2009, as the subject says, seems to be the “Year of Do.”

Long I’ve gone on about planning to do many things. And more than just what should I eat for supper tonight. I’m talking bigger, more important things. Like, what should I eat for breakfast.

I joke, the answer is totally bacon.

For starters, I’ve been talking about having another spaghetti night since the last one which, for those keeping score at home, is well over three years ago now. I’m not always the fastest, but I get there eventually.

Sunday’s the big day. I’m going to be surrounded by adults and kids and kid-like adults, with lots of spaghetti to go around. On the day before, with grubby list in hand, I went to the grocery store to get all the supplies. Garlic, good, peppers, got them, lots of mushrooms, parmesan, asiago, onions and so on. Then I came to the ground beef, of which I needed 1.5lbs. Or, at least that’s what I wrote down. Don’t be surprised if there’s a later update titled “What was I thinking?”. Actually, that’s bound to come up regardless.

However, I’m in Canada and all the meat — every last little bit — was measured solely in kilograms. Which, without my computer, is pretty useless to me.

I could just pick a medium-sized package and hoped for the best. Maybe make a half- or double-batch as needed. Maybe even a quadruple-batch. Meatballs are pretty tasty after all. I even found a package that I thought would make a good amount of meatballs for all involved. But no, for some reason I get it in my head that I wrote on that grubby (it’s been carried around a bit all day) list that I only need 1.5lbs, and that’s what I’m going to buy.

Thus begins my next task. Walking up and down the aisles looking for anything, anything at all, measured by weight in both pounds and kilograms. An international package of imperial and metric proportions is all I need. Ridiculous, I know. Naturally I went straight for the turkey’s. Easter, for those that haven’t seen the chocolate eggs exploding across the stores, is quickly approaching and I’ve got turkey on the mind. But no, they were listed in kilograms only. And of the evil pre-stuffed variety I might add. Moving along, the hams and chickens were equally useless, though I’m sure quite tasty. But then I found it. My rosetta stone. It was so important I completely forget what it was. All I know is that it weighed 10lbs/4.5kg. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

I marched back to the ground meat section and promptly picked up the package I’d originally picked out.

It was more than 1.5lbs.

I didn’t care. I decided I wanted more meatballs.

On Friday, as part of a super-busy weekend containing two art shows (though I missed one of them), two birthday parties (made it to both), meetings and a Wintersleep concert (okay, well, it sounded busy to me), I went to one of the art shows.

Setting the way-back machine to January 15th, just hours before my departure from Halifax for St. John’s, Dad, Judy, Simon and I went out for a quick meal at a new place out in Eastern Passage called The Alehouse. Or something like that. The details are a little fuzzy. I mean, that was a long time ago.

I’m in the process of editing a few photos and the computer brought up the usual cantankerous warning message “Are you sure you want to open 30 items” with the typical computer yes/no answer to either okay it or cancel entirely.

On Sunday, squeezed in between pie and conjuring a website out of Adobe Flash, I managed to make it to an event organized by FEASt (Food Education Action – St. John’s). They’re a local group dedicated to education of food issues and there’s a bit of a partnership between them and the St. John’s Farmers’ Market (big surprise, eh?).