YUM!

I have a new favourite book. Looney Spoons Collection! It's a cookbook and is the updated versions of many recipes from some of the earlier books - The original Looney Spoons (no longer available) and Eat, Drink and Be Merry. There are also many, many new recipes.

The books are written by sisters and they are hams. The book is filled with humourous anecdotes and tips about healthy eating. The recipes are low fat and reasonably healthy but the most important part is that it is delicious!



So far I have made the guacamole. Holy guacamole it was good. The difference from what I usually make was a bit of cumin. It was the missing link.

I made Bolognese sauce too. Which is fancy for meat sauce, you know, with spaghetti. It has ground beef and Italian sausage and balsamic vinegar (which was the little something something always missing from my meat sauce). We had it with spaghetti squash rather than pasta and... I never took a picture...too busy hoovering it off my plate.

And tonight, I made the pizza crust I always make from the Looney Spoons book and then added the toppings from the new book for Mexican pizza. And made a plain one for the boys, because, you know, they still haven't delved into the things we like.



This one wasn't as good as I planned however, I know just how to fix it. A little refried bean combination for the sauce me thinks...and some of the guacamole to go with it.

Anyway, a good gift idea for anyone you know who might like to cook (there are actually people out there who do! I am one of them!) and likes to eat healthier. It was $19.99 at Costco.

Someone, Who is Awesome,

...lent me her flash. The good kind. The kind that is external and not nuclear. Well if you use the right settings and point it the right way anyway. I kind of owe her. See you at Christmas Jen, I will come bearing your flash and goodies!

I have been having fun practicing. It is so nice to be able to take pictures indoors using manual settings without it looking like a solar flare blew up at the very moment I snapped the photo. Can you say shiny happy foreheads?

I signed up for this online photo workshop beginning Dec 1st and am looking forward to learning and playing.



It's Christmas Carol season in piano and he is developing my love of playing them on the piano. He is also 99% better at than me. I like to sing along and sometimes I even sing in the right key.

He does not necessarily love that I sing along.

That's okay, I chalk that up to annoying my kids is part of my job as a mom. It's an important one and I take it very seriously. Much to the annoyance of my kids. Moohohahahahah!

This is Rider. He even sat still when I took his picture. The first time. The next few times, he did not. Glad I got lucky.

One Sunday afternoon we had a pie making bee with friends. Apple pie to be exact. You see, we got boxes of apples from a school fundraiser. The apples were HUGE. And good. And perfect for pie.

I think the grand total was 8 or 9 pies. We have two in the freezer just waiting for unexpected company. Who's coming?

Monday Randoms

Things have been quiet around here lately. For many reasons really, but mostly I have been uninspired and we've been busy. The stomach flu has hit all but me in our house, I am bracing myself because if Jay gets it, the guy who rarely gets sick, I am so doomed. I've been quite productive over the last few days given the threat of being horizontal for 12 - 36 hours in the near future.

As you will notice, the Christmas baking* is done. The pictures are as random as I foresee this post being.

Nanaimo bar

The Christmas shopping is finished. Mostly. It's getting harder as the boys get older, do you know how many different type of Power Rangers there are? Making sure I got just the right one gave me a headache, that's how many.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Jack had his very first piano recital yesterday and got to play on a baby grand. He was a bit intimidated but played his piece, from memory, the best he's ever played it. Clearly he does not get this from his mother, who cracks under the spotlight and pressure equally well. Oh and did I mention he barely slept the night before and was incredibly overtired? Someone please explain to me why 8 year olds need to have sleepovers? Why yes, I am the Grinch's long lost cousin, why do you ask?

Macaroons

I think part of the reason I have been uninspired for post is twofold. Firstly, the boys are older, there are fewer stories that I free comfortable sharing on the public domain that is the Internet. And secondly, I think I might be losing my oomph for this here blogging thing. I have felt a shift in the ambiance of the blogosphere and thought it was just me but friends, who are also bloggers, have felt a similar shift. I won't be quitting, because those books I had printed of my posts are wonderful to go back through. I am pretty sure Twitter is going to go though. I don't really use it, but I sure do waste time on there reading other's tweets. I am fairly certain there are other, better uses of my time. Now if I could just figure out how to implode my Twitter account. How hard could it be?

Eatmore Bars - they really do taste almost identical to the chocolate bar we have here in Canada

Not hard, so I found out. Twitter account deleted. I kind of feel good about that though there are people that I only communicate with on Twitter. It's all about priorities.

Scuffles - the only non-chocolate treat I make

I haven't been running in the last couple of weeks because this place I live in, you know, the quasi Arctic, well it's up to it's old tricks. It's colder than you can imagine out there so running is out of the question. I miss it but I don't. It's weird.

Mars Bars - made with the chocolate bar

Well if you read this riveting post, you deserve a care package of treats! Maybe Santa will bring me some inspiration for the New Year since this is likely the second to last post of 2009. What's the last one, well that cliffhanger (don't worry I am not that delusional) will keep you coming back, right?

* recipes can be emailed if you are interested

Forsaken

I have been forsaken by my ancestral roots. I assure you that my grandmothers are both rolling in their graves tonight at the sight of their granddaughter’s cabbage roll skills.

See for yourself.

I may or may not need a new casserole dish. I am not sure that baby will ever be the same.

Yes, have cabbage rolls and perogies running through my veins. They are sacred in our family.

You see, I am of Ukrainian or Polish decent. The borders changed frequently and there may or may not be some Russian mixed in there as well. I am at least 2nd generation Canadian but the thing is, the food? It stays with you no matter what.

The spelling of the word perogy is disputed, the filling is even disputed however, no one disputes that if you are Ukrainian/Polish/Russion you LOVE perogies. Cabbage rolls follow the same rules.

Now my mom is the perogy master in the family. I need to learn how, I want to learn how, but damn she makes ‘em good. Someday. No really Mom, I mean it. I really will learn.

I saw that Mom, quit rolling your eyes. Mom, c’mon on., not in front of my friends.

Now cabbage rolls are another story. Mom doesn’t make those. She “claims” she doesn’t make very good ones. Whatever, they would be 99,000 times better than mine so what’s your concern?

Anyway those bad boys up there? I actually didn’t make the rolls myself. No, Mom bought them from a lady she worked with. They are devine. Well if Mom cooks them anyway.

All I had to do was put on the sauce, which is primarily Campbell’s tomato soup, and cook the little buggers.

One of my aunts make the BEST cabbage rolls on the face of the earth and she is always saying me and my two cousins should learn. But this just might change her mind. If I can’t even cook pre-prepared ones properly, what damage would I do making them from scratch? I shudder to think.

I got some bum genes somewhere and I am positive my Mom will not take credit for them.

Who can blame her?