Ginger Chicken

I haven't cooked chicken thighs in a long time.  I find the veins, veins, and other ...stuff unappetizing.  Breast are just a ...cleaner chicken piece to deal with and still eat afterwards.

But then after buying some boneless skinless thighs I thought I would make some "Black Chicken"  even though I haven't made any for ages.  I had to really search for the original recipe from Barefoot Contessa's Indonesian Ginger Chicken recipe.

The only difference is her recipe calls for 2 cut-up 3 1/2 lb chickens.  I quartered the recipe add 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp lea and perrins.

I  wanted to cook up 8 chicken pieces cause there's only two of us to eat it. But I'm sorry I didn't use all 15 thighs.

Add all the ingredients into a dutch oven thing and bring to a boil for about 3-4 minutes. Put 8 boneless skinless thighs curled-side down and simmer for 1/2 hr

and sorta spread them out and push them down.

after a 1/2 hr turn them over

then throw the whole works into the oven, covered at 350 for 1/2 hr.  Remove pot from oven and turn them over and return back to the oven at a lower temp about 250 for 15-20 min.

During the in-and-out of the oven you might want to baste them
I turn them "curly" side up....at the end so they don't dry out if your waiting for the rest of dinner to be served

I covered the pot and kept it in the oven after I turned it off and the liquid was almost all absorbed.

MMmmmm....mmmm
I should have cooked all 15 cause I almost polished all of them off just picking at them.

I've been doing everything to stay awake  .It's not even 6 o'clock p.m., yet.  My early mornings for the last two weeks has finally done me in.  I've been waking up before 5a.m. to get to my daughters (20 miles) by 5:30.  When your 2nd vehicle breaks down and there are two different daycares, that have two different "don't bring them before...times" and one parents starts at 6am and the other at 7am,  two different parts of the city that parents work...well it's a recipe for disaster in the mornings.  So grandma has been doing the daycare and before school care delivery.  In order to give my daughter a break on daycare costs I also ( a week before the breakdown of the vehicle) informed her that we would be available for the g'kids on mondays and fridays. Since she has to pay even when it's a long weekend or when there's a friday off from kindergarten (they seem to take one friday off a month).  Then beginning Dec 16, it's going to be full time monday through friday.  Cause daycare is just way to expensive - as in more than a mortgage payment.  It's nuts. When I had to deal with the reality of unsubsidized daycare for my kids---way back when---I packed it in and decided to stay home for 10+ years.  But that's not the reality for most parents these days.

Another wrench in this whole plan was my decision to find a stupid part time job---somewhere in the neighborhood.  I just had to get out of the house.  Since my client only needs me quarterly and I'm too lazy to find any others --- and my husband is home ALL DAY LONG.  So in late October I became a cashier in a neighborhood mega store.  And NO it's not Walmart.  As---if that would ever happen.  Though it's almost as bad. Of all the things I've done with my life I have never been a cashier in a retail store.  And since I hate people I figured I would last 4 hours, if that.  But it's been a little over a month and for some reason I'm still a cashier.  Gooooo figure.  It's not the $$$ that's for sure.  I worked out that the last time my salary was so bad was wayyyyy wayyyy waaaay back in 1976.  How rediculous is that?  It's almost a joke.  I'm the only "non immigrant" they probably hired in ages.  The guy that "trained" me was 19 and asked me really stupid questions about denominations of our currency.  I looked at him like he was nuts.  What???Are you kidding me?  He explained that most immigrants have trouble with our currency. ...o--kayyy!!!??

So I've been wasting my days (5hr here and there) doing this, and looking after g'kids on mondays and fridays ---at their house. I'm trying to remember the days that i had nothing to do.  The reason for getting the stupid job in the first place.  I was becoming a home body and when I found myself talking aimlessly with clerks at stores about nothing but nonsense.  I figured I better get-out-of-my-comfort-zone....as in ...get out of the house.  It's either feast of famine with me.  I either have too much to do...or nothing at all.  And then their stupid car broke down.  And it's $$$ to fix right now...being xmas and all. So now---it's g'kids all day monday, delivery to daycares tuesday - thursday mornings. and g'kids all day friday.  Work saturday and sunday. And I get calls every once in awhile to come in to cashier evenings during the week. So I don't even remember the day when I didn't have anything to do.  Plus I'm very tired.  I'm just not a morning person.  I really really hate getting up early.  That's one of the best parts of non employment.

Last night I bought a winter jacket for my g'son...that was too big.  So this morning after dropping both off I returned it to a different location of the same store.  One that I'm not familiar with. So I returned it, and then walked around a bit.  And completely went nuts on discounted items.

pkg of cherry strudel, banana bread, pumpernickle, fancy french, butterhorns, and a bag of coissants

celery, green garden salad, two dips, pineapple, two cottage cheese (i see lasagna, manicotti, or canelloni in my future) and a container of greek feta that isn't here

I got carried away, I will admit to that....It's a good thing i remembered to also buy some freezer bags. Cause I was going to need them..

This is what made it into the freezer.
2 rib steaks about 1" thick (i'm going to have to get a refill for the gas tank of the bbq)
3 bags of 500 kg(1lb) of ground sirloin all repackaged
3 bags of 600 kg of sirloin and ground pork that I mixed up and repackaged
the pork roast was portioned into 2 - 350 kg cut up pork for stirfry
5 bone-in chicken breasts
2 bags 250 kg beef stirfry
2 bags of 4each smoked sausage ( will be very tasty I hope with perogies some day or the bbq)
15 boneless chicken thighs portioned into two meals of 7-8 each
1 box of sole breadsticks that the g'kids will probably enjoy
5 bags of pork breakfast sausage of 10 each
1 12" roasted chicken pesto pizza (uncooked)
5 sirloin weird steaks that I've never bought before, prob good for steak sandwiches or stirfry

...and a pkgs of 10 snicker bars, two bags of sour candies, some weird english toffee, and jujubes.  The experation date on the candy was September 1213.  I didn't know that stuff even had an experation date
 I paid a grand total of $93

I probably forgot something....But what a deal. I will have to put a sticky note on the fridge to remind me of what I put in the freezer in the garage.  This begs the question.....WHAT WAS I THINKING....SOMEONE HAS TO COOK ALL THIS .....EVENTUALLY.

I better not hear "there's nothing to eat" from my husband.  All that bakery crap is for him.

Weekend

Saturday, I got home from work around noon, and started reading.


Somehow, I managed to make dinner and even eat it, and finished this book around 11pm.

Then Sunday, today...I again returned from work around noon and started this book

and since it's kirstie alley's fault that my husband didn't get anything but a sandwich for dinner...my husband doesn't seem to be all  that put out....cause he LOVES kirstie alley.

It's only 7:30 and I'm finished the book.  How did that happen, it was a fast read

But I did manage to polish off this since opening the book. And that chocolate Chex mix....is the bomb

Worst Vacation Ever

Theme Thursday...
Worst Vacation Ever....

waiting....for everyone

this was probably 5am and that bldg far centre is the one that blew up...the front of it

Well the actual "VACATION" was wonderful....

Just the two weeks prior to getting there....was a nightmare of gigantic proportion, It's amazing we can all sorta laugh about it now. It was actually 2 yrs ago - almost to the day --well yesterday would have been two years ago was the actual wedding "day".  Well actually it was Nov 24th - the marriage, but I remember it as the day before American thanksgiving.

Destination Wedding....

Mexico...

A year planning....

Let me actually count the ways things went wrong, I've never actually sat down and counted them.

Let's see if I can get them in order or ...."what can go wrong next"!!!!!

1) The first Bridesmaid went to Hawaii in June to celebrate her graduation from nursing and jumped off a cliff into and sandbar and shattered her leg. Therefore she couldn't start her first job cause she was in a cast for three months + and physio+ and she was too broke to afford the trip.  Then she actually started working 1 week before the trip date. So she had to cancel

2) Maid-of-honor had to cancel cause she couldn't get insurance cause she was passing a kidney-stone-from-hell a month before the trip date,  Pre - existing conditions....and all. She actually eventually passed the damn thing in April the following year. That's like being in labour for five months...cause I've done the labour thing wayyy toooo mannny timmmes and the passed a kidney stone wayyyy tooo mannny times...and they both suck.

3) In september when everyone had paid up the actual cost of the trip the tour company suddenly discovered they needed more $$$$. There was much swearing, and cussing from everyone.  Except me cause we didn't book with the group...My husband works for an airline and we booked alternative flights and  resort, cause it was way cheaper and we had credits that had to be used up etc. etc. etc.  Anyway we were supposed to save big time.....so we didn't book with the group.  And two other couples also booked with same airline as us because they had similar credits or deals where they worked. But we were supposed to all end up at the same resort and the same time etc. etc. etc

4) The RESORT blew - up....about a week before we were all supposed to get there....and MY ROOM BLEW UP specificially...... Yeah that resort, the one with the gas leak...The one were several people DIED

5) Accomodations with the "group"were still all a go, rooms were switched around, the wedding venue was changed to a different food source at the resort, cause that part was off limits now. But we were all still here so nobody new anything of what was going on cause nobody that was expected to go to the wedding actually ever were at this particular resort before.

6) The company WE booked with called us monday (we were scheduled to leave the following Sunday) after the resort blew up and said, there was no problem everything would be fine....blah blah blah....The resort called my daughter and the travel agency called my daughter and offered to change to another resort...there was alot of toooing and froooing and quessing and trauma for two days cause she had to make up her mind to change everything by wednesday.  But then it was decided that she would stay at this resort cause the other couples and us were with a different travel company and they wouldn't change our reservations to the one that were offered to her cause there was no room for us cause there were several other agencies in a mad rush to change the thousands of other reservations.  You can see the confusion here. And our company...the one my husband actually worked for.....kept saying there was no problem blah blah blah, we would be accomodated at the original resort even though our particular room was no longer available and the other two rooms where also toast....

7) I got a call from my credit card company that there was suspicious use of my card on the Monday before and they were cancelling my card...blah blah blah.....WTF  I had paid for everything with it, and was planning on using it to pay for other crap, so I actually paid $2500 over and above my limit so that there would be no problem, cause I was planning on paying for my daughters (the other one, not getting married) crap and our room were supposed to be paid seperate from the flight ....anyway there was about $7000 sitting on my card ....I was planning ahead....Expecting to use the card for everything...didn't want any surprises. AND the credit card co couldn't get me a new card for a week, So it would be delivered to me in Mexico by the wednesday during the week we were at the resort. "just call us when you get to the resort and  let us know your room # etc and it will be delivered to you"  I thought this was the stupidest thing ever.  But what could I do, this was Thursday, the thursday before the sunday that our flight left.  

8)Friday at 5:30 p.m. I get a call from OUR travel company...the one my husband works for.....and were informed our reservation was cancelled.  the flight was okay, the resort - no room ...AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO EXCEPT BOOK AT AN ALTERNATIVE RESORT ....this was after calling me all FUCKING week and telling me there would be no problem....stop worrying...blah blah blah.  This resort was ...I have no idea where...never been there, ....somewhere .....60-100 km away....could have been on Mars for all I cared....

9) what to do...what to do....one of the other couples that were in the same boat as us called me and said they called travelocity or the other one, I can't remember now and they got the room through them, but kept the flight the same. According to whatever company they used there were many rooms available.

10) called the stupid ass company we were booking through and was told "sorry we are moving everyone with us to a different resort" no options blah blah blah.   My head was exploding around this time.  I called the resort and it took forever to actually talk to someone who understood english and they suggested I call travelocity or someone else,...i forget now who it was....(it's like labour, you forget the effing pain after, this was like that--lots of little crap like names, I have forgotten ) So I did and there were rooms a plenty for us and my other daughter....Called the company (the one my husband worked for) and said forget it, im not going to the other resort, cancel my reservation for the resort, keep the flight. " We will credit your card" blah blah blah, on monday, or you can come and get the $$$ on monday.  This was Friday after 6 by now and there was no way in hell I was getting anything before monday from them.  

11) I had no money....it was all on the stupid ass credit card that was useless to me until wednesday. I couldn't book thed resort(the one we were originally suppposed to go to...the same one as the stupid ass wedding) and the stupid add company that had my money and wouldn't lift a finger to help me wouldn't give me anything till monday.  Keep the flight...ditch the room with them.  Still really pissed about the inability for anyone with this company to refund my $$$ before monday.  I live right next door to the head office pracitically.  No excuse for this.   I even got a call back from a "supervisor" cause I  was so arguementative with some stupid-ass employee on the phone. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. " I" "me" .."the one being unreasonable" was expected be remorseful!!!!

12) Called my mother.....in tears.....her card was maxed out already-this trip etc etc.....

13) Called my sister....in tears - Take lots of pics for me, cause I WON'T BE AT MY OWN DAUGHTERS WEDDING....everyone will be there except us....She gave me her card info to book my room on-line.  I was so crazy at this point - I didn't realize that all they online company wanted was a functioning card#, cause I was paying for the actualy stupid ass room after we were finished...it's just that my card# wasn't functioning.  I could have used anyones card at this point.  Just the deposit was on someone else's card. But my mind was ....elsewhere 

14) at this point I was expecting the plane to blowup.  I had to take meds just to get on the damn thing. 

15) There was a blizzard the night before we were all scheduled to leave and it was a nightmare getting to the stupid ass airport.

The plane took off and landed......we all managed to get our luggage and ended up at the resort.....together.

My card was delivered on wednesday (im still amazed at that) and the weather was wonderful, the wedding was wonderful.  

One of the grooms-men is a diabetic and all his insulin stuff was stolen from his room literally 10 minutes after he left it, 1/2 hr after he registered and left the room.  He had to drive all  over cancun ----miles away from the stupid ass resort....on his own dime....I might add...in a taxi driving all over looking for insulin.  The resort manager just shrugged his shoulders.  Couldn't believe it. On wednesday the resort managed to find his stuff, but why would he use any of it now?  After that everyone used their respective safes for everything. 

The wedding went off (still married) the g'kids threw up on the plane all the way home.  Thanks to seperate bookings, we were on a different plane.  And we got home a day earlier than everyone else so we picked up all the haggered g'kids, bride and groom.  They were very glum....all that barf....i guess.

16) a month later.....I opened my cell bill and hit the roof.

17) my cell phone, my husbands cell phone,..my other daughters cell phone are all on a family plan of sorts and there was over $5000 on the bill in a 24hr period.  Had to fight with them for a month cause I changed the stupid plan to just texting before we left.  So they had to eat the calls. All the calls made with our cell signal were done from 2am to 6 am, to other parts of mexico

18) the call that I made to my credit card co lasted an hour and probably 20+ people that I was moved from one to another with, didn't know what I was talking about, or it wasn't there department, or that case no doesn't make sense. finally that was sorted out. I missed the "welcome to" meeting everyone else went to with the tour organizer where they were told to "come use our phone line if you need to" blah blah blah, cause I was on the stupid pay phone in the lobby, right next to where the stupid "welcome to...meet and greet" was happening. Because I was supposed to CALL AS SOON AS YOU GET A ROOM #, SO THEY HAD SOMEWHERE TO SEND THE REPLACEMENT CART. Grrrrr. $300 added to my room for the stupid phone call from the pay phone.  

Its a good thing the booze was free, well paid in advance..... Cause everyone was doing their best to get their money out of that.

The food was excellent, beef from argentina is the best. I still have fond memories of the ingredible steak I really didn't want to have in the first place...not being a big steak fan....but ...wow...I was sucking on the bone.  

The weather was wonderful

The vacation itself was wonderful after everything was sorted out to actually all wind up at the same place.  The couple that chose to stay at a different resort had to pay almost 500 to come into the resort they should have been at in the first place for the day to have access to everything. But they knew that was going to happen and the resort everyone got transfer to was apparently better.

The resort was vertually empty.  Cause everyone transfered out because of the gas situation and the fact that nobody would confirm exactly what caused the place to blow in the first place.  So there were no line-ups for restaurants, meals, or anything else.  The staff was everywhere, vying for tips....at the ready constantly, we all were very well taken care of. 

Just as an aside......when planning a destination wedding - make a point of having a budget for attendants to be $50 or under, cause some attendants will end up canceling trips...and no one wants a dress that costs an arm and a leg ....and can't wear again.  And that's another thing---a beach wedding requires BEACH ATTIRE...specially SHOES and don't fight with your mother when she says" no mermaid dress...duh....it will be covered in sand".   My daughter wanted a mermaid dress with a tail/trail....whatever.  Finally settled for no tail..... Flip Flops people ......  My daughter finally found a nice purple pair of thongs/flip flops, instead of the high heals she originally wanted.

And when your mother offers...."just go with your friends, leave the g'kids with us---we can do a family celebration later, another time-----why do you want to go with little kids? "  I offered this way back in jan/feb and pleaded with her....."You will be sorry"..."Mexico"..."little kids" ....
No..no way ...we had to be there.  How many things have to happen to your mothers resort and her specific room before maybe someone should get a HINT.

When they all came home....and about two days later after all the puking ended and the kids were back to normal ...my daughter says to me "we should have listened to you and just gone with our friends, and left the kids here"

Soooo the maid-on-honor with the kidney stone...moved to australia after meeting some guy in bazil from australia.  And now she is planning a destination wedding in Hawaii and wants my g'daughter as the flower girl.  And is offering to pay for me to come to babysit the g'kids again just so she can have my g'daughter as her flower girl.  But my daughter has learned her lesson and refuses to take kids to hawaii...and will leave them with us.  There is a royal battle going on about this between the two of them.  But I don't know what she is thinking...why would she want us there anyway ...the new bride that is....Cause we seem to have disaster written all over us.   Now that I think of it---it's not so much the vacation plans that go crap, it's every wedding that we've ever gone to that ends in a disaster of some kind or other

More about that at a later day.....
But I refuse to plan a vacation...to hawaii....or plan on attending another wedding, that is part of a vacation.
The only vacation that turns out for me is...last minute....no plans...spur of the minute kinda thing.

going to the beach with auntie 

must be monday...all that white skin

Soup...of the week

What does one do, with a head of cauliflower, a pound of bacon, dill and a couple baby potatoes?

Cream of roasted cauliflower soup. with chunky roasted baby potatoes and bacon.

The best jars for storing in the fridge? The pickled asparagus jars from Costco...of coarse.

I think I will make some....for an easy dinner tonight....with the soup of coarse

Pork Chops

I've been reading an interesting book

This is my dinner Sunday nite, I started reading around 2 and with one thing or another, around 7 I made this for dinner.  My husband was a little pissed, cause all he got was salad with a cold leftover chicken breast at 8:30 or so.
I had read the blog a couple times, but on Monday I started reading it from the beginning and found a couple interesting recipes that I thought I would try.  Seeing as how I had four pork chops in the fridge defrosting and a pkg of mushrooms that needed to get used up I picked mushroom hash and this crazy version of pork chops. I don't usually like mushrooms that aren't stuffed with something but since using "julia's" method of "don't crowd the mushrooms when frying" they are very good.  It wasn't the mushrooms that I didn't like, so much as soggy slimmy mushrooms, that I didn't enjoy. But nice and browned and carmelized they are actually very good.
the recipe ingredients on the blog:

1 pound mixed mushrooms (portabello, cremini, maitake, etc)
3 tablespoons butter, divided
Salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1/2 cup white wine
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 pounds mixed small potatoes (fingerlings, boilers, etc)
1/2 teaspoon sherry vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper

It all started out fine....I only had one kind of mushroom, the white ones  so I sliced them up and the baby potatoes were cut in half lengthwise once, twice then in half widthwise, so into eight's I quess. I steamed the potatoes, and fried up the mushrooms.  Then actually started reading the recipe.  I had no heavy cream hmmm I did have some greek yogurt with honey - that was about 3 weeks past the expiration date. And no sherry vinegar or champagne vinegar ( I couldn't find it anyway, I know I have some - but obviously not handy) .  So when the potatoes almost done I started on the rest of it. I fried up the mushrooms nice and carmelized, then dumped them into a bowl while making the sauce.  I poured in some white wine and threw in the garlic the thyme and swirled it around and around - it did  not turn syrupy at all, just reduce to half. Then discarded half of the yogurt and the other half looked okay and tasted ok so I added about three tablespoons into the sauce and swirled it around then added all the potatoes and returned the mushrooms to the pan and turned it to the lowest setting - covered. I figured the tangy nessss of the yogurt would compensate for the sherry vinegar that I couldn't find. I had to go outside with a snow shovel to remove the snow from the parsley and low and behold---it was just fine.  That was a nice surprise.

Just before I started the mushroom frying I put the pork chops on

I was very dubious---just salt and lemon. Didn't think it was going to amount to much. The only salt I had other than regular table salt was some old fancy crystalized stuff call veggie salt kinda yellow with god only knows what was in it.  I've had it for years. I had to buy a salt grinder to use it. Don't know why I stopped using it, but I opened the glass container and sprinkled the whole salt stuff over the pork chops

The recipe in the blog said just salt and cook chops in a dry fryingpan. SO that's what I did. Still not convinced this was going to amount to anything other than a dry tough chop. Medium heat, don't turn them over until the salt has melted into the chop. It took awhile - and this would have been a good time to have one of those  weight things that I had in the commercial kitchen cause chops have a tendency to curl up. So used the tongs to press them down every once in awhile.

Once the salt melted down I flipped them over.  Hmmm they smelled promising and browned up nice without burning. I also made a "stinky salad" to go with the meal. That's greek salad. My dressing is a little different...in that I add lea and perrins and pesto and balsamic into the olive oil ---a lot of pesto--- and also a  pinch or two of powdered chicken cup-of-soup stuff. It's just a concoction that I've always used and somehow it just doesn't taste as good without it all.  Oh and a generous amount of greek mixed spice from lawery's or club house. I can't remember --- one of them--probably club house come to think of it.  Shake the shit out of the dressing before adding to the cuc's, roma's, red pepper, feta and onions. I didn't have any olives. But it was still  very good.

this picture doesn't do the meal justice. Once I plated the chops I poured a generous amount of fresh lemon juice over each one. I keep small flat bags of 1/4 cup each of lemon juice that I got awhile ago in the freezer. I must have juiced up close to 100 lemons about a month ago that went into the freezer. It has come in very handy. I think I paid about $3 for 100 lemons.

These chops were by far the best I've ever had....can one have a "salt" high ..next time I will reduce the amt of salt for sure. But when there's a glass of white wine ...it's all good with the salty nessss of the chop.  I started out antisipating eating both of them. But thought I would keep one for another day.  But after about an hour I started picking at a cold chop, slicing it every so thin and slopping the piece of meat around the dregs of the stinky salad juice.  I eventually went to the fridge and dumped more salad on my plate and sliced up the cold chop into thin long slices and mixed it all up together.

Best snack I've had in a long time. I don't know if I will ever make chops any other way.  They were so good. You must give them a try

"I want to be a cooker girl when I grow up"

Fish for dinner

She was very proud of herself...this seemed to be less yucky than the 'chicken fingers' attempt

Today the tree looks....interesting

the tree

the g'kids are here till saturday....

....tomorrow they will probably have a different theme
....I might remember where the ornaments and the twinkle lights are being stored
....It's fallen (been knocked) over a couple times already
....I wonder how long it will take to find the rest of the tree-hopefully before it's time to put it all away again
...Haven't used this particular tree for a couple years, hmmm ....where oh where could the bottom branches be???

...show a 5yr old the wonders of a "stampler"

and baba gets jewelry from spare chain parts.

I hope she doesn't insist on stapling things to my ears.....

...it's Winter...again

Well I'm glad I got the winter tires put on yesterday. Cause today....it's WINTER again. We did have a Fall as it turns out, but it lasted for a whole 3 days only this year.  So sad....

The condo board in their infinite collective wisdom....have decided that end of October would be a fine time to start resurfacing the front patios, so the front of our units all look like crime scenes with yellow caution tape everywhere where rails should be.  They propped up the hand rails on the stairs just before halloween but we all collectively decided it was best to not give out treats or decorate at all cause you just know some kid would have got hurt falling off the stairs or patios.  And then it snowed.   So I'm thinking I will have to incorporate yellow caution tape into my xmas theme somehow.

It would be nice to be able to remove all floral from the planters.  But that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon either.  I wonder how twinkle lites will look on frozen petunias.  Maybe if I throw in some pinecones and a couple stars or something...It might look festive.  

This calls for some "emergency soup"....it just gets better and better.....Everyone should have a batch in the fridge. I love this stuff.  I believe it's my new fav comfort food.

Current Books

These are the books currently laying around various parts of the house that really, really need to get around to reading. I paid a fine of $25.00 just the other day. I hope they purchase a good book with it.

Sleeping Funny - Miranda Hill

Masala Farm - Suvir Saran

Fast Flavours - Michael Smith

The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds - Alexander McCall Smith - I actually went to a reading of his last week and the next day I found a copy of his new book on the library shelf under "New and Noteable" yayyy..fast read though

A Nation Worth Ranting About - Rick Mercer - actually I finished this one

The Taliban Don't Wave - Robert Semrau - husband requested this one, I actually put it on reserve list for him though I usually use up all his reserve slots for my own requestes cause then I get 60 requests instead of just a measly 30. doesn't seem like something I'd want to read. But you never know

A Conspiracy of Friends - Alexander McCall Smith, I think I might have already read this one - seems like I should have but haven't had a chance to take a peak yet 

How to Cook Like a Man - Daniel Duane, I like memoirs about food usually

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook - Frances Mayes

The BookClub Cookbook this one is in the van, and I haven't had a chance to be stuck in a waiting room lately so it remains unfinished

American Grown - Michelle Obama

Eat the City - Robin Shulman

The Naptime Chef - Kelsey Banfield, don't know why I requested this one---my daughter must have done it, she really needs to get her own card talk about lazy - wonder who she gets that from

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society - Amy Hill Hearth

Seasonings, a Year of Local Flavours - This one was very good It's a Nelson BC book - I will probably buy a copy if I ever actually see one. Probably have to look for one when I go home for a visit.  I really enjoyed this book and cooked a few things from it. 

Hunters Way - Gerri Hill

A Rich Spot of Earth - Peter Hatch, wrong time of year for this one

No One Would Listen - Harry Marcopolos, saw the documentary just the other day - maybe don't have to read it now and with so many others stacked around to read, will probably just take this one back unread.

Black Dahlia and White Rose - Joyce Carol Oates

Weelicious - Again, this one is probably one of my daughters requests. But I did flip through it - underwhelmed....seemed like something everyone should be able to do with out any imagination....

Kitchen Chinese - Ann Mah...a memoir

The Kitchen Daughter - Jael McHenry---seems i've had this one before, but I don't remember ever reading it

Urban Farms - Sarah Rich

The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner

Dolci - Francine Segan
Grow Cook Eat - Willi Galloway
Atonement - Ian McEwan ---I don't know...seems a little heavy
Inside the Otherside - Concetta Bertoldi ---I don't know about this one, maybe I'm watching too much of The Long Island Medium lately
The House in France - Gully Wells, I hope this one is going to be a little different than all the other ones just like it. But I'm not expecting much
Culture Rebel -Connie Jacab
The Witch's Daughter - Paula Brackston, some reviews have been good, others not-so-much...
Paris, My Sweet - Amy Thomas, I have hopes that this one has something different to say than all the other ones that have blogs already, but the reviews don't seem all that favorable. Hope it's not the-same-old-same-old....
Final Sail, A dead-ends job mystery series - Elaine Viets
The Wierd Sisters - Eleanor Brown, this one looks promising - great reviews - don't know why I haven't read it yet, it's just sitting there on the stairs waiting for me
This is How You Lose Her -Junot Diaz, this one comes with great reviews
Terrarium Craft - Amy Bryant Aiello, very inspiring if I ever get any ambition--or some great containers
Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai, looks promising....the diaspora through a childs eyes

Cooking up a Sunday

Well here it is Sunday.
Busy past week..monday work, tuesday work, wednesday off - but day was spent watching Sandy.
Tuesday I had an unexpected visit from my brother, changing planes in the city.  He should have known things weren't going to look very good when he got stuck in Edmonton for 2 hours, Then found out in Calgary that he wasn't flying into BC until Wednesday if he was lucky. So two days spent waiting at the airport.  Its a good thing I live 10 minutes away for said airport. So It was Rotisserie Chicken for dinner(plus a stop to replenish wine supply). which resulted in chicken chow mein on wednesday from the leftovers of chicken.

Thursday was spent nursing a broken down van. Couldn't believe it....apparently if you don't use the emergency brake, like ever....the cable can seize up with rust etc.  The fact that this happens - suddenly one of the rear tires (passenger side for me) stops turning. Well ...sucks specially when one backs up and then gets stuck in a parking lot.

I called up several mobile mechanics - not one of which proved to be very MOBILE at all. "men" just piss me off.

I called up my mechanically inclined brother-in-law that unfortunately for me lives in Vancouver, and was told to set the emergency brake then pop it a couple times, that should unseize the stupid thing. It worked.....until I used the brake again.    This time in an intersection.....
I got the thing going again and finally managed to drive home without using the brake, about 18 miles....I don't want to ever have to do that again anytime soon.  It's a good thing that someone could loan me a car for a week.  I don't know what's happening, but mechanics seem to have alot of work.

So I'm sitting here today...refusing to drive anywhere anytime soon.  I managed to walk around yesterday and got a few bargains at various markets.  I bought some organic yams (small ones) that are currently roasting away in the oven preparing them for the "Emergency Soup" that I made the other day.  This time I figured roasting the smaller yams (as apposed to the ginormous tasteless ones) would be better. And roasting them, well they just taste soooo much better roasted to death, than cooked on top of the stove.  And I really miss having the soup around in the fridge.  It was so welcome a couple weeks ago, it truly is an Emergency Soup.  I hope to have some around all the time.

I also scored about 50 lemons for less than $2.00, I dragged them all home (heavy load) I figured I'd juice them all up and store it in the freezer, I probably won't need any lemons for at least a year.  Hopefully I'll remember that it's in the freezer.

Also bought a roast for a great deal that I cut up into three different feeding of stew.  For like $9.00 I have two bags of 1 3/4 lb stew meat for the freezer plus 1 bag currently marinating in the fridge destined for the stew I made last week.  I've been thinking of nothing else but that damn stew all week.  So today is the day....I'm making it again. But browned on the stove, cooked down and then thrown into the oven.  It just seemed stupid to cook it on the stovetop.  Stew belongs in the oven.

I'm beginning to wonder about Dec 21, 2012 --- in the last week everyone had to deal with weather issues, sandy as well as other weather systems everywhere.  Then Bank of Montreal atm's died for  a morning of caos everywhere like gas stations and retail outlets.  It's weird cause the day before I was moving $$$ around and instead of doing it via internet email transfers I was having trouble with my stupid passwords and Had to physically go to one bank on the 1st  to withdraw from one to drive over to the other one.  Well I got sidetracked and ended up not getting to the other bank until Friday.  So I had a couple $$$ in the house.  Which actually proved to be a good thing....cause otherwise I would have been screwed the morning that BMO went capput....For someone like myself that never carries actually money around, but depends on atms and paying always with debit cards.  It was a lesson learned.  it's a good idea to CARRY SOME CASH....EMERGENCY CASH