Monthly Archives: January 2007

The comfort in snoring

Dave: Okay, I know I complained about Tessa snoring in an earlier post. And I still have that same chainsaw sleeping next to me… but now I can deal with it. We finally bought a new bed and tossed our lumpy, cauliflower padded, old one away.

We went to sleep country last week (Tessa still hasn’t stopped humming that stupid little sleep country tune) and were quickly shown to the most expensive bed on the planet. The nice lady said we of course didn’t have to buy that one… she just wanted us to try it out. So of course, every other bed we tried paled in comparison to the “ultra deluxe mega lovely cloud of comfort”….. being the shop-o-holics we are: we bought it.

So now I’m in even more of a conundrum; when Tessa wakes me with her power snoring, do I go to the couch (which used to be such a relief from the old bed and noise) or do I put up with Tessa’s massive air intake? (click hear for an example)

I’ve decided that comfort wins over sleep and have stayed through the nights since we’ve had our new bed. I was woken four times last night but was so comfortable I fell right back to sleep.

Now I have to work on the next problem; Tessa is a massive bed hog and likes to sleep in the very center of the bed. I usually have to sleep with one foot on the floor to keep me from being pushed totally from the bed.

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Vegetarian Soup: Greek Red Lentil with Lemon, Rosemary and Feta Cheese

Tessa: Someone brought this soup into work the other day and generously offered to give me a taste. It was so good that I went home that night and made it. It’s from Rebar Modern Food Cookbook which has been on BC’s bestseller list almost consistently since its publication a few years ago. I’ve tried a few other recipes from this cookbook and they have all been fantastic.

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Filed under Recipes, Soups

Wheatless Apple Spice Cake

Tessa: My sister Mia brought this light, tasty, wheat-free, apple spice cake for dessert recently. The great thing about this cake is that it’s sooooo delicious even wheat-eating civilians can’t tell that it’s been made from spelt flour. But for those who want to prepare it with wheat, simply substitute the spelt with equal qty wheat. I also thought that the cake was brought over specifically for ME ME ME but I found I had to beat people away from the spelt cake and re-direct them to the wheaty pie which she also generously brought over.

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Book Review: The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien

Tessa: I recently re-read one of my favourite books, The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien. This is a fictionalized but also autobiographical account of a young man’s experience in Alpha Company in the Vietnam war. O’brien’s masterful rendering of the young men’s struggles in this company draws the reader in as eyewitness to their daily lives. His contrast with the often mind-numbingly boring day to day routine, the camaraderie, the love, and the fear with the sometimes deliberate, as well as inadvertent acts of horror and violence, is what makes this book so powerful.

This is the second time I’ve read The Things They’ve Carried and it holds up in the second reading as well as the  first. This short mention of the book doesn’t really do it justice but for those interested in war, particularly the Vietnam war, than this is certainly a ‘must read’. It is an incredibly humane book that provides eyewitness insight into the psychology of some of the men who fought, lived and died in the Vietnam war.

Tim O’brien has written numerous books but another one that I read and very much liked was In the Lake of the Woods , a wonderful psychological thriller which is about what happens when one wilfully chooses to forget about war.

If I had to go to a deserted island one or both of these books would be in my napsack. (if it made it through the storm that is!)

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