Happy Friday!

Random fact: I am not one of those people who thinks of cilantro as a garnish

Happy Birthday Dearest!

We celebrated Ron's Birthday at our house with a few friends...just food and good conversation!

We had some tasty pizzas (chicken/taco bbq and proscuito/feta), stuffed b.l.t. tomatoes, strawberry walnut salad, homemade limeaide and angel food cake ....there were fantastic cards to read and gifts to open, a little cutie to make us all smile, candelight for our lightless-living-room, beachy tunes, crayons and paper tablecloth to sketch on... and my very own amazing  young chap, in a sparkly green birthday crown (with no evidence of that to be found!).

It was so much fun to entertain (for once!) and try some new recipes, and everything worked out well! I love our friends, you all made it a great evening in and a perfect way to celebrate a birthday!

Ron, you make me so happy and you deserve soooo much happiness. I hope this year is your favorite one yet!

My Morning

Today I got up at 1030 and took my bike to "Banana Grove", the little grocery store a few blocks from here that used to smell really strange but they seem to have remedied that!

This is how my bike basket looked when I got home. I went over a bump and the strawberries flew out! I need some more practice at this! But it was only half an hour from the time I left my house to the time I got back with a bunch of food! I've gotten better at buying fresh stuff that I have to use up instead of stocking up once every couple weeks and half of it going to waste.

By the way, here is my bike (minus his basket)!

So I made a big asparagus, mushroom and tomato omelette  scrambled eggs for brunch and it was yummy!

Now, I think today's goal is to see if I still know how to sew before work. It's raining now so it will be a good day for it!

Fantastic Salsa

(because it just doesn't feel like a blog post without a decent picture)

This is an amazing amazing recipe that you can just throw into your blender and be eating fresh, healthy salsa 10 minutes later !!!

1/2 small red onion
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove (or as much as you want!)
2 tablespoons of canned pickled jalapeno chile, drained (in Mexican food section at the store)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatos, drained

And that's it! So good with some plain ol' Dorito chips. :D Enjoy!

Have a happy weekend!

My Christmas Day

My Christmas pictures - finally! There are way more but they're mostly of Massey or more of the same thing you see here.

It was such a bright sunny morning and the living room was so bright; not like last year, or most Christmas mornings for that matter! Beautiful though!





Oh, the anticipation!

Massey being very efficient at handing out all the presents and stockings!

Ron openning his stocking ...

My picnic bag from Ron - so amazing! Can't wait to use it.

On the phone with his sister - or brother? :D

After the presents were openned the boys resided right here all day, with their new lego table making their new lego town!

Massey was quite satisfied with this light-up toy which was the first present he openned! Whenever I got my camera out he'd hold it up to my lens!

This is where my boy resided all afternoon. I don't know how he slept; everyone was all noisy and busy right next to him.

See, when the light-up thingy is right on my camera, it looks like this!

What a cutie! Its hard to catch him smiling!

See!? He and his uncle are the two serious boys here...

And here's all my loot (besides my bike, which I never did get a picture of but I will soon!)

My stocking was beyond full and it was a super surprise!

So that was my Christmas Day! It did not include any turkey. It did, however, include a selection of beef, chicken, and fish tacos with an assortment (beyond all assortments) of toppings. This is a Christmas tradition I could get used to! (it's not a tradition for them either...yet...just a random idea for this year!) I took pictures of the spread but they've suddenly dissapeared, so you will just have to believe me.

French Macaroons

I keep seeing these and wondering what they taste like. They're so pretty and they look so light and fluffy! So when I came across a recipe for them in the "America's Test Kitchen" cookbook (get one - I have a 2008 one that is like magazine thickness and not one recipe has been un-amazing!) I thought I'd give it a try. So... they're really hard to make. I mean, totally doable but it's nothing like whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

And I ended up with these which,
a) are soooooo sweet that 1 is too much;
b) make you feel sick after you eat 1;
c) I should have made smaller (they're 2" wide about)
d) I needed a food processor for making the almond flour / sugar mixture more fine-ground but all I had was a handheld blender type deal - it worked but it wasn't thorough enough because they're pretty bumpy looking. Didn't effect the taste any though;
e) and I don't know what to do with them now!



I might try this again when I've got a food processor and when I have a lot of people to feed them to. The flavour is amazing I must add because of the almond flour, and they have a nice chewy consistency - not what I expected from pictures at all! But, then again, I have nothing to compare them to and I don't know what the real thing is like at all. Anybody know?

predicting the...uh...past

Last night I talked to my boyfriend when I got home from work. It was about twenty to six. He'd just woken up from a long and luxurious nap, much to my, uh, envy... and I was trying to decide if I was going to unpack or eat. Anyways, the point of the story is that he was hungry and we hung up after deciding he was going to get some food in his belly. I went and started making muffins. Then he calls back and tells me he wants to come over and eat my food (its a 45 min drive and he had offered me to come over and I decided against it because I wanted to get to bed super early)... so I said okay, I'll have to go buy some food - the cupboards are bare. He'll be here in an hour and a bit. So I'm gettin' goin' and then he calls back again... "can I have tomato soup and grilled cheese?" - sounded good to me after a commute home in the cold and rain! This is also the meal he asks for on his birthday and nobody seems to believe that it is one of his favorite meals. But anyways, it was all lovely having dinner together at my house - that has not happened... ever??? Anyways, normally I go to his place but it was a nice change. He brought Heroes season 2 (we watched season 1 together a while ago and really liked it!) and we watched a couple of episodes together, then watched some youtube videos and then, needless to say, I didn't get to go to bed until 11:30. I could have conked out at 6! But HERE is the whole point to the story. This morning I opened up my Capricorn 'personal guide to the future' booklet (available for $1 at grocery stores all over the place!) and I realised I had not read yesterday's. It says:

" Tuesday August 26: When the moon is in Cancer you are especially tender toward your spouse or mate. Doing kind things such as taking over some of the chores, cooking their favorite meal or just being a shoulder to lean on are all things that promote emotional intimacy and show your love."

Interesting or what?! So today's says:

"Tonight's Mercury-Pluto square could bring a message, phone call or e-mail from an old friend or family member who lives at a great distance. This is a person who has been out of your life for quite a long time. If you are unsure of how to feel about an impending reunion, let your heart lead you."

But it seems that it never happens unless I don't read it before-hand. I'll have to get in the habit of checking it the day after.

Item B on the agenda: people's crazy names in this city! I get a call for my boss from a guy named Ominut or something, so I told him who was calling and he's all "who?" and I said "Ominut... I don't know how it's spelled exactly..." hesitantly... and he replies "you gotta get the name!" So I asked the guy on hold if he'd like to leave a message instead and got the right spelling. It's Amanat. Sounds the same! But honestly it took me a while to figure out who was who in the office and to recognize who the person on the phone was asking for each time... its like Havarti? Madia? Fee? Showheeg? Nenad? Havier? I wrote the pronunciations right, not the spelling :P but no, it was tough... I'm okay now, but figuring out who's calling is another issue. I think you would be pushing it if you said half of the people living in Vancouver don't have an accent. It might be less.
But there we go, that annoyance is out of my system now!