theNines, A Love Story.

W hat are the things that make us feel most like ourselves? Tonight I attended my first Spiritwood Grand Ole Opry ( http://townofspiritwood.ca/event/grand-ole-opry-4/?instance_id=604 ) These talented people get up on stage and sing in front of a crowd of people and I absolutely cannot imagine doing that. But if you're musically inclined, I suppose the opportunity to do that would make you feel alive and whole and I admire and fiercely respect that. I used to say that when you turned a hobby into a career, all of the fun wore off and whatever it was becomes mundane and tedious. I'm not exactly sure when that changed for me though. It wasn't after my first stint doing hair at a salon on Broadway avenue in Saskatoon. Even though I learned a lot, it still ended up feeling tedious. It wasn't after my second stint doing hair at a great little salon in Spiritwood. I was busy, I apprenticed under a woman who had done it for years but still, the spark wore off for me. I to...

Ice Makers & Scarves L ast evening I was at community event where I ate lasagna. It was delicious. For dessert, some members of the Filipino community in Spiritwood made the deserts. I ate one of the most interesting deserts I've ever had and it was damn good. It was called ginataang bilo bilo and here's how Celeste Noche describes it on her blog: "Deriving from the word “bilog,” meaning, “round,”  bilo bilo  contains chewy rice balls mixed with cooking bananas (saba) or plantains, a root vegetable (such as ube, sweet potato, or taro), coconut milk, jackfruit, and tapioca pearls." You can find her commentary on some other must-try Filipino desserts at  https://food52.com/blog/17101-12-filipino-desserts-you-need-to-know-about-try .  The bilo bilo was served warm last night in little cups and it was explosion of textures and flavours that was bizarre and wonderful.  Spirtiwood has a growing Filipino community and what a community they are! Th...