Look Up! Wayyy Up!

Yes, I am going to continue harping on everyone to get into birdwatching this summer! To help you get started, I'm going to talk a bit about the concept of a "spark bird" - i.e. a bird that is somewhat special to you and sparks your interest in learning more about birds. Spring migration (i.e. right now) is a great time to find your spark bird!

I'm not 100% on my spark bird, but I think it was a chipping sparrow. We'd put a feeder in our backyard shortly after moving into our house and were pleasantly surprised that it attracted tons of American Goldfinches. They were beautiful and fun to watch, but they weren't my spark bird.

One afternoon in spring I was digging some dandelions or something, and saw a tiny sparrow-like bird with an orange crown land near me, pick through the grass a bit, and then fly away. I didn't see it again for quite some time, but it inspired us to buy a bird book and the lovely staff at Wild Birds Unlimited helped identify it as a chipping sparrow. Now we get them regularly in our yard.

If you pay attention, it is pretty magical how many types of birds you might be able to see from your yard or balcony. Notice all the geese flying overhead right now? They are not all "just" Canada Geese - bust out some binoculars and take a closer look, or listen for different sounds. If the sound is less honking and more coo-like, those birds are likely sandhill cranes! If the birds are honking but you can see they are fairly white, they are likely snow geese! I had flocks of both flying over my yard all morning yesterday.

(flock of sandhill cranes)

Right now also is a great time for one of my favourite adorable birds, the dark eyed junco. We pretty much only see them during spring and fall migration, but if you put some feed out in the yard they will hang around for a few weeks. They are fun to watch because they come in a variety of shades and colours (ranging from black to gray to brown, haha). Here's the most interesting-coloured one I've had in my yard so far:

Bohemian waxwings are still around, feasting and getting drunk off old berries and crabapples! If you've got a tree with dried up apples or berries in your vicinity, watch it for flocks of visiting waxwings. These friends will soon be replaced with their summer cousins, cedar waxwings, who are a little more brown in colour but just as beautiful.

These are all birds I've been able to see right out the window. I know we are allowed to go out for walks and get exercise, but if you're sick, under quarantine, or even just need a quick work break, birding is a pretty great nature activity you can do without leaving home, no matter where you live, and a really easy one to get kids involved with too!

(As mentioned Wild Birds Unlimited is a wonderful store, and I also like to buy bulk feed from Early's - they have a great selection of feeders as well.)

Ordering Takeout During a Pandemic

Prior to this whole social distancing situation, we were not huge fans of takeout or delivery food. It usually showed up a bit cold, a bit soggy, and honestly there was nothing preventing us from going to the restaurant and eating freshly cooked food right there. We don't (didn't?) eat out that much in general, maybe on average twice a month, and usually consider restaurant food a treat rather than a fuel source - and soggy, cold takeout falls into the "fuel" category for me.

So far we have ordered delivery three times in the past month, and suddenly it is a very big treat! I look forward to the day when I can eat in a restaurant again, but I really like how some places have adapted to doing delivery without compromising product quality.

The first place we ordered from was Delight+, one of our favourite Chinese restaurants. It's always been a really lovely place to dine, with the chef visiting the tables to ask how you're enjoying the food. I noticed on their Facebook page that they were offering free delivery if you DON'T order through Sk*p the D*shes (it actually sounds like a lot of restaurants would really appreciate if you don't order through a third party right now). We ordered three vegetable-heavy dishes which were SUCH a treat, as easily perishable produce has somewhat fallen out of our cooking rotation due to only going to the grocery store every 10-14 days. The restaurant is fairly close to our house and the food arrived about 20 minutes after hanging up the phone. We will definitely order again when we need a fresh veggie fix!

Our other two takeout meals have been from Calories, and I LOVE how they have adapted their business to facilitate delivery. Their menu is limited, mainly offering a few cold items and family meal packages that can be made ahead and reheated like soup, chili, or pasta. They have a set menu and a rotating feature family meal package each week. I love that the meals are family-style, with a meal and a dessert included. They are also ridiculously affordable considering the quality and quantity of the food you get, and there is no delivery charge (though it is not "on-demand" delivery, just within two set windows of time each day). I was telling a friend that one could order 2L of soup, a loaf of bread, and a dozen cookies for $30 (!!). She responded "Thirty bucks? That's how much ordering Taco Time on Skip the Dishes cost us yesterday!"

(Calories Easter dinner - fiddleheads, turkey two ways with wild mushrooms, and the most buttery mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life; rhubarb pie not pictured)

I believe Calories was always doing farm to table ingredient sourcing well before it was trendy, and though they changed owners a couple years ago the food is still outstanding. I've never had a bad meal there, and we've been raving to whoever will listen about the two feature packages we've ordered in the past couple weeks. If you are thinking of having a slightly fancy isolation dinner, perhaps to celebrate a special occasion, I am a big fan of the Calories takeout menu! I love that it is made specifically for reheating so you don't end up with a bunch of soggy fries, or can get it delivered on Thursday and eat it on Friday. (I know other upscale and delicious restaurants like Hearth and Odla have similar reheatable offerings, which I'm sure we will also eventually try and rave about.)

About a year ago when one of my favourite restaurants that I admittedly did not patronize enough closed, I was talking to the server during my last meal there and she mentioned that many independent restaurants in Saskatoon are a bad week or two away from permanently closing. While this hasn't necessarily made me start eating out more (I really love cooking and saving money), I always try to go to independent restaurants if I'm going to go out. Right now I think this might be more important than ever, so if you do have a choice, please order from an independent business as opposed to a chain, and if there's an option to not use a delivery app, order directly from the restaurant/do curbside pickup. I promise Taco Bell will come out of this okay, but La Bamba might not, so please do what you can to support the businesses that make our city unique!

Isolation Hipster

As a freelance consultant, I was not expecting to remain employed throughout this pandemic, but I didn't expect the cutting off of my contract to hit me as hard as it did. I will admit that I had a couple of very, very rough days, perhaps wallowing in a bit of self-pity regarding how truly non-essential I am to society in a time of crisis. I felt like I'd been going along on a career path that put me in a good position to always have some sort of opportunity for work, and literally a month ago I was wondering if I might have to choose between several promising opportunities, which all abruptly disappeared in the span of about two weeks.

I am feeling better now though. I have come to terms with my "non-essential in a crisis" status - this is temporary. Eventually someone will need my skills again. And there are ways I can potentially be useful without working in a traditional type of job. Because I have a master's in population health, I was able to sign up for the federal volunteer database to do contact tracing or other support tasks if needed. My income was not fortunately not critical to paying our bills as long as my husband remains employed, and his job is secure.

Aside from that, things have been pretty okay. While I worry about my loved ones who live alone, or are elderly/high risk, mostly I have been able to keep my mental health in check so far. I joked to a former co-worker the other day that I'm sort of an isolation hipster because a lot of my hobbies and behaviours are becoming more mainstream. I had a sourdough starter BEFORE we ran out of yeast! Do you even know how to cook dried beans, bro?

(I just figured this post needed a cat picture)

If you haven't been reading this blog since the beginning, I thought I would do a flashback episode here to link several (pre-pandemic) posts that are about activities etc. that might be helpful in self-isolation. In chronological order, oldest to newest, here they are:

How I actually made daily exercise a real habit

Bird watching is the ultimate social distancing activity that you're all going to get really into this summer

Very glad I got into cycling the last couple summers

I am still going strong with Duolingo! It was so great to be able to communicate better on a recent trip to Mexico

Since we're all baking with sourdough and acting like pioneers, maybe now is the time to save and start cooking with animal fats?

The book clubs I'm in are giving me life right now. Any excuse for (virtual) human contact! (I believe the public libraries are still running book clubs online as well)

I am legitimately devastated that the library is closed, but here are some book recommendations

We are all grieving in different ways right now. Making soup from scratch is a comforting activity

Time to learn to make fancy coffee drinks at home!

Yoga is undoubtedly one of the things keeping me off the brink of depression/anxiety right now

It is DEFINITELY time to learn how to cook with pulses

Is your skin super dry from all the handwashing? Here are some alternatives to lotion (and I have also updated it to include pure shea butter)

Cabbage is the ultimate pandemic leafy green

Fermenting your own milk kefir will save you from making extra trips to the store to buy yogurt or buttermilk for baking and smoothies. While you're at it, might as well try making yogurt too


One other thing I have done recently is start a second (are you sick of me yet?) blog, because I am anticipating that this summer a lot of people will be getting into gardening for the first time. I have previously mentioned my great love of tomatoes and I wanted to focus it into a gardening blog. Feel free to follow along, and hopefully grow a couple plants with me! You can find it at toontowntomatoes.ca. Because I will be putting quite a bit of effort into the tomato blog I may not post as much here, but we'll see how bored I get...