Good riddance to dry winter skin!

What Saskie among us has not dealt with the dreaded forehead oil slick over the course of a dry Saskatchewan winter? Extra chapped lips, and even cracking skin on your hands and feet – winter skin ailments range from unpleasant and unsightly to downright painful. But here is the incredible part – many of these issues can be treated easily and cheaply with one or two accessible ingredients!

I have had the not uncommon experience of working through the winter in what appeared to be the driest building on the planet. In one office I even brought in a little humidity tester and the only way we could ever get the needle to move away from 0% was to shut the door and run a humidifier all night. In the morning we’d come back in for about five blissful minutes of easy breathing until the accumulated humidity leaked out the open door. When working in this office, every hour or so I’d make a trip to the bathroom to blot the oil from my face.

While working at said office I started reading up on natural skincare. For the preceding decade I’d been using a salicylic acid based facial wash and then applying an oil-free moisturizer every morning. Because I had enough oil building up on my skin, why would I want to add any extra oil in the moisturizer? However I began to realize that this was actually counterintuitive – your skin needs oil to protect itself and makes extra if you keep washing it all off. It turns out there are a few natural oils that can “trick” your skin into thinking it’s got enough natural oil already so it won’t make more. These oils will absorb well into your skin without feeling greasy, AND prevent that hourly forehead oil slick.

Further – I realized I didn’t need to be using a cleanser to wash my face at all! A friend tipped me off that she simply rinsed her face with water and that was all that was necessary. I started doing this and then applying jojoba oil as a moisturizer, and my winter skin was TRANSFORMED. No more hourly trips to the bathroom to blot my face! A $15 bottle of jojoba oil could last a YEAR or more (you only need a couple drops at a time), and that could theoretically be my entire annual skincare budget!

(Jojoba oil is actually a plant-based liquid wax and not technically an oil, but it behaves like one.  You can likely find a bottle in any health and wellness store, and it’s also easy to find online.)

A disclaimer – I don’t regularly wear makeup, unless I’m going to some sort of event where I’m going to be photographed a lot. However even if I am wearing makeup, this system still mostly applies. Oil is an amazing makeup remover and cleanser in itself, so if I need to remove any makeup (or dirt, or sunscreen, etc.) I just apply the oil over the makeup, wash my face, and remove the remaining oil and makeup with a cloth. Then, apply another thin layer of oil to moisturize.

Because I’m the sort of person who likes to experiment, I have tried a few other oils that I also heard were good moisturizers on my face, in place of jojoba oil: macadamia, rosehip, and the all-powerful coconut. Coconut oil actually did make my skin a bit greasy, and seemed to cause breakouts; it is known to have pore-clogging properties. Rosehip oil worked fine but I didn’t like the smell, and it was more expensive than jojoba. Macadamia oil also worked great for me and is thicker than jojoba, so I find it works better than jojoba when my skin is extremely dry, and is also awesome on dry hands and feet.

If I do find I’m developing any acne or stubborn dry spots, jojoba oil has a great antibacterial sidekick that can work on these spot treatments – tea tree oil. I recommend buying the 100 ml bottle from Costco (it’s like $14 which is an insanely good price, but you can only order a pack of two online). You can mix the two every day if you are acne-prone, or just spot-apply tea tree when needed.  It also is awesome at treating dandruff – massage a generous amount into your scalp the night before you plan to wash your hair.

I am pretty committed to natural skincare these days, and make a lot of my own products like deodorant, clay-based "shampoo", and lip balm (and occasionally bar soap). None of this is particularly difficult, but takes a bit of time and collection of a few uncommon ingredients. However using skin-friendly oil in place of facial moisturizer or hand lotion is an easy and lazy step anyone can take towards natural skincare! Your dry Saskie skin will thank you all winter long.


EDIT! April 8, 2020. We went on a vacation to Mexico in early March, and when we returned our skin absolutely hated us. Probably a mix of slight sun damage and 40-50 degree temperature change, but I basically had a white beard of skin flakes for a week. The only thing that helped was PURE shea butter. It's very easy to order online and a little goes a long way. If your skin is so dry that nothing else is working, I'd definitely try shea butter!

Eat Pulses, Support Local, Save $

I have been developing a love affair with pulses over the past few years, and I hope I might convince you to get on board with me!

What’s a pulse? Essentially, dried (not fresh picked) legumes – i.e. lentils, peas, beans, and chickpeas. The majority of Canada’s (and potentially the world’s) pulses are grown right here in lil ol Saskatchewan. Despite the fact that we are a Pulse Powerhouse, these are food items you may have considered all your life to be very boring, tasteless, and hard to cook (if you are a lifelong Saskie of mainly Eastern European descent; if not, please commence eyerolling). Here’s the thing though – they are not hard to cook, easy to learn how to season so they actually taste good, and extremely nutritious and CHEAP AF.

Ever since I was a kid I have been a frugal person. I don’t know where this trait came from, but I was one of those weird children who rarely spent their birthday money, opting instead to sock it away in a Cheez Whiz jar(!!) until I finally got a bank account at the age of 18(!!). This has more or less carried into adulthood; though my money goes directly into a zero-fee bank account now instead of a Cheez Whiz jar I still seem to be forever in a contest with myself to be as frugal as possible. I find that if I can make a dish where pulses are the main protein, I can often keep the entire meal (3-6 adult-sized servings) under $5.

Pulses are a great way to eat frugally and nutritiously; honestly it almost feels like I’m cheating somehow. A couple Christmases ago we were gifted an Instant Pot* which transformed our ability to use pulses, as it no longer took an hour to cook the beans BEFORE adding them to the chili, or confined us to volume measures of “one can”.  

(Most of my pulse and whole grain collection)

So listen – I know that for most Saskies of Eastern European farmer descent, experiences with pulses have probably been mainly the following:

• A lentil side dish someone tried to make because they heard they were a “superfood” that consisted of al dente green lentils boiled in chicken broth
• An otherwise JUST FINE salad that someone ruined by throwing in a can of soggy chickpeas "to be healthy"
• Undersalted split pea soup
• Chili

This is not a particularly encouraging list of ways to enjoy pulses (other than the chili). In fact, 3/4 to me sound downright disgusting and I would not recommend them. This is generally what happens if you try to cook pulses as if they are boiled potatoes (FOR THE RECORD as the granddaughter of a Slovakian farmer I personally have nothing against boiled potatoes). To really transform pulses it is best to look to the wisdom of the rest of the world, and perhaps adopt some not-so-Ukrainian flavours into one’s cooking.

Here are some of the preparations that have helped me get Hooked on Pulses:

• Homemade falafel – this is scarcely harder than making burgers, other than the mental prep of remembering to soak the chickpeas overnight. DO NOT use canned chickpeas for this. I don’t care what the food blogger tells you in their post sponsored by Eden Brand Chickpeas, canned chickpea falafel is terrible. I love Ottolenghi's recipe and unlike this blogger, have no trouble pan-frying them (perhaps my cast-iron skillet is the secret)
• Adding red lentils to pureed vegetable soups to add bulk/protein! This is a great trick that I invented and even generally acceptable to sensitive-palated Mennonites and/or children
• If you are going to use canned chickpeas, there are exactly two acceptable preparations – pureeing them into hummus, or crisping them like this
• Soup, soup, and more soup – there are so many great pulse-focused soup recipes out there! This Italian bean soup has become my go-to over the past few years, I also love this Quebec-style split pea soup recipe, and the Whitewater Cooks lemony lentil soup recipe is so flavourful
• Black bean Tex Mex taco filling – either add black beans to taco meat to stretch the amount, or just season black beans like you would taco meat. I don’t make Tex Mex style tacos anymore at all, instead opt for a shredded cabbage base and pile on the fillings (cheese, beans, sour cream, salsa) to make a very filling salad
• DAL – okay, I realize using the term “dal” to mean Indian-style preparations of pulses is not linguistically correct (as I understand, dal just means pulses) but this is how I’ll refer to it. I am obsessed with the cookbook The New Indian Slow Cooker by Neela Paniz. I’ve never had a cookbook I’ve used even half as much, and all the dal recipes have been life-changing. I would buy this book for the green mung bean recipe alone.  It is sort of astonishing how just adding like four extra spices or aromatics to some mung beans or lentils completely transform them (the non Ukrainians are like, DUH). If you aren’t convinced, next time you eat at an Indian restaurant trade the butter chicken for something off the dal section of the menu and see what I mean.

I think that’s enough for now. The summary, the TL;DR: pulses need not be inherently flavourless, or difficult to incorporate into your meal rotation. They can help you save money and eat healthier, all while supporting Saskatchewan farmers. Eating more of them is win-win all around!

*While you don’t NEED a pressure cooker to enjoy pulses regularly, for the way I cook it’s a pretty essential appliance. It is cheaper and more conducive to versatility to buy dried pulses rather than canned.

I *Heart* Yoga (Blogger won't let me make a heart emoticon because it breaks the HTML)

I mentioned in one of my very first posts that one of the keys to getting more exercise was finding some fitness activities that I actually enjoyed, and yoga is one of them.

As an athletically-uninclined child, my parents still put me in a variety of lessons to make sure I got regular exercise and became a “well rounded person” (their words). The activity I was most terrible at, and somehow got worse at as I got older, was modern dance. Jazz, tap, ballet, I was just not good. I could never straighten my arms just so, I didn’t have the natural flexibility for high kicks, and I couldn’t remember to keep smiling while concentrating on putting my body into what felt like unnatural motions. When I was 13, my teacher made it clear to my parents that I was not cut out for the competitive classes and should enroll in “recreational jazz.” At the recital that year, my parents finally agreed I could quit dance lessons. No doubt the sheer amount of non-talent on display in the rec jazz performance finally convinced them that dance was not my calling.

(Screenshot from a video of my first tap recital)

All this to say – everything that my parents wanted me to get out of dance lessons and I never did, I get out of yoga.

I was pretty late to the yoga game, but signed up for a beginner class through the community association a couple years ago. I really enjoyed it, and as I was still a grad student I also started taking advantage of the classes available to USask students and staff at the PAC. These were large, fitness-focussed classes though, and a couple times while following along I put my body in a position that I shouldn’t have.

The thing that really changed my yoga life was discovering the website YogaDownload.com. I much prefer being able to pick a class based on the needs of my body on a particular day, and the instructors are absolutely stellar. Because they aren’t live classes, the instructions and cues need to be very clear, and there is always an emphasis on safety. For access to hundreds of classes, you can get a Groupon that works out to about $40 CAD/year, and the classes can be fully downloaded to keep forever.

As a kid in the 90’s, yoga hadn’t really caught on yet in my town, so there wasn't an option for me to try it instead of dance lessons. It's also not really something one thinks of as being a "kid-friendly" activity. But I often compare the two in my mind. The philosophy behind yoga would have worked so much better for me. Instead of getting yelled at for not having straight arms, I would have received better cues as to how to activate certain muscles in order to get them straighter. Instead of failing a dance exam for not being flexible, I would have been encouraged to do my best, and recognize that even a small bit of improvement was great progress. And as for the smiling – I love that yoga is just for me, not an audience!

Saskatoon has a ton of options for yoga classes (there’s probably one available through your community association), but because I use yoga partly for stress relief, I have no desire to do something that stresses me out (driving) in order to get to it. This is mainly why my preference is the online classes. I may revisit the community centre class again sometime because I can walk there, but I’m perfectly happy using YogaDownload as I get more familiar with the practice and improve my skill level.

(PS this is NOT a sponsored post, I am but a simple blogger with like 8 regular readers)

Espresso Con Panna with Sunnyside Cream

If you follow Saskatoon and area food news, you probably are somewhat familiar with Sunnyside Creamery. It is a small dairy out by Martensville where one can buy fresh unhomogenized (still pasteurized) milk and other dairy products (as well as meat and other farm products). I had been wanting to try it since it opened but couldn't justify a trip to Martensville just for milk.

I'm disappointed about the Saskatoon Farmers' Market's recent move to Koyl Avenue near the airport, but excited that a couple of the vendors decided to start a new online market where I can still buy from some of my favourites without having to travel to the bowels of North Industrial. Not only does The Little Market Box currently carry products from most of my favourite vendors (and still adding more), they also carry a variety of Sunnyside Creamery products.

I was so excited when I discovered this, and made an order for the soft opening to try the whole milk, heavy cream, and cheese curds. I liked the milk a lot (it foamed really gorgeously for cappuccinos), the curds were very good (excited to make a legit squeaky homemade poutine at some point), but the cream? The cream CHANGED MY LIFE. It is thick AF and extremely sweet and rich, and makes whipped cream that is out of this world.

This summer I attended the last academic conference of my Master's career in Bologna, Italy. My mom and I went on a food tour on our first day in the city, and our first tasting honestly was my most memorable culinary experience of the entire trip: espresso con panna.

Espresso con panna is simply a shot of espresso with whipped cream, but this cream was magical. Our guide called it "French whipped cream" and said it was made with 38% cream instead of the usual 33-35% which is what one usually buys as whipping cream in the grocery store. It had a texture nearly like meringue - it was so heavy that it didn't really melt into the espresso so we had to eat it with a spoon. It was divine.

When I came home I wanted to recreate it, and purchased the 36% "old fashioned" whipping cream at the grocery store. It still wasn't heavy enough.

I don't know what the percentage is in Sunnyside's heavy cream, but it's PERFECT for the espresso con panna of my dreams. This is a very simple yet sophisticated evening dessert or lazy weekend morning treat. I am obsessed with it.

Extremely Decadent Espresso Con Panna 

To serve one:

Whip about 2 tbsp of Sunnyside heavy cream with a pinch of sugar and dash of vanilla until you have stiff peaks. Use a spatula to scrape it into an espresso mug or small ramekin.

Brew a shot of espresso (if you don't have an espresso machine, you could either use some extra strong coffee, or grab an espresso shot to go from McDonald's). If you can though, brew it directly over the cream.

Enjoy slowly with a spoon!

Making Soup

When people die, I need to make soup.

I don’t know why I’m drawn to making soup when I’m emotionally exhausted, but it seems to calm me. I’ve been making soup from total scratch for enough years now that it’s mostly second nature, and I think when one is dealing with loss, they crave a bit of familiarity. I know that when my dad died I couldn’t read any new books or watch any new TV shows for quite a while. I craved familiar stories, and I felt like I needed to make a lot of soup and bread.

An elderly great uncle of mine who was in a nursing home for the past few years passed away on December 31. We hadn’t been close for most of my life, but when he fell ill and was being treated at Royal University Hospital at the same time I was working on my master’s degree, I started going over every day to visit him. When he moved into Sherbrooke Community Centre, I maintained at least weekly visits.

He had been steadily declining in recent months, and his death was fairly expected and welcome, unlike that of my dad. However, death still carries the same finality, no matter who it is, or at what stage of their life or sickness they are at. It is a lot to process, logistically and emotionally.

My brain and body felt nearly void of energy after a very busy Christmas break drew to a close, and end of life logistics began. I finally dragged myself off the couch mid-afternoon on January 1, threw the Christmas ham bone and a few aromatics in my Instant Pot, and forced myself to walk to the grocery store.

At 7:30pm, about two hours later than usual, we had a scratch split pea soup on the table. I did not take a picture of it. Here instead is a picture of chicken noodle soup that I made a while ago.

This is how to make very flavourful stock from any animal bones you choose, plus aromatics. Homemade stock makes homemade soup a million times better. I prefer to use an Instant Pot, but you can also do it on the stove or even the slow cooker.

• Equivalent of at least one chicken carcass of bones (e.g. a pile of wing bones, pork rib bones, beef soup bones, a ham bone, etc. If it’s got some browning, even better. Meat and skin scraps are gold in here too)
• Half an onion                                                                             
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A leek top (optional but essential in my opinion)
• A few thyme sprigs (optional)
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• About 10 peppercorns
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp acidic substance, or a tomato (e.g. tomato paste, vinegar, lemon juice, apparently this helps to pull collagen out of the bones)

Toss everything in the Instant Pot, fill to max, and pressure cook for two hours. Allow to naturally release (will take up to two more hours, but I do not recommend quick release for this).

My favourite way to strain is to line a large metal sieve with cheesecloth, put it over a big bowl with pouring lips, and ladle stock and solids into the sieve. As the bowl fills, pour the strained stock into your containers of choice. I find that large yogurt containers and their equivalent are the perfect amount for creating a base for a soup for 2-3 people. I usually get 4 of these out of my 6 quart Instant Pot. After all the soup is strained you can just lift the cheesecloth and solids out of the sieve and discard for easy cleanup.

When I make beef stock, I put it in the fridge and let the fat solidify to discard it or save for later use. This is a personal preference because I find tallow has a very strong flavour that I don’t love. Pork and chicken fat melts better into the soup and is not noticeable, just delicious.

Best Books I Read in 2019

I have mentioned before how great the Saskatoon Public Library is for facilitating “excessive” reading – on December 31 I crossed the $3000 mark in borrowing for 2019! There is no way I’d spend three grand on books if I wasn’t using a library, which means I just wouldn’t read as much without it. So thank you again to the SPL!

I really like reading other people’s book recommendation posts, so in celebration of basically paying for my 2019 property taxes in borrowing, I want to do a post about my favourite books that I read this year. I’ll keep it to the six best fiction and non-fiction/memoir/etc. This is hard to narrow down because I finished 87 books in 2019, but these are my top recommendations. (Links to my Goodreads reviews – note that I didn’t give these all 5 stars, but they’ve stuck with me enough that I am considering them higher than some of the five star books I read).

Fiction

The Book Thief – This is probably the best book I’ve read in years. I’ve never been moved by a book so much – I was actually sobbing at the end (that’s not a spoiler). The story was so lovely and heart warming and sad. The writing is a little “experimental” but didn’t take too long to get used to. I absolutely loved it and couldn’t stop talking to people about it.

Truly Madly Guilty – Something about this book, one of Liane Moriarty (of Big Little Lies fame)’s lower rated by the masses, really spoke to me. The characters got in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. It is a very well done character study on guilt, and I just found it so interesting and relatable. I am such a fan of Liane Moriarty’s books but I keep putting off reading another one because I don’t want to finish them all too fast.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing – This book is legit art. It is not an easy breezy read, but it’s definitely rewarding if you commit. I actually didn’t have trouble getting into the story like many other readers have stated, but it did take me about two weeks to get through. I’m a bit embarrassed to say (or should I be? Society failed me) that I really didn’t know anything about the Chinese Cultural Revolution until I read this book. It shocked me. I felt so ignorant. I cried on the bus during a very sad scene. This is truly a book for people who love to read.

The Traveling Cat Chronicles – Three of my top fiction reads from the year made me cry, and this is the third. It is a Japanese translation, a short novel from the perspective of a cat who goes traveling with its owner who is trying to find it a new home. Eventually you find out why, and it breaks you and you cry and then the cat makes you feel better, as they do. So lovely.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club – What a treat to discover Craig Davidson this year! What a disappointment to find out most of his books are terrifying horror novels that I am too scared to read.
This one was really wonderful, a tad spooky but mostly just a great coming of age story set in Niagara Falls in the 80’s. It’s really short too, so if you don’t have a lot of time for reading but want to at least plug through one book on vacation or something, this is a good one for that.

East of Eden – John Steinbeck’s magnum opus, I maybe broke my book club by picking this one as we had to hold over a whole month because it took so long to read, and one person quit (hopefully not over this book though). A reading experience that is definitely about the journey, not the destination. Everyone should probably read this at some point in their life.

Non Fiction

The Invention of Nature – I knew of Alexander von Humboldt's existence, because I grew up in a town named after him, but not much else. He immediately became one of my favourite historical figures. He is possibly the historical figure who has influenced your life the most who you don’t know anything about. Read this book! AVH is amazing.

Walkable City – I’m very into learning about urban planning and active transportation. I read quite a few books on the subject this year, but this is the one that kicked it off and led me down all sorts of other rabbit holes. The author also published sort of a condensed, pictorial sequel this year called Walkable City Rules which is a bit more of an accessible coffee table version.

Invisible Women – If you are involved in any kind of decision making that affects humans, this is a pretty important book. Tons and tons of examples of how gender-based unconscious bias (i.e. just assuming women can be approximated as shorter men with no penises, or ignored completely because hormones make the science too hard to control) has and is unintentionally harming and killing women. This book got brought up a couple times at various occupational health conferences I was at this year.

Where Am I Now – My second reading of Mara Wilson’s WONDERFUL memoir. Can she please write another one? I just adore this book. So many celebrity memoirs are full of boring fluff but this one holds up.

Save Me The Plums – Another very lovely and fun memoir! I loved getting to read about what it’s like to run a high-end food magazine in New York City, and I think anyone who enjoys food writing will be charmed by this book.

Good Morning, Monster – One of the last books I finished this year, and it blew my mind. It might be the most disturbing book I’ve ever read, but also very inspiring. I can’t stop thinking about it, and how lucky I was to have an abuse-free childhood. This one will shake you to your core but I highly recommend it.

Finally - a bonus shoutout to two very prolific authors who I read for the first time this year, Stephen King and Agatha Christie! While their books are not on this list, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know their writing this year and there’s clearly no shortage of books by either to check out.

I've set my reading goal at 85 books in 2020! A busy Christmas "break" has me off to a bad start, but I'm glad I spent some time drafting this post before the craziness hit. If you read any of these on my recommendation please get in touch and let me know what you thought!

We chopped down a tree in the forest!

Part 2! We had such a perfect Prince Albert National Park trip this year that I wanted to write about it. There’s still one more week to go get your tree!

As I mentioned in my last post, we stayed in a cabin at Elk Ridge Resort this year. However on the way in, we decided to overshoot the Elk Ridge turnoff, head into the park, and do the Boundary Bog hiking trail before it got dark. This is always a nice quick trail to do either on your way in or out of the park, and was a great way to stretch our legs after a few hours of driving. I love this trail in the winter, with the dormant tamaracks and snow-covered boardwalk.

After Boundary Bog we went to check in at Elk Ridge, unpacked, read books for a while, and then went for supper at the Fireside restaurant. We had a delicious meal, both ordering the available fish dishes, which proved not so heavy that we had room for sticky date pudding for dessert.

On Saturday morning we made breakfast and coffee in the cabin and set our game plan for the day. We had originally hoped to do some cross country skiing on this trip, but the trails at Elk Ridge and in PANP were not quite ready yet, so we recalibrated and decided to try the Mud Creek hiking trail at South Bay. I have been to PANP nearly every year of my life, but never on this trail, and I feel ripped off! It was such an amazingly beautiful trail, with water views almost the whole way around the loop. The highlight though was seeing two otters tumbling around, playing, and sliding on the ice on their bellies – neither of us had ever seen this outside of a zoo!

(The sun was so bright, I had no idea if I was in focus or not, so these are not particularly good photos.)

After Mud Creek, we drove over to the Height of Land Tower, which is another park institution that I only recently discovered for myself and feel ripped off about. The road was blocked so we parked at the barrier and did the 5 minute walk to the tower. This is a park highlight, winter or summer – such an amazing view.

We then stopped at the park office to get our tree permit and couldn’t resist the 25% off on park merch. We restrained ourselves to a couple of mugs, however, and then set off for one last trail – Waskesiu River. Usually we see some wildlife on this one in the winter but it was silent except for some invisible chattering squirrels. Our winter visits often coincide with cloudy weather – the sunny day made for a new experience on this trail!

The weather overall was pretty perfect for winter hiking – about -20 with almost no wind, which was not too cold but not so warm that we overheated while in full winter walking gear.

Our second supper at Fireside was not quite as memorable as the first, but still good. We both ordered dishes featuring elk (when in Rome), but this time were too full for dessert.

We made a pretty quick exit on our final day – breakfast in the cabin, pack up and check out, and a stopoff to choose a tree. In other years it’s taken quite a while to find a good tree, but this time we spotted a nicely shaped, full tree right off the road. It just barely fit into the vehicle – definitely the fanciest tree we’ve brought home from the park!

On the way home we decided to stop in Hague and try Jake’s Burger, which was featured a couple years ago on a “top burgers in Saskatchewan” list. We’ve of course driven past Hague dozens of times, but never stopped to eat. Chalk it up to yet another thing we’ve cheated ourselves out of all these years – I will never be stopping for lunch at Prince Albert McDonald’s again! The burgers were so fresh and juicy and the options for free toppings unbeatable. We opted out of fries (they did look amazing though) so we could get a saskatoon tart with ice cream (in reality, ice cream with a bit of tart on the side) from Home Baked Goodness in the same little food court building. I think most south-central SK road trippers know about the legendary Wakaw rest stop, but this place is giving it a run for its money!

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend keeping some traditions alive and adding in new ones. While we splurged a bit, this is a trip that needn’t be terribly expensive if you plan your accommodations and meals right either. Visiting PANP is a perfect way to make the most of winter in SK!

We're going to chop down a tree in the forest!

For the past few years, Prince Albert National Park has had a “cut your own tree” program where you can go to the park, get a permit, and cut down a blue spruce from the Waskesiu town site fire break. We have been doing this every year since it started, and it is an extremely fun winter activity.

Going up to PANP in the winter is wonderful in itself and we’d still go even without the promise of a free Charlie Brown tree (let’s be real, these trees are not cultivated to be decorative and a bit on the scraggly side). The park is so quiet and empty, but they still keep most of the hiking trails groomed and it’s an awesome time of year for wildlife viewing because there just aren’t that many people around.

(Last year we definitely found the king of the forest while hunting for our tree!)

There is not a ton of choice for accommodations in or around the park, but there is enough to accommodate most price points. If you want to stay in the park, you can get a room or suite at either Waskesiu Lake Lodge (warning – autoplay video with sound) or The Hawood Inn for as little as $80/night, or get a cabin at Lost Creek Resort (again, autoplay warning). Lost Creek is the fanciest and newest of the three options, but is off the main road without a lake view. The Hawood has the only in-park dining in the offseason. We have stayed at both The Hawood and Lost Creek which have both been good – though I would avoid the Hanging Heart Condo at The Hawood in winter because it is far too big to keep warm with the existing heating infrastructure.

(Waskesiu River boardwalk trail)

Another place to stay just outside the park is Elk RidgeResort, which has everything from hotel rooms to large cottages or townhouses. This year we’re staying in a cabin for our second time at Elk Ridge. The pricing is similar to Lost Creek. We prefer cabins to hotel rooms because we can cook a lot of our own meals, and the guaranteed quiet. The restaurant at Elk Ridge is very good (we’ve eaten at least one meal every year there for the last few, and between the two of us only one meal has ever been bad).

(Boundary Bog trail)

Back to chopping down your own tree – I come from a “real Christmas tree” family, where we always had a real tree growing up, but we never went to a tree farm to choose one. We lived close to a mall which either had a tree seller set up in the parking lot, or a cage of trees at the Extra Foods, so we’d walk down to the mall with the toboggan and pull the tree home on the sled. Brahm and I would always get real trees from a greenhouse or tree lot for Christmas for the first few years we were married, but the first time we cut one down in the fire break was kind of magical. It is so much fun to hunt around for the “perfect” tree. In nature, most trees are not nicely symmetrical so it takes a while to find a good one, and then your car will smell amazing all the way home.

I highly recommend this Saskatchewan winter escape! It’s just under a 3 hour drive from Saskatoon, but the northern boreal forest is a completely different landscape, and especially beautiful and rejuvenating in the winter.

(Last year's tree in all its Charlie Brown glory)

The Buzz Lightyear Kid

One Saturday morning a year or two ago, my husband and I went to our neighbourhood Co-op for some groceries. As we were entering the store I noticed a kid and a dad getting out of their car. The kid was wearing most of a Buzz Lightyear costume, and then the dad helped the kid into the wings to complete the costume out in the parking lot, before they entered the store.

I should note that it was not anywhere close to Halloween on the calendar.

For the next 10 or so minutes that we spent in the store, we passed the Buzz Lightyear kid and their dad a few times. The kid looked SO genuinely happy and proud to be out in public in a Buzz Lightyear costume, and the dad appeared equally thrilled to be able to make his kid so happy.

Pretty soon, all the customers in the store had encountered this joyful situation and you could actually feel the mood in the store lifting. Everyone was smiling as they shopped.

So thank you, Buzz Lightyear kid, whoever you are. And thanks to your dad. You randomly made our collective day, and I still think about you fondly.

Alternate Gift Idea - Meewasin

My last post admittedly did only discuss “material” gifts. I possibly implied that they are the best gifts, but of course the actual best gifts are more meaningful than chocolate from Shoppers. I was mainly focusing on thoughtful gifts that one could give to anyone on their list, including the co-worker you don’t know very well but drew the name of in office Secret Santa.

The true best gifts for people you care a lot about are experiences, or tied to shared memories, and today I will talk about a Saskatoon gift idea along that theme.

I assume if you’ve ever been to Saskatoon, you’ve spent some time near the river. You may not be aware that the conservation of the river valley, not just in the city limits but covering a pretty large area outside ofthe city as well, is managed by the Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA). Fed a chickadee at Beaver Creek? Meewasin. Skated at the outdoor rink downtown? Meewasin. Sat on a bench along the river trails, or spent an afternoon watching pelicans at the weir? Meewasin! You get the picture.

(photo credit to my dad)

The MVA unfortunately does not have unlimited funding, and has had to scale back some beloved services in recent years, so it’s an important cause to donate to if you have the means (and advocate for when you have the opportunity!). Right now until December 20, one of the MVA’s founding members is matching donations up to $50,000, so your gift can go even further.

(no colour editing whatsoever)

The MVA offers a few “dedication” donation options which can make for very special gifts. It looks like they have raised the minimum donations for these items in the last year, so are probably a bit beyond the everyday gift budget. If you do have the means, the limit starts at $150, and these donations get you an invite to the annual tree dedication ceremony in the early summer. Last year I dedicated a brick in memory of my dad, so my family and I went to the ceremony and then for a walk at River Landing to find the brick. Similarly it would be nice to do this with “your” tree or shrub! Or, if you make a smaller donation, it could still be accompanied with a nice card and an IOU for going out to Beaver Creek and feeding the chickadees with the recipient, in lieu of a material gift.

(so many Western Red Lilies at Beaver Creek this past June!)

Even if you can’t donate, it’s a nice time of year to reflect on how lucky we are to have the MVA in Saskatoon. I’m sure I’ve taken it for granted most of my life, assuming most other cities also have such well-maintained, four-season public spaces along their river valleys, but I know this not to be true. I can't count the number of times that spending time in Meewasin has turned my day around, or given me a special and lasting memory - we are so fortunate!

Christmas Gift Guide - All Hail the Luxury Consumable!

I love giving gifts. To get to think about how much I like someone and what I could do or give them that would bring them some joy is the best. It was actually when my gift-giving skills started failing a couple years ago that made me realize I'd reached a pretty high level of burnout, because I was forgetting to be thoughtful and phoned in a wedding gift for a friend I cared deeply about. This won't do, I said, and make some drastic changes in my life which led us all here together to this very post.

I know for many people, gift giving is very hard and not enjoyable, a "just tell me what to buy you" experience. There is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes people (like me all too often) say "I don't need anything" or "I already have too much stuff" etc etc. This is where the Luxury Consumable will save you!

One can almost never go wrong when gifting a Luxury Consumable - i.e. something that by its very nature is not meant to be "kept" (e.g. food or toiletries) but is likely a little higher-end than what someone might buy routinely. As long as you have a vague idea of whether the person you're gifting likes the general category (e.g. booze, chocolate, candles) of your gift, the Luxury Consumable is a foolproof present that works for every price point.

There is no shortage of places to obtain Luxury Consumables year-round in Saskatoon - The Saskatoon Farmers' Market (only in the downtown location until December 22), SaskMade MarketPlace (now with a Midtown location), Joyne, The Better Good, Wanuskewin, Ten Thousand Villages, Saje, Bernard Callebaut, the grocery store, the list goes on. There's also a ton of Christmas pop-up markets happening over the next few weeks, which CBC has compiled a list of. Just pick a store or market, go with a general idea and budget in mind, and I guarantee you'll find the right gift.

Some of my favourite luxury consumables with a local flavour:

• Chocolate from Those Girls at the Market - still taking Christmas box pre-orders, I think
• There is no shortage of excellent locally produced specialty booze in Sask (multiple links here)
• Or if you want to gift a tasty and bubbly non-alcoholic beverage, Parkerview Brews has really perfected their craft
• I got an Alauna Whelan candle in a silent auction at the Third + Bird market and I love it, expensive but very nice and lightly scented with essential oils only
• Everyone needs soap! Soap Cutts has several scented just with essential oils too which are safer to gift if you aren't sure if someone is scent-sitive
• Lots of independent coffee roasters around, my favourite is Caliber out of Regina even though I have to get it shipped to Saskatoon
• While we don't agree on certain transportation planning initiatives in Saskatoon, McQuarrie's is still a great place to buy loose tea in Saskatoon
• My former curling teammate Kevin of Saskatoon Spruce has Christmas cheese boxes this year, his business and story is very cool
• I also love the chevre (goat cheese) from Red Barn Dairy but best to buy right before you gift because it doesn't last forever
• Kitako Lake Honey is some of the best honey I've ever tasted and I'm not just mentioning it because Steven is my cousin-in-law (is that a thing?)

However - you don't have to go to a specialty market to find something great! Last time I was in Shoppers Drug Mart they had giant higher-end dark chocolate bars (PC brand) on sale for four bucks. Unless one is allergic to chocolate I can't imagine not loving such a gift, and never guessing it was only four dollars. Grocery store gifts are HIGHLY underrated yet nearly always appreciated.

Joining a Book Club

Until about grade six, I was the weird kid to only wanted to read all the time. As I got into my teen years, I prioritized having friends/not getting bullied so I didn’t read as much anymore, and into adulthood kind of went through phases where I’d buy a bunch of books and read for a while, and then not read for a stretch of quite a few months. A few years ago a library opened up within walking distance of my house, and I have been reading a LOT ever since. 

It turns out, you can get books for free?! as long as you bring them back eventually. You don't have to be a slave to Amazon and shell out 30 bucks for a paperback (or a few megabytes) you might not finish or like! What a concept. The library is the best. Please, take all of my tax dollars. On average, I probably get through 1.5 books a week (I’m up to 74 in 2019 as of today). Because my husband also got really into the library about a year after me, we’ve actually done some (drastic?) things like cancel Netflix in order to spend more time with books.

(The SPL also does this great thing where they tell you the value of all the books you've taken out. I'm up to $2650 in 2019 - can I read 3 grand worth of books before December 31? Challenge accepted!)

One very fun thing that has happened as a result of reading a lot is joining a book club! I was out for supper with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, and she mentioned Tara Westover’s Educated, which her book club had just finished reading. I’d read the book and loved it a few months before, so she invited me to come to the meeting the next evening.

It is so enjoyable to read a book and then get to talk about it with other people who also read it. And maybe the best part is it has exposed me to books I never would have picked off the shelf for myself, but am so glad to have read. And this has made me a bit more adventurous at the library, in grabbing books I haven’t vetted through the Goodreads reviews beforehand (which has worked out well... most of the time).

I think there is some sort of joke out there that “book club” is a euphemism/excuse for getting out of the house and drinking wine. While the quorum at the meetings of my book club generally have finished the book, one is also always welcome to come listen to spoilers and have a visit even if they didn’t read it. It is just a very nice and wholesome grownup activity, where the beverage of choice is usually herbal tea so that we can all still get to bed at a reasonable hour. Being a grownup is great!

One cool thing that the Saskatoon Public Library offers is public book clubs, so if you don’t have a friend with a ready-made book club to join you can sign up and join the monthly discussion. It’s a free activity with a lot of potential benefits, and the worst thing that could happen is not liking the book. I like those odds!

Cooking with Animal Fats

I had a long-winded draft of this post written and I really hated it so I'm just going to get right down to it: animal fats are very good for cooking with!

Growing up when margarine was still considered healthy, even the word "lard" was enough to induce gagging when we heard it as kids, though I didn't really know what it even was - it just sounded gross. But fast forward into adulthood where I started saving the bacon fat for frying eggs, which turned out to be a gateway.

I don't like the strong smell of beef tallow so I rarely use it unless I have some extra from making soup, but pork lard and chicken fat (chicken fat is commonly referred to as "schmaltz") are

Lard actually doesn't have much of a flavour (you could use it in sweet applications like pie crust), but schmaltz is definitely very chickeny which is great especially if you're browning onions etc. to eventually use in soup with a chicken broth base. Baked oven fries or hashbrowns are very, very good when you use animal fat. I am definitely prone to bastardize classically vegan dishes like falafel by frying in pork lard.

I cook a lot of vegetarian meals which can be made to taste richer when the base fat is chicken or pork. Animal fat also has a much higher smoke point than vegetable fat which means you are less likely to burn things if you are sauteeing/frying/roasting at high heat. It also makes whatever you're cooking MUCH crispier and (in my opinion) less greasy than vegetable fat frying.

I am not against vegetable oils, which have their place, but I am definitely over using extra virgin olive oil as the base for everything. Olive oil tastes like olives, folks. Not everything needs to taste like olives!

It is easy-ish to collect small amounts of animal fat from your cooking to use later but only if you are doing things like homemade stock on a regular basis. I wouldn't buy it from the grocery store because I've heard, for example, that lard sold for pie crust purposes has been altered a bit to make it more solid. Luckily in Saskatoon (and most of Saskatchewan) it's not too difficult to come by a variety of simply rendered animal fats from very cleanly and humanely raised animals. Cool Springs Ranch sells pork, beef, and chicken fat for about $9/litre through their monthly pickup program and I will vouch for the great quality and flavour. While I haven't purchased from them, Farm One Forty(/Odla Restaurant) also sells pork lard and I'd assume it to be of similar quality. I'd guess some of the health food stores probably carry animal fats from local producers, but don't go driving around the city on my assumption only.

We have been using animal fats pretty regularly in our home cooking for several years. While I'm not here to defend it nutritionally, I haven't found it to be "bad for me" in any measurable quantity. What it does do very obviously is improve the quality of our homemade meals!