Lobster Shorts cooking

Vegetarian Charcuterie – The Quick and Easy Romantic Meal

Valentine’s Day landed in the middle of the week this year and I wanted to celebrate the day with something special. My spouse and I have a long commute and special generally takes time we don’t have. How does one make a romantic dinner that’s fast? Charcuterie!

This spread was fast and delicious, it was also expensive. It did last several more days and we had lots of leftovers. At the time of this post, grapes have been incredible. Super juicy with a crunchy snap…. superb. This charcuterie board took about 15 minutes to make and it was so good. The cutting/serving board was a handmade wedding gift from a friend and I love how long it is. Perfect for the task at hand, but any cutting board will work. The fruits, veggies, and pickles were put on plates and mason jars so they wouldn’t stain the board.

For My Board:

Grapes both red and green
Baby Carrots
Cherry Tomatoes
Baby Dill Garlic Pickles
Artichoke Carbonara Dip (Purchased from Vincenzo’s)
Walnut Fig Dip (Purchased from Vincenzo’s)
Boursin Cheese Herb and Garlic Spread
Mimolette Jeune Cheese
Havarti Habanero Cheese
Foil Wrapped Cheese (I don’t remember the brand)
Rice Crackers (plain salted, one with sesame seeds)
Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds
Salted Almonds

I loved everything but the foil-wrapped cheese. I can’t remember the brand, but it tasted plasticy and we didn’t like it. It was fun to try though. This was the first time I had the walnut fig dip and it’s my new favourite. It was mildly sweet, creamy and went well with the rice crackers (I think every dip goes well with rice crackers as long as they are unflavored). It was so so good! It was also my first time having Mimolette Jeune cheese. Also a YUM! Every charcuterie board I will ever make will also have chocolate-covered almonds. They are always the first thing to go and my favourite are milk chocolate.

We had the board for dinner again the next day and still had lots of leftovers. The ingredients cost $85 Canadian. That is because everything was bought at a specialty store. I’m sure it would be easy to make a cheaper one. It was a hard week for Mr. Lobster Shorts and I wanted to treat him. He loved it. There was enough artichoke carbonara dip leftover to go on four burgers and in omlettes. We still have lots of the fig dip left (only because we ran out of crackers, otherwise it would have been long gone just like the chocolate almonds). The hard cheeses made it onto the burgers as well and also disappeared from midday nibbles and doggy cheese tax. I’m going to keep an eye out for the Mimolette cheese again. It was mild and creamy. Delightful. I’ll never get tired of charcuterie.

Lobster Shorts lifestyle, Pens and Ink

The Perfect Storage Box For Ink

I have a pact with myself, if I work out 7 days in a row (including stretching, nature walks, and yoga before you come for me of not giving myself a rest day), I get a reward. The reward can be anything that isn’t something to eat. I was struggling to figure out what I wanted and I had just made my 7 days. I find it easier to stick with it when I know ahead of time what the prize will be. I don’t want to miss out, so I make sure I get that workout in. I did my 7 days and it was time to cash in.

Mr. Lobster shorts was due for a haircut and we headed to the city. I had him drop me off at the antique mall while I was waiting for him. Browsing the stalls I found a lamp that made me so happy.

I get that this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s mine. I loved it. This was almost my reward. I loved it so much! It was $48 Canadian and my creepy mansion fantasy lamp. I noticed the metal base wasn’t all brass. There were two different types of metal (it’s hard to see in this photo) and they weren’t attached. The cherub and base spun around. That put me off. It was a shame. I would have loved this as a desk lamp in craftroom. I left it behind and I still think about it. I’m not going back for it, but I’ll think about it every now and then.

Then I found this jewelry box and it was perfect. It was $69.00 Canadian and it was missing one drawer pull (I unscrewed one more before I snapped this photo). It didn’t come with a key, but I’m quite sure I’ll be able to get a little skeleton key to lock it. It would be a nice thing to have and isn’t necessary because I don’t plan on locking it. I would like the completeness of it though and also, I love old keys.

A quick search on Amazon and I have a complete set of drawer pulls. They match the hardware perfectly. How wonderful! I knew exactly what I wanted this for and it wasn’t jewelry. It was for ink and all things pen-related. It’s perfect!

Almost perfect. Many of my ink bottles are too tall for the lid to close, and drawers to shut. I found if I put the tall ones in the middle everything can close properly and everything fits inside. Come, I’ll give you a tour.

The top has many compartments and I love that for organization. The storage part of the lid meant for necklaces is where I’m keeping my quill pens. I don’t plan on putting anything else in there. Regular pens would fall out and the tall ink bottles make it too bulky to close the lid. There are storage compartments on either side and although they both open, only one opens easily. So far I have nothing stored in them. The way they fold back in, anything in there would clunk around, so nothing fragile. I haven’t decided what I will use them for yet. The ring section is where I’m storing all my nibs and I like the way they display like that. All other spaces are filled with ink bottles. It was a game of Tetris and I managed to fit almost all the bottles in.

The second compartment is a drawer. This is where I put all my boxed pens and the last of the ink. There is a TWISBI Eco on the far left. The second box has two hand-turned pens that were gifted to me and my spouse as a wedding present. The velvet box is empty. It’s nice but dust and fur cling to it. The last box on the right is a to-go case for pens and ink to make it easier to travel with.

The last two drawers have my ink swatch journal, converters, and screw-in nibs. I’m not likely to keep the journal in here. I was meant to be out on display. The little sack contains all different sizes and styles of ink converters. A little glass container might help organize it a little better, but this works and gives the sack a purpose where it never had one before.

It’s perfect, I love it. I can’t believe what good condition it’s in. It’s twenty years old. I have so much more room in my desk drawers now. It was the best find.

Lobster Shorts Pens and Ink, weight loss

Forming a Workout Habit With Rewards and Small Changes

Sometimes I struggle with forming good habits. I will be great at doing something for a few weeks, a month, maybe even a few months, but if it’s not enjoyable, I stop. This is what happens when I workout.

I was watching Masterclass (I recommend it), something I like to have in the background if I’m working on crafts, or writing a letter. I played James Clear’s class about small changes. He discussed how we focus more on the end goal than the changes we need to make to get there. That is very true for me, especially with weight loss. I focus on a number, not what I actually need to do. He talked about rewarding accomplishments and so many other things. WHat he said resonated.

So, I printed out a habit tracker sheet and set a goal for myself: Every seven days in a row I workout, I get a reward (no food rewards). During the class, he asked what was something you could do, even on your worst day. For me, that was 5 squats. Even if I’m tired, or sick, I can do 5 squats. I’m keeping my goals small and if all I can manage is 5 squats, then that’s all I have to do. I don’t think working out every single day is something you’re supposed to do, so nature walks (it has to be a decent length) and stretching count If I stop for a rest day this early on, I’m likely to stretch out that “rest day” into months.

I am happy to say I made my first seven days. My reward was fountain pen ink! There were two days I would have skipped, but I couldn’t get my ink unless I made seven days in a row. One night it was late and I was tired and I really didn’t want to work out. 5 squats, that’s all I had to do. I could do that (I did 25). I have yet to do the bare minimum of five squats and I think that really works for me because no matter what, I can do 5 squats. Even if I’m exhausted, I can do 5 squats. I don’t want to lose my prize, and five squats is easy.

In a couple months, I’m going to revisit my this goal, or add more, but until then…. 5 squats.

BEHOLD my prize!

It was only supposed to be one bottle (Wearingeul Alice, the bottle on the far left. It’s a pretty blue with gold shimmer), but if I added a couple more the shipping was free. I had to. I bought the ink online from Blesket. I love going to the physical store (they have an ink sample book that I love flipping through).

I haven’t decided what my next reward is yet and I need to because this really worked for me. Small goals and rewards.

Lobster Shorts weight loss

Weight Loss And The Philips Soup Maker

Today I pulled out an appliance I rarely use: The Philips Soup Maker. I bought one a long time ago at Canadian Tire assuming I would use it constantly being a set-it-and-forget-it appliance. It makes two decent portions of soup, which is perfect and it’s effortless to use. I have no idea why I haven’t used it more. I didn’t like the recipes in the cookbook that came with the device, but I’ve made a lot of soup in my time, and I’m reasonably confident in how to make soup. I’ll link the soup maker here.

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/philips-viva-collection-soupmaker-6-pre-defined-programs-hr220470-grey/PRD3UZOK3ZLXQ1C?skuId=3UZOK3ZLXQ1C&offerId=F22057108AAE3DCBB14F14BBA98E383E&cmpid=SEM_CA_31975_EOGFYOWH30&utm_id=SEM_CA_31975_EOGFYOWH30&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=always_on&gclid=CjwKCAjwp8OpBhAFEiwAG7NaEpdWMaJwL-cNqyFGrtj8iJBVfLqo_7T71FgZ55H1wHdSWgEbnr95HBoCJgMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Oh hey, I completely forgot this thing also makes smoothies, I have never made a smoothie in it… But it makes decent soup.

I usually buy shallots instead of onions, not because of taste preference, but because they are small and last a long time. The soup maker only makes small sized pots of soup, which makes shallots perfect for it. I used two small ones and the leftover roasted squash I had sitting in the fridge. I would have used more squash, but I only had this much, so I added a raw (older than it should be) sweet potato. Two vegetable soup stock cubes were added and a honey crisp apple (from right off the tree).

I added a dash of nutmeg and water (It has a minimum and maximum fill line) and then chose the blended soup option. That’s all I did, dump in the ingredients, add water, then press the button. I didn’t even have to cook the potato. It took about 18 minutes to cook and puree. The nice thing about set it and forget it appliances, is that you can do the clean up while the machine is cooking your food (or whatever else you would rather be doing than cleaning), so I did the dishes while waiting.

This is how everything looked after the machine cooked the soup. It was blended perfectly smooth. Normally, I prefer chunky soup, but sometimes ya gotta mix it up. Ya know?

I like blue cheese, but only when mixed into things, or in very small chunks. I threw blue cheese and walnuts into the soup for a garnish. There is definitely more of both, but they sunk to the bottom of the bowl instantly before I could take a photo. I didn’t want to add more, so I snapped the photo as is. I mixed the blue cheese in so it melted and blended into the soup. It turned out good! Is it mind blowing – nah. It was a decent soup though. I have no idea how many calories it was, but I feel like it fits into my lifestyle plan (1800 calories a day or lower). I haven’t been counting calories much these days, but if I start to gain weight, or the weight loss stops for a significant amount of time, I’ll start again.

This appliance is so easy and convenient. I’m planning to use it more often, especially now that the colder weather has arrived. I’m already wearing my heavy winter jacket. My workouts have gotten longer and more intense this week. I’ve started using the treadmill more often and have been enjoying it. I’ve always preferred cardio, but this time around I’m making sure to work on strength as well. I’m still working out three times a week. I took a couple weeks off during the vacation. I was planning on going back the second week, but it never happened. I might not see much weight loss this month, but it will happen for me and I’m not finding myself struggling that hard. I can live with this.

Lobster Shorts lifestyle

Trip To The East Coast and Weight Loss Update

My spouse and I had an anniversary coming up which also coincided with our vacation time. We decided on the east coast. Neither of us had been and we’ve always wanted to go.

We arrived in the late afternoon. Our first evening there we went to the harbourfront. It’s such a romantic spot! We had a romantic dinner on the patio at The Bicycle Thief. The pasta, cheesecake, and atmosphere were incredible. After dinner, we went for a walk along the boardwalk.

Before we left for our hotel a massive cruise ship left the harbour and blasted a song with the horn. It was super loud and really cool. It all felt magical and romantic. It was a great way to start the vacation.

The second day we went to Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove. Lunenburg was cute and touristy. I loved seeing all the colourful houses and shops. We walked along the harbour and browsed through the stores.

Peggy’s Cove lighthouse was where we stopped on the way back. We were warned extensively by the locals “Do NOT go out on the rocks! People die here”. There were signs EVERYWHERE warning people not to do this, letting people know death has occurred and there is no help close by. I was blown away by how many people ignored these signs. I did not. Getting washed out to sea was not part of my vacation itinerary!

On the way there and back we drove through Mahoney Bay. I really wish we had stopped there. I loved the town as did Jay. We could both see ourselves living there. We also drove by the turnoff for Oak Island. That place fascinates me. I hope there is a treasure and I hope they find it. I don’t think you’re allowed to go on the island, but it would be fun to take a boat trip around it!

That evening we had dinner with a friend I have known for a decade, but have never met. I was really looking forward to this. We have been writing for years and this was the first time meeting in person. We had a wonderful dinner at Ela (a Greek restaurant) with our spouses. They were lovely people and it was like having dinner with an old friend.. because it was, you know what I mean. The martinis were delightful and the salad too. I can’t believe we forgot to take a photo, but that just means the company was great.

The next day we drove up to Cape Breton. It was a beautiful scenic drive. Gas up and get some snacks! Gas stations and places to get something to eat are few and far between.

We stayed at the Northstar Inn. The rooms were really pretty and the Inn’s restaurant was delicious. We ordered macaroni and a blue cheese salad and split them between us. Both were so delicious.

We watched Jaws before bed and cracked the door so we could listen to the sound of the ocean while we fell asleep. The humor here is that this very day a great white was seen swimming around the shore by the locals, not too far away! Unfortunately, the shark died. If I had of known there was a shark around I would have skipped the hikes and went straight to see the shark!

But hike we did and got some much-needed exercise. We went to visit this lighthouse near the hotel. This is the site of the first lighthouse built in Canada! The lighthouse there now is not the original, but pretty cool all the same. Walking up the hill we smelled cinnamon! I NEED to know what this plant is and plant it everywhere. It smelled so good. It made the site even more special. I will remember that smell whenever I think of our visit here.

After the lighthouse we headed down to the Gull Cove trailhead. It was… on the marshy side in some spots, but gave beautiful views of the ocean. The hike goes out 10km one way for a total of around 20km. We only went halfway.

There were spots you could get down to the ocean. There were lots of shells and claws along the water. We saw a lot of birds and one gargantuan-sized spider that I almost walked into.

And look at this cool mushroom! It looks like the mushroom from Super Mario! I didn’t touch it. I have no idea what mushrooms are safe, but it was fun to look at.

Our last night we headed back to Halifax for another night at The Halifax Tower Hotel. We had breakfast there (also good) and headed out to the harbourfront again to spend our last few hours. We wanted to go to Annapolis Valley, but we didn’t have enough time.

This time we got to see some sea creatures! Little schools of mackerel were swimming by. They were so neat looking! There were TONS of star fish! I was so happy! I thought star fish were tropical. There were tons of them stuck to the pier and along the bottom. I wish I had got a photo. They made me so happy. I would love to visit again, we had a great time.

We ate out every meal. A million times at Subway (I love the mozzarella bella!). I was nervous to see if I gained any weight back. I was only up a pound. Sometimes it takes a couple days to show up, but today was good news. I had saved up for the vacation, so I didn’t put myself into further debt either. Now that we’re home it’s back to the gym and healthy meals.

Current Weight: 171lbs
Weight lost: 7lbs
Current debt: -$20785
Starting debt: – $21000

Lobster Shorts finances, weight loss

The Year Of Getting My Sh!t Together

The restart of my restart of my restart of my restart.

I’ve had so many attempts at weight loss over the years. I usually fall off the wagon after a month… sometimes earlier. August 4 2023 I started again. This time I’m adding better financial habits to my goal list along with weight loss/fitness.

I’ve been digging myself out of credit card consumer debt, but had a bad habit of spending everything I had paid off. In early August I started to tighten the purse strings. I am only buying things I need and have quit browsing physical and online stores. That includes thrift stores and antique shops and I do LOVE thrifting, but I always get things I don’t need – like more sewing supplies. I have an entire closet full of sewing supplies. It’s packed full. I’m not buying any more sewing stuff until I get through the piles of fabric I already have.

September I ended up at the thrift store looking for a new harness for Oliver – my big golden retriever X puppy. He’s a puller and ended up tearing right through his last one. I didn’t find a harness that would fit him there. I did however find a full set of winter dog boots which I actually would have needed for an awesome price. That was an okay purchase, but guess what wasn’t. The roll of elastic I bought – FOR SEWING! It WAS a fantastic price, and sure I’ll probably need it one day, but that wasn’t the point of this. I’m not supposed to be randomly buying stuff I don’t have an immediate need for. This was a warning for me – to stay out of thrift stores. I can’t be trusted! I discovered pressure casting posts, an item used in pen making. It’s quite expensive and I’m not buying it this year. I heard a quote but can’t remember who it was from – Ramsey? “If you can’t pay it off in a month, you can’t afford it”. That stings, but I agree. So no pressure pot. Not yet. Saving for one also gives me time to evaluate if I really want it. Making impulsive purchases and then never using the item is a bad habit I have had in the past. For example, I bought the things to make shoes with, maybe a year ago. Guess who has never made shoes – ME! I still hope to one day, but for now, it was something I shouldn’t have purchased.

The roll of elastic $10 from the thrifty thrift

As for weight and fitness, this time my spouse is also on board. He really wants to lose weight too. We’ve set a pact to be in the gym three times a week on set days. That started on the first of September and so far we are sticking to it. We don’t have a set thing we need to accomplish in the gym, right now we just have to be in there. Even stretching is acceptable, just be in there, getting a routine established and habit formed. Right now I’m doing about a 15-minute workout and nothing too strenuous, just getting used to working out again.

I’ve set a goal for myself to be able to do a push-up in a year. The real on your toes sort of push-up. I’ve never been able to do them, even at my most fit. That was probably because I always preferred jogging to weights. I’ve always wondered how does one work their way up to being able to do a push-up?

This might work. I’ve started with wall push-ups. I thought that sounded like weak sauce, but it turns out that doing 3 sets of 50 is actually pretty hard (for me). I’m not even there yet! I had to take a break after 40. I’m sticking with it. I got my 150 in and will be keeping track of how many I can do until I need to stop.

I’m calorie counting again. The goal is 1800 calories a day. I’ll stay with that and keep it up if it’s working well for me. My spouse is calorie counting too. We’ve started cooking for ourselves and that is going to work out really well for both of us. He’s never really liked veggie-heavy dishes and the carb-heavy dishes he likes I tend to overeat. This way we can both eat healthier for ourselves.

I’ve started a tracking journal and every month I update my weight and how much I’m in a financial debt hole. I realized when doing the September update that I only wrote down approximate numbers instead of the actual numbers in August. I was excited to see if I had made any progress. That will have to wait for October. I will post September’s stats as the starting point.

The Getting My Sh!t Together journal

Weight: 178lbs
Debt: -$21100
Wall pushups without stopping: 40

Cheers to improved numbers in October!

Lobster Shorts cooking

New Plants – Burger Salad – A Thrifted Shirt

It poured rain for most of the weekend and we spent a lot of time indoors. We went out for breakfast with friends and I wore the top I got from the thrift shop. It’s really cute and I like how it fits. I found a lot of wonderful things, I’ll post the video link below if you want to see what else I found

On the way home from breakfast, we stopped at Canadian Tire to get some things for around the house. I ended up in the plant department… of course.

The scrappy plant on the left was on clearance for $0.49. I have no idea what it is, but it looked sad and near death. I wanted to rescue it. The middle plant might be a fish bone cactus and the right I’m hoping is a goldfish plant. The two to the right were $4.99. The little pots were so tiny and would dry out too fast.

I didn’t have very many small pots, so my hoya on the right graduated to a bigger pot before it should have, but it will be happy in there. I don’t love the two pots on the left, they are nursery pots, but they’ll work for now. The mystery plant has been put in indirect sunlight, and the other three are in a sunny window.

My rock tumbler completed the second week of tumbling. The rocks are very smooth but still dull. They’re now halfway done.

The rocks are back in the tumbler with Step 3. Steps 1 and 2 were gritty, while Step 3 is more powdery. It’s back on the tumbler for another 7 days. It’s so fun to see how they change. Jay decided putting bolts in the rock tumbler isn’t a good idea. He felt the threads were getting too beat up in there, but it was fun to try.

I’m trying to eat healthier (although I ate a bagel while I wrote this) and instead of having a burger, I experimented with turning a burger into a salad. It was good! I will be skipping the bun in the future (maybe not weekends though). I used a Beyond Burger and pan-fried it and used the spatula to turn it into little pieces. For the salad dressing, I used two tablespoons of red wine vinegar, one tablespoon of avocado oil, around 1/2 tablespoon of Dijon, some salt and pepper, and half a shallot. In the salad I put in tomato, cheese, and romaine. I put a dollop of hummus on the top and a spattering of spicy mayo and had it with a scoop of potato salad. Jay loved it too. We did notice how sweet the potato salad was because of the really vinegary dressing. I didn’t even realize they would have put sugar in there. I loved the salad and will be making it again. It’s a super easy meal for commuting days – skipping the potato salad.

Lobster Shorts cooking, vegetarian

Commuting And Cooking Aint Easy

My spouse and I commute – a lot. Almost two hours a day. We’ve noticed a significant decline in our energy levels and health since we started 5 years ago. The main culprit – take out. We’re usually pretty hungry by the end of the day and often we cave in. We are commuting from a large city, so there are a lot of options. The majority of the takeout we get is from burger joints, pita places, and the odd burrito. The pita – not so bad, but no one is ordering salad at the burrito, or burger joint.

After getting home and walking the dogs it’s pretty late and we’re both hungry. We bought a box of granola bars. It’s helping us home without temptation. We need something easy, fast, and healthy. I found an old love that fits all these things. Spring rolls!

I love spring rolls! They are perfect and I found three packages of rice paper in my cupboard! They are so easy to make. First, I chop up 8 pieces of tofu (that usually takes half a thick block, or 2/3 of a thin block, of extra firm tofu). I don’t drain it. I probably should, but I’m not a chef and not that concerned about it. I dump them in a container and toss them with tamari (I don’t measure – sorry). I cut eight pieces for the two of us – four each. While that is marinating I cut up the rest of the ingredients.

I grate mushrooms (I ended up needing more), chop mango into long thin slices, and have a bunch of basil ready.

I soak the rice paper in hot water in a pie plate until it’s soft and pliable. I put some spinach down and two basil leaves, per roll.

Then I put in a bunch of grated mushrooms, a piece of tofu, and two slices of mango. The mango really makes it. I like the mango at the firm, but still easy-to-cut stage, for this recipe.

Roll it up tight (I still haven’t quite got this down)

and serve it with sweet chilli sauce. No particular brand, I generally like them all.

They are so good! I’m making them again tonight. Mr Lobster Shorts wasn’t fond of the basil, so I’ll leave it out of his from now on. From start to finish, it took 42 minutes to have them ready and served on the table. That’s really impressive to me. It’s not unusual for dinner to take me a couple hours. I think I can have these ready in 20 minutes after the refresher.

Another bonus of spring rolls, there weren’t too too many dishes. There were definitely some, but not heaping countertops full of them. I made myself a tea of fresh mint and let the last bit of the evening fade out.

Lobster Shorts vegetarian, weight loss

What’s For Dinner – April 4 2023

View post on imgur.com

Dinner was a spicy one today! I wanted something quick and easy and this recipe for spiced halloumi and pineapple burgers caught my eye. I love halloumi and a burger is generally quick and easy to make. I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients so I winged it. I mixed lime juice, salt, pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes together with a couple handfuls of spinach. I had baby carrots in the fridge and chopped them up to mix with the lime mixture and added a tablespoon of avocado oil.

I was cooking for two so I tossed a couple slices of canned pineapple rings and halloumi into a frying pan with a generous squirt of hot sauce to both sides. I fried it until the halloumi and pineapple were browned on both sides.

The recipe called for chipotle paste on the pineapple and cheese, which I didn’t have, so I used this hot sauce that I already had.

I didn’t have burger buns, but I did have English muffins – good enough. I added the halloumi and grilled pineapple to my English muffin.

Added a handful of the side salad.

And voila – there was dinner. It was okay. I’m sure if I followed the original recipe it would have been way better.

I was craving dessert and since I have been skipping lunches again, I went with it. I picked up a big slice of cake from a bakery and split it with Mr Lobster Shorts. I usually love the baked goods from this bakery, but this slice of cake wasn’t one I liked that much and I only had a couple bites.

Lobster Shorts Pens and Ink, vegetarian

Cakes and Pens

Pen and cake: I made them this weekend. The most impressive thing about this cake is that it only has 2 TBSP of sugar! The rest of it was sweetened with orange juice. The recipe (found here on youtube) didn’t call for any salt, but I added 1/2 a teaspoon. It felt strange not having salt, you know? I have never baked with citrus and wasn’t sure how it would turn out leaving the rind on. I peeled half the slices so I could compare and I definitely preferred the rind off. The rind was chewy and didn’t break apart with a fork while eating it, but it wasn’t bitter. If I make this cake again, I would make it with peeled and segmented oranges instead of sliced with rind. It was sweet, but not too sweet. The only sugar was sprinkled over the orange slices. I was so impressed! It was good, but not amazing. Just good. I used Cara oranges from Costco, which are super flavourful, juicy, and sweet. So so good. It took four oranges altogether. Two for the juice (what sweetened the cake) and two to slice.

And look! I’ve made my first pen! I did a pretty good job on my first try. If you zoom in, you can see the barrel is a little ridgy and banded. I couldn’t get it turned very even on the lathe and didn’t have the right sandpaper to fix the mistakes. I’ll know next time.

It was my first time using a lathe. I watched a lot of videos about pen turning and what I would need. I’m glad I did because there were a couple attachments I needed. I’d never heard of things like chucks and pen mandrels before. I wasn’t even aware I could make a pen at home until a lovely friend of mine gifted me a beautiful fountain pen turned by her father-in-law. I went down a rabbit hole. The first video I clicked on from YouTube was The Pen Nook’s How To Make A Fountain Pen. Lucky for me, I believe this YouTuber is a fellow Cannuck and the product links was for a Canadian store. I bought the basic starter kit that was specifically for my type of lathe and a couple other things I needed.

The kit came with enough products to make five pens. I chose this orange block of wood (I believe it’s Padauk). The wood block with the most distrinct stripes is my favourite. I’m saving that one for when I’ve had the most practice.

The first thing I needed to do was cut the pen blank. I don’t have the appropriate saw, so I used a mitre saw I already had. I find this saw intimidating, I find all power tools intimidating, but I want to use them. I’m embarrassed to say I needed a lot of supervision. My spouse had to keep reminding me to take the chuck keys off the lathe before I turned it on. I almost did that three times. They are not attached and would fly off after turning the lathe on. I also forgot to secure the tailstock once. Luckily Jay caught that too before I turned on the lathe. I’m getting better, I was trying to cut this piece of wood in half, but it ended up being way off centre. Both pieces were still long enough to make the pen though and I used the lathe to make the rest of it. Some people use a drill press to cut the holes down the centre of the pen blanks, but I used the lathe to drill it out. The drill bit was super sharp and poor Jay cut his hand while he was moving the lathe into the garage. Now I know why it had a safety tip on the end.

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I see beautiful pens in my future. Beautiful pens, beautiful paper. All the more meaningful when I write letters to my wonderful friends. As for my first pen, my spouse is taking it to work with him. He asked if he could have it. He really liked it. That made me so happy and my heart melt. He earned it after all. His blood was literally drilled into this very pen. I’m hoping all future pens are free of blood sacrifices. Just love.