Growing My Hair

I like having a pixie, but it has occurred to me that it is incredibly impractical for my line of work. So last night I decided to let it grow. I have had short hair for about 5 months now, if I am not mistaken, and I had pretty long hair before that. So I have been at both extremes and I do this periodically. I let my hair grow and at some point I just decide to cut it all off. And right now I want my hair just long enough to quickly pull it together into a ponytail for the clinic or on lazy Sundays when I just don't feel like walking around with a bed head but really do not feel like doing anything more with my hair.

At this stage I am almost due for a haircut anyway, which I am just going to skip and allow my hair to grow for a few more weeks. I can only recommend patience, lots of water and exercise. These are simple things that will be crucial to letting your hair grow out along with regular maintenance and care as you would anyway. There is no miracle, no elves, no potion that will make your hair suddenly grow out. And I know that this takes months and the process feels awful, especially in the beginning, but its doable. and I am going to try and document this from time to time with little tips as I go.
So I would like to end this with one little tip: blow drying hair really does help it fall better. This is a step that I don't normally have time for in my busy day to day morning routine, but especially as my bangs get longer I have tried to take the three minuets to at least blow dry my bangs into place so that I am not tempted to shave my head. And it has made a huge difference.
Until next time!

The IKEA affair

I love ikea! I con to explains why, but apparently I am not alone. For me it is not the food, or even the furniture itself really, it's more going through all of the rooms and getting inspiration for the interior designation of my room and any future apartments I might one day decorate. Also there is something about the little things: there are a few little things from ikea that I own that are not fancy in any way shape or form but I absolutely love them. My big problem with ikea is that much of the furniture in particular, is designed to be cheep. This means it is not expensive to buy now, but won't hold for a very long time. And some of the furniture is really nice, but this is out of my price range although I had to mention it because it really is not all crap and I don't want to make it sound that way. Recently I went to ikea with my roomie, and to be precise we needed two trips before we truly had everything we needed but I am getting off topic. We were successful and I bought new cushion covers of the sofa which look wonderful and I bought an entirely new pillow for my bed, a bookshelf for my room and a kitchen cupboard along with a few nick knacks.

The furniture mentioned is all basic stuff, nothing out of the ordinary or fancy. Almost a little plain. So particularly the white kitchen cupboard needed a little personal touch. 

This is all just acrylic paint on the cheapest fronts we were able to find sealed with a clear acrylic sealer. The results are definitely my style and fit into our eclectic kitchen. I love it! So thank you ikea for the basics that, combined with a little time and effort, allow me to own unique, interesting, and affordable furniture. 

Until next time, Eva Mathilde
P.S. the cupboard still needs to be mounted, I  just got too excited to wait since I had finished painting it. And the bookshelf gets to keep a sleek simplicity as it is the direction I plan to go as I am paining a few other furniture pieces in my bedroom. So stay tuned for some pictures there.

Fermentation takes on a whole new angle with fermented beverages

My kombucha is still being weird and doesn't seem to want to grow an actual SCOBY although it does taste and smell like the right bacteria is having a blast. But my patience comes a little easier since I started trying to make as natural sodas using fermentation.

Left to right: Maracuja, Ginger-Lemon, Ginger-Orange

I did a fair amount of research and started by making a ginger bug. This was the easiest process  and mine was not particularly picky. Once the process started a few days in, it was very clear to see what various bloggers were talking about when they described to process. The post I used from Wellness Mama has very easy to follow instructions that I then changed ever so slightly to accommodate my far smaller scale batch. And all you need is Ginger, Sugar (in my experience white sugar worked best), water and a glass jar. 

To start I combined about 1.5 tablespoons on grated ginger with 1.5 tablespoons sugar and a generous cup of water and cover lightly to allow to ferment. Now, I fed my mixture about once every other day and after about 5 days I had a culture that was probably already ready to use, but I left it out for another day before refrigerating to be safe. This is obviously subject to vary depending on temperature and surrounding conditions. 

Once this was done the actual soda is just tea, juice, infusion or cocktail of your choice plus some sugar for the bacteria and some of the liquid form the ginger bug. This would be the step where I completely disregarded the measurements and eyeballed the whole process. My first try was one with tea made from fresh ginger and lime juice. once that cooled I added about 2 tablespoons of sugar for 1.5L of liquid and then added a hearty swig of the ginger bug juice and let that sit with a coffee filter over the top for about 3 days before covering and letting it carbonate for another two days. This batch was less fizzy that I was hoping for, but the bottles pictured above are round two and they are looking very good. I decided to cover them lightly for about 2 days or until a few small bubbles collected around the top when I was checking them and them covered them. I also bought airtight bottles especially for this project because these release tops are practical and more reliable than regular old bottles. Also glass containers are always recommended for fermentation processes.

I have been having so much fun trying all of these and they are so much tastier than overly sweet store bought alternatives. If you try this let me know how it worked for you!

Why hello there. It's fall!

 It struck me that September is almost over and we are experiencing the first days of fall. Sadly the beautiful crisp days of fall have been spotted with quite a bit or rain here but but candles are out and comfy clothes are not only acceptable but stylishly practical. Watch out Man-sweaters, you are back in high demand! Not to mention that it is almost Friday and although I have a lot planned this weekend and so much to do in the very near future but I am an a high that I hope doesn’t end too soon. So I hope you are having an absolutely wonderful day too!

Quebec City

Saturday, August 16th

We arrived in the late afternoon and proceded to check into our bed and breakfast and then we went back into the city for dinner and tried to stay out of the rain as much as possible until the fireworks by the river started. 

Sunday, August 17th 

After breakfast we went to a pottery market in town. We had luch at a lovely bakery that our neighbor had recommended to us the afternoon before. After lunch we walked along a few touristy streets, which are always amusing in the limited doses that we choose to take them in. The afternoon was well spent exploring the old city with a short stop at the market by the old port. 

Monday, August 18th

The day started with a trip Beau Port and the waterfall out there. This was was an incredibly convenient destination as the bus that we always take into the city center also goes out this way in the outbound direction. The walk was not bad but not the hike we were secretly hoping for. It is also filled with tourists the whole way. In the afternoon we went back into the heart of Quebec for a stroll and dinner followed up by ice cream. We called it a night relatively early as we had big plans the next day that also had to be formed a little more concretely. 

Tuesday, August 19th 

This was the day we got the adventure with the Canadian wilderness! We found a bus that dropped us of at the Jacques-Cartier national park. To be more precise it dropped us on the other side of the highway with instructions on how we would get to the park itself and very vague directions as to where the bus would pick us up that afternoon. We also found out that as users of public transportation our best shot at getting to the main visitors center and the start of our planned trip would be to hitchhike there. And we did. We also got very lucky on the way back with the hitchhiking, but had quite the experience waiting for the bus that was quite late and came shortly after a bus from the same company drove right past us. 

Is summary: the hike was lovely and it seems like camping for a few days and trying various trails would be great. As non-drivers we learned quickly that there is a lot of time pressure since we are bound by rather unreliable public transportation. I do highly recommend the park, but I would recommend that anyone looking to go by bus be informed and warned that it may be quite the adventure. 

Wednesday, August 20th

In the morning we did our best to get out of the house early and made our way over to the botanical garden. It was very small but very nice al the same. My personal highlight was the section with vegetables since I have been trying to plant more and more producing plants and herbs on my balcony. 

In the afternoon we walked along the city wall and up to the citadel, but decided not to take a guided tour. We were however able to see the short version of the changing of the guards since the big ceremony is always at 10 am.  We then continued walking through the battlefields parc up to Le Musée national des beaux-atrs du Québec. By the time we got out we were all very hungry and had a lovely dinner at a restaurant that we found coincidentally on our way back into the old city. And finally we arrived just in time to see the last night of fireworks being held over the river. We found out soon after tht this was the last of a series that had been taking place in Quebec City throughout the last few weeks. 

Thursday, August 21st

We had a very nice lazy day. My brother and I walked along the old harbor and enjoyed the weather while our parents went to the museum of civilization. Afterwards we all met up and went out for a nice dinner. 

Friday, August 22nd 

For our last day in Canada we diced end to go back into a bit of wilderness and enjoy a very relaxed day canoeing and hiking back in the Jacques-Cartier national park. We learned a little something from our first trip and stayed a little closer to the bus stop. But we still had poor luck with the bus as it was almost an hour late and by that time it was very dark and sitting by the side of the highway that late is probably not the smartet move, but unavoidable for us. 

Nevertheless it was a wonderful finale to our vacation.  

Saturday, August 23ed 

We expected long day of bus rides, but had no idea just how long it would be. Sadly I think that greyhound has been reducing the quality of their services. And on Saturday we really saw a lack in crisis management when the bus from Boston was delayed at the boarder and in turn ours left an hour late. Long story short after our driver change our second driver seemed very in experienced and lost all of the time our first driver had made up and then some. This is too bad becuase my family has been taking the bus for years and it seems our world is continuing to push us to start driving.  

The photos used in both parts of the vacation posts were taken by me or my father with his Sony DSLR.

Thank you for reading! Until next time! 

A Week in Montreal

Sunday, August 9th 

We spent most of the day in the bus from Boston to Montreal. After arriving at our little air BnB apartment we went out for dinner and took a short stroll around the neighborhood where we were staying. 

Monday, August 10th 

We decided to enjoy the great weather and this followed:

I was able to take lots of pictures during our walk through the old Montreal. Which was complete with ice cream and sore feet by the time we got home. We cooked dinner at home and were all quite tired from the day. 

 

Tuesday, August 11th

On Tuesday we climbed Mont Royal. I was a little disappointed by the lack of hiking involved, but I suppose I should have known that it would not be too much to an outlook that seems to be quite popular. Afterwards we walked into the plateau and then Northeast towards la Marché Jean-Talon, which was a lovely walk of about 45min with plenty of stops at locations that interested us. We bought a fair amount of veggies and everything we neede to make ratatouille for dinner that night and fruits for breakfast for a few days.

Wednesday, August 12th

I went out for luch with my parents quite the plan to follow it up with a trip to the museum of contemporary art. We left my brother at home since he didn't want to come to the art museum. I don't have any pictures here because while we were having lunch the rain started to pour. And when we left the restaurant we thought we would try our luck and stroll through the city and took quite a long way that was not really in the direction to the meuseum. As the rain got stronger, however, we decided that we would rather got back to the apt and put on dry socks. We had quite a simple dinner back at the apartment and all watched the station agent as a family. 

Thursday, August 13th

We went to the insectarium and botanical garden here in Montreal. Both were really nice but I quickly left the insectarium when some school children came in because the place got quite loud with all the kids. The gardens were also lovely with the clear highlights of the piece we saw being the Japanese and Chinese gardens. 

Friday, August 14th 

In the early afternoon we went to the biosphere which is currently inhabited by an environmental meuseum. This was certainly fun, but at this point in my visits of environmental museums they are preaching to the Choir.   

In the evening we went to a theater festival in Lachine which was lovely, but due to ever less light these pictures are from the early acts. This festival was wonderful though. We don't speak a lot of French which provided a certain language barrier, but despite this and the rain we all thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra

Les Sœres Kif-Kif

Saturday, August 15th 

As I am wrighting all of this we are on the bus to Quebec City for our second and final week of family vacation. I'll see how the weather and the picture opportunities are when we arrive becuase the highway is not too interesting and the weather makes a very grey mood.

I will try to post a similar post about Quebec City in about a week. Maybe I will have learned something form this one. 

Thanks for reading! Until next time, 

Eva Mathilde 

A Small Tip

For anyone who knows the Bath & Bodyworks candles, you may recognize the glass. This is one that I cherished and tried to make last as long as I could since I don't think that they make the sandalwood vanilla scent anymore. But now the glass makes a great scenting jewlery box. This particular glass has a practical size and has a lid which is great, but you can use what you have around. A mason jar does quite nicely too, and they come in all sizes. 

I hang hook earrings around the sides and let all the smaller earrings and other pieces of jewlery that I take with me rest in the bottom.  And when I am moving on, I through everything in the bottom and put this scarf over it so that it all stays snugly in place and does not have too much empty space. 

I hope you enjoyed this repurposing idea! Until next time!