Sweatin' to the Same Ol' Tune

Welcome to the LifeWithoutPractice blog on this nice weather day. (LWoP!) Scattered cloud today means it's not too bad for working outside, but when the sun's out one sure does get a mean sweat going. Wasn't I doing this last week? Whew. The sweaty bitPlayer dug the path as part of project 3, moving sod to a spot along a hedge that I'd like to raise a bit. I guess this is part of my life I've had a bit of practice for, as I've done several similar paving projects, yet someone every one is different. In this one, just getting the pavers is the big challenge!

But a wacky good-luck thing happened... Picture this. You're using a spade to lift sod off your lawn. I first cut the pattern I'm going to remove, following my strings and stakes. I lift a section at a time. It's hard work cutting and slicing the roots with the shovel, then rolling up that bit, and putting it in the wheelbarrow to finally move a bunch of chunks across the yard.

On my second trip emptying the sod into the destination spot, I saw something shiny in the bottom of the wheelbarrow. What is it? It's my SO's silver ring that she lost earlier in the year! How better to find stuff than to literally turn the lawn upside down and shake!

Anyway, that will be a nice surprise for her.

My surprise of the day is still the proj3 crap with matching old pavers. Went to 'special order' the paver bricks I need, and it turns out the charcoal colour is discontinued. So now I've got to decide, do I use light grey and red, or light grey with beige? I'll have to go through the existing walk and remove the charcoal ones and replace with beige or red. Or I could just go all light (concrete-shade) grey, but that would be a bit boring. The roof shingles are red, but I'm a bit marginal on the red. The reds are a bit dark. Oh what to do? I'm burning more gas driving all over the place looking for pavers than on the stone itself!

No work on project 1 or 2 lately, as 3 is consuming my brain.

The Republic

Started to feel more positive about the republic. This contant "Blah, blah, blah." "yes" "Blah, blah, blah." "Of course." "Blah, blah, blah." "I suppose." is a bit much. I'd be happier without it having to be so conversational, but I guess the intention was to make it more friendly to readers expecting a story, rather than a philosophical treatise. But it's moved away from the leaps of questionable bronze-age reasoning, and into the structure of a model society. The intention is to come back to justice based on this foundation, but I'm finding this discussion quite enjoyable so far. I'll keep you LWoP readers up to date on the progress. Hell, go get a copy at your used bookstore and read along. I'd like to hear your perspective, as long as you don't get ahead of me too far!

Future Projects

We're gradually piecing together some travel plans for Boston in October(Proj6). The intent is to attend an event that happens in early October. Should be fun. I think we've got flights in place, just need to buy tickets, and line up accomodations. We'll meet friends there and should have a nice few days. Hope it's not too rainy then, as it often is. It's near enough that we could drive, but a quick flight is even better. I'll update the LWoP blog as it comes together.

Nearer at hand is the Folk Festival. That's been fun in past years. A chance to lay about on the grass and visit a variety of stages. Sounds like a saturday pass would work out nicely, so we'll bike over and hopefully see som Ron Sexsmith stuff and maybe discover a few other notables. I hope RS is doing some small stage stuff. He's awesome with just a guitar and his quirky voice. His lyrical structure and melodies are very strong, no wonder he commmands such a following of big international types. Hope he's not too popular for the small stages now though. I guess I should put a new project around the ongoing pursuit of culture (Proj7). I don't get out as much as I'd like lately. The last thing was probably chamber music attendance three weeks back or so.

I'll post a note about the performers we see there on this Life Without Practice site. Hopefully the performers have practiced a bit.

Cooking and Food

For me, cooking is more than just creating something to eat. I'm pretty good at it, but am always learning. Now eating - there's somewhere I'm prepared to claim excellence. In all my fields of endeavor, this one is notable.

I can without boastfulness identify myself as a gourmand - a foody if you prefer. I come across a lot of people who claim those robes as well, but who do not understand the philosophy of the creme brulée's simplicity or cannot appreciate the uniqueness of a proper molé. Many people have a limited range of experience tasting cuisine from across the planet, which I don't hold against anyone per se - but if you don't have a drive to experience foods from all cultures, I have trouble accepting your assay of fine cuisine.

Also - it's not cheap, nor can you claim a discerning palate if you're 18 years old. It takes decades of experience, and loads of cash, and you're never done. I've spent a goodly portion of my career's income on food, and I think I know from whence I speak how elements like texture, presentation, mouth-feel and the kalaidascope of component flavours create a fine dish.

Wine fits well into that same range of experiential expertise. I guess any 18 year old can go to their local community college and get a Somellier's certificate in 6 months and call themselves an expert. But without decades of tasting, it is a bit of a stretch. And to claim expert status across the spectrum of varietals is a bit of a joke without the decades and the empties to prove it!

This diatribe is only by way of introducing another life-long project (Proj8) eating the best stuff, and (proj9) cooking good stuff. Again, I'm no show-stopper in the latter category, but I occasionally pull off something substantial.

The Cake
Yesterday, I whipped up a cake on a whim, just before supper. But I wanted to craft more of a Mexican feel to this project - so I called it a Mayan Chocolate cake. I found a decent scratch recipe, and cut back on the sugar a bit. I used olive oil instead of butter for a more earthy taste (and better healthiness). I also added cinnamon, chili powder and pepper to the recipe, and used cocoa powder rather than melting chocolate. Shazaam. It worked out very nicely. As a frequent baker of bread, I was particularly happy with the texture of the crumb. Oh yeah, I used my breadmaking technique of substituting yoghurt for the milk, which always seems to give a nice moist crumb. There's just a hint of the spice lingering in the aftertaste that is quite pleasant. Have a taste! If you want the recipe drop me a line at lwopractice [at] yahoo[dot]ca and I'll be happy to share it.

Eat Greek
Last weekend we went to the Greek festival, our annual Helenic celebration here in Ottawa. Greek food is quite good when made well, and the festival is usually a source of very good examples. I think it's all the old mama's that volunteer. This year, however, I was rather disappointed. The pita - the Greek style is probably my favourite flatbreads of the world, was poor this year. Usually it's so good. Not cooked at the right temperature I'd speculate, so it wasn't well enough cooked before it browned. The taramasalata wasn't fesh tasting, and the moussaka was a bit runny, though tasty enough. A shame as everything is usually so good.

It's still on for a while, and perhaps giving it a try during the week when it's not so busy might be a good idea. I've been expecting the festival to go downhill some year, as we've found it good every year for over a decade. Sure hope it's not this year! Life is too short for lousy food, and you'll notice that will be theme. This is my life lived without practice, but not without standards!


Wrap Up
Evening is approaching, and I will take it easy rather than get more pavers. I can discuss colours with my SO and see if I sway more towards red/black or beige to supplement the grey. I think I'm leaning towards the former, as I may need fewer that way.

Your immediate drop everything assignment is to find a spot where you can whistle without bugging anyone, and whistle an entire song from start to end. If anyone asks what you're doing, tell them you have no choice and send them to me at withoutpractice.blogspot.com Let me know what happens! See my email address at the left sidebar.