Chickpea flour pasta

Chickpea flour pasta, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I love fresh pasta.. but man is flour, water, oil and egg expensive. Sunday I decided to take matters into my own hands and made pasta for the first time. I made this vegan friendly pasta with chickpea flour which binds a lot like egg. The conclusion: pretty amazing .. other than the kneading.. my arms were sore the next day. The first batch i made to wet and had a soggy dinner but the second batch turned out well. It's been dried and frozen for later nom-ing.
advice to future me: get a pasta crank-thing and omit the rolling out by hand part

a nice little day

distillery district, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I was thinking about where I could take my parents when they come to visit me.. a place that was out of the way and reflected the Toronto that I have grown to like (not love.. but like). In this spirit I visited the distillery district with my pals Naseem and Kean. It's a nice place but... well considering the tours are given on segways it was a little pretentious. As Kean described it - it was like Granville Island (except without the great market and the crowds of people bustling around). I think it has the potential to be awesome - but there is a lack of shade on hot days and (I think it's real downfall) the buildings are too far apart to make the place look busy. The area lacks the energy of Granville. Distillery District... Fail. I will not be taking my family to visit you.

In other news fun times!

Award Winning

I posted a while back about what I am doing at my job in Toronto.

This weekend a co-worker and I were acknowledged for our work with Awards of Merit from the Association of Medical Illustrators. There were only three people who received awards in the professional interactive media category (the category we entered) so we were very pleased.

What won was my work on Periopertive Patient Simulations
and Michael's work on Trans-esophageal Echocardiology (specifically the standard views).

UPDATE 7/25/08:
this afternoon... after spending the day panicking that i might have left the stove on (i didn't.. i knew i didn't but somehow was filled with a sense of dread anyway) i walk up to my place to find these in front of my door. what nice neighbours to receive the flowers and leave them out for me. What an amazing set of parents to send me congratulation flowers.. I am so happy right now.

flowers from mom, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

fleurs, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

It's Summer!

lemonade, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

It's finally gotten really hot and lovely out here and the summer garden is growing nicely.
I made a really simple lemonade this weekend and loved it.. so sour and refreshing

1st blooms of summer.., originally uploaded by girl from finito.

in other news my sweet peas have started to bloom.