1st day of Summer

sprinkler fest, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I can't imagine it getting so hot in Victoria that I would need to run through the sprinklers - but it apparently happened.
Happy summer everyone.

Olympics - Hockey!

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Oh man! this was exciting - a round robin match between underdogs Latvia and the Czechs. Somehow we got amazing seats .. just to the side of the goal in the 6th row. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing an it was so cool to see the crowd erupt when Latvia finally scored.

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Though Latvia lost the game there was lots to celebrate.. That day they had won their first Olympic Medal ever! and later in the games they would come back to defeat the Czechs. Below is a little slide show of some of the pictures I took that day.

Practice Lines

Vancouver Olympics - Curling practice lines
Originally uploaded by girl from finito

One of my favorite things that I didn't expect.. before the games start they run practice lines!
The men tended to do them more than the women -
very cool.

this video unfortunately is pretty shoddy - I shot it with my phone.

Olympics - curling

Curling - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So I've finally gotten around to uploading my pictures from the Olympics. There will be more in the coming week now that things with the freelance work is becoming more relaxed.
This is one of my favorite shots that I've come across (so far I've only looked at a third of the photos I took).
This was the first day of curling we saw (round robin #4 for the men). The Canada v. Sweden game ended before the others that's why there is a page empty.

spruce tip jelly

yes, you read the title correctly .... spruce tip




it is spruce tip collecting time in the Yukon ... or really the end of it. For a couple weeks in May you can go collect the new 'buds' just before the brown papery covering has fallen off .... before they get too mature. You can eat them right off the tree - they taste almost lemony. So Christine and I inspired by our new Miche Genest cookbooks went out into the woods to gather them up. Many bug bites later we emerged with a bag each!

The jelly is quite delicate tasting - I can see why many people say they use it like honey - a teaspoon in their tea. Apparently spruce tips are very rich in Vitamin C (and are brewed into a tea for sore throats/colds).

Recipe:

Pick roundabout four cups of spruce tips. Rinse in cold water and give a light chopping. Cover the tips with water and simmer for 10 minutes. Let stand overnight, strain with jelly bag or cheesecloth.

3 1/2 cups spruce tip juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 package (dry) fruit pectin
5 cups sugar

Mix juice with lemon juice and pectin, stir until dissolved. Bring to a boil - add sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. Ladle into jars.

More about spruce tips here and thank you to Miche - do check out her great cookbook: The Boreal Gourmet (review here)

Jónsi

Tomorrow night, as an early birthday present Jodi is taking me to see Jónsi (the side project of the lead singer of Sigur Ros)
From what I've heard so far I think It'll be fantastic!

raspberry lemon jam

raspberry-lemon jam (with kiwi and grapefruit marmalade behind)

last night i made this jam - i had frozen raspberries and a bunch of lemons in the house - it is pretty tasty! i love raspberry jam - it has always been a favourite and I have to say the addition of lemon is a great sweet/tart combo.

Raspberry Lemon Jam

• 4 medium lemons
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (to adjust acidity)
  
• one package (600 grams) frozen raspberries
  
• 6 cups sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) pouch liquid fruit pectin

1. Slice the lemons in half (along equator) and remove any seeds . Place in a deep pot and bring to boil, simmer, covered, for about 30 min. or until rind is soft. * I thinly sliced half of the lemons into rounds (these didn't go into the food processor) I don't think I'd bother again - the rounds are pretty but kind of a pain to spread on toast

2. Toss the boiled lemons in the food processor until its a nice even pulp

3. Meanwhile defrost raspberries

4. Place lemon pulp and defrosted raspberries into pot - i use my le creuset (dutch oven), bring to a boil, slowly add sugar, stir over heat, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil uncovered for 2 minutes. Quickly stir in pectin; return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off any foam.

5. Pour into hot sterilized jars; leaving 1/4-in. headspace, seal.

Yields: about 8 cups