The lost meme

Way back in September, a fun meme went around, and I planned to participate. Upon request, Vicki assigned me the letter M. I actually did try to do it right away, but never finished... I found the rough notes today, and figured I might as well at least post what I had so far. I think there are supposed to be ten things, but whatever.

So, here are some of my favourite things, brought to you by the letter M.

Morning lattés. Ours are particularly special, and we pretty much can't live without them. Old school stovetop espresso maker, freshly ground fair trade beans (these days a half-and-half mix of regular and decaf), whole milk heated on the stove and frothed to a thick creamy foam using an old bodum coffeemaker. A spoonful of honey for sweetness, and a touch of whipping cream when we're feeling decadent (most days). It is a hallowed ritual; we can do nothing in a day before making the coffee, even if we are getting up for a morning run or heading out for a day of frisbee, our morning lattés come first. When we are out of town for a tournament, our morning coffee-making supplies come with us. Every single morning we sing the chorus in unison: "Ssssslurrrrrp... Aaaaahhhh."

Moms. Our "unconventional but not dysfunctional" family is blessed with so many of them! We have birth moms, stepmoms, mothers-in-law, and ex-mothers-in-law, grandmoms, and chances are we've all been in the same room together at some point! I've spent the past few years learning to be a mom, and am now facing the prospect of learning a new way of being one... And I have so many role models in my Circle of Moms to learn from.

McPie. My partner in crime, of course. The perfect partner in general, really (for me specifically, I but can only assume that everyone else in the world is jealous of my luck. ;-) Just this morning, Sweetie McPie recalled our first "date" (it was unofficially one at the time) and said that he knew right then that this "had to happen". He wondered what the reason was that it had to happen. I pointed out the obvious: "Ken, it happened because it was the one way we would get to be ridiculously happy for the rest of our lives. Duh." I didn't actually say duh, though. Because I really really like him a lot.

Munro, Alice. If I had to pick a favourite author, she'd be the one. Some think she's boring, but as a stylist, she's tops. Her writing takes me to a thoughtful, peaceful place; I never tire of reading her words, which I often find compelled to read aloud because they way she puts them together is often so simply striking (or, striking in their wonderful simplicity). I've casually started collecting first editions of her books - a little hobby my mom started for me.

Melted chocolate. When you make brownies the traditional way (i.e.: not from a mix), you have to melt a lot of pure chocolate in a pot, then mix in the eggs, sugar, flour, etc. I have a double boiler that I use for this, and there is a ridge on the inside of the pot that captures an inordinate amount of the melted chocolate that is meant for the brownies. The tip of my finger is the perfect tool for cleaning out the melted chocolate caught in this trap... Only after the brownies are in the oven!

Mowing the lawn. I'm not even kidding. Working part-time through this summer allowed me to be the official lawn-mower of the family, and I did it regularly all summer. (Last year, I think we managed to mow the lawn twice, and the retired neighbour pitched in once when the "Serenghetto" got so wild it became a neightbourhood embarrassement. Which is saying a lot, in our Hull hood.) I loved having an excuse to combine housework, getting out in the sun, and being active. It was so satisfying to make our yard look and feel tidy and inviting. Every time I got out to do it, I was strongly reminded at how lucky I was to have the time off to relax, help out, be outside instead in, and have the quiet (well, "quiet") time to myself.

Mackerel. Our family's fish of choice for the past while. (Other than homemade tuna burgers, it's the only fish we eat at home.) We've found fresh-frozen fillets from the Iles-de-la-Madeleine in our Loblaws, and they are delish. According to Bottomfeeder (which is where we got the idea to look for mackerel), it's an ethically sound fish to eat because it's plentiful, middle of the food chain (ie: not likely to be overfished or carry contaminants), rarely farmed, etc. Also, as a "fatty" fish, it's healthy as all heck, chock full of those omega-oils that make your brain grow and your hair shine. And the fillets take about 5 minutes to cook under the broiler, and melt in your mouth with some orange butter, or just a squeeze of lemon. (And of course, you can't beat pan-fried!)

Masonry. M is a hard letter, ok?! But seriously, old stone architecture and related accoutrements (see Old Quebec City, classic European cities, etc) are eye candy. I can sit in an Italian piazza, or walk the cobbled streets of an ancient city with stone walls rising on either side of me and feel embraced rather than overshadowed. Just putting my hands on the solid stone with some history in it make me imagine that I can absorb the stories the walls might tell.

Two of my favourite things:


(I actually have a picture of McPie on a our stone terrace in Italy cradling a morning latté -- a trifecta of faves -- but he was shirtless in the photo, and sexy as he is, he wouldn't have wanted it posted.)