Happy Birthday Mom!

Wishing my Mom a very happy birthday! May this next year be full of adventures and joy! Es tevi milu!

Cheers!

Lai dzīvo sveiks!

_______________________Via here

93 years ago, on November 18th, 1918, the little Baltic nation of Latvija declared its independence...

I was born in Canada, raised in the States but in my heart I am a Latvian through and through. Every thing I am today is because of my culture and the influence it has had on me. I went to Latvian school as a child, was a member of the LV scouting community, danced in folk dance troupes... I have sung in Latvian song festivals, participated in Latvian Congresses, and I met my husband at Latvian summer camp. I am fluent in the language, I hum LV songs under my breath, and have friends all over the world who have been raised the same way. I have woven flower crowns to wear on my head at the summer solstice festivals, I have baked rye bread with my grandmother, and I am proud to say that I can dance a mean polka. It is what defines me and I am happy today to be a part of a culture that is so damn proud of who they are.

Dievs svetij Latviju!

Priekā!

The One that Got Away

Loving the new Katy Perry video for "The One that Got Away"...and not only because it's a good song...the part where they're at the wedding is shot at the Latvian Center in Cali, complete with *actual LVs* dancing the polka with Katy Perry. Love love love it!

Cheers!

Vieglas smiltis...

______________________ Via Latvians Online

Today, the world is an emptier place. Mirdza Paudrupe, one of my beloved childhood teachers has passed away and is at peace with the Dieviņš that she has always held near to her heart...she was a force to be reckoned with in Latvian society, a loud, in-your-face, over-zealous, patriotic, truly crazy-wonderful dame who taught hundreds of LV youth grammar (Grama-grama-gramatika, man patika gramatika!!) at the Latvian summer camp known lovingly as GVV. She was one of those rare people who truly makes their mark on the world, someone who loved what she did in life and really loved each one of her students. She influenced so many people: the young and the young at heart. She was an amazing teacher, an amazing Latvian patriot, and truly an amazing woman.

....Vieglas smiltis Paudrupes kundze...

Chanterelle, Bacon, Garlic pizza

It's chanterelle season here on the coast and everyone is serving up these tasty yellow mushrooms! I've wanted to go mushroom picking for quite some time but the people around here are so secretive about their spots! One of our friends was kind enough to bring us a shopping bag full of them (Thanks Chris!). We made chanterelles with scallops, chanterelles in cream sauce, chanterelles with pasta...

...Of course I had to figure out a way to incorporate them into a pizza. And of course the pizza had to have bacon (obviously). So here is my recipe for a chanterelle, bacon, garlic pizza of goodness:

1 envelope dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/2 tsp sugar

4 cups flour

2 tsp salt

Add 1/2 cup warm water to yeast packet and sugar and mix well. Let sit for 5 minutes until it begins to foam. Add remaining water, salt, and flour to bowl and mix well. Let rise for 2-3 hours. Split in half and flatten out onto pizza pan. Spread olive oil as your sauce over the dough. Add cut chanterelles, crumbled bacon and finely sliced roasted garlic. Shred fresh mozzarella over the top and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

Cheers!

Voodoo

My parents came to visit last weekend and we met them up in Portland on Friday. It was so good to see them! We spent the night at the new McMenamins downtown and then Saturday morning we proceeded to walk all over Portland to the Saturday Market and the Farmer's Market. After all that walking, I insisted on swinging by the famous Voodoo Doughnuts because for once the line was *relatively* short. Diz got the maple bacon bar and I got the traditional voodoo doughnut complete with pretzel stabbing into the gooey red-jam center. The doughnuts were pretty good but I don't know if I'd wait hours in that line for another one. Have you ever been? What was your opinion? Cheers!

November

"How cold it is! Even the lights are cold; They have put shawls of fog around them, see! What if the air should grow so dimly white; That we would lose our way along the paths; Made new by walls of moving mist receding; The more we follow. . . . What a silver night! That was our bench the time you said to me; The long new poem -- but how different now; How eerie with the curtain of the fog; Making it strange to all the friendly trees!"

- Sara Teasdale, A November Night

Cheers!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween friends! Hope you have a fabulously goulish day full of zombies, candy and costumes! (PS...like the zombie gnomes? Purchase them here!)

Cheers!

Blog love!

Huge thanks to my friend Liene who is living abroad in France (Jealous? You know I am!) with her wonderful hubby and baby boy!! She bestowed upon me the "Stylish Blogger Award" which totally made my day after such a rough week. Check out her blog "Femme au Foyer."Sirsnīgs paldies Lienei par burvīgo “blog” balvu! Sūtu tev mīlestību no rietumkrasta! Bučas!

Cheers!

Here, have some wine

One of my friends posted this to my FB wall and I couldn't stop chuckling....sorry for the long delay in blogging, dear readers...I've been having some stress and drama associated with work and it's been putting me in a royal funk as of late. But never fear! I'll be back next week with some new stories!

Cheers!