What’s left of Chateau Mont Choisi

My two readers may remember, that some time ago I blogged about my time in Chateau Mont Choisi, a boarding school for girls in Lausanne, Switzerland. I went to finishing school, where some of my experiences were starting a school fire and vandalizing a tennis court. I also had French and Italian classes, and ate ham and mushroom pizza (link: Day to Day Life at Chateau Mont Choisi).
I know that the school went bankrupt and the last thing I had heard was that a devloping firm was selling the chateau.
Lots of former students have contacted me telling me that they went to Chateau Mont Choisi as well, but I haven’t heard from anyone from my class.
In the beginning of April Mette from Copenhagen sent me this email:

Hi
I went to Mont choisi when i was 12 in 1972 and i am going to visit Lausanne next week and i would like to visit the place again….( don’t think i had the same good experience as you had, as i was so young and it were somewhat more strict then…)

So she visited the school, and sent me the pictures of how the Chateau looks now. She also explained that “the house was still there and three families lived there now…The whole backyard was sold and a big house was built so there was no beautifull wiew of the lake…” And the pool, and the tennis court, they were all in the backyard!
I think the Chateau looks like an unfinished construction site. It is so sad. To think that we all have such beautiful memories of that place. I didn’t live in the Chateau, I lived in the Bercail, which was a house that had been annexed at a later time as part of the school. You could see Lake Geneva from my window and, on a clear day, you could see all the way to Evian, France.
It is sad when your school is closed for good.
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World Premiere of Lovable

At the Bloor Theatre
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Last night we went to the world premiere of Lovable, a documentary by Alan Zweig.

The movie is light, funny and makes a point. My part doesn’t come up until about an hour into the movie.
When I came up someone in the audience whistled (OK, OK, it was James). I talk about how I have raised my expectations and I have set barriers to intimacy, and sometimes when I lower my barriers I get hurt, this was the saddest part in the whole movie (remember that I gave that interview 2 years ago, though!).
I also talk about knitting and chicken wings! It is so me, everyone laughed, especially in the balcony. I’m pretty sure some people that I know were up there.
I didn’t remember, but Alan asked me to model my sleeveless tops, and they edited the whole thing, me modeling and stuff, into the interview.
At the end there are short takes of each of the women that gave the interviews, and that’s where I look the cutest.
And yes, I had a credit at the end of the movie, which means I will be on IMDB, lots of coolness points for me!!
After the screening there were questions and answers, it was lots of fun, and then Alan asked all the women that had been in the movie to stand up, and the whole theatre applauded us.
After my big screen debut, a celebration was in place, so we went to Paupers across the street.

We had a couple of pints but no chicken wings (I have cut down on chicken wings a lot lately).
All in all, lots of fun surrounded by good company and good friends.

The World Premiere of Lovable is Tomorrow

On Monday April 23, at 6:30 PM at the Bloor Theatre I’ll be at the World Premiere of Lovable, a documentary by Alan Zweig. I wonder what parts of the 2 hour interview I gave for Alan actually made it into the final cut. I hope I don’t make a fool of myself!
All my readers are invited to attend (OK, not “invited” as in I will pay for you, but “invited” as in it’s open for everyone). There will be another Hot Docs screening on Saturday April 28 at the Isabel Bader Theatre.

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Hot Docs 2007

Hot Docs 2007
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Last night we went to the Hot Docs Festival. We saw Helvetica, a film by Gary Hustwit. Gary was there and he answered questions from members of the audience.
We had a great time and really enjoyed the film.
We were given a Down With Arial flyer, “reestablish legitimate meritocratic Helvetica authority”. Allons Enfants de la Graphie.
Afterwards we stopped at Sneaky Dee’s for some beer and nachos with Eva. All in all it was lots of fun.

500 section

500 section
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Last Friday Clarissa and I went to the baseball game. Blue Jays Vs. Detroit Tigers.
We stopped at Gabby’s for dinner and a couple of pints and then walked to the Skydome (yes, I REFUSE to call it Rogers Centre). Clarissa was so generous to let me share her season passes since her husband was out of town.

Can you believe that a beer at the Skydome is $9.50?? RIDICULOUS. Better to go drinking before and after the game.

The Blue Jays won in extra innings. It was quite exciting.

Been swamped

I know, I know, I haven’t updated the blog in almost a week. I am so sorry my dear readers, I have been really busy with deadlines and stuff.
Also, during the weekend James moved to his new apartment, and we were busy packing/unpacking/moving him. But he’s all installed on Queen West now.
On Sunday Amy had a potluck and I made a delicious broccoli-cauliflower casserole. But I didn’t have time to take pictures. Maybe I’ll make it again and post the recipe. I made it up, after all (my diet has been broccoli-intensive lately since that healthy cooking class I took a few weeks ago; broccoli apparently is really healthy, as are blueberries, but I hate them, so more broccoli for me).

Yesterday I had to frog 65% of the work I had done on the last sleeve in the organic wool cabled cardigan; I had made a mistake on the first cable pattern, and I had already knitted 5 more patterns. It was sad, really sad. It is the last sleeve, but it looks like I’m never going to finish that cardigan. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

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Another recipe I invented

I didn’t know what to have for dinner last night, so I stopped at Dominion (at Front and Church) to find something healthy and delicious.
I came up with a new recipe, it’s a vegetable creamy sauce. I used it over pasta, but I am sure it can be used over chicken breasts or brown rice.
Start with fresh ingredients:
1 broccoli
1 red pepper
1/2 an onion
3 tbsp re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes
1 8 oz pack of cremini mushrooms
2 chipotle chilies (for that spicy kick)
Olive oil
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sour cream
Salt and pepper
1 can Campbell’s cream of mushroom and onion soup

Sautee the broccoli, sliced red pepper and onion in the olive oil.

When broccoli is bright green, add the sliced mushrooms and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Cook for a little bit, until or veggies are done, but not soggy. Meanwhile, whisk the contents of the can of soup and 3/4 cup of water, to make it more liquid.

Add the soup and water mixture, and the 2 chipotle chilies.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream and mix it. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over freshly cooked pasta (or brown rice, or chicken, or wherever you want it, you can even eat it by itself, as a casserole). I used elbow maccaroni.

It was super delicious.

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More pictures from New York

I know it’s been almost a month but, seriously, I’ve been super busy and haven’t had time to upload them.
Here’s my mom and I in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral during the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

After the serious ice and snow storm on March 16th, there was snow everywhere.

We found a Spanish restaurant called Pampano (the name of a fish), we didn’t eat there, though.

We ended up at Smith and Wollensky where we had delicious lunch and beer in celebration of the Irish.

Federico was with us all the time and we had so much fun.

The cheesecake was mmmmmh mmmmh mmmmh delicious too.

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Apple-Pear-Spinach sautee with garlic

This recipe works out wonderfully for a vegetarian diet, to make it vegan, substitute the butter for margarine.
Ingredients:
Two apples,
two pears,
one head of garlic,
one packet of dry roasted peanuts,
the juice of one lemon,
one tablespoon of butter,
two packages of spinach.

Melt the butter and add the pressed garlic until lightly browned.

Add the chopped apples and saute until tender, then add the chopped pears and the peanuts and keep sauteing. Be careful because pears are softer than apples and you don’t want them to get to be mushy.

Add the spinach and saute until wilted.

Finally sprinkle the juice of half a lemon.

Serve over cooked wild rice.

This is a lot like the “bowls” from Fresh on Bloor and on Spadina, but with the advantage that it is homemade. Very nutritious and delicious.

Cross-posted on Garlicster.
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Question

Should I get a pressure cooker?

I don’t know, does it have much use? other than cooking beans faster?

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