you are what you love

Farewell 2011

2012-01-02T02:00:00Z

Happy New Year! Our 2011 was so out of the ordinary for us, it was enjoyable but challenging at times. I am so grateful for the experience of moving to a new country and working for Free People, but I am also a bit relieved to be back in Canada (for some complicated reasons). I will miss Philadelphia, my awesome job, and all the people there. But we are looking forward to reconnecting with friends here as well.

I am invigorated, and I hope to do a lot more this year, now that I have the freedom to work freelance and the time to do some great projects on the side (I have many ideas, and a few in the works). I don't know how I managed to find the time to make a Christmas/New Year's Card this year, but somehow it happened (inspired by Amanda's Year in Review). It's a little summary of how we spent our year, read on to see it in photos.

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This year was such a good cooking year for us, what with not having the means to go out all the time... this is one of our first yummy meals of the year. Doesn't look like much, but it's our interpretation of bahn mi (roast pork, coriander and carrot with sriracha mayo on a homemade egg bun).

We visited New York City, many times (about 6). Here's us visiting for the first time, at an exhibit at the NYPL.

And our excited goofy faces (it was quite cold also in January).

Being in a multicultural neighbourhood, it was fun to find things like Mexican Coca Cola, which has sugar instead of corn syrup.

We made a house for Fyo with all the boxes from stuff we bought on the internet. (We'll miss you, American Amazon.com)

I made a dress.

Went on walks around our neighbourhood all the time, where there were a lot of interesting little art pieces every where you look.

We studied the Joy of Cooking, which is now our favourite and most used cookbook.

Visited Three Potato Four!

Visited Manayunk, a really sweet neighbourhood on a hill.

Caught this awesome scene, a man painting fallen sakura blossoms on a narrow side street.

Walked by this cheerful house countless times.

We gardened on our roof.

The cat was fat and happy.

I threw a surprise party for Jory's 25th birthday, and everyone visited by bus (and plane). It was such a great time!

Visited Atlantic City, set foot in the ocean, and tried salt water taffy.

Here we are inside one of the malls along the boardwalk, this mall was very sparkly and had a waterfountain light show every hour. Looks a bit like glow in the dark mini putt.

It felt really nice to visit new places.

Had some frozen yogurt--on some of the hottest days. Philadelphia was much warmer than we are used to.

Watched the squirrels frolicking in Washington Square Park.

Part II to come in a bit...

We spent New Years Eve making Hot Pot and enjoying it at our temporary home with Amy and Diego (siblings in law). We watched the I.T. Crowd, played Soul Calibur (yes, we're a bit geeky). Toasted to midnight and threw some snaps off the front porch (in lieu of firecrackers). It was lovely!

Eastern State Penitentiary

2011-11-21T17:00:00Z

This was supposed to be a Halloween post, but of course, other things came up. In October, my Mom, Nana, and Papa came down to visit us for (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner, and we had such a great time. We are all food obsessed and we had so much to eat--Thanksgiving dinner, the Junkyard special from Sarcone's, some Tamales from a lady at the market, we made some Alligator (yes, deep-fried, tastes just like chicken), seafood jambalaya, and some apple cider doughnuts.

Non food-related, we took a trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary up in the Fairmount neighbourhood. It wasn't for the haunted house, though it's supposed to be the scariest in the US and I don't think I could handle it... It was a really amazing space, beautiful in an eerie, decaying kind of way.

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Papa, Mom, Jory -- It was a really quiet trip because we all walked around with the audio tour on, which was narrated by Steve Buscemi, to which Jory and I said "yesssss!!!" when we started.

The cells were in all kinds of disarray, each one was different. Some were restored but the ones that weren't were prettier. Up top is a little tiny window to let some light in.

A little view out to some greenery.

One hallway had two stories of cells, amazing! You were allowed to climb up to the second level to take a look.

If you look closely, can you see the ghost cat? It's just ceramic though, they are part of an art exhibit and are scattered all around (this is just one of the many art exhibits, which were a nice added touch).

Here ghost kitty kitty...

Al Capone's cushy cell.

A little art installation/display featuring collected insects.

A Phillies appearance of course.

A soft cell, art exhibit with everything in the cell knitted over. Looks almost cozy!

A mirrored video exhibit next to Al Capone's cell; footage from Capone's admirers waiting outside to see him when he was released.

And this whole trip my Nana was doing so so well, walking a record amount with only a few breaks here and there! I will never forget this visit.

The end! If you get a chance, it is definitely worth seeing. This picture is actually outside Sarcone's, where we bought the full-sized Junkyard special (to share) that was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Tonight for our one year anniversary we're going to the Dandelion for fish and chips, which were also on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Delicioussss.

I'll miss you

2011-11-08T03:30:12Z

Back to work today after a whole week off, but it wasn't for a vacation unfortunately... Last Friday my Nana went into the hospital, and when I got there to see her on Saturday, she was already gone.

It was a shock, and yet it wasn't--she had been battling breast cancer for over a year, and it just kept spreading. She was only 66 years old. It feels strange, because she seemed to be doing so well. It's scary how someone with so much life can just die. She managed to hide a lot of her pain from us, always worrying about everyone but herself. She decided she did not want to fight for her life, and after her kidneys failed, she slipped off peacefully holding the hands of her children, Laurie (my mom) and Johnny (my uncle).

I think she was truly happy and content at this point in her life, and that must have made it easier for her to be at peace with this decision, however hard it is for her loved ones. The last time I saw her was in Philadelphia, when everyone came down to visit for an early Thanksgiving dinner, just one month ago.

We had a perfect time.

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The last time I talked to her was on the phone, a week earlier, and we talked for two hours. Of course, I wish I could talk to her now, there is so much I would ask. We talked about her genealogy, which I am working on and was planning to give to her as a book for Christmas. I told her how I found photos of her grandparents, and her great grandparents, and told her stories about them I found in old newspapers. She never got to see the photos but I know how happy it would have made her.

She never really knew that much about her family--when she was two years old her birth mother, Lila, passed away and she was informally adopted by another family. She was raised by them, the youngest in the family with much older siblings and parents. She didn't know she was adopted until she got married, when her sister pointed out her real last name.

She finally knew who the "pretty lady" was in the picture she carried around, a photo of her as a baby held by her mother. She always wanted to know more about her mother, and there has always been a photo of her mother (above) hanging on the wall above her favourite spot on the sofa. Years later, after being separated for 39 years, she was contacted by a long lost brother, one of four siblings from her birth family. They were each taken in by different families after being separated from their mother. She soon got to meet with her brother (below) and three sisters, together again after all that time.

My Nana was a remarkable woman, with a remarkable story. She had a hard life at times, but she was such a happy and caring person that she got through it all unscathed. She is one of my favourite people, we have always been very close, I am even her namesake--my mom loved the name Aprile. She lavished all her attention on her grandkids (me, and Carly, and newly Emma). Jory and I were married at her house last year, I spent so much time at that house as a kid it feels the most like home. She was such a special person, and talented, her and my Papa made a beautiful pair. This week I heard the story of how they met, but I'll save it for another time.

Aprile Marline Konderka 1945 - 2011

State of Michigan

2011-10-28T00:13:54Z

I have been doing a little fun project lately (it's actually more of a giant project, I don't know why I called it little). I am researching my family's geneaology, more specifically my Nana's family. She was adopted when she was two years old so she doesn't know much about her family history, so I have been having some fun looking into it. I have gotten QUITE far and I will share some visual progress with you in a bit. Turns out both sides ended up in Michigan for a while, so I have been reading up on Michigan and finding old documents (and do I ever love old documents). Google Books has proved pretty useful, and every once I stumble upon something very beautiful--like this "Michigan Manual" with it's swirly handdrawn type. Just thought I would share, hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

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via Michigan Manual on Google Books

Terrain at Styer's

2011-09-30T15:45:00Z

I have been looking forward to visiting Terrain for so long! It's a good 40 minutes out of the city though, so we haven't had the chance (without a car). This past weekend Jory's parents came to visit, and I convinced them it would be a great little trip and that they would love it. And they did! We walked around and window shopped, had lunch at the café, and luckily it was a really beautiful sunny day.

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Autumn colours everywhere!

I loved this poster and thermometer.

Indoors, awesome farm table and chairs. (and that little red light is cute)

Clever chalkboard display for hardware.

Tartan! Everyone loved that super soft blanket in the middle.

Dishtowels (I love Terrain because of all the kitchen stuff, mostly)

Weck canning jars on mint green shelves.

Shelves with plants and little red accents.

Outdoors in the garden center area.

Back inside! A display all about tulips, with bulbs for sale.

In the café area, where we sat to wait for a table.

Bottle lights and grain sack curtains.

Jory's parents (aka my inlaws!) entertaining themselves with cookbooks.

As per my request, Jory posing with a pumpkin pig (or some kind of giant squash?)

It was a great little trip! The food was amazing, I had the mac and "local" cheese and cauliflower fritters (of which we had two servings of and is something I will definitely try to make at home). I also had an iced peppermint tea au lait. Other things we tried were the butternut squash risotto, and mushroom soup. And the bread came in terra-cotta pots with some delicious butter. I would love to go again, I wanted to buy everything!

Some work for FP

2011-09-19T17:00:00Z

I have been wanting to share some of my work at Free People for a while, and I have finally gotten around to collecting some of it (we're busy over here!). Here are some emails and gateways (for the website) I have worked on over the last little while (from April to July, we'll call this part one)

Above is a gateway with instruction for tying scarves, April 2011.

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April 2011.

May 2011 (not used, but I still love it!)

May 2011.

June 2011.

July 2011.

July 2011.

Hope you liked seeing them, if you aren't already a FP email subscriber!

fishtown

2011-08-19T17:00:00Z

Sometimes I photograph our bi-weekly walk to the Urban Farm to pick up our CSA share, in Fishtown. Fishtown is mainly residential, but there are still some very industrial parts of it on the fringe, as well as on the main streets (Girard and Frankford). It is currently on the mend, and being gentrified. The nightlife is popular, and many of my coworkers live in this area.

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We considered living here in one of the many loft spaces available, but it's a bit too car-friendly. It's about a 15 minute walk (there and back) for us to Greensgrow every other Saturday, from subway to farm. Which isn't bad, but it's also dreadfully hot and the fact that it is full of shiny metal objects (i.e. cars) doesn't help its temperature.

Frankford Hall Beer Garden.

A sealed up building.

A nice house in the area.

Like I said, still working on the gentrification.

A lovely house, set back from the street.

Industrial remnants.

The typical rowhouses in the neighbourhood. Hard to get a picture of them without all the cars. Though, our neighbourhood is full of cars too, it's definitely a car city.

There are a lot of corner houses, and if they're not residential they are corner delis (what we are used to calling corner stores).

Many of the houses have this same fish number sign, some have their own custom iron fish signage.

Here in America.... Just like in our neighbourhood, people love to decorate their windows and outside their houses. Graduation was a big one, and here is a "Miss America" birthday. Made us smile... kind of crazy. So far we have seen Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, general religious paraphernalia, and I am now wondering with slight excitement what Halloween will look like.

Corner house.

An industrial building, that little green sign says "Fox Foundry."

Greensgrow, our urban farm.

Philadelphians have this obsession with block parties we don't really understand. Residents close off whole streets and put up tents, and have parties that last late into the night sometimes. Are they allowed to do this? It's so interesting. On fourth of July they were everywhere, it seems like a typical way to celebrate in the city.

This reminds me of some buildings in Toronto, in the entertainment district. I really like this style of building.

I couldn't get a good picture of these neat looking house, probably a converted garage. Converting spaces is popular here, as there is a lot of affordable industrial space to go around. At work, our creative director Doub has done exactly this.

Buildings reminiscent of Manayunk.

I think this is my dream house, love the barn doors.

A little cactus patch.

A view from above, from the subway line which travels above the street.

park day, part II

2011-08-04T21:45:00Z

After relaxing and walking in Central Park for half the day, we made our way to the Lower East Side and Chinatown by subway. I really wanted to go there after reading the book 97 Orchard, which I really loved reading. It's about a tenement house, its immigrant residents over the years, and their cooking habits. There is actually a whole museum at 97 Orchard Street, the Tenement Museum. I kind of wanted to go, but it was $20 each per tour, and I already know all about it. So we visited the store across the street, and the neighbourhood instead. Apologies in advance for the crazy amount of pictures...

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Reading about it has got me really interested in the history of New York, I love that its history is still visible almost everywhere you go.

I have never heard of Earnest Sewn before, but I really love their store design.

We stopped by the Doughnut Plant in the area to have an amazing midday snack. We had a blueberry, a creme brulee, and a chocolate.

We wanted to sit down at a park or something to eat them but they were so good we ate them while walking.

It was such a nice day, even though it called for rain. I think it did rain, but we were too busy watching Another Earth at Sunshine Cinema.
(We were so tired from walking around for 8 hours that we decided to see a movie and rest up for the remainder of the evening.)

We made our way to the water, and walked along it until we found the High Line.

At this point, we were running a little late for our bus, luckily the High Line led right to our bus stop!

I love the Van Leeuwen ice cream truck.

We could have done this to relax instead of a movie, but the movie was worth it.

All the pictures I took on the High Line are a bit blurry, because we were speed walking through.

We made it on time, at 9 pm.

It was such a nice day, and I just want to do it all over again. I used to think I wouldn't like New York, but the more I get to know it the more I do. Now I love New York just like everyone else... It has certainly charmed me!

Central Park

2011-07-29T16:30:00Z

We had a nice time in New York yesterday, much of which turned out to be a park day. Our first stop (as usual) was Kinokuniya to pick up some gifts and check out some pens. Then we crossed over to Bryant Park to have a seat and decide where to go next. Then we walked to Central Park.

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This is where we relaxed and talked, ate our lunch, and just enjoyed the warm but mild weather. (It's much cooler in New York than in Philadelphia). For lunch we picked up some chicken and falafel from a nearby stand, some iced tea from a newstand, and some nectarines from a fruit stand.

It was all delicious (but my chicken wrap was hard to eat) and we ate it sitting on one of the many giant rocks. It reminded me of eating lunch at the rock in Yorkville in Toronto, not so long ago.

Hi!

The rocks are a popular attraction.

We talked about how High Park in Toronto is modelled after Cenral Park, and the similarities, but we don't know enough of High Park to really compare.

Central Park is much busier, definitely attracting a lot of tourists. This street through it was like a little fair almost, with artists, musicians, ice cream stands, and mini performances here and there.

I loved these rounded benches.

Then we got to the quieter part, the walking trails. It was nice and cool and quiet.

We could see the fountain from the other side, and all the people canoeing.

Nearing the end of our Central Park visit, but we also visited High Line Park later that day. (At least three parks in one day. Excessive?) What a good way to spend the summer, though, in parks. And New York has some amazing parks!

As of late

2011-07-26T14:00:00Z

I take a lot of pictures, but some of them don't really tell much of a story. I thought I would share a few of what has been surrounding us lately. Above is from a recent trip to New York, where I hardly ever take any pictures for some reason. But I think we might head over this weekend for the sole purpose of exploring and photographing.

]]> This picture is from our day trip to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn. It's a comic book store we visited after grabbing dinner across the street (next picture). Jory picked up a copy of Garden, which Jacob bought when he visiting us in May. To be fair it was a rainy day, which is why I took around 3 pictures...

We had dinner at M Noodle Shop, simple and pretty delicious. Jory had lo mein and I had barbecue pork soup.

Jory, underground in the elegant NY Metro.

Back to Philadelphia now, here is some frozen yogurt we enjoyed from Phileo on South Street.

A neat house, the ones set back from the street among the rowhouses always jump out at you the most.

Beautiful bay windows and fire escape.

1793, historic plaque near Washington Square West.

Squirrels leaping about in Washington Square Park (which is a pretty nice place for picnics).

Pretty polishing sign in Society Hill.

Boats at Penn's Landing, where it does not cool down just because it is near water, learned the hard way.

Kennett Restaurant in Queen Village, love the sign.

Some strange colourful houses in our neighbourhood.

I love history, and this makes Philadelphia such a wonderful place to wander around in.

Last summer vs. This summer

2011-07-24T15:51:38Z

Last year we had the most amazing, fruitful, and food-filled summer. I think back to it so fondly and it seems like it was so far away, visiting cottages and spending time in Niagara with family. We spent time at Nana and Papa's garden picking blackberries, hot peppers, garlic and tomatoes, and snacking on meat from Papa's homemade smoker. We visited a little blueberry farm, and canned peaches and pears with my mom. Oh, and we made a million jars of jam which everyone got as Christmas gifts.

It was also the summer of our "food blog" which we started but couldn't keep up with. I admire everyone who has a food blog, the effort it takes to make food is enough, but to document it every step of the way?! We might try it again someday, but for now I have already got enough blogging projects on the go.

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Soon I would like to have a blueberry bush of my own.

This summer has been awesome as well, in a different way. The heat is insane (and I miss the slightly less hot Canadian climate) but it's done wonders for our garden which is the best we have ever had. The cat loves coming outside onto the roof with us, her favourite place it this shady alcove near the kitchen window. She likes to chirp at the birds.

Take a peek at our garden just a few months ago in May, and you'll see that it has changed significantly. Our makeshift garden now looks pretty real. We shifted some things around to focus on some larger plants, and added two big plastic buckets (cheap, from Target) for them to set down real roots in.

We finished off our first batch of lettuces and spinach, and I recently planted a few new seeds of green leaf lettuce for a second crop. Gone are the bok choy which attracted a lot of little bugs (haven't had much of a bug problem anymore, and from the looks of it we have a lot of spiders). The coriander and dill is gone as well, we ate some, lost some to over-maturity, and made more room for our more important Thai basil and green onions. The catnip plant is drying in the kitchen (cat loves to chew on the dried leaves more than the fresh ones), and the carrots were stolen by some birds or squirrels.

Talking about our garden like this makes me feel like I know what I'm doing!

These little peppers which we thought were going to become full green peppers for a while, stayed small and turned yellow, then orange, then red. I picked all the red ones yesterday to make some chili coriander relish (and canned it!). There are still at least 30 little hot peppers on this plant.

And our tomato plant is amazing, what a difference it makes when you pay close attention to a few plants instead of the million we planted in the beginning. It's tree-like now almost, and we had to prop it up with sticks.

Look at this little baby! I tried counting them this morning but lost count at SIXTY! They are about the size of plums. We've tasted a few so far and they are a rich red colour and extremely flavourful compared to store bought tomatoes.

Our strawberry plant is growing like a weed, but as we learned they don't give much fruit in their first year. We got two tiny little strawberries from it, and they were delicious but I want more!!!

Here is the new crop of lettuce, planted from seed one week ago. Growing fast! I feel like everyone in Philadelphia should have a garden, the weather is so good for it.

So I can't really compare this summer to last, but I do wish we had the advantage of a car so we could visit the many farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And summer is nice but I really can't wait for fall... cooler weather and some fruit canning (with the Italian market as my invaluable resource for affordable seconds).

Now that I think of it, I should post more about our food adventures right here.

Kinfolk Magazine

2011-07-13T02:53:48Z

I am so excited to be collaborating with the new Kinfolk magazine! Such a beautiful idea, this magazine is all about spending time with those close to you--it's about those simple, intimate gatherings. I will be doing some blogging for their journal, check out my first post!

images via Odette NY.

unimaginable charm

2011-06-21T15:29:53Z

1. all saints, 2. aperfectcommotion, 3. Mark Wickens via Misspaq, 4. ... , 5. Historic Portland Maine,
6. Fisher Bikes, 7. librislunaria, 8. Hound Design.

Taking the bus from Philadelphia to Portland, Maine. Renting bikes for the weekend to ride to our campsite (40 minutes away). Visiting a city I have always wanted to visit. Enjoying fresh food from the ocean, and the land. A quiet, relaxing time with my very best friend.

I have been doing a lot of daydreaming lately, I will let you know if I end up making this dream a reality! (Though our resources may not allow it...)

Quote from Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

boardwalk empire

2011-06-15T13:00:00Z

This will be my second post tagged "travel," which is basically accurate to the amount of globetrotting I have done in my life. But that number is slowly growing, because I am making a concerted effort to get out more and add new cities to the list. My US state count, in case you were wondering, is 4. While I am at it, I might as well tell you my embarrassing Canadian province count, which is 1. A great thing about Philadelphia is all of the interesting cities nearby that are clustered together, everything a short bus or train ride away.

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We took the New Jersey regional train, which was about an hour and a half ride, and only $10! We walked quite a bit on this trip (counted it later, around 15k) feeling the need to explore everything--I am glad Jory shares my city curiosity.

I think Boardwalk Empire is what made me want to visit, of course I didn't actually know what to expect. I didn't expect the elaborate early 20th century style and architecture, or romantic atmosphere from the show, but I also didn't have any other ideas in mind. I prefer to approach a new place with little preconceived notions of what it might be like. (I tend to start books and movies this way too, always ending up more satisfied with what I find)!

So the real Atlantic City didn't charm me like a scene straight out of Boardwalk Empire would have, but I enjoyed a few firsts here--salt water taffy (of course), real crab meat (yes, really), and stepping foot in the ocean for the first time! For people who are surprised by this, well, Southern Ontario isn't exactly on the ocean.

The place reminded us--if I'm going to compare it to anything--of Niagara Falls a bit, especially Lundy's Lane and the outlet malls. (Also of a never-ending carnival, with those trucks selling delicious fresh cut fries).

Above, some birds fighting over food. Now these were real sea gulls I guess... They were enormous.

Salt water taffy, which was kind of melty on this hot summer day.

There were a couple salt water taffy places, which were cute and held on to their historic roots, with charming window displays and keeping the original word marks on the signage.

This was a family oriented arcade, lots of gambling for children was present, kind of a weird vibe (seeing kids use slot machines). But it was also for adults, with prizes along the wall like Snuggies and small household appliances.

We didn't go swimming, but we took a walk on the beach, here's Jory in his sandal shoes. We walked around with shoes full of sand for the rest of the day... Worth it.

We wandered back and forth along the boardwalk, then visited a tourist center to look for a place to eat. I saw this menu for a restaurant at "Historic Gardner's Basin" which was a little ways away, but we were willing to walk to it. So that was our next item on the agenda!

Now, the surrounding areas go a little downhill, we explored parts of the city where tourists don't usually end up (at least not walking, maybe by car). But it wasn't too intimidating and it was so interesting to see the juxtaposition of "corporate wealth" and modest housing. There was a giant (and I mean giant) casino being built right next to a group of still occupied homes... I can't see those being there too much longer.

We reached a part in the boardwalk that was sectioned off, aka closed to tourists, so we ventured into the streets. We thought this sign was kind of great--a little over enthusiastic, I'd say.

Later we found that the boardwalk continues, and that the locals use it exclusively for fishing. So we took up our path there and continued along the much less maintained parts of the boardwalk.

Here's an area that is boarded up, the wood is rotting quite a bit, boards missing, and a lamppost had fallen into it.

Finally we end up at our destination, "Historic Gardner's Basin" which, did not really meet our expectations of a quaint seaside village. It consisted of a few wood buildings and a parking lot, two restaurants and this aquarium. We found the restaurant and were happy anyway because we were starving. And it was time to eat some fresh food from the ocean!

The view from our table was nice, fishing boats and ocean-front homes, with their doors opening right onto the water. They all had garages built underneath them for parking their boats.

On our way back, we caught sight of what could be the only pre-1900s building in the city.

Mixed up with some clubs and adult entertainment... 25¢!

I loved the signage for the outlet mall area. This is what I wanted the rest of the city to feel like!

Uh, yeah. Some fake history around the casinos.

It's too bad we didn't stay later, it is probably a beautiful place all lit up at night.

So glad we went, while at times it felt strange to us, we love the experience. Next time we will be exploring the south half of Atlantic City, or maybe venturing all the way down to Ocean city. We'll see!

up the mountain

2011-05-30T16:42:21Z

Finally finished this collage I have been working on for a while, I had to search high and low for the pieces I was looking for. I need to get back to collaging!