women's rights should not be up for debate

Some big things have been going on in the Canadian political scene lately, between the omnibus crime bill that makes me fume, and the Parti Quebecois getting elected in Quebec, and just the other night a vote on women's rights being taken in parliament. This vote? It got the right result, but the motion never should have been up for debate. (Especially considering that our prime minister ran on a platform that promised not to reopen this debate.)

Canada's laws on abortion are a little, odd. In fact, there's very little in the books on abortion currently - there's no real law saying that abortion is legal, and yet it is. The way that our government currently defines the "begining of life" as the moment of birth. Which, to be fair, is more than a little messed up. The vote the other night was about whether to reopen the debate on when life begins. Which at the end of the day is just a sneaky way of trying to open the debate on abortion.

Which is a debate that has no business being opened. Period. Everyone has their right to their own personal belief on whether abortion is a morally acceptable action. What no one has a right to do is force their own beliefs on another individual. If you think that abortion is wrong, that's ok - I'm not going to argue that point. If someone thinks that their personal beliefs about abortion should affect the access that other women have to that procedure, that I take issue with.

This motion was soundly defeated, by about a two thirds majority. But what scares me: almost a hundred of our government representatives voted in favour of reopening this debate. Including the minister for the status of women. Granted this is a private member's motion in which you are supposed to vote with your conscience, but I have a very hard time reconciling being the minister responsible for women's rights and being open to a motion that could lead to abortion being criminalized. It's a huge conflict of interest: not so much just in this vote, but as part of the job description. If those are her personal beliefs, those are her personal beliefs and while I think they're ridiculous I can respect that they are her own beliefs - but I cannot reconcile the idea of women's rights being represented by a women who doesn't believe in a woman's right to control her own body. 

Here's the thing, I don't know if I think that being pro choice is essential to being a feminist. I have a very hard time reconciling the point of view that abortion should be legally wrong with feminist values, but I don't have a hard stance that being pro choice is essential to feminism. But to be the one women in government whose job it is to be a feminist and to stand up for women's rights when other concerns push back against them? I think that for that it is essential to be pro choice. Standing up for women's rights against all other factors should be part of that job description.

I'm not really sure how to end this. Maybe it's partly because I haven't entirely made up my mind, and maybe it's because the issue is still so up for debate in the news outlets here and I have this feeling like the issue is going to come up again (and again) in coming years. Maybe all I can say is that I feel very uncomfortable with this women representing my rights, as a woman. That perhaps she is not the best person for the job, and perhaps they should look at getting her another portfolio.

hey! I can quilt

Is anyone other than me excited for my first quilting update? Because I totally am. Which you can take to mean that I'm clearly enjoying myself. I've completed my first round of simple nine patch quilting blocks and I have to say I'm surprised: it was dead easy. Later on down the line I'm hoping to get myself a new digital camera so I can supply some pictures, but for now, just words.

The biggest lessons learned so far?

• white backed fabric makes a huge difference, as you can use a tailor's pen to mark your seams
• if you screw up and end up with two of your fabrics with black backs apparently you can use a chalk marker
• if you don't have a chalk marker just use masking tape. It's good enough
• cutting your fabric into smaller strips ahead of cutting the final size you'll be working with is helpful
• irons. these things exist, and I've used an iron more since I started quilting than ever in my life
• apparently I am capable of sewing really straight seams, which doesn't seem like a big deal to me (I mean, the fabric is pinned and marked) but had blown my mom's mind
• Bunny gets excited about blankets that are pink, black and silver when I'm making them. In fact, he may be a little bit upset that this one is likely going to be a couch blanket rather than a bedspread (somehow I think he gets a say in fabrics if I make a bed blanket)

tag team cooking and yorkshire puddings

Monday night's dinner consisted of what's better known as a British Sunday supper - roast beef, with mashed potatoes and yorkshire puddings and gravy and vegetables. The stuff I grew up on. (Although, strangely enough it's the Hungarian parent, not the British one, who makes boatloads of very British food.) It was also about the easiest dinner ever made.

I'm home a little earlier in the evening this week than my mom is, so when I rolled in and saw the roast my mom had left in the fridge I took a look at it, glanced at the clock and figured it was time to get started. Cooking was going to take an hour and a half so waiting an extra forty five minutes for her didn't make sense. By the time my mom got home the roast had been seared off, was in the oven, and the potatoes were prepped. And lucky me didn't have to lift another finger until it was time to make the gravy. Apparently tag team cooking works out.

Now this recipe I'm about to give you, it's easy as pie. Five ingredients, one appliance, and a muffin tin. That's it. My mom's yorkshires are just about my favourite food ever (excepting, perhaps, broccoli) and she has finally revealed her secret ingredient to me: an extra egg. That second egg is important, as egg is the only levening agent in a yorkshire pudding. No baking powder or soda, no yeast, just egg. So the second egg? That's what make these puff up beautifully.

The other two things you'll really want to be fussy about is that your oil is hot and I highly recommend the use of the blender to make your batter. Both of these help the yorkshires "pop" and so if you want the good stuff try to take care of those.

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450*F.
2. In a regular sized muffin pan, put about a teaspoon of oil in each cup. When the oven is hot, stick the pan in for about 5 minutes just to heat the oil up. This will help the yorkshires puff up.
3. In the bowl of your blender, combine your milk, eggs, salt and flour. Blend for about a minute to get lots of air and bubbles into the mixture.
4. Evenly divide the mixture amongst your muffin spots in the tray, filling things about 2/3rds of the way full.
5. Stick them in the oven for 20 minutes. Do not open the door: let the heat do it's work.
6. Let them pop right up and turn into glorious deliciousness. Remove from the oven and let cool about 60 seconds. Use a fork to pop them out of the pan, smother with gravy and eat with mashed potatoes.

You're welcome.

review: fool

I hate to admit this, but I have never been so glad to just be done with a book as I was with Fool. Which surprised me because I enjoy my Christopher Moore, although the last book I read wasn't my favourite. I couldn't wait to put this book down and finally be done with it.

But the thing is it wasn't bad. The humour was good. The twists on King Lear were interesting enough, I suppose. Somehow using the plotline of Lear as the story just didn't work as well as I would have liked - there wasn't enough space for Moore's crazy creativity to shine through. He told the story in a hilariously funny way, I just didn't find it super engaging.

Part of the problem may have been that it's been so long since I've read King Lear that I was completely unfamiliar with the story. I might have enjoyed the humourous take more if I'd have been familiar with the plotline.

I'm a little sad that I didn't like this one so much. Somehow I feel like I'm at fault for not enjoying it more. But I'm very much looking forward to my next books: I've got some fantasy waiting for me, and I've been recommended some distopian literature.

project quilting has begun

I think it's fairly safe to say that most people I know have a "life list" or bucket list of some sort. Sometimes it's actually a formal list of things to scratch of that list before they die, sometimes it's more relaxed, maybe just a vague idea in their heads with a number of Big Things as well as a jumble of smaller accomplishments. The formality of my list tends to fall somewhere in the middle: I have, in fact, written this out at various points and I try to pay special attention to the items that never change (see the pyramids, raise a family, create awesome things, write the next big fantasy book) and make an effort to cross some of them off my list.

Recently I started what I consider to be a Big Thing, even if it sounds rather uninteresting. I'm making a quilt. Specifically it's on the list as "make a blanket" which gave me the freedom to learn to do it however I wanted. I don't love knitting or crochet though, and I do love sewing, so quilting seemed to be the way to go. It's something I've wanted to do since I was little and saw my Nanna making quilts for the cottage; it just seemed so cool that she was able to make these gorgeous blankets out of nearly nothing. Just some fabric and string and some pins. About a month back I bit the bullet and got started.

I'm going very simple for the first one with just nine patch blocks that are mostly being done the simplest way possible: nine pieces of fabric, sewn together. Some of the blocks are going to be a little fancier, with striped effects in the blocks, but I'm shying away from any curves or angles for the first go.

At this point things are still very simple: I've got my three patterned fabrics that I'm working with, and I've been just doing sample blocks (read: that means I gave myself permission to throw them out if they're shit). I've got basic tools: a self healing mat and rotary cutter, some quilter's rulers and fabric pen. Plus the standard iron and ironing board, but I already had those.

We're very early in, but I'm enjoying the heck out of this. More updates to come.

when cooking sucks

I am in a grumpy @ss mood tonight. Like stomping around, big frown on my face, closing cupboard doors with more force than necessary kind of grumpy mood. It's almost comical, except for the fact that I feel awful and poor Bunny's stuck dealing with my pissy mood.

On my way home from work tonight my mom texted to ask me to start making dinner for when she got home. No big deal, right? Except this time she asked for a very specific meal and it's one that I've told her I hate. She gets this nasty pork from Costco that's like souvlaki seasoned and it's honestly one of the worst things I've ever eaten. It's so aggressively overseasoned (not spicy just way way overseasoned) that I can barely gag down a bite or two. Of course that would have to be what she asked me to cook.

I've been a bit of a bitch ever since I finished putting the pork and potatoes in the oven. Making dinner is a lot of work when you're aren't even going to eat said dinner and then have to go out of your way to make a second dinner and you're already exhausted from making the first dinner and a full day at work. I don't have the energy to make two dinners in one night.

Instead I'm sitting here eating two or three Cheetos every fifteen minutes trying to convince myself that this counts as "dinner". Some nights it does, actually (that's the ultimate lazy meal, but one I'm not proud of.) Unfortunately I'm hungry, and I want real food and all I've eaten for days are sandwiches, which I'm not a big fan of to begin with, and I just want something that's edible, with substance, that's not based on sugar or bread or weird puffed out corn covered in neon orange powder.

My oh-so-productive plan for handling this? Sit here and pout about it, which obviously is not getting me anywhere. Some days I'm my own worst enemy.

the ultimate lazy meal

I've shared a number of lazy meals with you over the past few months, but I have a new "recipe" for you that really will result in the most amazing lazy meal ever.

Directions:

1. Find a spouse, significant other, parent, sibling or close friend.
2. Tell them that you are exhausted, and if they would do you the biggest favour on earth you will be eternally grateful.
3. Throw in some bribery until they agree to help you out.
4. Say "Please make me dinner. I need to eat and I can't think straight enough to cook."
5. Sit, relax or nap while they do the work.
6. Enjoy whatever it is they have concocted for you, even if it's the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten. (Although it probably won't be.)