Refresh by Ruth Tal

Ruth Tal, living advertisement for healthy eating

Refresh (by Ruth Tal and Jennifer Houston) is a vegan cookbook that doesn't suck. (Link to purchase).
This is a book to gift to people one cares about, along with a juicer and a lifetime pre-paid gift card for all the organic food ever [I WISH].

This isn't exactly a proper review...more of a nutshell review.

Refresh makes for an introduction to delicious and healthful dining.
The recipes come straight from Toronto's popular FRESH restaurant, and give you a wide variety of dishes, from energizing espresso drinks, to veggie burgers that don't suck.

Obviously, results might be too tangy or mild, depending on how addled one's tastebuds may be from boiling hot coffee over the years.
Therefore, we turn to...discretion or the spice rack! Duh. Deutsche mark. For example, her Thai peanut sauce for her Buddha Rice Bowl, was too overpowering for us, as written. So je toned down the lime juice next time.
(I theenk zat in general, these recipes err on the side of tangy zestfulness, so balancing out the smaller quantities, with 'earthy' herbs/spices works for me).

Her recipes for juices and smoothies are wonderful--there is something for every need and taste. You know... energy, illness/general weakness, lollipop-cravers, PMS.
[That she manages to make wheatgrass not-so-nayyystay is something I have to take her word for, as I just haven't made the effort to find frozen wheatgrass. Once someone gifted it to me, and that was enough to turn me off POUR LA VIE.]

I've accumulated about 4 weeks worth of meals, from this cookbook, and they've registered as big hits in my household. Not just with yours turly, but EVEN avec...ze Others (z'uzzers).
 That it passed the Picky Eater test, 2 people with opposing taste (baby who LIVES for fruit and veggies, his dad doesn't), is testament that it's not all in my head, this really is a superb resource.

Occasionally I did change her recipes around once I got the hang of them.

Modifications were necessary to:

1. Up the calorie ante (for baby's benefit).
2. Bulk it up for the habitually carnivorous man. (avocado/meat/mushroom-it up)
3. Stretch em out for several meals.

I really recommend this as a tantalizing peek into the healthful way of life. After this, our family became addicted and so I sought out a couple of other health-conscious curkburks, reviews of which may or may not be coming up.

A Rather Clumsy Review of Sorts

Jotting this quick book recommendation before attending to baby...A Choice of Christina Rosetti's Verse. 

I found a slim copy of Christina Rossetti's poetry, in a dusty used-books shop. Passively opened to a random page, skimmed..stopped. Time froze. Her poetry is just glorious. 

Simple, firstly--exactly to my taste. Elegant, skilful, unpretentious verses.

That was last year, I think, and every time I come back to it, it reads fresh as ever.

It holds so much poignancy with powerful, simple 'strokes,' it's kind of magical. Your brain fills in the gaps, but you aren't forced to navel-gaze, it's an easy jaunt. The mood is often sombre, but that gliding, graceful writing makes it more than bearable, actually quite soothing. When I am feeling desperately down about things, her poems manage to take the edge off.

Teenagers would really enjoy her pieces, I think. I know Emily Dickinson alienated a lot of kids in my class back in the day. Rossetti is what dear E.D. is only hyped to be, and mainly by high school teachers... I'm sure it's littered with cliches, at least in theme. But...so what? Love is cliche, blueberry picking, and kissing my baby's fragrant fuzzy head is too. 

Do people actually enjoy reading biographies of writers? It spoils the work for me, at least for a moment. 

I don't want to delve into their affairs, beliefs, denture bills... It's irrelevant to me. Just want to take the piece and devour it--"you cannot think what figs/my teeth have met in"! Haha! Anyway, for the purposes of this post, I did do a bit of research into her life story, but quickly left it off. 

I really, really don't care. The work speaks for itself and leaves you satisfied. 

(I guess the only poet whose biography I have enjoyed far more than her work, was that Edna St. Vincent Millay. Savage Beauty, I think?)

The sweetest thing...

The sweetest thing my husband has ever done for me (and the list of lovely, thoughtful things he does is absurdly extensive), was read Anne of the Island, a childhood favourite, to me when I was in my last, most painful weeks of pregnancy.

He'd be annoyed to know. He goes to greater lengths than this to keep my rather difficult self happy--so why is this simple deed tops?

Because nothing--and i mean NOTHING--has made me laugh so much!

When you are in real physical pain, seeing a thoroughly macho type, longtime X Men & Mixed martial arts fan, hunched over with a quizzical expression, puzzling through Anne and her petty problems...it's priceless. And the funny mockery along the way. Because of course he couldn't restrain himself.

' "I've a blue silk to make up yet, but it's a little heavy for summer
wear. I think I'll leave it until the fall. I'm going to teach in White
Sands, you know. How do you like my hat? That one you had on in church
yesterday was real dinky." '

"Oh the idyllic whimpers of these limpid shores.
 How quaintly doth they speak to the seraph within my soul."

Seriously. Any of you with masculine types around, be it a robust outdoorsy uncle with grotty hands from mountain-biking all day...here's a top tip. To be used whenever you are "feeling blue--just a pale, pensive azure."

Find the most florid-prosed, romantically and impractically-minded writer...and MAKE HIM READ THEIR STUFF. Just a chapter.

Here is an excerpt at random, from the gag-inducing "Rose In Bloom" by that dastardly Louisa May Alcott (SHE DISSED DICKENS...) It would do nicely. :

"I know my chestnut burr too well to mind his prickles. But others do
not, so I will take him in hand and make him a credit to his family,"
answered Rose readily.

"Take Archie for your model he's one of a thousand, and the girl who
gets him gets a prize, I do assure you," added Uncle Mac, who found
matchmaking to his taste and thought that closing remark a deep one.

"Oh, me, how tired I am!" cried Rose, dropping into a chair as the last
carriage rolled away somewhere between one and two.

"What is your opinion now, Miss Campbell?" asked the doctor, addressing
her for the first time by the name which had been uttered so often that
night.

"My opinion is that Miss Campbell is likely to have a gay life if she
goes on as she has begun, and that she finds it very delightful so far,"
answered the girl, with lips still smiling from their first taste of
what the world calls pleasure.

Hm. Anne would still be better, honestly.

With her "eyries" "slender iris figure" and "forlorn goblin nooks festooned with the lingering echoes of faraway dreams." I strung that last set of words together at random, but I'm sure it exists somewhere in the book.

*Note: J'adore LM Montgomery and hold nothing against her, save that she caused an intense, unfulfilled craving for puffed sleeves all throughout my 90's childhood*

Ze Inaugural Post

So this blog is starting off on a good note, as my little one is cooing gurgling and laughing in the background. Is there a sweeter sound than waking up to a content, happy, little baby's coos and laughs? Perhaps only to be surpassed by rising in one's marble palace, to a medley of soft flutes/harps as the dawn rays shine on your face, whilst being fanned by peacock feathers by servants dressed in russet gold (to match the sunrise).

  It's only 5 AM but the baby is boss! And he chooses to adhere to the adage "early to bed, early to rise." Babies, number one cause for rise in concealer sales.

There are a couple of floral paintings hanging on the wall in front of me. These he can spend a wonderfully long time (from a mother's perspective) "chatting" to with enthusiasm.

Oh by the way, the blog name refers to both my favourite dessert (pateesa) and one of the nicknames that Littlest has gained. Because he's sweet as a pateesa!

For those who haven't tried (speaking to tumbleweed and crickets here), pateesa is a fantastic South asian version of cotton candy. (There's another one called "BURYA KE BAAL" aka "old ladies' hair, but I don't like that. You won't either, Tumbleweed. It's white and nasty looking, sharpishly-sweet, lacks the powdery softness of pateesa).

 Very sweet, light as air, very naughty to finish a whole box of in one go (as i have...often).

Shall I upload a pic? Here it is.

Now then. Is that a good way to end a post?

Blogs are a fab way to share ideas & recommendations, and hook up with like-minded fellows n fellowesses, so lemme throw in a couple of book recommendations. Used to be a voracious reader, but now not so much (Perfection Personified takes up so much of my time!)

-Stephen Leacock's books (pick any). CLASSY CANADIAN COMEDY
-Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in A Boat

They are both light-hearted reads I have loved and come back to yr after yr, whenever I'm in the need of a giggle. Have often woken up irate fellow passengers on flights, laughing like a rabid hyena, at every other passage these contain.

You may like. Available for free on iBooks, too!