In a jam

For once we managed to get a couple of buckets of cherries from our sour cherry tree before the birds got to them (is it all the rain that delayed their cherry feast?)

I decided to make cherry jam. I've never made sour cherry jam before, and I don't know why, it's AMAZING! The contrast between the tartness of the cherry bits and the sugary jelly. I hope the birds leave me a few pounds next year because these jars probably won't even last until fall...

Ringing in the New Year

So happy to have James with us to ring in the new year. We started the evening with a trip to Mongolian Hot Pot, one of our very favourite places to eat out. We stuffed ourselves senseless, then went to the theatres to watch Worlds Away, the Cirque du Soleil movie. We went in having no idea what it was going to be about (and came out having no idea what it was about) but it was really cool, the acrobatics were amazing! Personally I don't think it really benefited from the 3D treatment, I found it more of a distraction than enhancement, but the kids love the 3D experience. We, of course, had to play a few games in the theatre's acrcade before heading home to play cards and wait for midnight. My idea of a perfect evening, all of us together.

Baby cakes!

There was a baby shower at the office today for a sweet coworker and I brought cupcakes. I saw these on Pinterest and was dying to recreate them.

Mine were a little less, uhm, professional looking.

She appreciated the thought anyway :) (I also made lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting which were divine)

Playing with a new kitchen toy!

Making our first batch of castoreum-free ice cream :)

All stocked up

Though I'm not certain it'll last all year. For my American friends, 4 litres is a little over a US gallon. For my UK friends, 4 litres is a little less than an Imperial gallon.

So much for healthy eating...

Good thing it wasn't one of my New Years resolutions :) Out running errands, we stopped at McD's for lunch. Little J really wanted to try a Big Mac. We were surprised when he managed to finish all of it! (The fries, however, did not meet the same fate, but he's not the biggest fry fan anyway so I'm not too shocked that he didn't eat them)

Sunday Brunch

After Mass this morning C made us brunch, eggs Benedict is my all time favourite, and home fries that the Hollandaise just happened to fall on? Heaven!

I'm so lucky.

Making jelly

A new type of jelly making for me - jalapeno pepper jelly. This tastes amazing, but it didn't set very well, it's quite runny. Could be because I can't measure worth crap and put in 375 mL of red peppers instead of 250 mL. Oh well, we'll eat it anyway...

(Used this recipe)

Shrimp Tempura!

Took the bits for sushi (along with James and Chris - James' idea of course, he loooooves sushi!), wasn't sure how they'd react but I was pleasantly surprised at how many things they tried. Wookie was a tempura eating machine, Katie chowed down on dumplings, calamari and miso soup, among other things. I don't think I'll take them for sushi very often but I do like to expand their horizons when I can, even if only a little.

Small chef

We signed little J up for a half day children's cooking school, which was yesterday. My cell phone was dead and I didn't bring my camera, so no pictures of him looking adorable in his apron and paper hat. He really enjoyed it though, the whole process, and the autonomy of learning these new skills without me hovering over him and without his sister bossing him around. The instructors let him chop vegetables with a knife, roll out pasta, mix, measure, stir, etc. They sent him home with a sampling of things he made (cookies and no-bake 'truffles', but not the home made pasta and sauce, the kids ate all of that while the cookies were baking) as well as a sheet of recipes.

So today he decided to make something from that recipe sheet - oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. He did it almost entirely by himself, the only thing I did was put the cookie sheets into the oven and take them out again.



I could get used to having another cook in the house...

Mmmm

Summer in a bowl - vanilla yogurt, granola and sweet berries!

One of my fave restaurants...

Lone Star fajitas! Enjoying a lovely lunch with Aunt Bonnie and Chris before they head back to Oshawa...

Ribfest 2011

Ottawa RibFest, 2011! It rained on and off but that didn't deter me from partaking of some porky goodness! I got a half rack from Camp 31 (for $13) and they were amazing!

Burger!

C's favourite food, home made and dripping with cheese :)

2011-01-11

Kids eat free on Tuesdays :)

2011-01-09

Chili that's been bubbling away in the crock pot all day, with a dollop of sour cream and a chunk of home made bread.

This is the life :)

Canning...

The last of the summer tomatoes from my garden, will be ketchup du maison when it's done simmering...

More s'mores

I don't eat 'em, but they love 'em.

A week in the life - day 4

Dinner! C cubed and marinated a beef roast, then grilled it up. Heaven! I ate an obscene amount...

A week in the life - day 4

A week in the life - day 1

I'm trying to follow Ali Edwards' 'week in the life' project. I'll share a picture (or two) from what I hope will be hundreds here every day.

Chip truck fries for lunch.

A week in the life - day 1.