exhale

yesterday was absolutely, utterly lovely in all aspects. i woke up early, biked my way in the warming sun to school, dropped off my last paper of my first year of school and closed the book on that particular chapter. i worked a shift, biked to the mennonites, and for the rest of the afternoon, leisurely made dinner and reorganized the bathroom. i did yoga at twilight in the roomie's room, easing all the knots and tension out of my body and mind (flaky, but that's totally how i felt). the rest of the evening, i lay on the couch, languorously and methodically reading through my stack of food magazines that i hadn't had a chance to get to, beneath an open window, as the dusky street sounds of cars driving and scattered pops of strangers' conversations filtered through the window, and the smell of the outside came in and freshened up the house. even though i accomplished a lot, i felt like i was on vacation. at one point i turned to the roomie and said, "i feel like i'm in another country or something"...even though i was lying on the same familiar (and excruciatingly comfortable) "big brown" couch, the quiet in me and around me felt like vacation-me. i love falling asleep with the window open, and the sweet night air filling the room, and i love waking up to the tentative, hazy light of summer.

i love how my neighbourhood comes alive in the summer! nothing beats the first warm day, when everyone and everything unfurls to meet the sun. our neighbours were out on their stoops, me and the roomie went for an evening stroll and saw kids everywhere, chalk drawings on the sidewalks, people out and chatting, a multitude of cats patrolling. the first warm day makes winter worth it. that's why i love living in a place where you get to experience all four seasons.

my pizza last night turned out fantastic! pizza is all about the crust...(italian style pizza anyway). i used the crust recipe from my gourmet cookbook, it's based on the recipe used by a famous pizza place called "pizza bianco" in phoenix, of all places. every chef i've read about heralds the place, suzanne goin, the owner of lucques and a.o.c. in l.a. even had her wedding there. the crust was thin, slightly sweet, and crisp. having a pizza stone helps...best investment EVER! and i also have a pizza peel.

today is going to be equally nice. me and the roomie are doing morning yoga at the yoga sanctuary. then i have to work, then montreal-friend is coming in. and my brother is spending the night too! i love that these past 2-3 years i've been hanging out with my brother a lot more. we appreciate each other as people so much more now, and i feel like we're there for each other and a lot closer than we used to be. i think the plan is to go out dancing...probably supermarket...so we can dance to top-40 in a non-dress code, non-$20 cover environment.

i'm blissfully happy and full of love. not a bad place to be...all things considered. although i feel jinxy and fate-tempting just typing those words. it's been such a grown-up year, full of adult, worrying concerns.

tonight for dinner we're having whole wheat penne with a pork-veal-beef ragu. i did the ragu the real deal way...sweating out finely chopped celery, carrots, onions and garlic. browning the meat, deglazing with wine, and then adding milk, and letting it all reduce til the pan was dry. then i added crushed san marzano tomatoes and let the whole thing simmer away. we're having this with roasted-garlic garlic bread, and a big olive garden salad. we haven't had dessert all week (i was doing my own health rejuvenation thing), so dessert is going to be funnel cakes with ice cream and powdered sugar. i'm limiting the house to two desserts a week...probably on weekends.

fin.