Homemaking

I once attended a party where a question was playfully asked: of what use would you be in an apocalypse?

My answer was that I could help make a dingy place more homey. I could create some sort of comforting nest amongst the rubble. Or at least that would be my impulse.

Maybe my fascination with home and homemaking began when I was a kid watching Looney Tunes. Remember when the camera would travel into a hole in the wall and therein was a family of mice? The scene always stayed with me: the tidy and cozy home with little beds made from empty match boxes and an empty spool of thread for a table.

Whether it's student apartments in old run-down Victorian houses or the home I share with my family today, my impulse is always to establish some sense of beauty, comfort, ease and harmony. To make things cozy.

For me, a home is more than just a shelter from the elements. It's a haven. When we return home after a long day at work or after a long trip, a home should embrace us like a warm hug, not fill us with overwhelm.

I feel pretty strongly that the goal of homemaking not be about competition, status, self worth. It should never be done for the sake of appearances and instead be about creating beauty (because beauty heals us), comfort, hygiene and safety. It's about supporting our bodies and our routines.

I'm also aware having a home is a privilege denied to many people and families and I often think about the some 100 million refugees and homeless people in the world. Yet I'll never reject homemaking or dismiss someone's love of homemaking as shallow pursuit.

Even though having a comforting home is not everyone's reality, it should remain an ideal.

Make Your Own Thai Spring Rolls

I get a certain satisfaction from folding something neatly and securely into a tidy package: baked goods in parchment paper, a parcel in brown paper to be shipped in the mail, a tee shirt just out of the dryer.

I love rolling and wrapping Thai Spring Rolls, too. It requires a certain amount of skill but with practice you can get quite good at it.

Decide what you want inside your spring rolls. Customize them with your favourite fillings: vegetables, fresh herbs, tofu, shrimp, beef, or pork. Think about adding noodles, like rice vermicelli or soba noodles. 

My favourite fillings include lettuce, sprigs of cilantro and mint (basil is good too), grated carrot and thinly sliced cucumber sticks. Celery, jicama, and bean sprouts would also be good. Anything to give your spring rolls that nice needed crunch.

I like to add tofu, which has been marinated in tamari and sesame oil (a big generous splash of each), and then baked in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Wash and prep all your ingredients and have them ready as you begin to assemble your spring rolls. 

Next, you soak your rice paper.

Add warm water to a large shallow bowl or pie plate, and dip the rice paper in the water until it is fully submerged. The rice paper is delicate so don't soak it too long or it will fall apart when you start rolling.

Soak until it feels firm yet soft enough to work with, usually 30 seconds.

It will still feel slightly firm when you pull it out of the water but will continue to soften.  It might take practice to figure out what the right amount of firmness/softness feels like but you will soon catch on.

Have a damp clean kitchen towel next to you while you roll. The damp towel prevents the wrapper from sticking. Lay the rice wrapper on it.

Now start assembling your ingredients and begin wrapping.

Lay the lettuce first and then layer on the other ingredients. Do not over-stuff your roll. Start small and take it from there. Place everything at the bottom third of the wrapper and roll upwards and over the filling, tucking the wrapper under to pull the ingredients together. This helps your rolls be firm not floppy.

I do one complete roll, fold in from the sides and roll again.

The more rotations of rice paper you have, the stronger the rice paper will be and less likely to puncture.

It's tricky at the start; the first couple of wrappers might rip or get lumpy. It may take a few tries but once you get a feel for it you churn them out with ease.

No Thai Spring Roll is complete without a good dipping sauce. Here are recipes for two of my favourites:

Peanut Sauce

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1 to 2 tablespoons water, to thin out the sauce, if necessary

Mango Lime and Ginger Sauce

4 Tbsp mango chutney

2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 tsp finely grated ginger

1/4 tsp hot sauce

Finely grated peel from 1 small lime

Why I Love to Take Pictures of Food

In the last couple of years I've picked up our camera and really started playing with it. I love taking photos. There's so much beauty in my immediate surroundings - in the kitchen or elsewhere in our home and in the garden - I don't have to travel very far to find interesting things to photograph.

My subject matter is still life; food, flowers and, of course, the cats, who are not always still, although they do nap a lot. I'll notice the way the morning light streams in on Parsnip as she's perched on the window seat and I have to grab the camera and capture it. 

If I'm doing a blog post about how to make a favourite dish I always include photos of food. However, I often take photos of food for reasons beyond practicality.

Sometimes I'm making dinner or about to have an afternoon snack and I'm struck by a colour combination or how nice something looks in a wooden bowl. Like when I was making salad for dinner the other night and I just had to take a picture. And then I had to share it on social media. I just counted, and more than a quarter of my Instagram feed is photos of food. 

These days, sharing photos of food is a universal pastime: Instagram and Facebook are full of pictures of what people had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or their morning cup of coffee. I enjoy seeing these photos.

Others find it annoying. I get it; people who take pictures of everything they eat can be annoying.  I too get a chuckle out of all the jokes and complaints about people who can't eat before they take a picture of their meal or how some only order food they know will look good on Instagram. It's true and it's funny.

Maybe it's just my nature but I love seeing photos of what people are eating. It's inspiring and fun, and it tells me a lot about who those people are. "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.”

Those annoyed by the whole practice of Instagramming everything you eat say it's a form of social posturing or showing off, the goal being to strike up envy in other people. "Look at me, see how healthy I eat, see what an amazing cook/mother I am!!!"

Instead, I like to think of taking and posting pictures of the food you're preparing or about to eat as the modern version of saying grace.  

I see personal value in sharing the simple moments and pleasures in life. Although, it's true, sometimes I am proud of something I made. Like these truffles: I mean, they are so delicious, nourishing and pretty, especially when lit like that. It's hard for me to not share what I love.

I would also add that taking pictures of food helps you connect with your food. I have never quite appreciated the beauty of a butterhead lettuce until I took this photograph. Maybe it follows that sharing this photo will have the same effect on the viewer.

I'm so glad I insisted my friend Geoff hold this platter of fish fritters he just cooked up next the window so I could get a good picture. Now, whenever I see that photo, I am vividly reminded of just how delicious those fitters were and I have a more essential memory of that lovely afternoon. Better than if, dare I say, I had taken a picture of everyone who was there.

But perhaps most importantly, taking photos of food is a way to improve my photography. Food is a great subject, never putting on a special face or asking me to not take or post a photo to Instagram because the angle is not flattering.

Orphans

My sister and I often laugh about how hard it is to get a good photo of us. That's us on the left. We're always spazzing out like we are in these two photos. This is my brother, my sisters and me right after Dad's funeral. An exhausted but tight little tribe of love, still grieving but buoyed by all the love and generosity bestowed on us. It was amazing for us to all be together for the week in a big house (generously offered to us) overlooking the Miramichi river.

There were many beautiful and sad moments. Funny moments, too. Like when my brother and sister and I went shopping to buy one pair of underwear for Dad's final viewing and we ALL went in the store together. For one pair of underwear!  When we picked out his funeral suit we didn't realize we had to pick out underwear. It just never occurred to us! "Everyone needs underwear," the funeral director said.

Dad's wishes were to be cremated but it was an open casket at the wake. Dad looked really good, just like himself. This was mainly due to the fact he had been thriving in the hospital and died fairly suddenly - he woke up Monday feeling under the weather and in less than 24 hours he was gone - pneumonia. What a shock! We didn't see it coming nor did the nurses on his floor.

Our father's funeral was beautiful. The coziness of the small church, the readings, the music (even a harmonica!) and the incense and flowers. My brother and I did eulogies. My brother is an AMAZING orator; a sort of Martin Luther King. I'm not exaggerating. He was moving and funny, and he did it all extemporaneously except for a few notes jotted on a small pad of paper.  I wish there was a text or audio recording to share. There was hardly a dry eye in the congregation as he spoke about Dad, who he was and what he meant to him.

Near the end of his eulogy, my brother mentioned how when people win the lottery they often get their photo taken holding a giant-sized cheque. He said we were lottery winners too, and if a photo were to be taken it would be of us four kids holding a giant version of this:

I joke I was the opening act, warming up the crowd for the headline act. Here's what I shared about my Dad:

When I thought about what I wanted to say today about my father, the first thing that came to mind was to tell you how good he was at buying women's clothing. 

I don't mean for himself! I'm talking about the purchases he made for my mother. In fact, he was probably better at dressing my mother than she was herself. If Joan needed a new dress, dad would hop in the car and head downtown to shop. He'd pick out five or six dresses and bring them back to our home on Janice Street for mom to try on. Inevitably, they would all fit, and they'd all look great. 

That was dad.

Apart from stories like that, it's hard to know what to say about my father because he was so well-known to so many people. I recall when I was first living on my own as a university student that my dad would often come to town on union business. On every occasion he would invite me to stay with him at his hotel, which was usually the site of a convention or some other union gathering. I'd often wind up sitting with dad at dinner in the restaurant, surrounded by his union brothers and sisters. 

One time, hanging out with my dad in one of those hotel rooms in Dartmouth, there was a knock at the door and in came David Suzuki. I also remember my father conferring with Ed Broadbent in our living room at Janice Street and sometimes debating with Premier McKenna, who'd phone our house to discuss labour issues when my dad was president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour. 

At the wake last night, friends from different facets of dad's life came to pay their last respects. Friends from his days at Heath Steel mines. Friends from the mill and from the union movement and from his days in local politics. Friends from the neighbourhood, from church and from the Knights of Columbus. 

Yes, my dad was well-known to many. But there was a side to my dad fewer people saw. And it shows itself best in little stories like the one about my dad shopping for my mother. So it seemed like the best thing for me to do today would be to share those stories. 

For example, my dad was a man who didn't seem to have much interest in animals. Nevertheless, he allowed my dear cat Gilda to snuggle next to him in bed at night when I had to leave her in my parent's care. My mother used to tell me that my father would let Gilda come under the covers every night and that the cat would lay her head next to him on the pillow. 

Dad was also a man who could be downright silly. When I became interested in herbal medicine, I used to encourage my father to drink echinacea tea or to take milk thistle for his liver. He would invariably ask: "Suzanne, could you make me some of that euthanasia tea" or "bring some of that Silk Tassel you say is good for my liver." Silk Tassel, of course, is scotch and definitely not good for the liver. 

I believe somehow these stories show the measure of the man. Dad was serious, but he could also be unbearably foolish and playful. My dad was tough as nails, a lifelong trade union leader, but he also snuggled with his daughter's cat. My dad was a man's man, a guy who wrestled with my brother Brendan as a kid, a miner and a tradesman who also had a flair for women's fashion and not an ounce of shame in browsing the women's clothing departments at Creaghan's or Lounsbury's.

It was these qualities that made Tim McCarthy a great father to me and my siblings, a loving husband to our mother Joan, and a good friend to so many. My dad had strength but also softness, brawn but also brains, seriousness but also playfulness, passion for the rights of workers but also love for all humanity. And while the stories I've shared may have been hidden from the view of all but our family, the qualities they demonstrate were seen by all. 

One of dad's friends remarked last night my father was passionate about the rights of workers but was never a partisan. He could talk to people on both sides and never saw his adversary as his enemy. It's what made him such an effective negotiator in the trade union movement and in his retirement an in-demand labour arbitrator.

In closing, I want to express my deepest thanks to all of dad's friends and all the care workers who did so much to make his final days on earth comfortable, peaceful and full of friendship. Whether it was paying him a visit, running errands, or bringing him home-baked goods, my dad spent his final days surrounded by the community he helped build and served for so many years. 

Valuing common household objects

Today I gave some much needed love and attention to things made of wood that can be found in our kitchen - tongs, spoons, cutting boards and bowls. Just as our skin needs moisturizing, especially in the winter, so does wood.  So I made some board butter and gave everything a good slathering and buffering. Just that little bit of attention made such a difference. Everything has a healthy lustre.

How to make board butter:

Recipe consists of two parts coconut oil and one part beeswax.

Chop beeswax and put in in a mason jar with coconut oil.

Place jar in a pot with about an inch of water and set over low heat.

Let it melt slowly until it turns a pale yellow, like creamy butter.

Allow it to cool. 

With clean hands rub and slather butter all over wooden kitchen tools. No need to wear rubber gloves as the wood butter is wonderful for softening hands and the scent is subtle and fresh.

Let the butter rest for a bit or overnight for best results.

Buff with a rag.

Good to be home

Back from my trip out East to prepare my Dad's home for a moving sale. One of my sisters had been there for two weeks prior to my arrival and it's exceptional what she was able to accomplish. Basically, she depersonalized his place, and put aside and filed away all important documents, bare necessities and meaningful personal belongings. I got to join her for the final push to ready Dad's place for sale day. We cleaned and organized the remaining contents of the house, and staged the place in final preparation. So many beautiful and practical objects for sale. It was hard work getting everything ready but also a pleasure to admire my parent's very beautiful belongings. I hope they find good homes.

Good to be back in my own home, my own bed. Back to my routine, my vie quotidienne. I missed my family immensely and felt like showing it by baking something sweet yet grain-free.  So I made a batch of these blondies.

I'm always on the search for recipes that are made without grains. These blondies satisfy any craving you might have for something sweet and substantial. Almond butter is the main ingredient although the author says to try other butters, too. Combined with good dark chocolate and only a few other ingredients produces something equivalent to a thick dense chewy cookie. Everyone gave them a thumbs up so I will definitely make them again.

I tried a new smoothie recipe inspired by this instagram account.It was the colour of the smoothie that caught my attention. Something about the pale yellowness of it and the tiny flecks of dark throughout. It looked soothing and yummy. The colour comes from a whole quarter of lemon, peel and all, as well as banana, pineapple and vanilla. I used coconut milk but you could use whatever milk you have on hand. I used my preserved lemons for fun but aim to try it with a regular lemon, too. The ginger and cardamom are inspired choices. They make the recipe sing a little louder but not too loud. Refreshing and satisfying.

So good to be home. Happy sigh.

xo

p.s. I missed these scallywags, as well.

Simplifying someone else's life

You may remember I was recently helping to arrange and shuffle my Dad's home to try and make it a safer place for him. Plans have changed and my siblings and I are acting on his behalf and with his permission to simplify his life even more. He's moving and needs to lighten his load so we are busy planning a Moving Sale. We need to find new homes for furniture, appliances, books, dishes, tools, decor items and more.

Theres no doubt about it, it's a huge undertaking. It's one thing to downsize your own life, but doing it for someone else feels weighted with extra responsibility.

My siblings and I take this responsibility quite seriously.

We are like a tag team.

Sister #1 arrived early (we live out of province) and began the process of sorting through everything to prepare for a sale. She has a wonderful sensitivity when it comes to dealing with Dad's belongings but without being over-sentimental. She's careful not to overstep and discard items without thoughtful reflection. Some things must be sold to strangers. Yet there are other more meaningful items she's kept aside in case a friend or family member might be delighted and honoured to have them.

Sister #2 (me) is in charge of getting the word out. Can't have a successful sale without customers! I get to practice my poster making skills and help make sure the sale is conducted in a classy and dignified way. I may not want my Dad's stuff but I will work hard to get the word out to those who might want his stuff and treasure it, too.

Sister #3, along with her husband, then arrives to  conduct the sale, which will run over the course of two days. She's good with money transactions and excels in the customer service department. 

When I was in Tennessee last fall I went to an estate sale. They're very popular in the South. Coincidently, it was run by three sisters! They weren't doing it as a favour for a family member; it's what they do professionally.

People who are ready to downsize just pick up and move to a new location or smaller digs. They leave everything behind, except the essentials, to be organized, priced and sold to the public by these women. They deal with everything. I think it's a wonderful service to offer.

A friend asked if I felt sad about the Moving Sale. I suppose I could get emotional about it. After all, a lot of Dad's belongings carry sentimental and personal meaning. Instead of the pain of letting go, I focus on how lightening Dad's load is a good thing for him and how downsizing can be a tremendous act of freedom. I can't tell you how many times I've heard about someone who was very sentimental and reluctant to downsize at first, and when they finally did it they couldn’t imagine what took them so long.

Anyway, many of the items for sale are ones my parents bought at an estate sale many many years ago and now they will go on to be enjoyed by other families, and maybe more families after that. How wonderful!

If you live on the Miramichi and are interested in some lovely furniture, or if you are a friend or relative, I hope you will pop by.

Clean the air in your home and make it smell good

A home can look good but if it smells bad, what's the point. Even if the house is tidy, if I smell stinky shoes or the unpleasant odours that linger after cooking fish I’m unsettled and won’t be at ease until they're gone.

It’s best of course to deal with foul odours at the source - change the kitty litter, empty the garbage, do a thorough cleaning and open the windows to let the fresh air in. But sometimes we need extra help.

Thankfully there are healthy and effective alternatives to conventional air freshners. which often contain many contain toxic chemicals and artificial perfumes, which can trigger breathing difficulties, headaches and irritate your eyes. They are especially hard on people with allergies and asthma.

Here are few ways to eliminate odours in our home more gently:

An open box of baking soda is a cheap and effective way to deodorize smelly rooms and shoes. Leave an opened box behind the cat litter or in the fridge. I've never tried it but I read a bowl of vinegar placed in room with a stubborn odour can get rid of it completely.

Several years ago, I was introduced to the Lamp Berger, a fragrance lamp that disperses scented oil using a heated stone attached to a cotton wick. The catalytic combustion wick was originally developed in the 19th century for use in hospitals and mortuaries. While no longer considered effective for use in hospitals, the lamps remain popular as air fresheners.

The lamps are sold on the premise that the lamp's flameless, low-temperature catalytic combustion converts odour molecules into harmless substances such as carbon dioxide and water.

Another effective way to improve air quality is to burn beeswax candles. Burning beeswax acts like an indoor air purifier. Pollen, dust, dirt and pollutants carry a positive charge and get suspended in the air. The negative ions released when you burn beeswax are said to negate the positive charge of air contaminants and the neutralized ions are sucked back into the burning candle or fall to the ground.

Burning paraffin candles has the opposite effect. It releases soot and other toxins and carcinogens, which doesn’t surprise me as it’s made from the sludge at the bottom of barrels of crude oil that’s been treated and bleached with benzene and other chemical solvents for use in candles. 

Beeswax candles are more expensive than those made with paraffin, but they are longer burning than any other candle, including vegetable or soy wax candles. That's because beeswax has the highest melting point among all known waxes, which results in a significantly longer burn time. This offsets their higher cost. They also drip very little, if any at all.

Finally, one sure way to improve the quality of air in your home is to have house plants. Not only do they add living beauty to the inside of our homes but indoor plants add oxygen and clear the air of carbon dioxide and other chemicals. Some are better at cleaning the air than others. The good ones include palm plants, snake plants and aloe vera to name only a few. 

Home as safe haven; rearranging Dad's place

Recently, my sister and I flew out east to help our father. He's 86 years old and lives by himself in a home not arranged to support his needs. He won't consider moving to a more accommodating space, so we did our best in the three days we were there, to transform his home into a safer haven. It was physically and emotionally demanding work. But as they say in my hometown, we got 'er done. 

Mainly, we moved his bedroom, which was on the second floor, into the living room on the main floor. We also edited other rooms of unnecessary furniture to allow him to move about with his walker more freely.

We cleaned and de-cluttered, and moved things no longer useful to him into the basement. We felt a little weary as we looked around at the stuff in his basement, knowing it would someday have to be dealt with too. 

We did this with his permission, of course, but it wasn't always easy.

The experience was occasionally amusing but mostly bemusing. My sister and I joked we were like two Nanny McPhees; before we left for the airport, we kissed our Dad goodbye, took one last look around and admired the results of our hard work.

Now I'm back at home still thinking about the experience and feeling for my aging father. To sweeten the mood, here's a wonderful recipe for Rum Cardamom Fig Chocolate Truffles. Dad would approve. He loves figs, and chocolate.

They're a delightful treat, easy to make (food processor required) and full of nutritious goodness.

I played with the recipe and you should too. 

Instead of maple syrup I sweetened with coconut nectar.

Instead of soaking my figs in hot water, I soaked them in rum overnight.

I rolled mine in coconut but you could roll them in other things too: cocoa, crushed nuts, rock salt.

An afternoon spent making merry

The only thing better than having friends who are kind, fun and generous, is having friends who are all the aforementioned plus fantastic cooks and bakers. Lucky us, we got invited to spend Christmas eve afternoon with such friends at their cozy home, enjoying music, good wine and conversation and great food.

Geoff smoked some salmon, roasted a chicken (stuffed with orange, olives and fennel), unsalted some cod and made the most scrumptious potato and fish fritters.

Denise made a salad of endive, apples, walnuts and fennel in a lime dressing. Chantal made hummus topped with pomegranate seeds and pine nuts. For dessert, apricots, salted chocolate covered caramels, and assorted cookies.

Surrounded by beautiful Christmas decor, taking turns playing favourite tunes on Geoff's laptop, sipping wine, chatting and watching funny you tube videos, resulted in a most pleasant impromptu Christmas eve afternoon.

May you all be so lucky to have friends like ours.

Hunkering down

I love how life slows down this time of year. There's still lots of hustling and bustling, mostly for retailers and shoppers, but come tomorrow evening a good many folks begin ... to ...  slow ...  down. We aren't traveling anywhere and no one but our 20 year-old daughter will be visiting. Just the five of us and two cats. The larder is almost full. Only a few items to pick up from local shops.

Sip wine.

Trim the tree.

Make these.

Watch shows.

Sleep in.

But for tonight, all is quiet.

Have a good one.

xo

Finding my Christmas groove

I'm trying to feel festive. I am.

The feeling is there, percolating, but slow to fully present itself. As I write this I only have two wreaths, a bit of greenery and a few pine cones in our home. That's it!

I need to get inspired.

Nothing like attending a Christmas party to kick start those festive feelings and get your own ball rolling.

For the past several years, Cindy, who I met in the schoolyard years ago, has hosted a Christmas party. It started out as a sort of ladies luncheon, which was fun until around 3:15 pm when there was a mad scramble to get on our boots and coats, and skedaddle over to the schoolyard before the bell rang.

Now it's an evening affair and still as festive and wonderful as ever.

It's always a treat to gather at Cindy's home and particularly so this time of year. Her flair for seasonal decorating is inspiring; all lights, greenery, flowers and simple iconic ornaments. Combined with great food and drinks it hits the perfect note of festiveness.

The last few years, Cindy incorporated a fun element: an ornament exchange.

Everyone brings a wrapped ornament which we place under the tree. Near the end of the evening we draw numbers and then take turns picking. It was interesting to see how many animal ornaments there were this year. We're a trendy bunch I guess. (I got a squirrel ornament - those of you who know me well will see how appropriate this is!)

Thank you Cindy. You've started a wonderful tradition and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Have a wonderful weekend

The house is decluttered and fairly organized so I guess it's time to get out the decorations and get decorating! So many of my favourite decorations come from a wonderful flower shop right up the street from where we live. Bloomfields Flowers is a gem of a shop, beautiful year round but particularly so during the holiday season.  Today I had the pleasure of popping by before the doors opened to the public and I snapped a few photos to share with you and get you inspired.

Many of the shop's decor items speak to my own sensibility: things made from natural and recycled elements, and items to please a grownup but enchant a child as well.

Shop owners Virginia and Jamie have a knack for selecting items that are sophisticated yet whimsical. I especially love the tiny felt animal ornaments: squirrels, racoons, foxes and cardinals. So sweet, and right on trend too.

What better way to evoke the season than with greenery and flowers. There's something about decorating with things from nature that suggests the spirit of the season effortlessly. There are many options for hanging a wreath in your home, too. They have fresh ones but also several you can use from year to year and update with ribbons, flowers, bulbs and berries. The one in the upper left is made from felt. Beautiful! 

Plenty of ornaments for the tree to choose from and a unique selection of decor items for tabletop, window sill, shelves and mantel, to hang from your ceiling, as well as stand-alone items to liven up a corner of a room. I especially love the Three Wise Men made from recycled metal, the birch bark stars and the handmade Christmas stocking.

Lastly, I had to include these dogs, fashioned from twisted and woven newspapers. Not necessarily Christmasy but look how the shop owner donned one with antlers to bring it into the spirit of the season.

If you live in or are visiting the Ottawa area I encourage you to drop by this one-of-a-kind flower shop.

One of our favourite things to eat: baked spicy tofu with mango and sweet corn

I LOVE this recipe. We all love it! Whenever I announce it's on the menu I hear a chorus of "Hoorays!"

The recipe comes from the cookbook called The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil, M.D and Rosie Daley (she was Oprah's personal chef at one time). It's called Spicy Tofu with Bean Thread Noodles.

If you want to feel virtuous when eating this dish you can because tofu is a good source of protein, contains all eight essential amino acids, and is an excellent source of iron and calcium, manganese, selenium and phosphorous. In addition, tofu is a good source of magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamin B1. In all honesty, we eat regularly because it is very very delicious.

What really makes the dish sing is the unique combination of ingredients: mango, sweet onions, corn and the spicy tofu.By the way, if you're stumped on how to properly cut a mango here is a very helpful short video.

The marinade, a combination of lime juice, sesame oil, crushed fennel seeds, red chili paste and honey, gives the dish a sweet yet spicy flavour. The tofu soaks it all up and gets crispy and golden when baked for a short 15 minutes in a nice hot oven.

We were halfway through eating when I realized I forgot to take a photo of the final product, nicely assembled and topped with cilantro. So this shot is from the next day. Which reminds me of another thing I love about this recipe: it tastes as good if not better as leftovers.

Raise your spirits with a gallery wall

I agree with London interior designer Abigail Ahern when she says, "The worst thing in my book is to enter a room and feel nothing. No joy, no raising of spirits – nothing"

Do you have a room in your home with a whole lotta nothin' goin' on? Want to make a big visual impact yet can't afford to buy a stunning new piece of furniture, renovate or even repaint?

Why not create a gallery wall. Our gallery wall sparks my joy every time I walk by it.

Gather all the pieces meaningful to you, the things that express who you are or who your family is, and curate them on an entire wall, floor to ceiling even, if your collection is large.

Consider anything and everything significant to you - art prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, sketches, children's art, maps, concert posters, mirrors and plates. Anything.

Don't be intimidated. Peruse pinterest to find heaps of ideas and inspiration to help you decide what to display and how arrange it.

There are two schools of gallery wall layouts: the cohesive collection and the eclectic collection.

A typical cohesive collection would be all black and white photographs or any collection in the same medium. If you belong to this school you feature a series of similar prints in identical frames, of identical material, hung evenly with equal space between them, most likely in a grid pattern.

This process is more challenging but this video simplifies it.

For me, the mix-it-up, free hand, eye balling it method is the way to go. It results in a more dynamic arrangement that has movement and allows your display to be a work in progress. Add a new piece to your collection as it arrives in your life or subtract pieces as you like.

The eclectic collection school says mix your mediums; colour with black and white, oils with water colours, frames in a variety of sizes - some with mats others without.  Mix vintage with modern, established artists with children's art, paintings with photography. Throw mirrors, wooden letters or plates into the mix, as well as clocks and other items of varied texture, size, and shape. The main thing is no piece should outshine the other.

My advice is there are no rules, no specific formula. It's really up to you what you display and how you curate it. Then your collection is as unique as you are, which is how it should be.

Grab a sharp knife and get chopping; wood board love

I have fun in the kitchen. I'm not someone who struggles with food preparation or stresses about nutrition. I love good food, I love to eat and, on most days, I feel inspired to feed our family nourishing stuff. Nonetheless, I got excited and inspired when I read this post.

The author asks a simple question: "Why do we think it's so hard to nourish our families and ourselves?"

Her advice is both wonderful and simple; gather like you're having a party. Grab a knife, look in your cupboards and fridge and chop up whatever is on hand and display it on a cutting board (you can get creative with this part). Don't call out and ask if anyone is hungry. That's key. Just call for them to come.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with just me and the boys at home and I decided to test drive her idea (see photo above). Suddenly we were standing around chatting, chewing, connecting, like it was a little impromptu party for the three.

She calls the idea wood board love and I think it's marvelous. Maybe you will too.

Spirit animals as home decor

One widespread and growing decorating trend revolves around all things animal. Accenting interiors with animals is nothing new; Neanderthals decorated caves with animal drawings, Egyptians decorated with camels, jackals and cats, and Asian inspired home decorators opt for displaying tigers or dragons.

Consider the tradition of decorating with hunting trophies, still alive today. If you're not a fan of the hunting-lodge look there are kinder and gentler ways to add animal inspiration, from artwork to textiles and ceramics.

There's even faux taxidermy, which takes the old-world tradition of hunting trophies to a very fun place.

You can find pretty much any animal represented in home decor but some are more popular than others. Birds have always been "in" but none is so popular these days as the owl; owls printed on pillows, on coffee mugs and blankets, owls as lamps, vases and salt & pepper shakers. Some speculate owls are popular in the design world because they figure strongly in the magical world of Harry Potter. Last time I checked, Etsy, the on-line market place for handmade design, offered up to 198,650 items with owl in the description.

Interior designer Abigail Ahern uses all kinds of animals in her designs but she especially loves using dogs. One of her inspirations is her miniature schnauzer, Mungo. Ahern’s reason to decorate with animals is simple: to cheer up a room. "Interiors can be a snooty old business," says Ahern. "Plonk an animal on a table and you've lifted the spirits and made yourself smile at the same time."

Robyn Waffle and Yvan Semenowycz modeled their Toronto design studio Totem around the emotional connections people develop with animals, not only pets but animals from the wild, too. "We care about this truth and invite people to custom design rugs and tapestries inspired by their beliefs, their interests and their heritage."

For their own designs they take inspiration from "spirit" animals. In pagan religions and systems a spirit animal or totem is an animal that represents the traits and skills you have or wish to embody. Connecting with your spirit animal is a quest undertaken by countless people for thousands of years.

There are websites here and here to help you figure out what your spirit animal might be. One of the biggest clues is the animal you are continuously drawn to or one that starts unexpectedly showing up in your life.

Once you determine your spirit animal the next step is to learn about its symbolic wisdom and then harness this knowledge to help you make decisions, confront difficult situations and reach goals.

I'm a cat lover but these are the only cats you will find in our home's decor (other than the real ones):

The Asian elephant, on the other hand, is featured in more than a few rooms around here. Simon brought the first elephant into our home.

The second was a house warming present from a friend.

I purchased this cotton throw and only noticed the elephants once I had it home and spread out on a bed.

Then I began purposely buying things with an Asian elephant motif.

The elephant offers a wealth of symbolic wisdom. One such bit of wisdom is gathered from watching it in nature. Specifically, the female elephant is seen as a symbol of responsibility because she takes great care of her offspring AND elders.

I decided to ditch the idea to do a blog post about spirit animals in home decor and my curious collection of Asian elephants. Moments later something made me change my mind.

While cleaning out an old suitcase my youngest son discovered something inside. In his hand was a tiny stone elephant. We'd never seen it before.

I then recalled what I had read: you don't choose your spirit animal, it chooses you. I was beginning to believe it!

Thanks to elephant wisdom I just booked a plane ticket to visit my almost 86 year-old father, who lives on his own.

The art of displaying collectibles

I recently spent a week in Tennessee as a guest at my friend Christy's home.  Christy is an avid and knowledgeable collector of the most interesting objets d'art and her home, which she shares with her husband, Miguel, is artfully curated with the many vintage finds she's spotted on her excursions to estate sales and antique markets. Vintage jewelry and purses, vases and ceramics, art and old photographs - Christy has rich yet modest collections of them all.

Some collectors squirrel away their items out of sight. Others love to collect but lack the impulse or energy to organize and arrange their collections and instead they become clutter on a shelf.

Christy organizes and thoughtfully arranges her collections in ways that inject her home with personality, emotions and stories.

I love how Christy arranged pairs of items to form a small group on her mantel. None of the pieces are necessarily related to the other, yet suddenly they are. I love the repetition of pairs. Look in the mirror and see another pair of objects reflected. 

Some items are gathered together in big groupings. Others stand alone or in smaller groups.

The most interesting description I read about the impact curated collectibles have in a room is that it creates motion in stillness. As if the pieces are socializing with each other and with the room itself.

Makes me think about Disney movies and talking candlesticks, teapots and brooms!

Thanks Christy, for sharing your wonderful home and for allowing me to photograph your unique collection of treasures.

The ghosts of Cragfont Mansion

Does this ever happen to you?

You're touring an epic cathedral, driving across a well-designed bridge or watching the ballet and you feel conflicted. You're in awe of the grandeur, impressed by good design and beauty and yet, at the same time, your heart feels heavy because you're aware of a cost to the human body and spirit involved in the making.

It's no surprise I felt conflicted, strange really, when I toured a tobacco plantation mansion from the early 1800s when I visited Tennessee.

Cragfont mansion is about an hour from Nashville and only a little off the beaten path in a place called Castalian Springs. This two-story 19-room mansion was an administrative centre for a profitable tobacco plantation, and home to James and Susan Winchester and their 14 children.

The plantation's engine was the labour of more than 100 African-American slaves who lived in row quarters on the property.

With the end of slavery, the family was forced to sell Cragfont in 1867. It changed hands several times until the State of Tennessee bought it in 1958.

Today, Cragfont mansion is restored and open to explore. The grounds are even made available as a venue for events and weddings. Hundreds of music videos and scenes for movies are filmed there because of the landscape.

The slave quarters did not survive and were never reconstructed.

Our generous and welcoming tour guide, the caretaker for more than 32 years, offers us an extensive guided tour of the mansion as he tells us the plantation story.

The story we hear of Cragfont is about biography and greatness; the greatness of the plantation owners and the greatness of the mansion.

Cragfont, we are told, was the centre of Tennessee society and known as "The Grandeur on the Frontier." Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, and John Overton all stayed as guests.

Above: Winchester was an officer in the Revolutionary War, a Brigadier General in the War of 1812 credited with co-founding the city of Memphis.

Above: Susan Winchester, his wife and mother to 14 children.

We learn about the mansion's special architectural details; its T-shaped design and seven iron stars, anchor plates for iron rods that extend from the front to rear to strengthen the structure. Most homes in Tennessee at the time were log cabins. This home is built of limestone cut from a nearby quarry, and poplar, walnut, cherry and ash all cut from the surrounding forest.

The house is furnished with authentic American Federal antiques, there’s original stencilling on the parlour walls and stippling on the stair risers. There’s a doll house, supposedly the oldest one in North America. The second floor of the mansion features a ballroom - the first in Tennessee.

The story of slavery is barely mentioned except for mention of the "slave wall,” a stone wall made of rocks dug by slaves in preparing the ground for planting. There was also a some information about Dave, an enslaved potter who made urns.

None of the information shared with me during the tour got me thinking very deeply. In fact, I almost left the museum without thinking about slavery at all.

I felt lulled into an admiration for craftsmanship and design. Those gorgeous soapstone windowsills! That beautifully preserved wooden mantel! Those antiques!

There was no invitation to consider the forced labour of more than 100 African-American slaves who kept the home running smoothly, and the plantation providing wealth and grandeur to its owners.

But I can see how a plantation like Cragfont could be an enlightening tool for good civic discussion. For starters, why not change the plantation story from one of loss to one of gain? Don't focus on how a plantation suffered after the emancipation of its workforce. Highlight how the end of the slavery-based plantation system meant the freedom of four million people.

What about the use of plantation sites as venues for events? Some ask why people are still having plantation weddings at plantations that slaves built. Isn't that insensitive and strange?

Others see plantation sites as more than a pretty backdrop but as sacred spaces where healing and connection could happen. I read about a woman, a descendant of slaves, who wanted to hold a reunion with other descendants at a plantation site where ancestors had worked.

Even stupid questions from tourists can become tools to better understand race and history.

The web series, Ask a Slave, was born of an actress's experience portraying an actual slave while she worked as a character actor at Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation home. The video series reveals shocking layers of ignorance of slavery yet invites discussion about plantations and their part in America's past.

I wasn't surprised to learn Cragfont is haunted.

Caretakers through the years report objects moved, candles lit, full-bodied apparitions seen and beds found unmade in the morning after things have been tidied and closed-up for the night. Firsthand accounts abound.

I noticed our tour guide remove his prescription glasses and leave them on the table before we began the tour. He explained he no longer wears them in the house because they've been damaged so often and it's too expensive to keep buying new ones.