Looking around....

Well I finally finished cleaning up the books of my current client. Nothing was done since August 2008. And he only decided he needed to do something last August when Receiver General seized his bank accts. It was a perfect client, two days a week 4-5 hours. I could still have the g'kids come wednesday for dinner and stay till friday afternoon for pickup after parents work. And once in a while I took off on the redeye friday midnight for Toronto and return on tuesday morning to visit my other daughter.  I brought some work home once in a while. And still charge about $1600-$2000 a month.  Now it's come to a close.  The day-to-day..nous of it is more annoying than anything. Give me a client with a shoe box with receipts for 4 years, and I'm a happy camper.

So now I need a new client,  my current client only needs me prob 2-3 days a month....if that, and year end crap. 

Is there anything worse than looking for a new client. ugggggh.....

It was kinda wierd, I wasn't really that up to speed on Quickbooks, since I had previously had clients that worked with Simply Accounting.  So of coarse I said I knew what I was doing with Quickbooks, even though I hadn't seen anything with quickbooks for years.  All I did when I was kinda stuck and ready to throw the computer at the wall was .....twitter.

It's amazing...if you can't solve a problem real quick with google, twitter is the answer.  I had several bookkeepers at the ready with any question that I had.  Though I didn't know any of them personally.  I would put a question out to twitter, and within 5-10 minutes I would get a response.  I kept a few bookkeepers at the ready after a few days of this.   Thank you out there, your a great group that got me through some crazy simple stuff that I should have been able to do, but didn't have a clue at the time. I got texted through many step-by-step issues.

But since I've only been working with quickbooks, for the past year, I'm probably out of step with simply accounting now, and one just knows......that's gonna be the  next client.

Big Trip

The other day we went to Costco for our bi-weekly stock-up of veg.  Of coarse my husband didn't make it past the electronics section. I managed to do the "walk-about" not once....but twice. And in all this time he was still yakking up the cell guy. 

But as it happens this was a good thing. I know I can hardly believe I'm actually saying this. But it's true. I've been in the market for a new phone. Seeing as blackberry is tanking....fast. I have to give it up and decide on which NON APPLE product to replace my blackberry with.

My husband replaced his blackberry with an stupid ass apple 4 and then proceeded to annnnnnoy the hell out of EVERYONE to get up to speed on the thing.

I was waiting for July to get a new phone so that we wouldn't have two new phones to deal with on the June bill. I had this one model in mind primarily because it had a somewhat good camera on it. Because not only did I need a new phone but my camera also needs to be replaced because of stupid ass water spots on the lense somewhere deep in the bowels of the thing. And since I can't afford the one I really want, and a new phone. I have to pick one and get two.

I was all prepared to get this one because of the "monster glass" seeing as how my phone is usually dropping on cement or pavement, I figured ...go for the monster glass and a good camera.

But then this little # just happened to be delivered - that day, to the masses for sale. And it's sooooo pretty, and sooooo thin, and sooooo friendly, and soooooo  soooooooo. So I came home with it the next day. Cause buying it that day would have resulted in "remember when you bought that phone " issues for the rest of my life. Seeing as how I always complain that my husband is a little tooooo spontanious with stupid purchases, (like the apple 4, for instance) So just to bug the crap out of my husband I waited a day to buy the phone. And I wasn't even going to purchase it the next day I was planning on maybe sometime in the middle of July after toying with my husband for a couple weeks of "I don't know"'s and "maybe" 's. Cause if anything makes him more excited about buying something, it's egging me on to buy something that he really wants.
And since his apple was now better than my blackberry, well he was very over the top in "mine's better than yours" for the last 10 or so days.

And of coarse now my phone is better than his.  As I was getting educated on my new purchase before I left the store, My poor husband was sooooo torn. Does he stay with the stupid ass iphone "cause everyone has one" and "he wants one like everyone else" or go with the android and he had till that day to change his phone for the android. Of forever (well for 3 yrs anyway) hold his peace...his piece....whatever - his phone.

The poor guy, I almost felt sorry for him. Cause popularity always wins out with him. He HAS to be one of the crowd.  He can't stand being different.  But I think he really wants one like mine.

But I sure wish blackberry/rim would get on board.  Cause I loved my blackberry. And I will miss it.  I still carry the stupid thing around because I love the memo on it that I can't seem to find equal on the android. I felt really overly self-important when I had to dump both my new phone and my old phone in the tub at security when at the airport.  But I am unable to remember all the stuff I kept in the memo thingy. And I handn't figured out the new phones bells and whistles yet. And I was planning on a trip the very next day.  So there I was with both phones and both charges and my little 10" laptop going through security. Anyway....

Sure it's a nice phone. and has a nice large screen blah blah blah.  but it keeps falling out of my pocket. And the keyboard SUCKS....it's either not sensitive enough ...or overly sensitive. Grrrrrr. I loved the blackberry keyboard.    I will never be able to text and drive again.   Cause it's impossssssible with this phone. Yeah like you don't do that.......Give me a break!!!!!

So the trip was supposed to be spent babysitting my g'kids so my kid could go to a wedding. But I spent most of my down time trying to figure out the phone, downloading and then uninstalling countless crap.

And how come everyone can use this phone.....except me.  It takes forever to do the simplest thing specially if the stupid ass keyboard is involved.

I have to buy one of those pocky things, that I know I will loose or misplace.  Isn't it enough that my glasses always go astray, now I will forever be looking for that stupid ass pocky thing.

But I gotta say the screeen size is sure a welcome thing.  And the iphone screeen seems so puny now and the blackberry screen ----well it's almost laughable now.

When I got on the plane I realized that I didn't even know how to turn it off.  Talk about stuuuuupid. I tried everything. So in desperation I just turned everything to mute, and hoped I covered every possiblity.  Then my daughter figured it out in like one second.  That really pissed me off at how dumb I was.  But I swear I TRIED EXACTLY THE SAME THING....but the phone was toying with me.

So now ....about the trip. Why ohhhh why does ANYONE go to Vancouver.  Or anywhere in the lower mainland.  Used to live there, and would NEVER do that again. Talk about a boring place.  Everywhere one goes....the rest of the stupid ass tourists go also. 

I mean....get ...out....of...my ....effing....way!!!!!!

And it didn't help that it was raining.  Christ what does it do here except RAIN.  And it's wedding weekend, and how many poor suckers were having an outdoor wedding. In our hotel alone there were four wedding parties.  Well it did actually stop raining between 1-6. But by then it was too late and venues were moved indoors cause everything was soaked outside.  But rain is supposed to be a lucky thing they say.   So what the hay.....And besides I'm glad I was looking after and entertaining one g'kid while the other one was  a flower girl. So since it was raining so hard just before the ceremony I convined the parents that "really I should just stay here with junior and you can bring junioresss back here after the pic's are all taken"  Cause it's wet and miserable out there, and who cares anyway....They will be cranky and miserable like the weather anyway."  And for once I got my way and it seemed that everyone was happy.  Most esspecially moi.

So they drove back on Sunday and I flew back....cause I could and they couldn't.  Besides they bought a brand new spanking vehicle to test out on this trip.  So everyone was happy again.  And It managed to stop raining for the return trip.

But I gotta say Vancouver kinda sucks.  When there are 3 1/2 and 5 yr olds to entertain.  We just walked around neighborhoods, jumped around in puddles, and got tired of looking at slugs and snails. Cause what else is there to do.  I took them on the sea train thing across the inlet. But it would have been nice if more ships were in the harbour.  thank you for the one cruise ship that they got to see.  They did get to see two "crap from china" ships and called the containers "china boxes"  I thought that was brilliant.  They are so amusing. Coarse the parents weren't soo amused with the china references for some reason. So what if 90% of the people on the sea train-bus-boat thing were chinese.  And they were being alittle loud with the china references.  Who pays attention to what kids say anyway. People are a little toooo sensitive these days. And crap from china.....is crap from china, and everything in those containers was probably destined to a dollar store,,,,somewhere near all of us.

And why is EVERYTHING SO F#CKING EXPENSIVE HERE.

I can't believe how much money I spent doing NOTHING.  Grrrr

And why don't they stock my brand of wine here.  That really pissed me off. Cause what do you buy when your first or second choice ain't available?  You stand around and around and around hoping for some enlightenment....What to buy....what to buy....So you buy several different things just to compensate.

I don't think I will be going back anytime soon. Vancouver.....I'm soooooo over you.

I want some more....

Cream of Cauliflower with bacon

Don't forget to add the cheddar cheese to bottom of the bowl first

I made this last week and really have to make some more, i've been thinking of nothing but since

points..points....points!!!

I love loyalty points.

Today I needed coffee and butter. So after my doc appt'mnt to get some annoying moles removed...(too much information) I drove to Shoppers Drugs just to check on my points....and low and behold....I had $$$$ on my card. yayyy

So true to my budget minding boredom this week, I walked up to the checkout with coffee, butter (both on sale) and some chips and snacks and ....voila....only paid $.25 (still can't get the stupid cents things to work grrrr)

...AAAAnd I found some (4 cans) of wine coolers in the back of the fridge, so I don't need to restock my wine supply just yet.....

SO it's leftover pie for dinner with ceasar salad and making a big pot of spaghetti for tomorrow for the grandkids, because that's the only thing they will eat these days ( i will hide some shredded, skinned zuccini in it - learned the hard way about "what are those green things, baba")

Cause everybody KNOWS ---day old spaghetti is the BOMB....

Making do

Today on the menu for dinner is - leftover pie
I have some chicken leftover from some rotisserie i bought on friday and then yesterday from the pork (wow was that ever goooood)

I had to head on down to the grocery story for some celery (lately I`ve been snacking on celery - everything from leftover egg salad, tuna salad, chopped up tomato, basically anything that will fit in the cavity)

I first place I typically head in this store is the veg reduction basket. Last week I scored a large head of cauliflower for $.50 (where is that stupic cents thing and why won`t it work on this keyboard), and i made a wonderful cream of soup with half of it and roasted the other half for dinner.  So I wanted another one for the pie, but alas none was on the table.

But I did get two bags of two different kinds of potatoes for $1.50 and $.60, and a large bag of carrots for $.68.  So that got me to thinking------I should see how many meals I can get out of the day old veg going to the store more often. It`s only a couple blocks away and I usually have to go right on by it whenever I have anywhere to go.   So that`s what I`m going to do......bored am I

Mennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn....

So it's his day....big woa
So now the competition starts - which kid, from which set of offspring (3) is going to phone first.
I have three kids, he has 7.

So the middle of the last set (mine) phoned first. I'd like to think that ultimately "I won" cause I'm the better mom, therefore myyyyyyy kid called first. So there....

I've been reading Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mysteries and have come to a conclusion that all men suck when it comes to fiction. 

It's been awhile that I even read fiction written by men, cause they always write about sex, stupid ass sex, ....what I like to refer to as "a wet dream" for me to have to suffer through.

What is it about them.  This series has been interesting as in the story line is good, the dialogue has been good, the constant googling of food refered to in the story has been annoyingly satisfying. But the "beautiful women that are constantly throwing themselves at this 50+ (judging by the amount of food he eats should be very overweight) boozing overweight, sicilian man".  Its never the run of the mill women, it's aways the beautiful women that appear to all have a hard on to screw this inspector.  Beautiful women in the series are all sluts( not to mention usually 20 to 30 yrs younger), of giant proportion - they all without fail spend their day screwing.  Poor Inspector Montalbano has to beat them off with a stick, the poor man.  I have learned that to enjoy the book, I have to skip this crap cause otherwise the book would be thrown across the room.  The only women in this book are either on the make to get laid, or old women 60+ that cook, that's it.
The author has made the women in the series behave as though they were men.  That women are the ones with bad behavior and only see men as sex objects. Talk about the pot calling the kettle - you know what, I just want to slap this idiot.  Judging from the picture of what he actually looks like....it's no wonder that he portrays women in such a negative light.  He's a douce bag of giant proportion.

I've only got 2 books left to read of the series, and I need a break from the stupid women constantly throwing themselves at this creep.  I think I continue to read the series because of the character development of the other players other than the poor sex starved inspector and his tribe of oversexed blondes.

I wonder how blondes 25-35 feel around this oversexed Camilleri should they ever be in the unfortunate position of being oggled by him in public. Sic. Reminds me of a dirty old man. 

I was digging around in the freezer the other day and uncovered a bunch (3) pork tenderloin and pork ribs and pork shoulder and 3 pkgs of bacon, all I didn't know I even had.

So today pork tenderloin is for dinner.  The only thing I changed is I added a small bowl (prob about 1/3 cup of honey, and whole grain mustard) of honey mustard I had laying around from my eggroll dip last night.

The marinade smelled so good I was tempted to dap some behind my ear...

'mpanata di maiali

I have no idea what the translation to this is.

I googled it and something about breaded pork.

I'm only doing this so that some time in the future I can attempt to try to duplicate this as it's written in a mystery that I have just finished.

The Wings of the Sphinx - Andrea Camilleri There is usually so much food throughout the novels, it is driving me crazy.

I spend more time on google to figure out what the food is. So far google hasn't helped me in the translation of this particular recipe but luckily the author was kind enough to add the procedure.

"Poach a head of cauliflower in salted water, remove it when still slightly firm, and chop it into large chunks. Then season it in a skillet after you hjave sauteed a small onion, thinly sliced in olive oil in the same pan. In another pan, fry up a piece of fresh sausage, and the moment it turns golden cut it into small disks, no more than an inch wide, removing the skin.
 Add the cauliflower to the pan with the sausage bits and oil adding a few potatoes sliced into thin, transparent disks, some chopped black olives, salt and spices. Stir this assortment well. Knead some leavened bread dough into a broad, flat disk and mold thiks into a cake tin with a tall rim. Fill this with the mixture and cover with another round sheet of dough, kneading the edges together. Spread lard over the upper parts and put the tin into a very hot oven for about half an hour or so, remove it as soon as it turns golden brown"

I have been thinking of nothing else since I read this.....

update....

I found it yay yay yay

book-a-day

I've been reading a new series i've discovered. Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano Mystery series. I am forever thankful that I have such a great library. I can't remember how many books are in this series ....may 16 or so. My library has them all, and they are sitting on my stairs - waiting to be selected. Every book is better than the last. You really notice the growth of the author with each book. I love that.

Coffee maker

My birthday was 6 weeks ago, and mentioned this thing a couple times to my children. Didn't get one. Mothers day, came and went..... Didn't get one. So I finally bought one for myself. I might be a little....pissed, angry, disappointed? Yes to all of the above

Pile from the Library

I stopped in the library looking for the second book in the series of Inspector Montalbano, and this was waiting for me

now if I can only remember the title of the second book.

Latest read

Picked up Fire in the Blood it's either a sequel or prequel to Suite Francaise and it also apprears that there are more books of hers (before she was murdered by nazi bastards and european enablers) It still makes me sick....the waste It also makes me sick of the wasted lives in Syria..... While all of us sit here in our comfort.... How many were murdered today...in the name of Assad And then there's the greeks, spainish, Portuguese, Irish ...all in the name of austerity german style.... how many german companies benefited from the lavish spending of greeks spanish, portuguese irish how many european elite benefited from bond sales of these said countries KNOWING these bonds would be a hardship to repay.... I recently watched a bbc program of the hardship of so many spanish and greek families loosing homes, utilities turned off ....and these families already lived austere lives. For what end....so bond holders get paid..... so countries selling bonds they can`t hope to repay, can finance governments....it`s a vicious cycle... If the euro fails....what then It`s all toooo much for me Heavy sighhhhhhh

Tree

I just love this tree, it always makes me smile when I open the curtains in the morning. I will miss it when the blossoms are gone.

cleaning out the freezer

The other day my g'kids were over for the usual two days, and I rattled around in my brain...what to make for dinner? So I went out to the freezer in the garage, and then the fridge/freezer looking for insperation. What I found was a whole lot of little bags of stuff. So I made them some stuffed rigatonni from a bag of leftover hamburger/pork mixture from some other time of leftover mix. It was very good. So now i'm on a fixation of emptying the freezers of small bags. It's amazing how many I have. I pulled out a little bag (less than 200gm each) of pork, hamburger and chicken (or might be ground turkey) so it's going to be spaghetti with surprise sauce tonight. And lunch tomorrow because spaghetti always tastes better the next day. Then I found a bag (actually 2) of shredded braised purple cabbage. It was really good when I made it, forgot all about this stuff. I also found many boxes of frozen pizza....I will have to doctor up one of them for breakfast with bacon and tomatoes.

Toothbrushes

A pet peeve: The other day I misplaced my toothbrush. And since I brush probably 2-3x's a day when i'm home i had to dig into the freebie's from the dentist. There must be a conspiracy or something, those stupid useless "soft" brushes. Do they want us to use these so we have to get our teeth cleaned more often or what???? If your gonna give me a toothbrush, with your business name on it. Give me one I can actually use instead of this stupid crappy useless good for nothing but maybe painting or glueing something toothbrush. Totally useless for actually brushing ones teeth. There---I got that off my chest. I feel better all ready

Its Tuesday...time to go to emerg

So there I was sleeping (two weeks ago)....when all of a sudden I got this "ZING" in my nose. So painful that it woke me up around 3AM. I knew if was a flu thing....and there was no liquid echinacea in the house. That's my sure fire "kill the virus" solution, and it always, always, always works. All I do is down the whole bottle (or any part that is remaining in the bottle), then drink something else to get rid of the horrible taste. And if one gussles it down in one big gulp....well it always works. And I had none, I already new that. So I layed there humming and hawing...I know the both markets in my neighborhood are 24/7. I could just get up and go buy a bottle. But its 3AM,...Do I have to get dressed I wonder, or can I just throw my jacket over my pj's? Or I could just throw on some sweat pants thing over everything.....Do I really want to get out of bed? Nooo, I will go in the morning...big deal, what's a couple hours? By morning I had this incredible head cold from Hell. I could not believe it. It's too late for the stuff now. So later Friday I trudged to the store and drank the stuff in the car on the way home....better late than never.. Saturday morning I woke up with the same "zing" in the left ear. OHHH oh, this can't be good. I hade some Advil cold stuff plus, By monday morning My throat and ear and head were so stuffed and sore I had to go to the clinic. Antibiotics worked by wednesday except for my left ear, and left side of head. I couldn't believe my ear was so sore, and ringing I couldn't stand up, kept bumping into things, couldn't get up without severe pain in my head. And the headaches by the end of the day just got worse and worse. So Thursday I went back to clinic and was told I would just have to "give it time" .....bull I was taking sleeping pills to sleep at night because the noise in my head wouldn't let me fall asleep. It was torture. I talked to pharmacist (3) for advise. 1 give it time 2 nothing you can do 3 take 2 advil at once....that should work - no more than 4 a day...... ...wonderful. I thought great, that's got to work. It didn't, if anything it made it worse. I was using a bag of frozen peas, alternating with heating pad on my head. I was taking so much med's I should be dead, headache med's, sinus med's, migraine med's, not to mention sleeping pills, and hormone replacement shit. And still massive calcium/mag and vit d for my leg cramps...... Nothing was working....I thought I might find a tall bldg with a really fast elevator, that might blow the ear....or the last seat in a plane-maybe a short trip somewhere.... I was desperate. My daughter googled and found "labyrinthitis" ....interesting - but I don't have vertigo so much - just walking down the stairs (they seem to reverse and go up instead of down) and no mention of massive headaches in symptoms. The long weekend was coming up. I suffered through the long weekend, by monday night I decided tuesday morning I would go...no point in going to emerg on the long weekend. And besides I was tired of being dismissed. So Tuesday morning arrived and 6:30 AM I was in emerg. I was fortunate to be assessed by an intern that was curiously stumped. She blew water bombs into my ear, scraped away and poked and proded and couldn't remove a black spot far in my ear. Then the Doc tried...."Hmmm that might not be wax, order up a ct/scan" Back in the waiting room waiting...it's now 8:30 AM Scan complete and analysed and ...."what's that discoloration of your left lobe" "Does that have anything to do with my ear" ask I "NO...but the scan doesn't give any info about your ear, but this is a troubling discoloration, it shouldn't be this light--- we're going to have to order an MRI of your head" "what about my ear" and "what about that spot" "The MRI will be helpful for a diagnoisis of your ear" blah blah blah So off I went to MRI booking with my paperwork, they sent a lab tech over to draw massive amounts of blood for bacterial screening, and something to do with mri prescreening...I couldn't really hear what was what....all the noise in my head. So...once the lab tech left, the mri booker said she will call me sometime this week to book the mri. See ya, bye It's 10:30 AM give..or take My left side of my head is the same. I went home, some what gladdened that...well at least I'm not being dismissed anymore. But my head still f*king hurts and I can't take it anymore,........... Around noon I get a call from the booker "We are booking emerg mri's for September....ohhh wait a minute - I have a note here - I have a cancellation, can you come at 10PM tonight?" "wtf"......(no I didn't actually say it...but couldn't believe the september crap) Of coarse, I will be there, thank you......wow---hmmmm that was weirdly good-luck. When I drove out of the garage I looked up and couldn't beleive the black sky and the lightning.....I drove all the way in the worse torrential rainstorm. Holy cow. lighting everywhere, hailstones....actual lakes on the highway.....it was awful It was one of the most awful tests. All the noise from the machine...I was expecting my ear to blow just from the noise. It's a good thing I'm not clostrophobic. It's as though a jack hammer was blasting away for 1/2 hour above my head. And the vibrating back and forth....left and right....then both back and forth and side to side.....And I'm wedged into this noisy thing thinking...."wow I'm amazed I got an mri this soon" certainly can't complain about our health care that's for sure. Now I have to wait a week for the results of this whole experience...... ...And strangly....the pressure in my ear, and my left side of my head ----seems a little ---eased---today. Hmmmmm Now I have this discoloration of my left lobe to worry about........agghhhghgh As an aside.....Why do doctors make one feel so .....dirty - when they say "you have wax in your ears"....it's as though they said "you have lice" EVERYONE has wax duhhhhh... and then they say stupid things like...."don't put anything into your ear smaller than your elbow" Next time I'm going to rip that thing out of their hand and checkout their ears....

My un-garden

This year I vow I will not put any seeds into little bitty pots (except for my lettuce leaf basil, cause not available anywhere else except my mothers seed hording bucket of seeds), and I WILL NOT plant 55 tomato plants from the packet of heirloom tomatoes, nor will I attempt to plant that damn armenian cuc yet again this year ( I found out the damn thing is a melon for heavens sake according to this book a really good read by the way, and no wonder it never really grew....not enough hot sun i guess).
I knew I was going to run out of space in my itty bitty back yard so I even had to sign up for a "community garden" spot, but they would only give me one spot...all this "everyone has to have a chance at a spot" stuff....
So this year.....I will not plant more than 4-5 tomatoes, and I will buy them as seedlings, same for the cucs.
I will not spent march, april and may lugging trays and trays of seedling from one window to another, up the stairs in the morning and down in the afternoon, I'm just not going to do that again.  And for what...we had such a crappy june that I had to buy some seedlings anyway cause most of the tomatoes didn't make it past the stormy month.  And the community garden spot was so new this year that no barriers were planted and it was a wind tunnel all year.
But I guess I will have to plant some beans again, and herbs, again and then there's the potatoes that I swear I am going to try in the potato cages again..... but this time I'm going to get my daughter in Toronto to plant that #hit, cause...well she has a huge back yard finally, and she ...well...needs the experience..and it helps that she seems to be gung hoooo about the whole thing.
This year I vow that I will not spent upward of $500 on a garden....well not @ home anyway....not saying how much I will contribute to the Toronto garden though...I mean someone planning on a first time garden will need some $$$ help, there's the raised beds to build, the soil to purchase, the mini greenhouses to construct over the raised beds,....the list goes on and on, and the seedlings and seeds haven't even been planted.....heavy sign

I'm only going to plant anything this year because if I don't the grandkids will desimate the back yard into a mudbath if nothing is planted.  And that won't be very pretty at all, not to mention all that mess to clean up every week.  And that damn neighbor cat will be digging all season, if I don't manage to take it for a ride....no just kidding, really I am

case in point....

trying to figure out where to put everything....will not be a problem this year

a little bit crowded

the potato cages, that really deserve another try again this year, if nothing else for something interesting to keep track of...sort of a reason to get outside once in awhile.

But this year, I will be spending my time either here...

with a good book..

or in a chair here, with a glass of wine.

Hot Pink Hummus

The next bookstore I walk into, I will be purchasing this book.

Only because I don't want to give my copy back to the library. Yesterday I made Beet Hummus.

Her recipe:
1 med beet roasted, peeled and chopped
1 1/4 c cooked,canned chickpeas
1/3 c tahini
1/4 c toasted pin nuts
2 garlic cloves
1/2 c olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Well I had 3 roasted beets and the can of chickpeas measured 2 cups so I improvised. It didn't help that my food processor is at my daughters either. Hmmm well I do have a smaller itty bitty one...it will have to do.

My recipe:
3 roasted med beets
2 c canned chickpeas
2 russian garlic cloves (thank god I didn't use 4) they are larger and much more pungent than regular garlic
2/3 c tahini
1/2 c roasted pecan halves, chopped
1 c+ olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
salt and pepper

I had to make it in three batches in the small processor. I used two of the larger garlic cloves.....that was a mistake

I had to open another can of chickpeas and make another batch
1 cup chickpeas
1/3 c tahini
1/2 c olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

and mixed it up with the original one, had to thin out the garlic....it was very powerful....after the intervention it was much better. So basically I quess I trippled the recipe.

This morning I went to grocery store to pick up a few things and noticed a big bag of lemons for $.50, and a large bag of Brussel Sprouts for $1.25 in the vegetable reduction bin. The only reason I went over to check it out was because so many other shoppers were standing grabbing stuff, that I grabbed some cauliflower, lemons, and sprouts, and I managed to leave the area with all body parts intact.

I was planning on making mashed potato and chicken for the grandkids for a late lunch early dinner today and I thought I would try combining the cauliflower and potatoes. They were a hit. Wow I will probably make mashed this way all the time. Shepards Pie for sure. It was very good.

I also thought it might be a good idea to juice the lemons and zest and stick in the freezer, so I washed the lemons and poured boiling water over them twice, and voila ...lots of juice when I need it, and I never seem to have a lemon when I need one, so hopefully this will end that problem.

The lemon waste will be a nice addition to the compost
The brussel sprouts....well I thought I'd give pickling them a try, i've always wanted to but never thought of it before. I've only ever bought them for thanksgiving or xmas dinners.

RIBS...chez moi

I've been reading this book over the weekend. And I gotta say snacking up a storm. I realized that I probably would enjoy every recipe in the book, unfortunately I'm going to have to buy myself a copy instead of renewing it continually at the library. I went to the Co-op to replenish my lottery ticket on saturday and was walking around the store, I haven't been in this particular one for ages, I used to live in the neighborhood and have forgotten how much I enjoyed the smallness of the store. Even though it's half the size of most of the others in the city, its a great store. One doesn't have the feeling of exhaustion roaming the aisles. Since I haven't been in it for a bit I went for a stroll and managed to pick-up a few things including a rack a ribs. Only because they looked good and happened to be on sale (one of my new years resolutions - it must be on sale if Im going to buy meat products that are not currently in the freezer)

As I was reading, and enjoying this book I figured It really needed to be tested just for accuracy sake etc. So I decided the rib recipe should be tested, not because I had some of them in the fridge, but the story behind the recipe was interesting. And I have to say hear, that every recipe has a story in the book. I love cookbooks like this.

Her recipe:

Apricot Ribs
6-8 servings

4 racks spareribs
salt and pepper
2 cups apricot jam or marmalade
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 scant tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 c water

Season ribs and lay them don bone side up in roasting pan. Everything else gets put into pot and heated till melting then dumped over the ribs blah blah blah...its not rocket science from here.

Well, I thought I had my own apricot jam, but after much searching of the basement, none was found. Wow that was a surprise, then I cleaned the fridge out and none there. Bummer....another new years rule was "no grocery shopping if at least 5 things aren't on the list, made do - or do something else" I also don't do a large grocery shopping every 2 weeks anymore either. It's only quick pick ups when I need more than 5 things and since I tend to go to at least 3 different locations around the city in a given week, I make a point of going somewhere different instead of the usual place at least once in awhile.
No apricot jam but several plum jam where available, so that's what I used (it was either plum, or strawberry or blueberry) I figured the plum would add a nice demention of color to the ribs.
And since I had only 1 large rack of ribs, I halfed the recipe.

My recipe

1 rack of ribs
Peal of the ucky thin skin off the bone side (it's there, it always is, it MUST be taken off. And it's easy, just pick one corner off and pull --- hard.
Cut ribs into sections of 3 bones and put them into a freezer bag and dump in equal portions of soya sauce, lea and perrins, and balsamic vinegar. Set aside and take the laundry out of the dryer, vacuum ---turn the bag over, and set aside

Into a pot, goes
1 cup plum jam
1 tbsp lea and perrin
1 tbsp lime juice (didn't have any lemons)
1 tbsp honey dijon mustard (that's what I had)
1/4 cup water
after melting the mess down I tasted it and decided it needed
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
scant squirt sriracha hot chili sauce (red rooster brand)
scant shake (and I mean scant) McCormick's smoked paprika, and ancho chili pepper
after tasting this....good to go

I didn't really need the water, next time will leave it out.
I removed the ribs from the freezer bag, lined a pan with parchment and put the whole mess into toaster oven, convection combo thing. At 425 for 1/2 hour bone side up. Then turned oven down to 325 for about 1- 1 1/2, I can't remember and I also turned them a couple times and repeatedly put more sauce over them. After what seemed like a bit ( I was sewing a quilt top, so kinda lost track of time here) before turning temp down to 200 I sectioned the ribs indivually and smushed then around the remaining sauce in pan and returned them to oven for about 1/2 hour.

Best ribs I ate, Don't know why I never made them with jam before. But will every time from now on.....

I bought a bunch of beets at the store the same trip and they are roasting away in the toaster, convection combo expecting to be put into the Beet Hummus that the author promises to be a "beautiful thing-hot pink hummus"

The saga of the toilets

Just around xmas my husband removed the toilet from the ensuite....because it was wobbly. I came home and found the toilet (in one piece) sitting on a pile of towels in the tub. I was amazed that he was able to do this all by himself (its kinda heavy and awkward and then there's that wall of the tub to get the whole thing over) anyway there it sat. The ring under the toilet was cracked and a piece was broken off and the wood under the toilet sustained some damage and necessitated (is that spelled correctly....who cares?) the lino removal and replacement. So it took me awhile to decide what to replace it with. For some reason that took forever. It's probably due to the fact there are two other toilets to use, that we were so lazy. So once the floor was finally replaced and sealed and baseboards installed etc., the ring was replaced and then I decided that we had to replace the toilet because I figured since the floor was kinda damaged under the old toilet, a new toilet would not sit on exactly the same spot. (I could have replaced the wood sub floor under the toilet, but that just seemed like way toooooo much work, so i guncked up the space and figured a new toilet would be best. That took a month.....actually my son (works in plumbing supplies in another province) came to visit february long and I insisted he come with a toilet. I failed to mention that there was a banjo (didnt know that thing had a name) and the toilet and the space under said banjo were exactly the same measurement. just.....wouldn't.....quite.....fit...Of coarse, the visit was very busy and no one thought to take the said toilet out of the boxes and put it together and measure....until after he left town......

Pissed me off....I called him to moan about the size...wondering if I could put a different tank on it maybe....Then----It struck me. I could put the new toilet downstairs in the powder room (no banjo there - a pedestal sink in that room) and move the toilet from that room up here into the ensuite. It would fit because it's the same toilet that was up here, so fit, it will yay. Wow---what a brainstorm....I'm so smart I scare myself. I hung up the phone and patted myself on the back and headed upstairs to tell my husband the good news...when I remembered why I wanted a different toilet in the first place......I must say here that in a fit of getting really pissed at having to shower in the guest bathroom (because there was a toilet sitting in the ensuite bath tub). One day in a fit of getting things done I ripped that toilet out of the tub and toke it downstairs and dumped it next to the backdoor, and there it sat for about 4 days. When in another fit of getting things done I toke it apart and hid it in garbage bags (we aren't supposed to throw stuff like that into the dumpster, fines fines fines threatened) so I waited until the cover of darkness and dumped the thing into the dumpster. Why not...my plan was to put in a different toilet, why do I need this stupid thing....landfill is where it went.

So.... today, I removed the toilet in powder room and put in the new toilet in that spot and had to go back to home depot for another set of screws and bolts because they are plastic (probably made in china, cause they suck) and one of the plastic bolts, snapped into two pieces. While at the store of coarse no bolt could be found to replace the old one so I would have to remove the friggin thing off the floor to insert a new screw thing into the plate because the old one would not work with any bolts known to man. So yet another wax thing had to be installed.

*One trip to home depot down

Back home the toilet was raised, the wax ring removed and discarded, the new bolts installed, the wax re-installed, the toilet put down, screwed...yay, this time I didn't screw the thing down tight, just enough. And the screw and bolts were bronze, or yellow METAL anyway.

The tank screwed down...."wait, we should screw on the water supply thing first"
Well....i purchased new water supply flexable hose things cause the new toilet sit higher than the old one, thereby needing a new pipe/hose thingy...I didn't want to rebend the old one, figured it would spring a leak anyway...so why bother, replace it.
The 18 year old guy in plumbing at home depot gave me two new flex hose things about two weeks ago and I figured he worked here, he knows what he's doing....I bought them and went home with new hoses and piles of wax rings.
The 18 yr old GAVE ME THE WRONG HOSES....grrrr doesn't fit.

*Second trip to home depot that day
Seems he gave me hoses for a sink...not a toilet - don't trust children working at home depot, cause they know ....shit!!!!

Came home with new hoses and silicone tape.

Siliconed up the knob and then proceeded to unbolt the water supply from the pressure connection thingy. It would budge ....stuck. So I made my husband do it, cause I didn't want to be responsible for the water plume that was inevitably going to start shooting up into the air at any moment. I was maddly scrambling to remember in my mind "just where was that main water shut off anyway". Hmmmm....I should go check for the darn thing...Oh too late, he managed to remove it...heavy sigh!!!! No water shooting up into the air.

Everything was screwed on, bolted down, sealed and then we stood back and admired our amazing job and tried to decide who was going to be responsable to turning the water on....you do it...no you do it....no I insist, you do it.

Well I didn't do it, but water was filling, flushing and no water was on the floor. Wow, one down.

The second toilet was hauled upstairs, (the same exact toilet model that was there in the first place)grrr....I'm living with this turn of events, so I don't want to hear anything about it again!!!!

The bolts and screw were matched up and again metal, the two different wax rings (two, one on the floor and one on the underside of the toilet-because that's the way we did the one downstairs, the newer one and that's the way my son instructed me to do it...blah blah blah and it worked downstairs just tickety boooooh)and I proceeded to screw the thing down to the floor. And screw, and screw and screw....this must have been the screw from hell cause it just wouldnt end. Then you stand on the thing and sort of press the wax down and then screw some more.....When I finally finished the thing I stook back and noticed that the front of the toilet was a good 1/4 inch off the floor....wtf
so I unscrewed the bolts a bit and put some weight down on the thing again and screwed the bolts again and again and stood back and .....still up off the floor. Hmmmmm

My husband said....give it a day we will use it and it will sit down after a bit....so I unbolted a bit...again and screwed the tank on, and the water line, I used the old one still attached to the pressure bolt thing attached to the floor, CAUSE ITS THE SAME FRIGGIN TOILET...see, it will work!!!!
I turned on the water, and there's water on the floor, grrrrr
"is it tight"
"yes, it won't turn anymore,it's tight"
"hmmm, did you check if there's a washer in the thing"
"....no"
turned the water off, emptied the tank....turned the water off, unscrewed....no washer....where the f*ck is the washer.....It's been almost two months....since original dismantalling was done, it could be anywhere, but it's not here....so the new flex thing has to be installed.
"you do it", no "you do it"...
I took the bull by the horns and managed to unscrew the old one without any major catastrophy.....big sigh of relief
Bolted this, screwed on that, bolted that...turned on the water, flushed, reflushed, refilled.....no water on the floor. Oh, happy day!!!!
I left to do some shopping and on the way to the mall, it came to me....We have to remove the stupid second toilet cause obviously tooo00 much wax under the toilet.

*third trip to home depot, for yet more wax. I've seen more than my share of toilet wax, enought for a lifetime. Sick to death of the stuff at this point.

So when I came home with fish and chips take-out for dinner, fixing the damn toilet upstairs was put off for another day. Maybe tomorrow....maybe not...

So this morning I'm getting out of bed for my cup of timer coffee (yay great invention), when I almost couldn't ...get...up...wtf. Wait, what's going on, why am I so sore...my butt...hurts like someone hit me with a baseball bat, my legs won't bend. I do not remember climbing any mountain yesterday. Let's see now, I went to the library, ...no stairs were involved, the mall...again no stairs, couple other places...no stairs, no mountains. Man am I out of shape or what. I complained and staggered out of the room, when my husband mentioned "it was probably the heavy toilet up and down the stairs"

"OH yeah, ...i completely forgot about that stupid toilet thing....wierd
But the toilet wasn't really all that heavy"

It was all that bending and screwing and unscrewing ....and rescrewing....Who would of thought that bending over a toilet and manovering yourself into tight places and screwing down bolts, into said tight places COULD BE CONSIDERED A 'WORKOUT'

Well, the toilet will have to wait another day.....I'm done... maybe tuesday
We are still using the toilet in the guest room, but the new toilet in the powder room is really comfy.....sits a little higher for us old folks. I don't think the grandson just learning about the potty will like it all that much....and my grandaughter will have to hike herself up a little bit more, but its all good.

community garden

Finally - community garden coming together I sure hope I can reserve 2 4X12 plots. I'm already dreaming of all those heirloom tom's and the beets that don't grow in my only 3 hours of sunlight backyard....and the greenbeans I am exited