I had a tasty time being a part of the judging team for the diverse array of chilis and salsas at the
Medicine Hat Annual Downtown Chili Cook-off on Saturday. It was strangely intense as we sat in a room above 2nd Street with bowls and spoons, our pens scratching away at the pile of score sheets in front of us. I felt a bit like the odd "man" out, I was easily the youngest person there and one of only 4 women. I felt outnumbered by city councillors and Rotarians (I'm assuming they were Rotarians, they were wearing t-shirts that identified them as such!). After two hours of smelling and tasting, I decided that I still like my homemade chili recipe the best (maybe next year I should enter it into the contest!); and although the
winning salsa was a refreshing blend of mangos, cilantro, onions and peppers, my home-canned tomato-based salsa is still what I would reach for when making nachos or tacos. I hope that all of you that went downtown on Saturday enjoyed the event and will come back next year, it looked like everyone was having a great time.
As for the previous weekend's
garden tour? It was hot! I had to drink my weight in water when I got home in order to recover from the relentless sun and heat. The yards were so sensational that I felt a bit depressed about my own when I got home. To top it off, I discovered that some kind of pest has taken up residence in the tree in the front yard which has caused the death of some leaves and possibly some branches. I think the branches need to be cut off and burnt, as I'm assuming it's a worm of some kind that has spun the freaky webs on the branches. I'm hoping it's not a spider, 'cause I sure wouldn't want to see the size of spider it would take to spin those webs!
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The picture is not that great
as the flash lightens the
colours too much,
but without the flash you
couldn't see it at all. |
Here's what I did in my spare time last week (by spare time I mean while I was monitoring the kid's bath time, stolen moments throughout the day, and after the kids were in bed when I should have been sleeping.) It's actually only 4 inches square, and was quite quick and easy. My next cross stitch project is much larger and will probably take a lot longer.
I'm finding needlepoint be the just-right amount of mindless occupation for my hands when I'm thinking or talking about something else. So I guess I have something in common with
Penelope Trunk now. This is also why I am able to tolerate playing Skip-Bo or dominoes (I hate almost all games), you can do it while drinking coffee and visiting, since it only requires a modicum of attention. And here I thought I couldn't multi-task!
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