Chinese! (part III of Vancouver!)

1+ month later, I think these are the last photos of my trip to Vancouver: a beautiful, cloudless morning in Chinatown.

This giant abacus was right next to our parking spot on the street.


We visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Garden. The guided tour was actually really interesting. Our guide explained how the garden creators used light and dark, round and square, to create different visual effects. He explained that viewpoints were very important.

For example, we stood for a while in this beautiful spot.


Then the guide had us look through the circular door to a beautiful view on the other side.


We then walked through the door, turned around, and saw the same garden as a completely different scene.


Reflections of nature and structures were also a running theme. Depending on what side of the water you were standing on, you would see a completely different scene because either nature or man-made structures were prominently reflected.


I think I would be happy with a Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Garden of my very own.


Here's a Chinatown street view.


I thought the principles of yin and yang were reflected well in this store display. What you can't see is that they bobble back and forth.

Nature! (Part II of Vancouver!)

Although it rained for an entire day when my sisters, mom and I went to Vancouver, we did get some good time in with nature.

We went to a suspension bridge (there were 2: one cost $35, the other was not quite as high and not quite as long cost $0 - I'll let you guess which one we went to). The colors of everyone's coats are almost as beautiful as the fall leaves.








We took many walks and drives around Stanley Park. Here is a view from part of Vancouver from the park.




On the day that happened to be warm and sunny, we had trips to 2 parks planned. Pictured here is Queen Victoria Park, including a photo of the Vancouver skyline. The other park, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Memorial Garden, will be featured in the future Vancouver! vignette Chinese!

Garden Variety

Last night we had a delicious Spinach Basil Pesto, made with basil from our garden. It turned out much better than some other basil dishes we had earlier in the year. That's because earlier this year I was actually cutting Impatiens from our garden, not basil.

Story:

This summer was my first attempt at a garden. We planted several pots of herbs, and, because we had leftover soil and pots, also planted a few flowers. Everything was from seed, so I was excited to see what the plants would look like as they grew. The basil was doing well, and so were my flowers.

After a few weeks, the basil looked old enough to cut, as a garnish for our pizza or spaghetti. It didn't add very much flavor, though. I was disappointed.

Time passed.

I noticed that my flowers were looking more and more like my basil. In fact, basil seemed to be springing up in all of my pots. Then I noticed that there were 2 subtly different looking plants growing in my basil pot.

And that's when I knew: some of these plants were not basil. And I was pretty sure whatever wasn't basil was Impatiens. Finally, turning on my Cub Scout Commissioner/Forestry Merit Badge Counselor skills, I noted that one of the plants had "opposite" growing leaves and the other had "alternate" growing leaves - one of the basic traits to look for in plant identification. A few Google searches confirmed that we had been eating our Impatiens as garnish.

So last night, I was confident that it was basil I snipped and put into this lovely recipe.

Spinach Pesto

Ingredients:
10 ounces torn spinach leaves
2 garlic cloves, halved
3 tablespoons pine nuts (I didn't used these)
3 bunches fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp. salt
hot, cooked linguini

Preparation:
Place a few spinach leaves, garlic, pine nuts, basil and a little oil in blender or food processor container. Cover and puree until leaves begin to look crushed. Continue adding spinach leaves a few at a time with small amounts of oil to blender, using a rubber spatula to help to combine pureed mixture. Add Parmesan cheese and 1/8 tsp. salt. Cover and process until spinach pesto mixture is smooth.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain in colander. Serve with the spinach pesto sauce.

I also added sauteed mushrooms.

A Fleeting Moment of Photos

After on-and-off (mostly off) experiences with our camera batteries, we purchased new ones last night. This morning I loaded up the new juice and downloaded the few photos we've managed to take since March. While clearing the camera's memory, it died again. So it wasn't the batteries' fault after all. Which means we're in the market for a new camera.

It's a mixed blessing. We got this camera discounted at $50 (good), but noticed that its sensitive point-and-click meant that whenever other people tried to take photos of us the pictures were always blurry (bad).

Anyone have camera suggestions? We're looking for something very affordable that takes decent pictures.

I am glad I got to capture the photos still in its memory. I should probably space out posting them over the next few weeks, since we're in for another dry spell while we camera shop. But I'm the kind of person who liked to eat her peanut butter cups in 2 big bites, to get the undiluted flavor/texture experience, so here goes. (Plus, there aren't many photos to begin with...)



This is from an Easter walk. Notice my many layers.


Mothers' Day was much more agreeable. Here you can notice how long my hair is getting. I haven't cut it since the fall.


Mothers' Day still. This is a flower. To remind me that Michigan can be beautiful.


Further evidence of Michigan's beauty. This is the Huron River, at a park about 5 minutes' drive from our house.


In June, Cub Scout Commissioner Erin with her plant identification field notebook (oak leaves), in preparation for teaching the forestry merit badge to the 11-yr-old scouts.


Abe 2 weeks ago, planting seeds for our herb garden. Notice his new buzz cut.


Erin preparing more pots for the herb garden. The soil at Lowe's only came in gigantic bags, so we ended up with about 10 pots of chives, dill, cilantro, oregano, parsley, basil, lettuce, and impatients.


The sowed pots. I've been a little worried about them getting enough sunlight and Abe's been a little worried about me forgetting to water (I tried growing a very small box of herbs last year and didn't water them for about a month, and then let them sit out until December).