watching pigs

... and birds. and foxes stealing meat.
So what am I doing at 3 am?
I am watchin/listening the forest. It's a gorgeous morning in Estonia today. Seems to be pretty cold, and there's snow, and the sky was pretty yellow:)

But - Estonia has two live-feed cameras in the forest. One is for watching pigs at night - they come out to eat. And they people like me, who have nothing else to do, can spy on them. Yesterday the entire gang was out at 5 pm or so (Ottawa time). Pretty neat.

And at this hour it's good to check out the birds and birdies. There was an eagle sitting on a branch earlier. And the fights among the birds.
And today - I was watching and then working and then watching. There was a big piece of meat for a buzzard (kull ;) on it. Nice. I worked for a bit. And and the buzzard-dude took a break as well. I check back - no buzzard, no meat. Hmmm..
Turns out that Uncle Fox decided to come over and climb on the table and steal the meat. Hooligan! On tegelane.

If you wanna spy on forest dudes too, then check this:
http://looduskalender.ee/
On the left-hand side choose either "Metsakaamera striim" for the pigs or "Kotkakaamera striim" for the eagle show.

The forest noises are so calming...

Hundionu made dinner today. For a village.

I was rudely (just kidding) woken up by Dorotas phonecall today. She called me at 1.30 pm. This is getting out of hand. Tomorrow I have to be at the lab teaching at 8.30 am. I'm seriously considering just skipping the night...

So but I got up at 2 or so and made it to the grocery store. I was out of milk, so I HAD to go. It was snowing wide, wide, beautiful snow. Quite lots of it. The cars had a hard time moving on...

And then I decided to make a real dinner for change. Santa (called Sujeeve) sent me a cookbook. And I already chose one out the day I got it. And today it seemed like a good day to make it.
It's called Mutton Biryani Bina's Mian. I made it a la estonian. That is - I replaced lamb with ground beef (cos I forgot the lamb).

Here's the recipe:
2 cups of basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads (I was out, so I skipped it. Otherwise I love saffron in food)
1/4 cup of butter
1 chopped onions
1 inch peeled and chopped ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon of crushed cardamom seeds (I wasn't too sure how to crush them. So I hit them with the wooden box a few times and called it ready)
1 cinnamon stick
1 pound lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes (I took ground beef, unknown amount)
4 ounces dried apricots halves
4 ounces raisins
2 ounces cashews, slit in half
2 ounces slivered almonds
2 bay leaves
3 teaspoons of salt
2 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 ounces pistachio nuts

Rince rice, soak in cold water for 30 min.
Put a little bit of hot water on saffron and soak 10 min.
Melt butter on a skillet, add onions, ginger and garlic. Stir and saute for 5 min or until onions are soft and translucent. Add cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon. Saute/stir for 2 min.
Add lamb cubes, saute for 10 min until they are seared and brown.
Add apricots, raisins, cashews, half of the almonds, bayleaves and 1 tsp salt. Pour in the chicken stock, cover and simmer for 35-40 min until the lamb is tender. Remove from heat, discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Keep warm.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Bring 3 pints of water to boil. Add some salt and the rice and boil for 2 min. Drain the rice.

Take a large (!) casserole dish. Put some butter on the bottom. Put one third of the rice on the bottom. Sprinkle with saffron water. Cover it with half of the meat/fruit mixture. Add another third of rice. Sprinkle with saffron water. And then the second half of meat/fruit mixture. Then add final layer of rice. Sprinkle with saffron water. Poor the remainder of the juices from the pan over the rice. Sprinkle almonds and pistachios on top.
Put it into the oven and bake until the liquids have been absorbed by the rice - about 30 min. Enjoy!

Of course I didn't realize the amount. I started off as the recipe said. So I ended up with TWO casserole dishes FULL. So my diet is confirmed for the rest of the week. Or I can host a big party.
It turned out really tasty though. I like:)

10 hours of sleep...

I slept today until 2 pm.
Nice, isn't it? I guess I really needed it.
The thing is though that I actually went to bed early. Early for me that is. At 3.30 am.
It's just that I only get stuff (read: my thesis) done at night. When it's about 10 or 11 pm here, this is when my brain kicks into gear and is ready to go. And then I go along. Usually until 4 or 5 am. And then I sleep. Usually until 10 or 11 am, because I feel guilty to sleep when it's light outside. And then I do random stuff all day. And when radio Elmar (Estonian radio playing only Estonian music) plays their Morning song (the same song every morning at 7 am), then I'm ready to work again.
So that's my schedule nowadays.
It's nice though.
Every morning I get to talk to Kristi. And sometimes I chat with Julia. For them it's the morning.
And Dan and I chat. He lives next building and has the nocturnal lifestyle.

Today I also went to school. I made it in at 4.30 pm. Just in time to finish on time at 5 pm:P
I dropped of the manuscript nr 3 with my Supervisor and the other co-author.

And then Leslie and I went for the amazing dinner at the Perfection-Satisfaction place. It was amazing as always.

Later I had a drink with Alejandro and watched the gold medal game between Canada and Sweden in juniors hockey. It was a great game. Canada won. 5:1. I think its Canadas fifth gold medal in a row. Nice. But poor swedes... I still like them too.
Alejandro is going to Uruguay on Friday. Lucky him.

And boys are tricky. Is there such thing as just going for drink with no alternative thoughts? Or not? And should these be previously discussed? Or no? And how would you even do it? That would require assuming a lot, and how could one sweet girl assume anything? Or is it better to be mysterious, confident, but stand to your values? I guess the last one is the best. Sometimes I just think that maybe it's a little evil from my side.

And I learned that there are new rules for immigrants now. So once I get my degree, I can apply for the work permit, which will allow me to work here up to three years. Which is great. Because before one had to get the job first, and then the permit, and it was always tied to your contract. So if you changed the job, you needed the new permit. And now it's the open permit. Which would make me so much easier to hire. Perfect.
And in addition there's supposedly a tax break as well. That apparently I would pay less tax as the fresh graduate.
So this is good. Takes some stress off my sholders. I can stay in Canada, if I'd wish:)

the day the kitty left

Ah, Audi just went home... I'm sad.
I actually really, really got used to her. It was so nice to have someone else at home. Someone whom to talk to and whom to hug (even though she usually disliked it). We watched movies together and sometimes she decided to treat me and sleep on my lap. And someone who asked for food and came to cuddle at night (she liked to sleep under the covers with me). And then, when I woke up, she was always right next to my pillow - checking whether I'm awake or not. And if I was not ready to get up yet, we snoozed together for a little bit longer. Little furball:)
Soooooooooooo nice!
Don't you agree that she is just adorable?
I guess I just have to hope that her owners are soon going for another trip:)

In the meanwhile I'm suffering over my thesis.. I think the chapter 3 is ready to be shown to my Supervisor (right after I insert the references and write an abstract). And the intro is in the works... so far I have copy-pasted together all the intros I have ever written... gotta recycle, you know:P But still I need to beef it up significantly if I need this 30 pages that is required. And the discussion... I have a few thoughts, but I need to get to it very soon.

Also, Team Canada beat Russia yesterday in the world junior hockey championship 6-5 in overtime. I didn't see the game, but followed it on the internet. It was a very intense game. I'm so happy for Canada! So now there's just one game left - to decide who will take the gold home... It's between Canada and Sweden... which is a little bit tougher choice for me:) But still - Go, Canada:) I will cheer for Sweden once I will live there. If ever.

And the buses are still not running... The strike started on Dec 10th... It has been very many days. It seems to be that the dude who runs the transport union is just simply stupid. His arguments are sounding more like from a crybaby who wants attention. even the federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose has got involved here and has forced the bus drivers and etc to vote on the next offer from the city. The head of the union still thinks that the union people will vote no. I honestly hope they have sober minds and they are able vote for accepting the offer. The city is already offering the pay rise and more guarantees (whatever these are). And the entire strike is based on the demand the union wants to control the schedule of working hours and the routes and they don't want the city to be involved. But at the same time it is the public service, mostly funded by the city, and I think it only makes sense that the city would have the right to design the most approprite routes and have adequate number of buses running. Otherwise we would have most of the buses running empty at odd hours, and during the rush hour at important routes there would be no-one.
Anyway. This just makes me mad. They honestly keep the city like in hostage. People don't get food, can't go to the doctor etc. Crazy!

Tomorrow is the first day of work... I can't get in, since the yellow school buses will start on Tuesday. And I hope there will be still room for me too. Thankfylly I can still write from home.

On the positive note - I spent almost 2 hours of qulaity time on the Skype talking to Kullionu and Julia. It's always so wonderful to talk to good people:) I need to do it more often:)

tujurikkuja - mood destroyer - more estonian entertainment

Tujurikkuja:
http://uudised.err.ee/?0&popup=video&id=19118

Vaga vahva pooltund vana-aasta ohtust:)

4 - it would be a great place for you to practice and improve your estonian skills:) And you would like the jokes too:)

Paevalehte loed?

Soovitan lugeda: http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/453900

See lugu kirjeldab minu elamusi Pohja-Ontarios 2008 aprillis. Ma vist kunagi ei joudnud nii kaugele, et siia midagi kribada. Aga akki yhel heal paeval panen mone pildi, kus mina ka peal olen:)

Siiralt teie,
Kask Kuusemetsas

Happy New Year - Good times for the 2009

It's already the 1st of January, 2009!
The year started well:)
I had to have a nap after the rowdy" celebrations for the Estonian new year, but by 11 pm I was ready again:) So I bundled up (not well enough, I realized later), and headed out to meet Leslie and Co and go to the canal for the celebrations in Ottawa.
Finger Eleven was giving a concert and there was a good crowd (nothing like Canada Day though:P). It was very nice. Cold and clear winter night (-25 degrees or so), and people, and good music! They played until midnight, then we greeted the 2009 and then they played a few more songs. Ah, there was also a small pyrotechnical show - small rackets and some fire. No real fireworks this year. It's ok though. Last year the fireworks was over the top though - the picture on the card is taken last year.
After we headed to Lauras/Damiens and had some Martinis and I had a late dinner. By 3.30 I was at home:)
Good start for the new year! :)


And here is the Good Times by Finger Eleven - let there be lots of good times in 2009! (that was 2009 welcoming song in Ottawa).