bye bye, j.d.!

I came across some sad news today. Beloved author and incredibly influential person in my life has passed away, J.D. Salinger.

I remember reading “Catcher in the Rye” in English class at Schaumburg High School, and instantly falling in love with Salinger’s prose.  His insight and understanding of the bewildering hell that is adolescence was unparalleled by any other author I had ever read, or have since read.  Since then, I have made an effort to read every Salinger story I could get my hands on, digging through the New Yorker’s archives to find non-anthologized stories, scanning library shelves for books, all of which resounded deeply inside me.  I particularly loved “Raise High the Roof Beams”, and “Seymour, an Introduction”.  I re-read “Raise High…” recently, and found it just as touching, strangely disturbing, yet uplifting at the same time?  Having already read “Bananafish”, knowing Seymour would commit suicide, it was like seeing Wayne’s World 2, then the original Wayne’s World after.  I’ll always retain the mental image of Buddy mixing Tom Collinses in the kitchen, surreptitiously sipping the gin as he prepares the drink tray, as it would surely help take the edge off such cruel situation.   I’ve certainly wished I could do the same on many an occasion!

more entanglements with bureaucracy

Well, I am nearly ready to send in my application for my New Zealand student visa. In addition to filling out a 20 page application, getting passport pictures taken, and photocopies of several official documents detailing my acceptance at Vic and my financial arrangements, I am also required to submit proof that I am a physically healthy individual, unlikely to put undue strain on the New Zealand health-care system, and provide the authorities with evidence of my good character.

In order to accomplish these 2 final steps, I have had to figuratively jump through a number of increasingly irritating hoops.

Step 0 – get fingerprints taken in Illinois last time I was home to send to the FBI for my “police certificate”, or essentially evidence that I do not have a police record and am not one of America’s Most Wanted.

Step 1 – Phone several doctors and clinics to find one that will see me and do the necessary tests. Go to the post office, get a $18 USD money order for $25 CAD, mail to the FBI, along with my finger prints.

Step 2 – Go to the St-Henri walk-in clinic, pay $50, wait 2 hours to see a doctor for all of about 5 minutes, while he looks at my documents, takes my blood pressure, and signs one page.

Step 3 – Walk up the mountain to the Montreal General Hospital, pay $260 to get my blood drawn, pee into a cup, and be given a large orange jug, which I am instructed to pee into for the next 24 hours, and return the following day with the full jug for further testing. They instructed me to keep the jug in my fridge during this time, where hopefully one of my roommates would mistake it for orange juice and drink it.

Step 4 – Ride my bike in the snow to the Montreal Chest Institute.  Pay $35, get my chest x-rayed.

Step 5 – Wait.

Step 6 – Call the clinic to see if my results have arrived. They have.  I prepare to pay another $50 to see the doctor for another 2 minutes.

Step 7 – Call the FBI to check up on my police certificate that I submitted 4 weeks ago.  Hey, guess what, the FBI is so backlogged they still don’t even have a record in their system that I’ve submitted a request.

“Wait a week or 2 and call back.”, they advise me.

“This is the final document I need to submit my student visa application.  I’m leaving the country in 5 weeks and don’t have a visa.  I requested expedited service.  Why does it take so long?”

“Sorry ma’am.  We have a huge backlog.  We can only guarantee 8-10 weeks processing time.”

ARGH!

Step 8 – Wait.  Panic.

Step 9 – Reflect on all of the documentation I’m submitted for this visa, and how money I have spent, now nearly $400, not including the actual application fee to the NZ consulate, and the courier fees for overnighting it to Ottawa and then back to Montreal. Worry that my application, when I do submit it, will be rejected for some inane reason.

Step 10 – Decide I can’t do anything about it, I’ve done everything in my power to take care of all these matters in a timely manner, using my best time & resource management skills (which, according to Susan Miller, Leo’s are great at), and leave it all in Buddha’s hands.

On my mind, throughout this entire process, I must admit I’ve been thinking”No way would Ticker go through with any of this.” And resigned myself to the thought that he probably will never apply for a 1 year working holiday visa.  Who knows, maybe he’ll prove me wrong? Again, this is all in big B’s hands.

beans beans, the magical fruit

My goal for the next 5 weeks, before I leave Montreal on March 3rd, is to eat all of the dried beans I have in my cupboard.  This includes large quantities of:

• Black beans
• Pinto beans
• Navy beans
• Kidney Beans
• Split peas
• Brown Lentils
• Red Lentils
• Chick peas

And a few cans of other types of beans.  This is indeed a daunting task – how many beans can 1 girl eat, or feed to her friends?

Some recipes I’ve invented to use these beans include:

Black bean burritos with refried pinto beans

Salad composée with kideny beans

Minestrone soup

Tuscan-ish navy bean soup

Harira chick pea soup

Lentil burgers

Black bean salsa

etc.

I welcome recipes that will help me use these beans!

I have to admit, eating all these bans has had some negative consequences… they don’t call me “Gassy Gaston” for nothing!

Montreal Children’s Library

Tomorrow I’m beginning a creative writing project with the kids from the Richmond Square Branch of the Montreal Children’s Library.  I’m totally stoked about this project!  It’s called “A Community of Words” and is in collaboration with the Blue Metropolis Foundation, and of course, the Tyndale St- Georges Centre, where my branch is located.

As the project leader, I’ve been organizing a group of 9 kids to participate in this 6 week creative writing workshop.  A Canadian Author, Claire Rothman will be visiting the library to help teach the kids about the creative writing process.

I’m really excited to see the ideas the kids come up with.  They have some wild imaginations and are constantly surprising me.  Working with them has been so unbelievably mind-opening to me I feel like I’ll really miss their influence when I leave.  These kids totally have their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in Canada, and all over the world.  They’re not afraid to tell you what they like and don’t like, tell you your clothes look dorky, if Lady Gaga is cool, and try and cheat when you play checkers with them.   They know things you’d never expect kids to know about.  Most of them think reading is boring, though I’m slowing trying to change their minds about that.  One of them was telling me today about how Zac Efron is gay.

Most of the kids who use my library are black, and from the Little Burgundy neighborhood.  I also have a lot Bengali, North African, and South Asian kids.  Most of them speak English and French, in addition to their native language.  A lot of them have siblings who use the library, and I get to know their entire families.  Some of them are cuties and sweeties, while others are headaches and troublemakers.  After doing storytime at 3 different daycares, and seeing maybe 50 babies, then dealing with the wild animals in the library in the afternoon, I still manage to enjoy myself and find energy to play Uno, watch puppets hows, and read comic books with them.

Yesterday 3 of the boys did a puppet show for me – the first act went roughly something like this:

*curtains*

3 headed dragon enters stage left.

Skunk enters stage right.

Skunk: Hey dragon!  You have 3 ugly heads!

Dragon: Shut up or I’m going to melt your face off!

Skunk: I’m going to spray you!

*Sound of skunk spraying dragon*

Dragon:  AHHHH!!!

Narrator: The dragon shoots flames out of it’s heads and melts the skunk’s face off.  Then, he eats the skunk.

Skunk: AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (as he’s being eaten)

Narrator: But the skunk smelled so bad the dragon died after he ate him.

Skunk and Dragon exit.

*Curtains*

The end.

Overall, amazingly believable acting and truly great puppetry from these young geniuses!

I’m looking forward to this project and hope to feel inspired yet again by these awesome kids.

2009 – Best year ever?

I’m beginning to think that perhaps 2009 has been the best year of my life, so far.  Sure, I had some setbacks and disappointments (Liberia, being broke, health issues), but overall, it’s been amazing.  I just found out that I’ve won the Victoria University PhD Scholarship to study under my mentors Drs. Goman & Dorner!  It’s a bit intimidating to think I’ll be back in school, as a doctoral student, and soon to be DR. Nicole !  But I’m so excited so be spending 3 years in New Zealand working on something I find so interesting, it’s unbelievable!  This scholarship includes tuition and fees, plus $21,000 a year!!!  HOLY SH*T! I’m to start March 1st in Wellington, so I’ll be picking up and heading out of town around the end of February, with a brief stopover in Chicago to see my momma and get some bussiness taken care of…

So, in addition to this wonderful news, as I’m reminiscing upon the last year, all I can feel is happiness and gratefulness for all these blessings I’ve had.  Not only do I have the coolest job in the world, which, sadly, I will be leaving in 2 months, I also have a totally awesome boyfriend, and everyone I know is healthy and happy.  Yes, I’m poor, but I’m happy!

I spent a lot of the past few weeks doing embroidery, and a few other arts & crafts activities.  All of my family got embroidered hankies – they’re better for the environment than using kleenex and softer! I made a few necklaces, using a necklace I bought in Cambodia as a model, and some decorated agendas for 2010 using the inside of envelopes to make a collage.  I felt pretty productive!  I also did quite a bit of baking and cooking… in addition to those recipes I mentioned before, I’ve been pumping out the cookies, apple pie, and cranberry bread.  Christmas I spent at Ticker’s, where we roasted a Chicken, made some totally awesome amazing stuffing, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and roasted squash. In order to work off all that stuffing, chicken, mashed potatoes, and cookies, we took a long walk up Mont Royal on Christmas day – a snowy hike that burned a few calories.  I’m still feeling bloated – so it’s diet time in 2010, but well worth the indulgences of the holiday season!

So, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!  Good luck for 2010!

bad blogger

Yes!  I know it’s been ages since I wrote anything here.  I’m getting into the routine of my job and life, and haven’t been up to much blog-worthy exciting stuff.  One of my main focuses lately has been cooking and baking.

A recent big success was a Moroccan “Harira”, or chick-pea soup that I made.  It got rave reviews and recipe requests from several people.  Here is the recipe, that I modified from epicurious.com:

• 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas
• 8 cups water + 2 chicken or vegetable bullion cubes
• 1 can diced tomatoes, plus a few fresh ones
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 small celery rib (including leaves), finely chopped (if you have one..)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (or olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tsp teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup lentils ( I like brown or green, but red work too!)
• 1/2 cup grain or starch of your choice (quinoa is great!  orzo, barley, cous cous, bulgar, white or brown rice are all also acceptable)
• Chopped vegetables per your liking (zucchini, carrot, etc. – I wouldn’t use potato or any starchy vegetable; the chick peas, lentils, and quinoa are more than enough)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Prepare chickpeas:
Soak chickpeas in water to cover by 2 inches 8 to 12 hours with 1 bullion cube, or quick soak (bring to a boil, turn off, let sit 1 hour)

Drain chickpeas and rinse well. Transfer to a large saucepan and add 8 cups water + 1 bullion cube. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Coarsely purée tomatoes in a food processor.

Cook onion and celery in butter in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add turmeric, pepper, chili and cinnamon and cook, stirring, 3 minutes. (I think I also threw in a few cumin seeds at this point.  Coriander seeds would be good too!)  feel free to modify how much spice you use based on your liking.  The most spices, the better flavour.

Stir in tomato purée, 1/3 cup cilantro, chickpeas and lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.

Stir in quinoa and optional vegetables and cook, stirring occasional, until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in parsley, remaining 1/3 cup cilantro, and salt to taste.

Enjoy with my cous cous salad -

• 1 cup dry cous cous, cooked with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup stock
• mixed veggies (zucchini, broccoli, onion, carrot, green & red pepper sauteed in olive oil & garlic or grilled; diced tomato & cucumber, chopped olives.  Be careful not to overcook your veggies, keep them crispy!)
• lemon juice
• chili flakes
• salt & pepper
• fresh mint, chopped
• fresh or dried parsley

Mix it all together… eat it hot or cold!  Great lunch to bring to work.

Alana invited me over for dinner last week, and casually mentioned “I did make some bread today…”.  Her secret – Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day!

I can’t afford to buy the book, but I found a recipe online.  It’s not the same as what Alana served me (yummy whole wheat & rye !) but turned out better than any bread I’ve ever tried baking before!

Artisan Bread (in Five Minutes)

So this recipe has been floating around for a long time, gracing the blogs and the tables of many a foodie. Personally, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, what is the point of making bread if you aren’t going to knead it, fuss over it, watch it rise, punch it around… Making homemade bread is about technique, timing, and experience. Naturally, it comes with some bragging rights. But this bread changes everything. Anyone who can use a wooden spoon can make it. It’s simplicity makes it such that absolutely everyone has the ability to make gorgeous loaves of crusty outered, tender innard-ed bread.

To make the dough, you mix everything in a bowl. That’s it. The initial rise takes two or more hours. But this rise doesn’t need to be babysat, as you let it grow until it collapses in on itself. Then you take the resulting gloriously yeasty, puffy pile of dough, stick it in a tub, pop it in the fridge, and saw off a hunk whenever you have a hankering for fresh, warm bread. Nothing to it.

The longer the bread stays in your fridge (up to about two weeks), the more flavourful it becomes and the larger the air holes will be. Others have said that it improves greatly by keeping it in the fridge for just 24 hours, and that the longer it is in there, the better it will be. I personally thought it was scrumptious the very first day, and with my patience deficiency, there was no way in heck it was going to last more than a few days.

The “five minutes a day” thing really only refers to the active time once the dough is prepared (i.e. cutting off a chunk, flouring it, and slashing it). It takes a bit more than five to mix up the initial batch – maybe five-and-a-half, six minutes? Then on the day you bake it, it needs to rest for at least 40 minutes once it is shaped. Plus about a half-hour in the oven. But no time will be spent grunting and fretting as you might do when making bread the traditional way…. which you may never do again, once you try making it this way!

Artisan Bread

Adapted from ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 3 cups water
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough (*you can replace about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of white flour with any whole grain flour with great results).
• Cornmeal

1. In a large bowl, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups warm water. Add flour, and stir to combine completely. Let dough rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it rises and collapses (up to 5 hours – or even overnight won’t hurt it). The dough may be baked at this point, or refrigerated for later use.

2. Cover dough, but make sure it is not airtight – gases need to escape – and place in fridge. When you are ready to use it, throw a small fistful of flour on the surface and use a serrated knife to cut off a piece of the size you desire. (The authors recommend a 1 pound loaf – which means cutting off grapefruit-sized piece of dough). Turning the dough in your hands, stretch the surface of the dough and tuck in under. The surface will be smooth, and the bottom with be bunched.

3. Dust a pizza peel (or any flat surface – I use a rimless cookie sheet) with cornmeal. (This prevents sticking, and adds a nice, rustic crunch. You can use flour instead, but you’ll need to use a very generous dusting). Allow dough to rest in a warm place for 40 minutes – longer (up to an hour and a half) if you use some whole wheat flour in place of the white, or if you make a larger loaf.

4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone (or overturned baking sheet) inside on the middle rack, plus a shallow pan on the top rack. Throw a small fistful of flour over the dough, slash it 2-4 times with a serrated knife (in a cross, a tic-tac-toe, or a fan), and slide it into the oven, onto the baking stone. Throw 1-2 cups of tap water into the shallow pan, and quickly shut the oven door to trap steam inside. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is well browned and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

(Stolen from http://www.foodess.com/2009/03/artisan-bread-in-five-minutes/)

I’m happy to post recipes and other cooking info in this holiday feeding-frenzy period.  If I happen to do anything noteworthy or exciting, I’ll also post about that.

She works hard for the money

I have now officially been the Branch Librarian at the Montreal Children’s Library Richmond Square Branch for 1 week!  And I love it!  It’s exhausting – the kids are a handful!  But so much fun!  They’re sassy and have personality. We’ve been painting, drawing, coloring, doing science experiments, and all sorts of other awesome activities.

I’ve also moved into my new place in St. Henri, and it’s great!

A piece of my computer just broke off, so I am going to try to get in touch with AppleCare now, since it should still be under warranty….

 

blogging on the bus

As I type this, I am sitting aboard a Coach Canada bus headed for Toronto, coming from Montreal.  I am traveling at approximately 100 kilometers and hour.  This bus is equipped with wi-fi.  Technology!!!

It seems very strange to me that I am able to access the internet without using any sort of telephone or dsl or ethernet cables involved at all.  I remember when I went to France, after being in West Africa for over a year, and suddenly there was wi-fi internet at the school I had gone to.  It blew my mind that you could access the internet without a cable!  However, that’s all become old news, and you still have to have the wireless router attached to a cable somewhere.  But here I am, posting to Word Press, totally wirelessly!  It’s amazing!

Anyway, I am heading back to Chicago for 2 reasons.  I got a job!  A job that requires me to re-enter Canada and apply for a work-permit at the “Point of Entry”.  Also, I don’t have any winter clothes in Montreal and want to get a few things from mom’s basement.

As of Monday, November 8th, I will be the new Branch Librarian at the Montreal Children’s Library Richmond Square Branch, located in Little Burgundy.  I’m so excited !!!

I also found a new place to live, sans cats, in St. Henri, a 15 minute walk from Richmond Square.  Everything seems to be working out in the best possible way for me right now.  The universe is finally aligning in my favour!!

I had a great Halloween, despite my boyfriend’s best attempts to sabotage the festivities.  In a last minute turn of events, I decided to be a dead lumberjack.

happy halloween!

More pictures from the weekend can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/baberahamlincln/Halloween2009

 

Happy Information Literacy Awareness Month!

I was just made aware of the fact that 3 days ago, President Obama declared October as “Information Literacy Awareness Month”.

I think its really exciting that information literacy is gaining such recognition, and such powerful advocates.  While doing research for the presentation I did in Nebraska, I came across the following site:

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Another exciting educational initiative with powerful advocates that also promotes information literacy, ans information literacy integration at the primary school level.  I believe that UNESCO also recently declared 2009 the “Year of Information Literacy” or something along those lines.  IL is blowing up man!  It’s the next big thing!  Good thing I got in on the ground floor, because now everybody’s going to be jumping on the IL bandwagon.  Hooray!  It’s a global information literacy party, and Barack Obama is a party animal!

On a personal note, another candidate was selected for the position in Nebraska.  This leaves me feeling a bit rejected, but it’s probably for the best.  I would have quit in February anyway!

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be staying in Montreal… if I can’t find a job here, I probably won’t stay much longer.  However, considering that unemployment in the states is now at a 20 year high, I probably won’t be able to find a job at home either.  Oh well, I can always start pan-handling.  Here’s my sign:

autumnal fun with the future dr. nicole

I have gotten my official acceptance letter into the PhD program at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand’s School of Information Management program.  They want me to start March 1st!

I’m still working out the funding and scholarship details, but for the time being, I don’t know how things will an out in the future.  If I am offered the job I interviewed for in Nebraska, if I get the scholarship, if my sweetie wants me to stay in Montreal… it’s all very complicated and confusing right now.  But, at least I have something to look forward to now, rather than feeling like an unemployed, useless sack of skin like I have for the past few months.

This weekend was full of autumnal fun, including apple picking, a hay ride, and a drive through the Eastern Townships with my old pal from Vientiane, Isabelle.

quinn farm on ile perrot

izzy and the apples we picked!

We attempted to re-create the Sticky Finger’s Tom Yam Martini, which I have to say, for my first try, based only on having drunk several liters of them in my day, I think my recreation was pretty spot-on!

moi at iza a granby

There’s an apple pie I must attend to now, but I’ll write more soon!