Songbirds

In 2007 I released my very first full length, full band, all recorded in one place; record. You can hear "Sound." here. I had been toying around with the songs for said record, and they were the first I had ever written and after I had created that first album, I decided to quit my jobs and focus, full time on being a professional musician. Before my very first Record Release (of said record at The Black Sheep Inn) I had heard some music from the very talented Kyrie Kristmanson and had asked her if she wouldn't mind wowing the local area of Wakefield, Quebec with her music, as the special guest to my very first musical "Shin Dig." She complied and did a most excellent job, with those unique and haunting vocals. Fast forward a few years later and I had noticed she was a part of the "American Songbirds Festival" in Europe and found myself rather intrigued. I did some sleuthing! All good things take their time, and this year I was invited to perform at the tail end of this traveling musical festival, to Austria and Germany. Kyrie had to perform those last few dates in Paris and asked me to sub in for her. Awesome! Thank you ever so much, Songbird!

Lindsay_singing_in_Germany

It was a new experience for me. Traveling in a tour van, with three other Songbirds and one Tour Manager. What a cool thing, to have everything looked after; the driving, the food, the accommodation, the venue, the rider the EVERYTHING! I am very used to doing it all myself (the booking, the planning, the navigation -on top of the composing- etc etc) and I have to say, it was a great pleasure to be introduced to this level of professionalism. 

My_hand_holding_a_wine_glass_in_shadow

Another wonderful thing about this traveling music festival, is the variety of talent on stage. This is not just four women sounding alike. Every one had their special sound and flare! How wonderful for me to meet some new musical compadrés, from various parts of the world. Introducing Ashia Bison Rouge, living in Berlin, who plays a Cello and makes powerful sounds with looping and harmonies, entirely captivating. Enter troubadour Rachelle Garniez, from New York City, wild and wonderful and a multi-instrumentalist on accordion, guitar and piano. Her vocals are one to take tips from, rumbling down in the low and switching to fairy-tale high in a split second, a kind of Tom Waits meets Melanie. On the Grande Piano comes songwriter and singer extra-ordinaire, Daisy Chapman from England. She too uses a looper and sings from the heavens. It was SUCH an incredible opportunity for me to be a part of this wild and wonderful crew of talented super-stars.. err... women. 

Shining_together_in_an_800_year_old_room

The end of the tour was sad for me, as I was only getting warmed up for more musical adventures, alas, it was a great introduction to so many things, and I left my new friends, inspired. Our last day was spent touring around Berlin. It was my first time in this history filled, feeling infused city. The Wall was somewhere I needed to be, somehow, the idea of touching it came over me. What energy, indeed! 

Seeing_the_Berlin_wall_for_the_first_time

What an incredible experience, all in all. It's times like these when I am happy that music was given to me and that I decided to explore such a gift! Ten years in and I certainly wouldn't change a thing.

Thanks for reading,

Love

Lindsay xo

Foodie With Me

Working in the service industry for SO long, meant that I rarely cooked. I would eat out most of the time and only really had ingredients in the pantry/fridge for making wraps or Breakfast. I was really good at rolling a wrap together and even better at throwing together a good ole fashion Canadian Brekky. I was, after all, mostly single. Being in a relationship changes all of that! Somehow I always knew that cooking for two would be WAY better than cooking for one. I am really amazed though because now I Love to cook! I must thank all of the former chefs that I have worked with over the years, all of those dead evenings where I watched you and asked a million questions, well some of it stuck!! So, Thanks :)  Today, I thought to share with you a few of the STAPLES in my kitchen and perhaps I can inspire you to create some greatness in YOUR kitchen!

Delicious_cheese_fondue

I guess cheese has to be the number one staple in our fridge. We have often said that we would pick cheese over meat, if we had to give up one or the other. At any given time there are three types of cheese in the fridge; Buffalo Mozzarella, Feta & Gruyere. Feta goes great in a salad and wonderful in an omelette. Fresh mozzarella is great with basil, tomato and a little olive oil/balsamic drizzle. Gruyere (or if you are partial to cheddar) goes great with anything; potatoes, bread, pasta and more. Cheese is essential. If you are cutting out bread and sugar etc, here is an excellent recipe for a bread-less pizza .... Steam a head of cauliflower, and when it is fully cooked, crumble it all up with a hand mixer or whatever you have. I find a hand mixer works wonders with EVERYTHING from making a smoothie to pulverizing hard bread into bread crumbs. When the cauliflower is cool, add a cup of shredded cheese, parmesan works well! Add a bunch of parsley, one egg and some pepper. Flatten it out into a nice circle pizza shape, bake in the oven for 20min then add your toppings and bake for another 15min around 375. The thing to remember is to squeeze out or pat out as much of the excess water from the cooked cauliflower as possible (before mixing in the other ingredients.) The crust will be too flimsy/moist if you don't.

Cauliflower_pizza_crust

The next essential thing I have in my kitchen is fresh LEMON!! Lemon is so good for so many things; curry, salad dressing, lemon water, fried fish and my favourite thing to make from scratch: Mayo! Here is my easy peasy recipe for mayo...p.s it is REALLY good and the texture is, I promise, the same as store bought. The great thing though, is that there are no "e's" in it i.e nothing fake!! Only yum and I have no guilt eating it. I tried making it with many types of oil (Olive, Avocado & Canola) and the best by far is Sunflower oil. So, get a mixing container (a hand mixer comes with a container) Mix together one egg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and just over a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice, then in a slow line, pour in one cup of the sunflower oil. It takes less than ten minutes to make and will keep in your fridge for at least two weeks. Again, when you pour in the oil, do it SLOWLY.

Home_made_mayo_on_a_spoon

Besides the regular stuff like eggs, flour, milk, butter etc... It is great to have a few spices/herbs/seasoning stuffs on hand. Cumin powder is a delicious add when you are making scrambled eggs,  hot sauce (sambal oelek or sriracha) is great with hash browns or added into any sauces at all, depending if you like it a bit hot. Odds and ends in your fridge can be crafted into deliciousness at all times. I find fresh herbs are great in salads, like a heap of basil or cilantro chopped in there... another amazing add for a salad (even as a snack!) are roasted sunflower seeds with a few splashes of soya sauce. SUPER easy to make but you have to stay on them, don't leave the kitchen or they might get too brown. Sautée the raw sunflower seeds in a frying pan on medium-high heat, high heat will burn them (no oil or butter needed, jus ton their own.) Throw them around in the pan til they get golden brown on both sides, when they do (about 15min) splash in a bit of soya sauce... QUICK, take your wooden spoon and push it along the bottom of the pan to get all the soya sauce up and mixed around... It will burn on the pan if you don't stir it all in (about three or four more minutes.) Friends with peanut allergies... apparently this snack is also a really great salty "nut" alternative. Let them cool and munch away!! 

Golden_Roasted_Sunflower_Seeds

Yes, cooking is fun!! And WAY cheaper than eating out all the time.

I hope I have inspired some new ideas for you today....

Enjoy and revel in the yumminess!! 

xoxo

Broken Beach

Two winter's ago I was in Domincan Republic, celebrating three things. One: my girlfriend's wedding; Two: my honeymoon; and Three: my birthday. It was my first time down to that part of the world and as most who know me, I was born on the Ocean Shores of Bermuda and I truly am a water baby, so I was very much looking forward to this "adventure" among friends, beaches, booze and beauty!

Lindsay_on_a_beach_in_a_beach_hat

It didn't turn out the way I had hoped, dreamed or ever imagined. The day after the wedding, which was fabulous and fun, was spent out on the water, a real adventure featuring snorkels, reefs, colourful fish, clear waters and booze, lots of booze, mainly rum! It was my birthday and we were a group of sixteen friends, all out there floating on and under the sea, swimming with the fishes. Soon after snorkeling, we sailed on over to a very calm bay (our resort was on a very wavy wavy shore!) and we jumped into the water once more, joined by three of four other ship-vessels looking for fun, featuring more rum and loud dance music... Ocean Disco would commence!

My_first_ocean_disco

The guy who was driving the boat just kept on bringing trays of Rum and coke out to us, and no one had a care in the world. It was turning out to be a fabulous way to spend a birthday, really, one of the best! Until we got back to the shores of our resort, until I did the stupidest thing ever... I jumped off the boat thinking the water was much deeper than it actually was and ended up breaking my leg in two spots in what the Dr.'s called a "Maisonneuve Fracture." Surprisingly it didn't hurt that bad, thanks to all that rum, I suppose.

My_leg_x-ray

Yeah, it was a funky way to end a trip. That is for sure. We ended up thinking it was a sprain, and just kept it iced all the time, and I took a few anti-inflammation pills. It wasn't until we flew home to Canada a few days later when we went to get things checked out for reals. Needless to say, I was on crutches for months and it was my first break. Luckily it was one of Canada's worst winters for cold and snow (Ha. Ha.) and we were living in a trailer on a horse ranch, with no running water and a wood stove for heat. It really brought things into perspective. 

Our_cozy_trailer

Those spiky things you can put on the end of your crutches probably saved my life. Actually, living in a small space, where you can practically reach out and grab anything was also very helpful. It was definitely like going back in time...Heating up water for dishes, cooking breakfast on the top of the wood stove... It was a bit like heaven when I think back.. aside from the darn break!! Getting down to the "warm room/wash room" in the barn, below the trailer was always an adventure. Ahhh those were the days.

A_trailers_view

I am reminded of all this leg stuff because, for over a week,  I have been laid up with a bum knee, couch bound! Which of course reminded me of our "Dominican Dream Adventure Nightmare Trip" and what a slew of memories! Like try getting out of the ocean with crutches. A girl has got to swim! Ha, and living on a horse ranch in a trailer, was a little different to life in a home with running water and all the amenities this time with a cane instead of crutches.... I suppose the lesson here is to never take anything for granted. Having the fortune to be able to walk freely is so forgotten until you can't walk! Luckily the pain is easing off and I went out for a walk in the woods for the first time in too long. Also, I wanted to share with you a healing herb I heard about for inflammaton, it's called "COMFREY" in English. Apparently the leaves and roots can be made into salve and it is super good for swelling. It seems to be working on my knees! In the meantime, I will be walking lightly.

Til we meet again, 

Lindsay xo

Eurovision, Rykka and Me

A couple of weekends back, I had the pleasure to accompany my friend and musical compadré, RYKKA to the Swiss Eurovision Finals. It was very exciting for me to see my good friend up there on stage looking like a million bucks and singing for Switzerland. She composed the song "The Last of Our Kind"  specifically for the Eurovision Song Contest, and it won for Switzerland. You can see her fabulous performance "here." Rykka (Christina Rieder) and I have been friends for a long time, we met almost a decade ago at a music conference around 5am singing together in a circle of music makers of all kinds, instruments jamming along spontaneously on the penthouse floor of a hotel filled with music industry people from all over. We were friends from the moment our voices melded!! Little did I know that our future lives would parallel each other as she too would be spending her time between Canada (B.C) and Switzerland (Zurich.)

Rykka_and_I_backstage_pre_performance

Some of you may be wondering why I am writing about Rykka's performance and not my own? That is a fair question, seeing as I am also a Singer and Song-writer. I have, in the past auditioned for Ireland's Eurovision (did not make it, obviously) and a couple of years ago, I auditioned for Canada's Got Talent. A few years back, I even auditioned for Cirque De Soleil. So I have been down those "audtition" roads and am clearly not cut out for such things. People ask me if I get nervous, well the most nervous I have ever been is during the auditioning process. I can sing for a crowd made up of hundreds, even thousands, but when four people are there, judging me, I clam up. Anyway, more RYKKA!!! My friend has been VERY busy since winning for Switzerland, but she managed to answer a few questions I had... So here they are!

1) What are your hobbies?

R: Whenever I am not making music, I am making something. If it's not one thing, it's another. I Love to make costumes, if it's like Christmas holidays, I Love to bake. I'm in Love with making! Haha.

2) How do you find happiness?

R: I think that being in nature is a great way to find happiness. My favourite place is in the mountains, or in the forest near my house. I relate happiness to being centered and at peace. A few nights ago, I couldn't sleep because my head was buzzing and I pictured myself floating over a blue lake. It totally worked and I could clear my mind and I fell asleep.

3) What was the name of the first song you ever wrote and what was the chorus?

R: When I was 16 my boyfriend was 21 haha...my parents were cool with it actually. But anyway, he was so lazy. I wrote a song called Runaway for him, telling him that he is missing out on life by just sleeping and being lazy all the time.

4) What would you do if you saw someone litter?

R: When I see someone litter I'm like "Hello! It's 2016 not the '80's!" Who didn't get the memo? I just can't get into the mind frame of not caring about abruptly littering. Here in Switzerland people are really good about recycling, when I see someone throw a plastic bottle in the garbage, I freak out haha.

5) What is one of the most important things for you to do to prepare for Stockholm?(Stockholm is where the Eurovsion final will take place)

R: I'm mentally preparing myself. I'm also working to make my voice stronger. I'm taking voice lessons for the first time in years and really fine tuning them.

Rykka_and_I_after_the_win_with_Prosecco

Of course we could go on and on with more questions, and perhaps after Stockholm we will do an update. IN the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open for my girl here, you will be hearing more, for sure! 

Thanks for reading,

Love

Lindsay