When we moved to Montreal, I knew that I would not be working right away, so I should take advantage of the time off and pick up some hobbies.  You know, something that I have always wanted to do but never had the time and now I have SO much time so I should become the world’s best…something.  Something so significant that people will say “oh Mahsa!  She is the one with the amazing organic zucchini bread made with zucchini from her backyard.  Did you know that she donates 10 kilos of zucchinis to the homeless every year?”

Here is my status:

1 – Gardening.  I had plans to become a serious gardener during the summer, planting flowers and fruits with the ease of Martha Stewart.  And then when people would come over to dinner, I would casually mention to them that I saw a huge spider while picking the fresh tomatoes from the garden for the caprese salad.  “Oh, and Pedram, could you grab a lemon from the lemon tree for the lemonade?  Gosh, tomorrow, we’ll have to go donate all these extra eggplants to the local food bank!”

Reality — gardening deals with alot of dirt.  It is hard labor.  It is sweaty, and it is dirty.  First of all, Montreal soil sucks.  So you have buy new soil and do all this crazy shoveling before planting anything.  Plus, my perfect area for organic gardening was covered with this crazy weed, with deep, long roots.

While digging them out, which was practically impossible, I was also swatting flies and flicking worms.  At the end of the day, I was covered with mosquito bites and mud.  And the next week, the weeds grew right back.  One time, when digging on my hands and knees, I came upon this scary thing.

It was so gross, and there were a handful more of them.  The following week, some animal had defecated on our weed-free garden.  And then I told myself, I am not going to be a gardener after all.  At least not this summer.

2 – Knitting.  I was planning on becoming a world-class knitter, using my artistic abilities to create my own clothing line, or at least to create cute booties for babies at the local orphanage.  Friends and family will beg for one of my patented creations, and I will have to put them on a waiting list.

Reality. Knitting is alot of fun, but not as easy as I thought.  I started off with a simple scarf, and ended up with something with an unexpected pattern and two holes.  And the scarf was made for Pedram, who tried it once and said that he could not wear it for more than one second because it itched so bad.  And then I wrapped it around his neck and told him that even if it give him hives the size of apples, he should LOVE the FRUITS of MY LABOR!!

Also, knitting is something you can do while doing something else, which is why I thought it would be great to “stitch and bitch”, but unfortunately, my stitch and bitch buddies all lived far away, and the only way to do this is through skype.  And, I need help figuring out how to up my knitting game, how many more scarves can I make?

3 – Food.  This is one area that I have actually been successful at.  I have been following this food blog, and she does a great job tempting my appetite with mouth-watering pictures.  That, my friends, gives me inspiration.  I have tried a half dozen recipes, all that have turned out really well.  Where I am really excelling, however, is in the desserts.  Her oatmeal cookie recipe is the best ever.

I am also trying out more and more Persian recipes with more success.  We have even mastered (with my parents help), the art of making kabob.

What should I take on next?

Love,

The (potential) Domestic Goddess…