keeping secrets

i'm a walker. or at least try to be. it's the nicest form of exercise, if you asked me. being outside with the sky, maybe singing to yourself or chatting to a friend or just thinking, or maybe listening to a podcast or something.

anyway! today i listened to the ted radio hour podcast about keeping secrets. it was interesting, ranging from secrets about stealing from the government to "coming out of closets" (not just regarding sexuality) to my favourite one, about the guy at post-secret.

at post-secret...

i come from a culture where people aren't very open about personal things. most of my friends and family have some sort of british background and canadians just tend to be quite respectful and reserved. to this day my mum won't tell us how my dad proposed!

there's something nice about having secrets. and reflecting on what those are reminds us of what it means to be human. having secrets means you can share them with someone you're intimate with, or have things that make you truly yourself that you can hold onto.

here's the ted talk from post-secret.

i love you

soooo this video is too cute. (although i personally would never have this problem #blabbermouth)

patti smith's advice.

love this talk with patti smith and her advice for the young.

"what matters is to know what you want and pursue it and understand that it's gonna be hard. because life is really difficult. you're gonna lose people you love, you're gonna suffer heartbreak, sometimes you'll be sick, sometimes you'll have a really bad toothache... but on the other hand, you'll have the most beautiful experiences. sometimes just the sky. sometimes a piece of work that you do that feels so wonderful or you find somebody to love or your children. there's beautiful things in life. so just know that when you're suffering, it's part of the package. when you look at it, we're born and we also have to die. so it makes sense that we're gonna be really happy and things are gonna be really fucked up too. just know that and ride with it. it's like a roller coaster ride and there're gonna be rough spots but it's all worth it. at least i think it is."

ps: i read just kids, the memoir of her friendship with robert mapplethorpe, earlier this year and totally loved it. kind of a fairy tale about NYC in the 60s and a beautiful meditation on love and art.

impressions of la france

one of my favourite sights so far - parapluies everywhere in luxembourg!!

currently on leg four of my big european journey (first leg was munich, then salzburg, then luxembourg), currently in la petite ville, marmande dans le bordeaux. i'm staying with an older french woman and am already learning oh so much about french culture as a result. i'm taking things easy before a few auditions over the next few days (aka knitting and listening to lots of ted talk podcasts) and have made a few observations about cet beau pays...

1) french people make really funny noises ("pfffffffft" "coucou..." "ooooh la la...")
2) they love to gossip. i keep walking in on the lady i'm staying with full on discussing her "petite chanteuse" with her friends on the phone, or she legitimately remarked to every french person in the super-marché her shock that for lunch i would only want some salad and bread...
... which leads me to: 3) they eat huge lunches and small dinners... i'm adjusting my diet accordingly to avoid giving the lady i'm staying with "trop peur"
4) i don't know as much french as i thought i did.
5) the men here stare like deer in headlights when they see girls in their twenties, even when they're wearing glasses and no make-up like i've been for the past two days...
6) WATCH YOUR FEET. yuck.
7) the idea of peanut butter is absolument ridicule. and has too many calories for older french ladies ;) also, they don't say arachides here, like in canada, meaning my one request in the super-marché was hard to find...
8) people are nicer than i thought they'd be. that being said i'm in a little town, but all the same.
9) driving is scary.
10) it weirds me out that toilets are in different rooms than sinks. i always thought i was a canadian flower child type but turns out i've got some hygienic standards....
11) perfume really is a thing. the lady i'm staying with has bottles everywhere!!.
12) j'aime le pain (though this was never news).

anywho!! that's after only two days. tomorrow we investigate the young singer/opera scene... so much to observe... what they wear, how they sing, how the sopranos scope each other out... #researchproject

à toute à l'heure!

the days are just packed

about twenty minutes ago, i handed in my last paper as a grad student and in just a few days, i'll be singing the alma mater while wearing a cap and gown at my graduation!! who could believe seven years of post-secondary education would just fly by?

i've been a little behind on the blogging lately (ahem - too much brunch - cough). my days have been filled with holy week singing, operas, recitals, competitions and as always, lots of auditions. BUT in the mean time, i have made some delicious concoctions!

for starters, chocolate caramel matzah proved the best passover treat in the world! i'd make it year round. i got the recipe from the chicago tribune which i pour over every morning while drinking my coffee and eating my oatmeal. check it out here!

today also marks the birthday of my little sister (turning 20!), my boyfriend drew! (27!), grandpa harry (would've been 94!), and little cousin charlie (turning 1!). 

though sadly my sister is far away, i've made drew a deliiiiicious hummingbird cake with zoo animals from whole foods ontop. he may by 27 but he's perpetually five. (recipe here!)

happy birthday loves!!

readings lately :)

cold cold winter, aka the perfect time to do some reading :) here are a few of my recent reads and recommendations:

this is the story of a happy marriage by ann patchett 

in high school i became particularly fond of bel canto and its opera singing heroine. i was happy to realize that ann patchett's strengths extend well beyond her ability to write a thrilling and accessible novel. this novel was filled with truthful, beautiful sharing about life and loss and love. she articulates her ideas so beautifully, especially in one poignant essay about the power of education and forming your own opinions, as well as one about her divorce as a 25-year-old leading to her happy marriage more than twenty years later. 

almost english by charlotte mendelson was a fun, british read set in a girls' boarding school. perfectly riveting and well-written for the holidays.

the unbearable lightness of being was a particularly poignant read about relationships and love and growing as people... not the happiest read i've experienced but certainly a beautiful one filled with thoughts that have stayed with me since reading them. this book has been around for a while and its stood the test of time for a reason. (also i want to go to prague.)

i've read a few other books lately - the alchemist, a gift from my sweet boyfriend, which was inspirational and lovely to read. we're also reading the hen who dreamed she could fly by sun-mi hwang which is the perfect bedtime read. also my friend charlotte gave me a hilarious (and helpful!) book called adulting which i highly recommend to anyone in their twenties. :) :) next up i'm thinking of reading the hours or maybe some dickens.... this nytimes article really got me thinking about the importance of delving into things with some depth in our age of instant access and bitesize thoughts all over the internet. i was sick yesterday and watched les enfants du paradis as suggested by my coach as inspiration for my debussy set on my upcoming recital. three hours of black and white stylized french film... but you know what? by the end of the three hours, i loved it. 

have you read anything delicious lately? i used to have a russian friend who would skip lunch in order to read... he told me that a good book filled you up like a meal. :) :)

buddha bowls

over in good ol' toronto, there is an incredible chain of restaurants called fresh. it's all vegetarian, all beautifully presented and hip and absolutely delicious. i've had one of their cookbooks for a few years and although their recipes can be a bit time consuming, they are totally worth it.

last night i made buddha bowls (recipe here).

my cookbook....

this peanut sauce is delish - i added extra cayenne pepper in honour of the extreme cold chicago's been having lately!

i took one little short cut - trader joe's brown rice - ready in three mins instead of an hour! 

normally it would be cucumber circling the bowl with the tomato, but i have a soft spot for avocado (i found out that apparently highly sensitive people like high in healthy fats foods... explains my weakness for avocado, almonds, etc)...

how delish. 

PS: banana bread beer? sounds weird but it's kind of the most delicious thing in the world. these americans are onto something.

PPS: speaking of buddha, my friend posted this inspiring article on facebook yesterday about finding strength when you feel like you're not good enough (especially helpful for someone pursuing a hyper-competitive, extremely subjective career like me!).