Ardbeg and Cherry Garcia

Last weekend Christielli was in Vancouver! She got on the ferry with Rawbean and Becca T for a visit to Victoria. I was so excited. Spending time with a bunch of amazing women doesn't happen for me very often so it was a day to savour.

We had brunch, did some shopping and drinks and dinner later. Lots of chatting, catching up and generally enjoying hanging out together. It was fantastic, I'm so glad they all went out of their way.*

Rawbean gave me a belated birthday present and it was unbelievable. I honestly never thought I'd own one of these.....

Anyone who spends this much money on something they know I love and worship is top notch. She prefaced it with 'it's been a tough year and it's a milestone birthday'.

This is true, it's been a crappy year.

Last week was horrrible too. On one of the worst days I cracked the bottle open after work. Wow. When you have one of the best things ever at your fingertips all your troubles melt away.

On another note, when your husband says "You should go look in the freezer behind the ice cubes" you should be excited. I wasn't disappointed. My favourite ice cream!

I'm ashamed to say he hid it because if I actually knew it was there I likely would have eaten it all in one sitting. 

I'm hoping for a better week ahead. I'm filling my weekend with good books** and lots of nerdy science videos to ease the pain of last week.


*Even though it poured rain the entire time. Screw you weather!
**More on this later

Chocolate Tart Fail

Et tu, Chatelaine?

Chocolate ganache and caramel pie?! Hell yes! Seriously, what could go wrong?

There were three steps to this recipe and failure at every step.

Step 1 - make the crust. The recipe said it would come into a ball. Uh - not even close, the dough was powdery and dry. I crammed it into the pan anyway and hoped for the best, maybe it was a small oversight in the description....

Step 2 - make the caramel. I've never made caramel before, and I won't lie - I was intimidated. It said to boil until it turned a "light amber" colour.  I panicked and put the cream in too early. Now it looks like someone threw up in my pie crust.

I'll admit the caramel was my mistake.

Step 3 - make the chocolate ganache. This was the easiest step and the biggest fail. I think there was way too much cream in there because it wouldn't harden. After being in the fridge overnight it still has the consistency of maple syrup.

So by the time we cut into it - chocolate tsunami.
 

I've never had a recipe fail this bad with Chatelaine?!

Whisky

A couple weeks before my surgery we went to Seattle. It was one of the highlights of our summer before I went off the radar for six weeks. I can't believe I didn't get around to blogging about our trip because it was awesome. So I'll tell you about one of the highlights.

We went to a whisky bar on a whim. Neither of us had any clue about whisky but had always wanted to try it. The bartender in this place was super knowledgeable and it was a slow enough evening that he could entertain us with a whisky flight.

He started us off with a single malt that wasn't too scary or intense. Then on to something more intense, next up was an Irish Whiskey and finally a bourbon to finish with.

We completely fell in love.

The second one was definitely one of the five best things I've ever had. I've ordered it a couple more times and it blows my mind every time.

Last time I visited Rawbean, I raved about Ardbeg and ordered one for her. It's so intense and she was a great sport but overall "There's a campire in my mouth!" is a good description. We had more whisky that night that was a bit more successful in intensity.

Ardbeg tastes like the forest - but in a good way. I can't describe it. When the glass is put in front of you, the scent is overwhelming. I want to bathe in it. We checked it out at the liquor store - around $100/bottle.

Damn.

I am a Muppet

For the first two weeks after my surgery I wasn't hungry at all. Brad and Mom has to actually force me to eat. It was easily achieved because they wouldn't let me have the pain meds on an empty stomach. I would have done anything for Dilaudid and an ice pack so drinking some Ensure seemed like a fair trade.

I browsed a lot of social media in the first two weeks. I couldn't focus on books. I was too loopy on pain meds or I didn't have the energy. I saw hundreds of photos of food on Pinterest and Instagram, but nothing piqued my stomach.

Then I saw this photo and my hunger returned in an instant.

Since then I've been known to groan, moan, bitch and whine about my hunger. I craved anything with kale, potatoes or Italian sausage.

I've had the green light on the coveted* "soft chew diet" since Tuesday. This means I can eat anything that's soft like scrambled eggs or pasta. I knew my first meal would be mashed potatoes with butter, salt and pepper.

I cooked it up, put it on a plate** and sat down to devour it.

Now let me explain something. I've had this body and this jaw/teeth/mouth for X number of years. When I picked up the fork and shoveled a small amount in***, it was instant chaos.

Imagine what it's like to chew like a Muppet. This was me.

My tongue is clueless, it doesn't know where to go or what to do. It shoves the food around but doesn't know to get out of the way of my newly connecting teeth. Ouch!? Plus my teeth are all in different places and I can't feel them.  

Food also disappears. It's WEIRD. One moment it's there then poof - gone. Did I swallow that? I don't think so....wait - it's back. A lot of food ends up lodged between my cheek and lower gums and I have to fish it out my hand. 

Nice.

My jaw is also drawing a blank when it comes to chewing. All it's capable of is UP and DOWN. It's like a panini press?! The next time you chew something, take the time to actually notice the dance that's happening between your tongue, jaw, teeth and cheeks.

I know I'll get to sandwiches eventually but for now I can't imagine when that will be.

* "Coveted" for any jaw surgery patient
** What is this plate? I haven't seen a plate in a month!
*** I still sometimes need a mirror to find my mouth. Seriously.

Cramming

We find ourselves trying to cram our entire summer into the time between now and September 3rd.  So I've started lists of 'Things To Do' and 'Stuff to Eat'.

Some things on my 'Things To Eat' list:
- all this wine, port and cider from wine tastings we did a week ago
- Foo
- about 20 grilled cheese sandwiches
- Hawkin's Cheezies

Some things on my 'Things To Do' list:
- wine tastings (check)
- Seattle
- camping
- coffee/drink dates with all my buddies

Then there are the ultimate decisions:
1. What is my last meal at home? (Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich)
2. Where to go for my last meal out? (I have no idea.)

So remember when I went gluten/dairy free for a year?  The other day I realized that I could possibly be facing three months without food. Gluten/dairy free will be a breeze compared to what I have in store.

Rocks, Gin and Candles

A bit of randomness for you this weekend.

1.  I bought a candle on Etsy that claimed to smell like books. Now, you might be thinking that I've finally gone over the top and completely lost it. No, that happened a long time ago.

I bought it because it's one of Brad's favourite smells. I've witnessed him put his face inside a book and take deep breaths. The candle smells kind of like books, but has a bit of a lemony smell too. Overall, it was worth it.

2. Watch this short film.

Do it.

I saw it years ago at either the VIFF of Spike and Mike's and I never forgot it. It's about rocks and the passage of time. One of the rocks has an under bite. An under bite. If that isn't enough to intrigue you, well I don't know what to say. 

3. I made another cocktail that was over the top delicious.

Grapefriut, lime, ginger and gin*. This might just be my drink of the summer. Gin is on my radar these days big time. As I write this I have another concoction brewing in the fridge. Let's just say it involves rhubarb and tequila.



*This picture is deceiving. There was no Cherry Garcia ice cream in my cocktail. This is a pile of stuff I bought the day I got my top braces on, I had the cocktail with the ice cream on the side.

Cocktails and Biscuits

For all the times I've failed in the kitchen, I've had some amazing successes lately. Although, I must admit it's way more fun to blog about the mishaps.

My latest conquests involve cocktails and biscuits.  

I found a recipe on Pinterest that looked easy and used simple ingredients which is a bonus. Ginger, lemon juice, honey and water. And vodka. Which we always seem to have around. The drink - absolutely perfect. Ginger Lemonade with Vodka. I'd like to try this one with bourbon.
 

Last weekend we tried another cocktail recipe. This one involved bourbon, ginger beer, maple syrup and lime juice. Holy crap. Pretty much anything that has ginger beer is a winner for me. I was having a crappy day too and this drink was just the ticket.....along with a tub of Haagen Daaz.

A couple weekends ago I woke up and announced 'I'm making biscuits for breakfast.' Brad was confused but stoked. I was feeling ambitious and I delivered! I used a recipe from my Joy the Baker cookbook and it was really, really easy and turned out incredible.

The way the cheese exploded out the sides? That totally worked for me.

These biscuits are the result of having butter around the house at all times, which is something I never used to do.
 

I don't think I've mentioned that I can make a kick-ass pizza. Crust from scratch of course. I can't remember what this one was, likely something with proscuitto. We have pizza a lot, I make a double batch of dough and freeze half for another time. This summer I want to make one with figs.

I have quit eating pizza in public due to the cookie monster factor.

This winter I made the ultimate item on my baking bucket list. Apple pie. It was soooooo easy and turned out just right. I want to work on my crust edges because I found this one a little thick but it's cool because it's "rustic". Right?!

On my radar now are yorkshire pudding, chai tea from scratch, peach frozen yogurt, pecan biscuits, cocktails with bitters, and a chocolate caramel tart that I've been salivating over for a month now.

Superbowl

I worked until 9:00pm on Friday night so I didn't have to go to work today. 

It's is turning into one of my favourite kind of days. We aren't leaving the house and we are over stocked for Superbowl! We were expecting some friends to come over, but they are all sick as dogs so more food for us!

We have a giant bag of Cheezies, home made cookies with sprinkles*, I'm making a cheesecake later and home made pizza is also coming. It will have buffalo mozzarella and olives. Enough said.

Go Seahawks!!


*no swearing happened when these were made and they have icing!!

Icing Sugar Cookies II

Never again.

Baking shouldn't leave you swearing, grumpy and snappy.

Remember the last time we made these? Well, Brad wanted to give them another try since they're is fave. My bestie R. even sent me meringue powder after my last post so we couldn't fail?!

The cookies themselves turned out fine. No bums this time - I guessed and put the cut out shapes in the fridge for 5 minutes before throwing them in the oven. Not that I get any hints or pointers from the book.

The icing is where things really went off the rails.

We made the icing according to the instructions. I even made parchment paper piping bags! Messy but way better than a spoon which is what we used before. So I'm piping the edges, no issues...

However filling in the edges with a brush (like she says to do) doesn't work.

Check out the outlining technique on the pink one - you can tell how frustrated we were.

There is a blurb in the recipe that says to 'add water until you get the right consistency if you want them satiny'. 

Ummmm.....how else would I want the icing? I want my cookies to look like the photo. How much water do I add? What is the consistency? We messed around with the yellow and pink icing with no water and it doesn't work. I can't imagine what you would use this icing for???

Then I decided to randomly add 1 teaspoon of water to the green icing and what do you know?! It worked.

This makes me really angry. If I'm going to go out and BUY a recipe book, I don't want the writer to hold back any secrets. I'm sure I could have found a great blog with a free recipe that included a description of the 'consistency' and the amount of water to add to the icing.

There is bourbon in my next batch of cookies thank God.

They are from a blog. They're going to be awesome.

Screw Chopping

As you guys know, I like cooking and baking. Even though sometimes it's a disaster.

I used to enjoy chopping veggies, I actually found it therapeutic. Now? Not so much.

I loathe it. Chopping onions? The worst. I think it affects me more than the average person. I have to leave the room, blindly groping the walls with tears running down my face. It's ridiculous. Sometimes when I chop garlic - same thing.

There was a simple solution as far as I was concerned. Bzzzt. Ten seconds and that entire onion is chopped and the deadly gases are contained in a sealed container?? Could it be possible?! Oh....yes.

I've wanted a food processor for a few years now. And not one of those little wimpy ones - I wanted the biggest, best one. This summer I randomly checked at The Bay and they were totally on sale. So I finally bought one.

I haven't used it as much as I thought, mostly because life has been a little insane lately. But I have big plans.

In the meantime I made my first pastry dough. It was awesome.

Last week Brad announced that I'm not using it enough and he wants to store it somewhere other than our tiny kitchen. Woah. Not happening. So I proved to him that I love it and used it to make a crust for pumpkin squares. Out of pretzels. 

Oh. Hell. Yes.

I've also used it to make simple things like citrus water. 

I've even taken it out to chop one onion and nothing else.

Totally worth it.

T-Minus 24 Hours

I can't believe how fast the week went. I could have used a month, I really am not joking. It's good to know I'm "in demand" but - and this is said like Seinfeld when he didn't want to wear the pirate shirt: 

"I don't wanna be in demand!!"

I wanted to read at least 3 more books, watch 10 more movies, finish 8 more sewing projects and try 10 more recipes.

I should be grateful I was able to spend some time here - my new sewing room. Yes, that's the ocean. Cool hey?

 Chip lives here for now.

On Friday I re-visited a favourite recipe. Remember this bread?  

It's got to be one of the worst things for you - bread with tons of butter and sugar. But damn, it's the BEST.

I also finished a little sewing project that I'm loving. Rawbean gave me some fabric a long time ago and I finally decided to use some of it. Just a quick pillow cover. I added a button from my late mother-in-law's stash which makes it even more special. Oh Dee, how I miss you!

Sorry about the wrinkly pillow but we all know this is no polished craft blog.

I spent a lot of time in this chair - watching a couple movies, a few cooking shows, falling asleep and catching up on a knitting project.  

I'm starting a new adventure tomorrow.

Edamame Toast

We aren't big 'meat and potato' dinner eaters. Sometimes our dinners are crackers, cheese, tomatoes and salami or something. Sometimes baked chicken, peas and rice. That's about as close as we get.

I found an interesting recipe a while ago and we tried it.

Holy. Crap. So Good.

When we were in Italy we bought a bottle of balsamic reduction. It's incredible, you only need a couple drops. If you're going to make this, PILE on the goat cheese. We've had this for dinner twice now.

And it looks pretty too.

Onion Rings

I don't usually eat fast food. We were talking about this the other night and agreed that we pick it up about once every 3-4 months. We usually end up at A&W, because it's the closest one to our place.

I haven't been to McDonald's in over 5 years - easy....so why do I still get cravings for McDonald's cheeseburgers???

Anyway, I found this recipe online and had to try it. BAKED onion rings!

SO. GOOD. And it's surprising how many rings you get from a medium size onion!!!

I never deep fry. I don't have a deep fryer and I don't understand doing it in a pot either. That's a lot of oil - and what do you do with it after you've used it?!

Emergency Icing

Behold.

A birthday cake for Brad. Baked by me.

I'm not sure what it is with me and baking? Or why it ends up with cake on the balcony, bum cookies and digging through garbage, but here it is:

Brad went into Vancouver on the weekend so I got up early on Sunday to make him a cake.

No biggie.

I got the cake recipe from Looneyspoons. Always a good bet - easy, reliable recipes. The cake part went off without a hitch. There wasn't icing with this cake recipe so I had to source an icing recipe somewhere else....

......from Anna Olsen's 'Another Cup of Sugar'. I started the icing....1/3 cups of butter....3 cups icing sugar.....um, sorry?


Holy dry ingredients?! There was icing sugar flying all over the kitchen and I didn't even have all of it added yet, not to mention the cocoa.

I had 45 minutes until I had to leave to get Brad at the ferry.

It was at this point that the cake ended up on the balcony (it wasn't cooling fast enough, I don't know why I didn't just put it in the fridge) and the panicked phone calls began.


My mom knew exactly what to do: ramble off my Grandma's icing recipe: icing sugar, cocoa, butter and hot water. I was skeptical (why? given my track record with baking - I have no right to be) but desperate, so I started throwing stuff in a new bowl.

No measuring required of course.

I don't know why I would doubt my own beloved Grandma - the icing totally came together. Too sweet - just add more cocoa, too thick - add more hot water. Genius.

Slave to the Cookie Part I

This year my parents are coming to spend Christmas with me. This is the first time that they have spent the holidays at my house - ever. I'm stoked.

Other than the frantic scrubbing, washing and cleaning that is in my near future, the second biggest thing I want to do is make cookies.

I don't have the best track record. However, I'm blazing ahead.


So the first cookie on my list is Chocolate Shortbread. Remember the last time I made these? Well, this time I have a new problem. The recipe says to leave the dough in the fridge for an hour.

I made the dough last night and then things got busy and we had to go out! So the dough has been in the fridge over night and now it's so hard I can't do anything with it.

I took it out of the fridge 3 1/2 hours ago and it's still super hard.

I'm tempted to eat it like a giant hamburger.

Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Today I achieved greatness.

My new favourite blog: Joy the Baker. Here is the recipe.

If you have been reading my little blog for a while, you know that I'm not the greatest baker. Remember the cookies that looked like bums? Or the other cookies that ended up with me digging through the garbage? This is not one of those memories.

So, cookies are obviously my arch nemesis but one thing I can do is make a mean loaf of bread. This recipe - so right up my alley.

The stickiness of the dough scared me at first, but after kneading in the little bit of extra flour it was a perfect consistency. It looked like a brain at one point but I was brave and went on with the recipe.

You use one cup of sugar and it totally seems like overkill but it really isn't. And the bread isn't sickly sweet either. I'm not sure where all the sugar ends up....other than on my hips...

The crust is crusty and golden - seriously. I can't take it.

I thought for sure we would polish the whole thing off but we didn't.

There are still a few hours until bed time.

Random

Wow, I've got nothin' lately.

This tells me it's time for a random post!

I have a cell phone. It's the first one I ever owned. Yes, the same one.


Brad is on his second cell phone.....yeah - it's older than mine.

We have a corporate plan at work. I can get an iPhone for free!

**If I sign up for three years. **

I'm not sure what to do. It would be nice to have an iPhone - all those times I've been lost and needed a map. Those times I need a phone number....want to check the ferry schedules. You get it.

If the plan was with Telus, it would be a no-brainer - I'd do it. But it's Rogers.

Financially? It's $50/month more than we pay now for cell phones/land lines if we both get one. I'm leaning towards it.

What do you think?


When we were in Italy I saw a bunch of girls wearing black dresses with brown belts. So cute. I bought a brown belt (and a green one) when we were there and bought this dress a few weeks ago. I wish I had bought five more belts!


I've discovered a new favourite blog. Joy the Baker.

So I find myself in a baking mood. I made this last weekend - Blackberry Peach Shortbread Bars.

We went blackerry picking with a friend last weekend. I have lots of frozen blackberries now. Don't you love how they look then they are frozen?

I'm planning to tackle something from the Joy the Baker blog this weekend. Something bread-y. Don't worry, if I screw up it'll be on here right away.

Italy Part 9 - Food

I know you guys have been waiting for this.....the "food" post!! We didn't skimp on the food. Why would you go to Italy and not EAT? We spent $1,500 Canadian on food - It was worth it.

The very first morning we woke up starving. And grouchy. We left the apartment and weren't exactly communicating well:
"Where do you want to eat?"
"I dunno, where do you want to eat?"
After a couple rounds of this mindless banter, we just went into the first tourist trap restaurant we saw.

I ordered a 'sandwich' with prosciutto and mozzarella. When they served me Wonder Bread made with Oscar Meyer ham and likely processed mozzarella, I looked twice, then looked behind me and said "I'm in ITALY right?" I couldn't believe it.

That was the worst meal I had, it was nice to get it over with!

One night in Rome we decided to take a chance and eat at a restaurant outside of the Pantheon....because well, it's the Pantheon. I can't think of a better backdrop for a great dinner.

I ordered lasagna and had no idea what I was in for. It was like nothing I've ever eaten. There was something in that stuff that was so ridiculously good I could hardly stand it. Bacon fat? Cocaine? Whatever it was, it was amazing.

And how the hell do they get all the cheese to melt except those giant medallions of mozzarella right in the middle?!

When it's 42C, you can't eat. So during the day we would eat breakfast (see previous post) then not eat until8 or 9 at night. It was too hot and there weren't may restaurants open. And anyway, who wants to cook when it's that hot?? If we did end up eating during the day, we would order "cheese salads":

Seriously - right up my alley. Who wouldn't love a giant plate of cheese? And that white bean bruschetta? One of the best things we ate.

Beer was expensive (6 Euros) and the wine was cheap....so cheap. We were paying on average, 4 Euros for a half litre of wine. The only downside was that they don't serve you water when you sit down, you have to buy it. Sometimes 4 Euros for a big bottle. And you needed it, every time. Did I mention the heat?

We had this meal in Bologna on a day I thought I would melt:

One day in Rome we stopped to have a snack and some wine - radicchio with melted gorgonzola cheese - it was delicious. Who knew?!

Dessert was amazing too. This was my favourite dessert - Tiramisu. The way it should be - the cake style. We had this one in Venice.