It has recently been declared a World Heritage site. This year is also the 250th anniversary of the first parliamentary procedure, taking place in what is now Nova Scotia, and is considered the earliest democratic process in North America. Happy Birthday, Canada, the true north strong and free!