My parents house has a pear tree that bears lots and lots of fruit. I don't think I can describe just how many pears they have every fall. My mom discovered that often you can use pears in recipes that call for apples. So after making my new favourite breakfast, which calls for applesauce, I though I'd try to make some pearsauce!

I had a quart and a half of pears, that I washed, cut and cored. My mom had picked them straight from the tree, so there weren't too many bruises, but they were very ripe, and I had to compost a fair amount.

Eeeewww, brown grossness that needs to be removed!

One tip: peel the pears before cutting them. I ended up having to pick out as many peels as I could find, and it was a messy job!


Bring about half a cup of water to a boil. Put the pears in, and add the juice from one lemon, and one or two peels of lemon rind.

Boiling pears

Let the pears boil for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Mash the pears with a potato masher, straining as necessary for consistency.  Put into jars and enjoy!

I think it looks just like applesauce!

I had this on my Breakfast Quinoa this morning, and it was delicious, though had a very strong pear taste. I think I'll mix it with the applesauce I plan to make later today.

There is nothing I look forward to more at Thanksgiving than the turkey sandwich I get to make after it's all over.  My mom sent me home with this container full of yumminess (that looks kind of gross) including turkey breast, stuffing, cranberries and congealed gravy.


Add it all to an end of day whole wheat bun from the Carousel Bakery at the St. Lawrence Market, and I get a delicious lunch!



Questions:

What's your favourite kind of sandwich?
- Turkey!!  And the ham, apple, cheddar sandwiches from the coffee/sandwich shop at school, Common Ground. Fruit on a sandwich is amazing!

I am actually an old woman.  I listen to (and am passionate about) CBC Radio One, I knit, I love hot water with lemon. And now, I use handkerchiefs, rather than facial tissue.

A quick look at my goal to drastically reduce the amount of waste I produce showed me that I need to first reduce the amount of paper products I use. And while I could go out and buy some handkerchiefs, I thought it would be another fun sewing project!

So I headed on over to Designer Fabrics again to find some simple cotton. I ended up with what I think is shirt fabric - it's white with a small blue check. I bought the minimum amount - 1/2 a yard but now I think I've founds something to do with my old work shirts when I can't wear them anymore!

I was pretty lax about getting the fabric square, and it didn't end up being a problem at all.  I just cut the fabric in half lengthwise, and then cut it into squares.


I then pressed (omg, more pressing!) the sides over twice to make a nice seam.



Then sew around the edges. I ran out of white yarn, so I used a pretty blue grey to match the check pattern in the fabric for some of them. A crazy colour might be fun too!


Easy peasy and ready to use!  Making 8 of them took a bit over an hour, and cost about $2!

I think I'm going to put a sewing machine on my Christmas/Birthday list this year!  That way I can visit with my parents when I'm at their house, rather than sitting downstairs using my mom's sewing machine and iron.

I had the pleasure of attending the USGBC GreenBuild Expo last week. I normally wouldn't go because it's a pretty expensive conference for me to pay out of pocket, but it was in Toronto this year, the first time it's ever been held outside of the US, so my employer decided it was worth sending me. And I couldn't have been happier! I met some really cool people, and went to some pretty incredible presentations all relating to green building.

On Thursday afternoon, I ended up in the wrong presentation (I went to 718A not 718B by mistake) and saw this amazing presentation about Waste Management in the Construction and Demolition business (I know, it sounds fascinating!) called "Getting to Zero Waste: Turning Trash into a Resource for the Next Generation." Admittedly, before I even went into the room I was wondering whether I might want to attend a presentation other than the one I was supposed to. "Towards Low Carbon Buildings and Cities: Energy Benchmarking and High Performance Building Envelopes" was sounding a bit too architectural to me.

One of the presenters played this video, which got me thinking about the waste that I generate on a day to day basis and some things I could do to reduce that waste.

I recently moved into a new apartment, and needed some blinds for my room. I figured the neighbours had had enough of a show!

I went to my new favourite fabric store, Designer Fabrics, 1360 Queen Street West. They have a HUGE selection, it's very organized and priced really well. The lady and gentleman who helped me were very friendly and super helpful, and I was able to get some simple white cotton, white black-out backing and ribbon for about $25. I will definitely be returning for my next sewing project!

I wanted something very simple but beautiful - if you noticed them you'd think they were nice, but you might not notice them, and I think what I ended up with turned out perfectly. This is one project that looks as nicely in real life as it did in my head!

To start, measure your window so you know how big to make the shades. The window I wanted to cover is 45" wide and 56" high. You will also want to wash and iron your fabric. My white cotton had a nice little dirt mark on it that came out beautifully in the wash.  Don't forget to do a quick zig-zag stitch around the outside to stop any fraying that might happen.


Lay the fabric out flat and measure 1 inch wider and 4.5 inches taller than your window. In my case, I measured 46" wide and 60.5" high. I cheated and used my dad's drywall square to make sure my shades were perfectly square!


Mark with a pencil or chalk and cut to size. My mom had some blue chalk that was older than me! Good thing it still worked.


Repeat with the backing.

Put the right (out) sides together, pin along the bottom and side edges and sew in a straight line with a 1/2" seam allowance (1/2" from the edge). In my case, neither fabric had a right or wrong side!


Cut the corners to remove bulk and turn the square inside out.  I use my scissors to make sure the corners are nice and square.



Press the edges. There's going to be a lot more pressing.


Sew along the 3 edges.


Lay your square flat again and measure the length plus 4 inches, in my case, 60". Mark this line and press to create a nice .


Measure 1" from this new line, turn and press. This will give you a nice clean line on the back of the shade.


Next, measure 3" from the new line, turn, press and pin.  This will be the pocket for your curtain rod.

Switching for a few seconds to the ties, you will need a length of ribbon 4 times the height of the window. In my case, I needed 224".  Cut this in half. For a bit of extra flair, I cut my ribbons on a 30 degree (approximate) angle.


Now for assembly and final touches!

Measure a quarter of the width of the shades from each side, in my case 11 1/4". This is where the ribbon will be attached. Fold each length of ribbon in half, and place on the top of the shade at the quarter mark. Pin them, making sure the ribbon is parallel with the shade. Sew the curtain rod pocket, approximately 2.5" from the top of the curtain.


Draw your curtain over the curtain rod and put it up! I used a tension rod on the inside of my window


Voila! New shades for a fraction of the cost of what they would cost in the store!

Questions:

Do your DIY projects often turn out the way you think they will?
- Not all of my DIY projects turn out this nicely, I was pleasantly surprised.

What do you think I should do for my next project?
- I am thinking about a wall hanging to keep all of my jewelry on.

I thought it was time for a little update on my Blue Afgan. Last week I went to the Purple Purl to turn my skeins of yarn into balls.


Sorry about the fuzziness of the video. I forgot to let my camera focus before I started recording...

Then I got to work!



I've never worked with such big needles or 5 strands of wool before, and it's going very quickly. I've already finished about 12 inches! I've still got about 48 inches more to go, though.



Questions: (I figure I might as well give this a try!)

What do you think of the colours of yarn I've selected?
- I'm really happy with how the yarns and colours go togehter, though I'm a little disappointed you can't really see the bright blue mohair/silk.

Do you knit?  If so, what's your favorite project? If not, have you ever wanted to?

I've been a fan of breakfast ever since University. For the past three years or so, I've been having a variation on the same breakfast: Eggs and Oatmeal with ground almonds and flax seed or my grandma Sybil's homemade Cereal.

I've been a fan of quinoa ever since I had my first quinoa salad back in 2008. My Morrocan Quinoa Salad is my go-to for parties and pot lucks, and has had many good reviews. But after visiting Peru in August, I am even more hooked! Each morning on the Trek, we had oatmeal made with quinoa rather than oats (would you call that quinoameal?) and it was delicious and healthy to boot!

So when I came across the Meals and Moves Breakfast Challenge, I went on an internet hunt for a delicious breakfast quinoa recipe! The results are not surprisingly, amazing!

This is adapted from Joy the Baker. I like that the quinoa is cooked in water rather than in milk, as many of the recipes I found are.

1 cup quinoa 2 cups water applesauce coconut almonds fresh fruit milk brown sugar

Rinse dry quinoa.


Place quinoa and water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the quinoa until all of the water is absorbed. Stir occasionally. Turn off the heat and allow quinoa to cool slightly. 


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread coconut and almonds in a single layer across the sheet. Toast for about 5 minutes, keeping a close eye on the coconut, it burns quickly!


I made the quinoa and roasted the coconut and almonds last night,  stored them in the fridge and warmed it up in the microwave this morning. I'm not a morning person, so it made the preparation super easy and quick this morning!

In a bowl, combine a heaping spoonful of quinoa, applesauce, a sprinkling of almonds and coconut, a generous helping of fresh mango or other fruit of choice.


I didn't need to add any milk or sugar because it was already sweet enough with the mango and coconut!

I added a sprig of mint for the photo, but it also tasted delicious with the dish.


With peaches now in season, I will definitely be trying this with peaches tomorrow morning!