Joyful

The Stellenberg Girl's Choir, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is a high school choir of girls age 13 to 18.  They have found considerable success on the world stage and while they are a fantastic group of young singers, what I like most about them is the immense joy that fills their music- it's just infectious. This is a group of young women who undoubtedly, love to sing.

See what I mean?!

What we did last night

I forgot a "My view Wednesday" post this week... here's our view instead from last night.

For our date night tomorrow night we're going to get really wild and bring out the grout.

Comfort Food

T'is the season of soups, stews and things simmered in the crock pot. It was my turn to cook for our care group this week and I made a Cheese and Corn Chowder I've not made in many years... and it was delicious.

adapted from the More with Less Cookbook
serves 4-6

2 1/2 cups frozen corn
boiling water
1 teaspoon of sugar
6 slices of bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red or yellow pepper, diced
2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups of carrots, diced
1 cup of celery, diced
2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes OR diced raw potatoes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tablespoon of dried)
2 cups milk **
1 cup grated sharp cheddar or pepper jack cheese **

Place the frozen corn in a blender and pour in enough hot water so that the water level comes almost up to the corn. Pulse so that the corn breaks up but is not entirely pureed. Add sugar and set aside.

In a soup pot or dutch oven, brown bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside, leaving rendered bacon fat in the pot. Add onions and cook over medium high heat (in bacon fat) until translucent. Add garlic and peppers and stir for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, carrots, celery, potatoes, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add corn mixture and cook 5 minutes more. Stir in parsley, then add milk and cheese and cook at a lower heat for 5 minutes, making sure the milk does not boil. Add bacon and serve.

** To make this soup dairy free, I simply replace the milk and cheese with soy milk and soy cheese.

Build-A-Bathroom Weeks 9-10

With my wee blogger break last week, I didn't update week 9 of the bathroom renovation.  In truth, there wasn't much change during week 10 (we were having too much fun out and about with our house guests) but with some major changes yesterday, we now see that the end is in sight! Here's progress we've made since the last update.

Floor: The floor is completely finished, and baseboards are installed. It's warm (even without the in-floor heating on yet) and has the most wonderful texture underfoot. Best of all, it's not slippery at all when getting out of the shower. 

When Jeff removed the toilet to install the floor, he painted over the last bit of original green paint behind the tank

Shower: With a few tweaks to the shower valve (thanks to some great customer service from Kalia, the Canadian manufacturer of the shower fixture and faucet), Jeff fixed the hot water issue. It's now HOT! We've been using the shower for two weeks and it's wonderful- light, spacious and very functional. It's also fantastically easy to clean.

Shower curtain stolen from the downstairs bathroom... I've looked all over Nanaimo and Victoria and can't find one I like!

Accessories: We chose towel racks and the TP holder and Jeff hung them last weekend. In the overall scheme of things, this was pretty minor but made all the difference in making the bathroom feel so much more like a functional bathroom (and less like a building site). We went with a double towel rack and it's working great for us.

Counter & Sink: The counter and sink were installed yesterday afternoon. While those two items caused us the most stress and frustration, we are absolutely thrilled with how they've turned out. 

Sparkly bits of chipped glass embedded in the Environite counter

So what's left? Artwork. Door for the recessed cabinet. Tile back splash. Faucet. Mirror. Floor heating thermostat. Accessories. And a few things I've probably forgotten about. The list, however, is getting progressively shorter and the end is truly in sight. That feels fantastic. 

Sapphire Anniversary

As a pair, they've been in the spotlight for the entire 65 years of their marriage. Surviving that alone is a major accomplishment. These two, however, still seem completely at ease with each other and the duty-bound lives they have lived. I think that's pretty remarkable.

Happy 65th Anniversary today, Phil and Lilibet.

Advent wreath

My plan for Christmas this year is to keep things simple and focus more on the holiday than all the preparations that accompany it. I've been thinking about making a simple advent wreath and think that this interpretation from EAB Designs is just lovely.

Images courtesy of EAB Designs

Happy Claps

Sixteen years ago, I met my great friend Pam while singing in a choir in Waterloo.  Since then, we've heard a lot of choirs (some of the best were in England during a trip we took to celebrate our 30th birthdays) and enjoyed much music together. In honor of her visit and our musical friendship, I asked her to choose the music for today. She's chosen Gabrielli's Omnes Gentes, which starts with the text "All nations, clap your hands, shout unto God with the voice of joy. "  Having her here has certainly made me clap my hands and sing for joy so the text seems especially fitting. 

Here is the Cambridge University Musical Society Bach Choir under the direction of Sir David Wilcox, with full translation below. 

"All nations, clap your hands, shout unto God with the voice of joy.

For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth.

Subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

He shall choose out an heritage for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved.

God is gone up with a merry and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.

Hallelujah! "

Stepping away

One of my best friends is visiting for a week so I've decided to take a blogging break while she's here. Our plan is to get out of the house as much as possible and show her this island. So far the plan is working (weather is cooperating) and we are having an amazing time.

I'll be back on Sunday with music. Until then, have a great week.