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My guilty pleasure lately is a toasted tomato-and-cheese sandwich with a generous sprinkling of salt. I'm ordinarily very careful about my salt intake. With white bread, a cheese slice, and added salt, this is an indulgence for me.

Since this is a treat, something fancier than table salt or even coarse sea salt is in order. I use Pink Himalayan salt simply because I love pink.

I also love pink midcentury dishes. This plate is from Grindley's Peach Petal line.

#TreatYourself #SaltyTomatoSandwich #ThinkPink #PinkHimalayanSalt #GrindleyPeachPetalWare

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I really like this with cereal. I also made another batch of muffins and this time I used Silk Vanilla Oat instead of milk. The extra boost of vanilla flavour works really well with the tartness of the cranberry and lemon. I don't think it would suit every recipe, but it's definitely worthwhile experimenting with.

Their site has a recipes section. Here's the link to the subsection on desserts:

I see a few recipes I'd be interested in trying out.

#MilkSubstitutes #OatMilk #Vanilla #Baking

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Cranberry-Lemon Muffins. I've been trying out different recipes for these and coming up short. This time, I worked from Jean Paré's recipe for Cranberry Muffins in Muffins & More, which is one of my favourite baking books of all time. The recipes are simple but they tend to work, the ingredients are usually inexpensive, and the results almost always taste good.

Per one of the suggested modifications, I used whole cranberries. Per my ongoing obsession with citrus, I added about two tablespoons each of lemon juice and lemon zest. I skipped the topping to cut down on fat and sugar. These are still not perfect but I'm getting closer to what I have in mind.

#Baking #Books #ExperimentingWithRecipes #CranberryLemonMuffins #Zest

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"The term [the 'New World'] has been criticized by literary historians for being historically and geographically inaccurate, but it is still widely used in academia. [...] Scientifically, it makes no sense to apply this term to describe a vast area with such variable climate, geomorphology and geological history. It is time to reconsider using it. Not only to improve accuracy in science but to respect and acknowledge the history of the colonized or exterminated cultures. Since I realized this term’s origin, I have avoided its use and suggested that other people do the same." Fernanda Adame

 Another really interesting article. This one explains how using the term "the New World" ignores, glosses over, or even erases pre-contact histories and peoples (hi there, social diversity), but also scientific facts (e.g., diversity of climate, geomorphology, and geological history). Adame's calling for more accuracy in the way we talk about places and our relationships to them and with each other. Recommended.

#OnlyOneWorld #ManyVoices #LanguageMatters #ListeningMatters #Indigenous

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Just because everybody could use a little luck sometimes.

#FourLeafClover #Jade #Brooches #WoolySweaters #ScottieDogs #Luck

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I go through phases where I think I couldn't care less if I never see, smell, or eat banana bread or muffins again. But I've been making this stuff since I was a teenager, and I'll probably be making it when I'm old. Er? -er? Fine, oldER than I am now, heh. Anyway, I have a hankering for both lately, so here they are.

#Baking #BananaBread #BananaChocolateChipMuffins #BasicButDelicious

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MICHELLE YEOH wins BEST ACTRESS for EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE | 2023 Oscars

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Aw, I'll miss seeing the bear hidden in the Matterhorn.

The news about Toblerone changing its logo reminded me of two books I read a while back, which I recommend if you're interested in cultural imperialism and the history of food, cocoa/ cacao, and some of the world's most famous chocolate companies.

Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet, Carol Off (2006)

Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers, Deborah Cadbury (2010)

#Books #Reading #FoodHistory #Chocolate #Toblerone

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I'm looking forward to the Oscars. I seriously loved Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, which was surprising. I didn't particularly care for the original Top Gun, though of course I've seen it a million times anyhow. I am, however, a huge fan of Luhrmann's work -- but not of Elvis. I had no idea there was a carnival connection, though. That makes for classic Luhrmann magic, and Tom Hanks' Snowman drew me right in to it. I'd love to see Baz Luhrmann FINALLY win Best Picture. He so deserves it. At the same time, Top Gun: Maverick is such a simple, feel-good, gem of a movie -- and there was absolutely nothing simple about making a sequel to an iconic film thirty years later, during Covid. So I'm thinking, maybe, I'd like Austin Butler to win for Best Actor, and Top Gun: Maverick for Best Picture.

Oh, and also? Jennifer Connelly is still as fantastic an actor and beautiful a human as she's always been. I'm in my forties and that made me feel good, the way I imagine the beach scene makes more athletic folks feel good, ha!

#Oscars2023 #Elvis #Luhrmann #TopGunMaverick #CruiseAndConnelly

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I bought some Peace River Bourbon Hot Honey to try out. After tasting it, I thought it might be good in cranberry sauce, and guess what? It is!

I also used wild blueberries because I still have lots left from my picking adventures last summer.

Cranberry-Blueberry Sauce with Orange & Bourbon Hot Honey

1 cup of cranberries

1 cup of blueberries

1 orange, fruit and zest

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of Bourbon Hot Honey

1/3 cup of water

Put everything in a pot and cook on high until it starts to gel. I gave this about ten minutes.

I prefer to let the fruit have some time to break down a bit before adding any sweeteners, so I added the sugar about halfway through my cooking time, and the honey near the end.

I jarred this up but didn't process it, so it has to go straight into the fridge once it cools.

#JamsJelliesAndPreserves #WildHarvesting #FreezerForaging #WildBlueberries #Cranberries #CranberrySauce #Oranges #Zesty #Spicy #BourbonHotHoney

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"No isolated bolts of human inspiration caused a wholesale shift in how humans live and eat; instead, one of civilization’s most important turns would be better understood as the natural outcome, more or less, of biology and botany, a marvel that could (and did) occur almost everywhere that people lived. The global food system that we have now is based on just a tiny fraction of all the plants on Earth. But other paths were always open."

Sarah Laskow, "America's Lost Crops Rewrite The History of Farming" (published in The Atlantic)

I thoroughly enjoyed this article. It effectively challenges the factualness of the history of plant domestication we've all been taught. As somebody who grew up in the Canadian Prairies, I found the idea of bison leading ancient peoples to potential crops especially interesting and compelling.

#FoodHistory #NorthAmericanFoodways #Indigenous #Bison

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I was going to make muffins for breakfasts but then I decided I'd prefer something to go with dinners. This Cranberry-Orange Cornbread should do the trick. I used a combination of orange extract and zest.

#Baking #CranberryOrangeCornbread #OrangeYouGladYouSavedAllThatZest #CornyJokes

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I wanted to try out this recipe from Williams-Sonoma. Ordinarily, I make brownies from scratch to avoid weird ingredients, but sometimes I'll cheat and use a mix. Today was one of those times. I used a box of Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownies mix, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 4 generous tablespoons of Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter, and 8 pretzels lovingly hand harvested from a bag of party mix at the back of the cupboard. Result: yum!

#Baking #Brownies #PeanutButter&PretzelBrownies #WilliamsSonomaCheat #ScavengedSnacks

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This is Moon Mist ice cream. I'd never had it before so I thought I should give it a try.

It's kind of a lot, a circus of flavours. Purple is fake grape, yellow is fake banana, and blue is bubblegum. I'm pretty sure bubblegum flavour is fake by definition. Anyway, the important question here is why it's blue and not pink, because it reminded me very forcefully of Dubble Bubble.

I have a real soft spot for fake banana, so I enjoyed those bites. For topping, I used Carnaby Sweet Cotton Candy Syrup. I also have a real soft spot for just about anything cotton-candy-flavoured, -scented, or -themed, so that's how that particular purchase happened. I swear I am a grownup.

For me, the ice cream is a pass. As for the syrup, I really like it. I think I might try to use it on cupcakes and squares.

#IceCream #MoonMist #FakeFlavours #FunFlavours #CottonCandy #Circus

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I've been flipping through one of my books on edible wild fruits, berries, fungi, weeds, etc., etc. This one's called A Taste of the Wild by Blanche Pownall Garrett (James Lorimer & Company: Toronto, 1975). There's so much in here that I want to try: White Clover Cream, Violet & Avocado Salad, and Rosehip Butter are just a few.

#WildHarvesting #Foraging #Cookbooks #Canadiana #1970s #Cottagecore #Reading

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This was my SOTD. For me, this is the scent equivalent of being curled up on a couch in an independent coffee shop with a mug of something caffeinated, a fancy cookie, and a book. Leaves Falling Like Rain is one of Arcana's most popular perfume oils and it's easy to understand why.

#SOTD #ScentOfTheDay #ArcanaWildcraft #Cappuccino #Cookies #SmellyStuff #GourmandScents

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— Worm Moon, Mary Oliver 

[ text ID: In March the earth remembers its own name. ]