Best Cracker Ever & Second Chances

My new favorite crackers are for sure Lesley Stowe's Rainforest Crisps. These crispy little babies are amazing, flavourful, and satisfy just about any craving I come up with. They're sweet, salty, nutty, crispy, and depending on the type- spicy. And pricy. I eat enough of them, that an $8 per tube habit starts to get hard on the ol' wallet (especially since money doesn't start coming in until next spring around here). Lucky for me, my sister (of the huckleberry liquor inspiration) decided there had to be a better (read: cheaper) alternative. So she searched the interwebs and compiled some recipes and did some experimenting... and made the best crackers ever. Fresh out of the oven are spicy apricot-hazelnut-cayenne and cranberry-apple-walnut-curry crackers. So Good. They're still a little pricy to make (which is nice because it helps explain why they're so pricy to buy) because they're rammed with high quality ingrediants like nuts, seeds, fruits, etc. Better than the original (because how can you beat fresh out of the oven anything- sorry Lesley). But super time consuming. They require some sitting time and two separate bakes. But if Talia is willing to make them, I am more than willing to eat them. And if Talia is willing to sell them in the Revelstoke Farmer's Market (she's thinking about it) I'll be willing to dish out some cash for them too.

A while ago someone I care(d?) about compared me to a cracker. Now, if you read the above, you'd know I'm pretty into crackers. But the context was something along the lines of you're "just a cracker" rather than "the best meal ever." Now I think I'm more of a meal than a cracker and obviously didn't take well to this analogy... even if I was being compared to the best cracker ever (see above) I like to think I'm simply much too juicy to be a cracker. But that's neither here nor there. The reason I'm pondering this, is because this cracker-calling-person is hoping I'll discount the above and various other minor transgressions in favor of a second chance.

Little sister blithely says everyone deserves a second chance. And on closer inspection, she does follow this rule herself. Me, I've never been big on second chances. Life isn't like a video game, as Eminem says, you can't press the reset button. Who's more right? Tal or Eminem? Or me?

I'm not huge into giving people second chances except in very special circumstances (like they're related to me or something- and even then it might take a few years for me to come around) but I love giving second chances to the things people discard along the way. Maybe they're vintage, maybe they're funky, maybe they're just used and old. But that's what I want! After the fire, everyone thought I'd be so happy to have all new things... not so: since then all I want are old things! My old things would be best, but since I can't have my old things, yours will do! And now I love finding treasures in thrift stores (even more) and the ones in Revelstoke are AMAZING!

My latest and greatest find is a beautiful old teacup from Germany. I'm in love with the colors. Fascinated by the concept of these eyeless birds (is this a philosophical statement? aesthetic? an accident? are these birds blind? blinking? mutants?) I adore the hand crafted nature of them, the imperfectly applied paint and the wabi-sabi-ness of it all.

This little flower makes me very happy.

Perhaps I need a little more wabi-sabi-ness in my relationships. I'm trying to be more open to all kinds of people and perhaps that should include people who use unfortunate analogies. Maybe its these things that add richness and depth (and laughter- you know how I love laughter) to a friendship.

PS. There's obviously more to the problem than just a cracker-analogy. I wouldn't consider ending a friendship over that- so don't worry friends- I'm not that hard-core-crazy.