Picked up my bike last night – freshly tuned up for the season.  New brake pads were added and I replaced my old grapefruit-shaped helmet for something a bit sleeker.  I’m sad to say, the model name of the helmet is “Diva”.  That’s right.  Diva.  Don’t worry, I won’t let it “go to my head”.. har har.  Sorry.

When I picked up this little ivory cake stand a couple of weeks ago at the Glebe Emporium, I had no idea there was an entire range of pastel cupcake propping-up plates until I was reading Weddingbee the other day. Swoon. I still love mine, but a pink pie plate? Hot.

The SPAO is offering a Holga workshop in late July here in Ottawa. I *heart* my Holga – everytime you see an image appear on the film negative, it feels like magic. How could something made of plastic and wrapped up with tape to keep out light leaks actually produce “nice” photos??

I ended up modding my Holga a bit. I used to shoot mostly black and white film, so with a simple lens adapter, I could use my red filter. Once Spring actually arrives in Ottawa, I think I’ll get back in action.

The Holga is so light, it’s perfect for travel. As seen above – I have taken mine to Banff and to Toronto.

This course sounds like a great way to learn about the Holga and darkroom techniques.

Clearly, I haven’t been reading enough food blogs. I just found out this week that Heidi Swanson’s new cookbook, Super Natural Foods is out at the end of March. Yummy food + photography + blog = yes! I’ve already pre-ordered it from Chapters.

Another good food blog that I just found is Whipped! Great photos and a recent post about guacamole = awesome.

Oh, but what about the shopping? Well. That as usual, has been done online. I have a hard time resisting buying books. (Always have.) So, in addition to the Super Natural book, I decided to pick up Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing book. Why? Because I saw a picture of a cute cat on one of the pages. And the whole style of photography in the book made me a little weak in the knees.

Hey, maybe I’ll sew something too. I tried to sew a Christmas stocking one year – the result made me cry. It was so bad. I don’t have the sewing gene.

After a bit of nudging from Robyn, I got my act together and went on a crafting spree.  (You’ve probably noticed a lot more crafty posts in the last couple of weeks!)  The reason?  I’ve applied to sell my work at the upcoming Ladyfest craft sale on May 12.  *fingers crossed*

• Love and Olive Oil (food blog by pet collar designer, Lindsay and her boyfriend, Taylor)
• Frosk’s photography (link from Marta of m.writes)
• Sock kitty (complete with hat and scarf!)
• Delicous Days presents Foodblogging Do’s and Don’ts

… and last but not least

• She who eats – I don’t know much other than she eats, travels and takes amazing photos.

This is the *bestest* new salad recipe. Yes. Bestest. I had it at OZ Cafe last week and I was determined to recreate it at home so that I could eat it every.single.day.

Just toss some mesculin mix with an avocado, cucumber and a handful of wasabi peas and dress with the following ginger-soy vinaigrette.  As a final touch, shred a sheet or two or nori for the top.  It makes me love salad. In.the.winter.

Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette:

The newest accordion book features a drawing of lupins that I did for our “save-the-date” cards.  The paper on the cover is a tamarind mulberry-based paper and the back cover is Yuzen Strawberry Plum Blossoms on Chocolate. Wrapped with a chartreuse ribbon. Chartreuse!

I’m really happy with how this project turned out. I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be working with linen bookcloth, but once I figured out how not to get glue on my fingers, the whole process went a lot smoother.

The cover illustration was inspired by my cat, Orville. Front cover is ivory linen bookcloth and printed at home. Back plate is a deep eggplant linen bookcloth. Lovingly bound with grape satin ribbon.

I’ve got a few more photos over on my Flickr page too.

Donna Hay has by far the best food stylists – the woman could make eating dirt look like an organic feast. Her latest* issue (* latest issue in Ottawa stores is the Winter “warm and cozy” issue – even though the rest of the world seems to be two issues ahead – I know import magazines… what can you do?) had a basic recipe for gnochi. I love gnochi. Having made fresh pasta all of once, I was worried it was going to turn into a big batch of not-chi.

We mixed the ingredients: flour, eggs, ricotta and parmesan together. It was gooey. We added more flour until it seemed “pasta-y”. After rolling the dough into long strands and cutting them into little pillows, a quick boil was all they needed to cook.

I made my special pesto. Ok, it was this one. However, I added more parmesan and toasted pine nuts. Like, a lot more. I love pine nuts.

End result: awesome!

Basic Gnochi Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• salt and pepper
• 500g ricotta