Dreaming

The existing kitchen at the new house.

Getting our current house ready to sell is a seemingly endless task. As soon as we tidy/freshen one thing, we notice something else that isn't quite tip-top condition. It's easy to feel discouraged, so I've started fantasizing about our new house.

1, 2, 3 GO!

It's real.

When we put in the offer of our new house in Almonte, we planned to have a period where we would own both houses, so we could do a door-to-door move – live in our current house while we make renovations at the new house. In fact, we didn't even want to list our house for sale until we could move into the Almonte house. It was a simple question of "bridge financing" to tie us over until the current house sells.

Next Stop: Almonte

The back of the house, viewed from the park.

In fall 2016, on our way back from a road-trip, Stephen and I decided to start looking for a rural property. We wanted waterfront. We wanted to build our own compact, energy-efficient home. And we wanted to be mortgage-free.

Winkie's Way: There's no Time Like the Present

If you've followed this blog for a while, then you have heard of my beloved Aunt Winkie.

Over the past few weeks, I've reflected on the many things I've learned from Winkie, not by any direct instruction, but simply by example and observation. I've decided to start sharing them with you.

There's no time like the present.

Winkie welcomes help in her tiny kitchen, but I keep my support to the sous-chef role: slicing, dicing, fetching, stirring. Once, as I grabbed utensils to set the table, she noticed that there were crumbs in the cutlery tray. (We all have those, right? It just never ends.) I grabbed what I needed and was ready to close the drawer when she stopped me.

Rødkål: a Festive Side Dish

At a Christmas gathering some years ago, a friend whose birthday happens to be on Christmas Eve shared this bright, sweet-and-sour casserole. She tells me it's a "very traditional Danish dish, served with pork roast or duck or goose [or turkey, in our case], and not only at Christmas, but definitely part of Christmas dinner." (Rødkål translates as "red cabbage" and leads me to believe that this is really the only way to serve red cabbage in Denmark.)

She was kind enough to share her personal recipe. I've adapted it to work in a crockpot, which meant cutting the quantities in half. It makes fantastic leftovers or a pretty pot-luck contribution.

Recipe below.