New Wheels

Well we actually had a BUSY weekend for once. *gasp* I know, I know, try to contain your shock!

On Saturday we drove down to this place about four hours from here and bought a car from this old bachelor chap. We bought a Subaru Outback, a '97 so nothing new or anything. It stinks like dog inside so I told Mr. J. I won't drive it or ride in it until we get the upholstery cleaned which is hopefully happening this weekend. So we are a two-car family for the moment. We will sell old RubySu at some point though....because we still have to pay for this crazy pellet stove.

Sunday we went to church and then out for lunch, then to the walmarts for a grocery shopping trip and because we needed to avoid our house until after 2pm because it was being shown. It was also shown on Saturday morning and it is now so 'clean' and 'clutter-free' it's almost annoying but it means I have almost nothing to 'do' to it which I should appreciate. Mostly, the clutter is hidden in places...and then of course, I can't find anything. Sunday evening we went over to H&C's for a little Rock Band which was great. We also found out that while they're in NC on vacation for the next two weeks, C has a job interview which may mean they'll be moving sooner than we'll be and then we'll have no friends here to hang out with. So....we want him to get the job...but maybe he can start it sometime next year.....

On Monday, it being the holiday, we slept late-ish and made Southern Pancakes and eggs for breakfast. The LG LOVES pancakes! Then we got ready and went to the State Park closest to us. I'm kind of annoyed that we never realized what a little gem of a park it is, but it feels like we've never really had time to go anyway. The 'beach' has no sand and walls of black plastic all along it with three entrances; it's to keep the geese off the grass. After our completely HELL-like hike, however, who cares about a funny-looking beach - the water felt SO good on my feet! The hike though? Seriously horrid! It was 3/4 mile up to the South Peak and it was so freaking steep! Steep to the point where we were climbing rocks to get up there. The view was great, mind you, but good grief! I thought I was going to die! Mr. J. was carrying the LG in the carrier and I just had a regular backpack so I don't have half as much to complain about as he does except he hardly complained at all. Anyway, once at the top, Mr. J. didn't want to try going down that trail carrying the LG so we were going to walk between peaks (south and north) and then back down to the parking lot b/c the north peak trail was supposed to be less steep. Hah! The only difference was that it had a FEW less rocks. There was one part where we had to break off the trail and follow these pink tags on the trees because there was a huge ground-hornet nest in the middle of the trail. Anyway, we made it and the views were good and Mr. J. told me he was very proud of me and all that. It was our first 'real' hike in two years (sad, but true) so of course we picked the worst trail possible and whoever made those trails had no concept of making switchbacks so the trail would be easier and less steep. We rewarded ourselves with our foot-dip in the lake and later with ice cream (cause you know we had to replace all those calories we had just burned. ) Har!

So here are some pictures from our trip down to get our 'new' car, RubyTwo, and a couple from our hike. I'll have to add more later when the pics from Mr. J.'s camera get uploaded.

RubyTwo! And there's no doubt this time - she's RED.

The Little Goat with Dad at the Ocean.

The Ocean, as seen from the Coast of Maine.

The ever-elusive SmokeButt Fish hiding out in a tide pool.

Lunch!

Yes, that is the trail we 'walked' up.

But the view from the top was great!

Taking a break by the lake after our hike.

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 8*

*AKA: The End.

When I was pregnant with the Little Goat, I craved all things Lemon. It really didn't matter what form it took - main ingredient or seasoning - I wanted LEMON! Well the pregnancy is obviously long over but my love for lemons has only increased. Seriously; the only thing better than lemony things (and it's not better by much) is chocolate. So it seemed only natural when I saw this recipe that I NEEDED to eat it. It also seems like a fitting culmination of my participation in the Whip it Up Challenge. So, for my Week 8 (and final) submission, I present Lemon Pudding Souffle.

I felt a little rushed in my preparation of this dessert and had homemade soup and cheesy biscuits on the go for dinner at the same time which meant I was suffering from a severe shortage of counter space. We have limited counter space in our kitchen to begin with and usually, when I'm trying a new recipe (or really, cooking anything) I like to start in a clean kitchen. (Mr. J.'s Mom can attest to my compulsive dish-washing while cake & filling-making at their house a couple weeks ago.)

I also felt a little like Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina and the look of fear on her face when she was preparing her souffle in culinary school, but it turns out I had nothing to fear. The recipe was relatively easy although probably because I felt rushed I also felt it was a little picky. I could just as easily make a lemon pudding cake I suppose, but I've made those before so this was something new.

Here's the Q&A:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Relatively. I'm glad I read it through a couple times before I started, but I still goofed it up. I used four egg whites instead of the three the recipe said to use but in the end I don't think it really made a difference.

...Did it taste good? It was surprisingly good. I used all the rind from both lemons (1/4 cup of lemon juice is roughly two good-sized lemons, just in case you need to know). I was hoping to further enhance the lemon flavour and I think it was a success.

Would we make it again? Mr. J. said he'd eat it again and I think I could be convinced to make it again if we had more time. We ate it warm although it says you can serve it chilled. We don't own a 'proper' souffle dish so we just used a regular baking dish and we think it turned out fine. It didn't fall nearly as much as we thought it would either and the texture of the 'cake' was quite light. We only had two complaints. The first being that the sauce didn't really thicken up as much as we would've liked and the second being that I wish the sauce wasn't so.....creamy. Back in Canada (and I'm sure you could find it in America if you looked hard enough) we have this lemon pudding/pie filling mix called Shirriff, which now goes under the name Dr. Oetker.** It's amazing and non-dairy. It looks more clear and is just really zingy. It seems to me that milk sort of mellows the lemon taste a bit. So, if we did make it again, maybe we'd try it with water or half water/half milk and see what happens. Definitely an elegant-looking dessert for a dinner party if you're so inclined. It would look really nice in individual souffle dishes with icing sugar sprinkled on top. Mmmmm.... Oh yes, here's the picture of the souffle straight out of the oven. Please pardon the poor lighting.

**Woot! Woot! I just checked and the Dr. Oetker website says it's "now available in the USA!" I should add that this is the ONLY filling I EVER use for making lemon meringue pie and I've had several people tell me it's the best lemon pie they've ever had (hah! Little do they know it's a MIX!). So if you can find it, try it! Okay? Okay!

The Trip Pics

For a limited time only:

See cake pictures here.

See fancy pictures here.

See regular trip pictures here.

And then forget all the names you just read, okay? Thanks. :)

The End of Summer

It's only the 26th of August, but we decided last night that it's official: Summer. Is. Over. Our major summer excursion now being past, we wait with bated breath for a lawn strewn with crispy leaves and a golden harvest moon. We did however, thoroughly enjoy our vacation, spending a lot (but never quite enough, it seems) time with old friends and family we hadn't seen in almost two years.

The trip out to Washington started far too slowly. We drove down to Airport City the night before our flight left which proved to be a stroke of genius because it left us lots of time to do a little shopping, pick up a few things I still needed for cake decorating, and plenty of time in the morning to get to the airport. Except when we got to the airport, early of course like good little passengers, we realized we hadn't though about lunch and then had to spend money on airport food to tide us over until we boarded. Then we boarded and were just settled in our seats when the pilot came over the intercom to tell us that there was bad weather and too many planes in the air over Newark (NJ) so our departure time was being pushed back. After all was said and done, it ended up being pushed back by FOUR hours AND we had to spend money on airport food a second time (although it was tasty, but still!). If that doesn't make for a flight full of cranky passengers, I don't know what does. A lot of people missed (some by just minutes) connecting flights, including us. When we got off the plane, we talked to the first ticketing agent we saw who got us stand-by boarding passes for the next flight to Seattle, stand-by bp's for a flight early the next morning and guaranteed tickets for the same flight the next night. I don't know how many of you have been to the airport in Newark but we arrived in one terminal and had to take a bus over to another terminal for our departure and I always hate that sort of setup because when minutes count, waiting for a bus is a little nerve-wracking. We finally got to the other terminal and they were just calling for stand-by passengers. We got in line and the cranky lady took our passes and focused intently on her computer screen before handing us back a bunch of papers. We weren't sure what was going on until she basically yelled at us and wanted to know why we were still standing there. We were confused but figured out we had gotten on the flight. Joy ensued until we realized that for a six-hour flight with a one-year-old, they had seated us half a plane apart. Ack! Thankfully, the other guy at the counter took pity on us and rearranged things. A flight attendant further rearranged things so we ended up with a row of seats to ourselves. That was awesome because the Little Goat ended up sleeping on the seat between us for most of the ride; she did great! It probably helped that it was already nighttime and her regular bedtime anyway.

Our flight back was not quite as peachy because we didn't have that extra seat and the LG was rather cranky. Then we boarded our connecting flight in NJ and the pilot told us we were 25th in line for take-off so we ended up taking off an hour late. If the flight had been on-time, the LG probably would've been fine. As it was, she was NOT happy and wailed for a good part of the hour and ten minutes. We did learn something with all this flying though: next time, we will either book a day of travel with multiple flights or take a longer flight but book the LG her own seat. I know it costs more, but it just made the trip so much more bearable to have that extra seat.

Anyway, the Saturday morning after we got there, my cousin Tryva and another cousin M came down to Seattle and we met at the Market for lunch. We went to my favourite little place at the market, "Peroshky, Peroshky" and I had a very tasty mushroom-onion peroshky and Mr. J. and I shared a rhubarb peroshky too. Oh......YUM! We had a very short but very fun visit and discovered a coffee shop we hadn't been too before (that was NOT Starbucks - hooray!) where the perfect latte includes latte art in a to-go cup. That is dedication, people. The rest of Saturday was a quick trip to see Mr. J.'s Nana and then back over to the East Side.

Thankfully, the weather on Sunday for our first day back in B, was completely tolerable and not nearly as hot as we were expecting (don't worry, that all changed very quickly). Church on Sunday was good and it was so great to see everybody again. Plus it just so happened that our friend Forrest cut the sermon a little short so people would have a chance to visit with us.

The rest of that week primarily involved doing all things wedding and cake-related, but squeezing in as many visits as possible. Monday, Michelle helped me make all the fillings and icing for her cake. Monday evening was her bridal shower which turned out quite nicely, I think. Tuesday I went over to my very dear friend Christine's first thing. We had lunch and talked and watched our kids and it was just like old times. That night, the couple we were staying with (Forrest & Carole who are like parents to me) hosted a dessert night for all our church friends. We didn't get to visit with everybody nearly long enough, but it was relaxing and fun and just.....good.

Wednesday was cake-baking day. It took all of the morning and most of the afternoon, but I only had one flop and we had a proper cake-tasting with lunch.

The Groom finally arrived on Thursday so we took a trip up to the wedding site so Jim could see where he was going to get married in two days. M&J picked out a spot for the ceremony, Mr. J. and I scoped out locations for pictures, the Mother-of-the-Bride talked details with the site owners, and the LG was hot because yes, by that time, it was hot. Almost 100F hot.

Friday was cake decorating day and let me just say: it took about as long as I thought it would but I forgot how stinking boring it gets after a while. I just wanted it to be over! Thankfully, Grandma Carole watched the LG the whole time so I had minimal interruptions. Hooray! We also had the 'rehearsal' dinner on Friday night although there really was no rehearsal, just dinner. The big deal at dinner was GIGANTIC crab legs that Mark, the Best Man had arranged and that I think had just flown in from Alaska the night before (and the word on the street is that Mark has totally met Sig from Deadliest Catch! So cool!). I hate crustaceans so the legs stayed far away from me, but I hear it was fabulous. It was a fun dinner but down to business! When we left the Bride & Groom were still working on vows. Yikes!

Saturday was FREAKING HOT. It was at least 104F according to an average of several temperatures. Pictures started a little late so we had to finish the family group photos after the ceremony, but the ceremony started exactly on time (at least according to my watch which is the only time-piece I have control over that is NOT fast). The ceremony was super short but it was so hot I don't think anybody minded. Family pictures were okay except the sun was really in the wrong spot so a lot of people are squinting, but at least the pictures got taken. After the pictures were done, I took the LG back into town to stay with some friends for the evening. She was so miserable from the heat and having missed her afternoon nap, but as soon as we got in the car to go to Dean & Kristi's, she perked right up and was happy and jabbering most of the way there. (Thanks again for babysitting, you guys! It was so nice to not have to worry a bit about her during the reception.)

The reception was relaxed and it seemed like everybody had a good time and the food was great. The cake stayed in the air conditioned house on-site until about five minutes before the cake-cutting so my worry about the icing melting off and the flowers wilting was completely assuaged. The cake cutting was a funny affair and I heard lots of good comments about the cake (how it looked AND how it tasted). Grandma declared it was the best wedding cake she'd ever had.

The four days after the wedding were crammed full of visiting with more people, trying to go to the beach (it was actually too cold to swim - boo!), going to the drive-in in Chelan, home of THE BEST hot fudge milkshake you will ever consume in your lifetime, lunch with Grandma and Grandpa J (I ate green beans!), a trip to E-Z's for the second best milkshake you'll ever consume, a trip to the petting farm that turned out to be closed but we fed a goat anyway, and a highlight for me - going out for coffee one evening with Christine with NO CHILDREN! *gasp* Christine's baby shower was on Wednesday, sadly sans bebe since that baby has evidently inherited his/her mother's stubbornness and refuses to come out! Sheesh!

We drove back over to Seattle on Thursday night and stayed at Jim & Michelle's (they were on their honeymoon in Kauai). We got to play Wii and I beat Mr. J. at baseball, of all things. Friday we boarded our flight and were on our way back here.

Two weeks was too short for that trip, but at least they were a full two weeks and even though we were all sick the first week, we managed to cope fairly well with the time difference and see almost everybody we wanted to with a few exceptions. Next time though. Oh, oh - and we even got a slight suntan! Will wonders ever cease? I kept attributing my tiredness and illness to the fact that our bodies were absorbing more Vitamin D in a week than they have for the last two years.

Now we are back here (not "Home," just "here") and as I mentioned, it's cold. It's only about 67F here today and the guy on the radio just told me to break out my long johns because it's supposed to get down to 40F tonight (32F is freezing, my Canadian friends so that should give you some idea....). *sigh* 40F.

I have lots of pictures to post, but I'll get to that later. I am so ridiculously far behind in blog reading. At last check, there were over 100 unreads on my Google Reader list - slow down, people! Please!

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 7*

*Also known as: Barely Getting in Under the Wire

We only got back to the hotel after midnight last night and tried to get up at 8:30 which since we are now adjusted to Pacific Standard Time, is (way too freaking early) 5:30am. Ugh. So I'm sitting here this morning barely awake, the Little Goat is crawling over one of the beds eating (dumping) cheerios and making a rather crumbly mess with a piece of bread, but at least I can sit here and type in peace and down my Special K with milk (*shudder*) without any little hands searching for a taste test.

I actually did two new recipes last week and I'm using one of them for this week per my understanding of the rules which allow me one sort of freebie. Who has had time to cook this week? We've been so busy hopping from one spot to another, meals have been all over the place. It will actually feel nice to get back into some routine this next week.

Anyway, you'll recall that last week I was madly working on a wedding cake for Mr. J.'s sister, Michelle and her new husband Jiminy (okay, Jim, but Jiminy is more fun to say) and I shared a link to a recipe for pastry cream which turned out quite tasty indeed. That was the filling I used in the extra top tier of the cake I made for them to freeze for their first anniversary. The real cake had lime curd as filling in the top two tiers and black raspberry jam in the bottom and my submission for the Whip it Up Challenge, Week Six slathered all over the outside of the cake. Here's the link for an amazingly tasty butter cream icing (or "frosting" if you happen to be American).

The Q & A:

Was the recipe easy to follow? For sure. If you ever try to make it and you're wondering where to get clear vanilla, check at any store that carries Wilton products - the walmarts or a craft store-type place. You don't have to use clear vanilla, but it will make the icing an even more off-white colour if you use regular.*

...Did it taste good? It really was good, better than I expected in fact and the Bride wanted to eat it by the spoonful.

Would we make it again? Heaven forbid I ever make another wedding cake. I just get too bored and it's just too time-consuming, particularly when we're on vacation and visits and coffee runs with old friends beckon. IF (and I really do mean IF) I ever make another wedding cake, or just a fancy cake for that matter, this will be my go-to recipe for icing. It can't get any easier to make or eat or decorate with and here's the picture.

I have other pictures that show more of the cake in progress, but it's still early and we have 20 minutes to vacate the room. See ya!

*Just in case you're wondering: I could have made a pure-white icing, but that would mean using only vegetable shortening and no butter. Using real butter gives it a proper butter taste; butter flavouring just doesn't have the same subtlety as real butter. Generally, I think making this icing in winter would produce a lighter colour as butter is usually less 'yellow' during the months when dairy cows are eating less fresh grass. Did you know that? There you go. Some companies even add small amounts of food colouring to butter to make it a more 'buttery' colour. Mr. J.'s Dad remembers margarine coming with a little capsule of colouring to stir into the tub to make the margarine 'look' right.

Weddings

So yes, we're super busy and also super-sick but not too busy for an important post.

Tomorrow is a big day for my cousin Marley and also Mr. J.'s sister, Michelle.

So congratulations to Marley & Jared and congratulations to Jim & Michelle - may you both enjoy your day and make lots of happy memories!

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 6

Well here we are in the raging inferno that is Washington State. Presently, it's 100+ degrees (F) and certainly not ideal for icing a wedding cake. Granted the bigger concern is keeping it from melting tomorrow evening before it even gets cut.

So today I finished icing all three cake layers and stacking them. All that's left tomorrow is adding the ribbon and the orchids on top. I'll try to post pictures next week though I may have to wait until we get home since the computer doesn't seem to want to read the card at the moment.

Moving along, my recipe for the Whip it Up Challenge, Week 6 is this pastry cream. I mixed it up on Monday along with the lime curd filling. Instead of just vanilla, I added in some almond flavouring and it turned out really well.

The Q & A:

Was the recipe easy to follow? Relatively. For a bit there, I wasn't sure it was going to thicken up, but it's just the right consistency and tastes great. Also, it's not nearly as white as the picture shows.

...Did it taste good? Oh yes! Super-rich and just right for cake filling.

Would we make it again? Well I won't be making any wedding cake in the near future (IF EVER AGAIN) so I wouldn't make it again for that, but it would sure taste good squished inside a chocolate cupcake (or vanilla or cherry or pumpkin) or snuggled up next to some dark chocolate in a lovely piece of puff pastry. That said, Erin K., if we get home for Christmas this year, we're going to bake! Something involving pastry and chocolate and cream....Mmmmmm.

Sorry I don't have a picture to post today. I did take one but my head is pounding and by the way, we're all sick, so you'll just have to wait. Thanks for checking out the recipe.

Thursday

So we're in the throes of packing and almost being packed and not quite yet fully packed. The Little Goat is being relatively pleasant this morning which is good because we're holding off on her nap until we get in the car to leave in about an hour.

We're heading back to Washington for Mr. J.'s sister's wedding as some of you may recall from an earlier post and we're heading down to Airport City tonight. We fly out just after noon tomorrow and we get in to Seattle just after 9 PST.

We're bringing our computer - because you know that I and this computer are attached by a semi-permanent USB cable - so I will hopefully get a chance to post a couple times while we're away. I probably won't be visiting blogs as much though so I'm sorry in advance. I'll try to catch up when we get home.

In the meantime, go over and visit Erin at Whitekirk and read about our failed Olympic dream.
(Oh, and please ignore that high school photo. *shudder* We look like we're 12!)

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 5

This week is a busy one for us. Mr. J. was on call all weekend and was gone for three hours in the middle of last night; he's working a double tomorrow. Wednesday night we'll be furiously packing only to give up, play Zuma (this is your fair warning: it's addictive!) for an hour, go to bed late, and resume frantically packing on Thursday morning. Thursday we're driving down to Airport City to catch our flight to Seattle via Newark. In retrospect, we should've booked a series of shorter flights instead of one two-hour and one six-hour flight but there's nothing to be done about it now. When we booked the flights, back in...March, I think, we weren't thinking about a squirming crawler/almost-walker who doesn't like to sit still for too long anymore. We were still gazing warmly at our not-yet-crawling Little Goat, playing quietly (for the most part) in one spot (for the most part) on the floor. Hm.

So given all this busyness, I decided to make some sort of desserty type thing we could take on our trip with us. Portable Airport/Airplane 'Supplements'. The recipe is a combination of a kind of blondie recipe topped with copious amounts of Reese's products. A few things about the Reese's: We bought this GIGANTIC bag of Reese's treats for Halloween oh, TWO years ago. We ended up not giving out candy in 2006 because we weren't in our own place yet. Then in 2007 we had all of - wait for it - FIVE (or maybe 6, tops) trick-or-treaters. Tres disappointing. In order to prevent our gourging ourselves on Reece's peanut butter cups, I forced Mr. J. to store them in a grocery bag in the back of his car. That's where they road around for more than a year. We finally brought them inside a few weeks ago and jammed them in the fridge because it was getting too hot to shuttle them around in ol' RubySu (not that we thought of that LAST summer or anything). We decided it was time, we had to use them up. So let me tell you something about two-year old Reece's PB cups - they're lower in fat! It's true!* All the greasy shortening seems to have leaked out and soaked into that piece of cardboard inside the package. Hah!

Therefore, today, I present to you, for the Whip it Up Challenge, Week 5:
Not Really But Sort-of Lower-Fat PB Cup Blondie-ish Squares**
(Sorry, but Blogger isn't letting me upload the picture at the moment.)

Cream together:
1/2 cup butter
scant 1/2 cup sugar
scant 1 cup brown sugar
Add:
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Mix in:
1 3/4 cups white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour (or just use white)
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
8 Reese's PB Cups (or however many you have leftover from Halloween 2006)

Spread batter in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (or until almost done); top with chopped up Reese's PB Cups and bake for 5-7 minutes longer.

The Q & A:

Was the recipe easy to follow? Yeah, it was. I substituted 1/2 cup of the flours with oatmeal and we added the two leftover snack-packs of Reece's Pieces.

...Did it taste good? Not bad. I think the recipe could be improved by a) not baking it quite as long as I did (I adjusted the time in the recipe above) and b) not messing with the flours and adding oatmeal.

Would we make it again? Maybe, maybe not. I love blondies and the PB cups rocked, but I really need to find a better blondie recipe (I'm open to suggestions here, people. Lest I disappoint you too with this rather dud-ish recipe, read on!

This past weekend I tried another new recipe, though not specifically for the Challenge because I already posted about our fabulous pork last week. I tried Yogurt-Marmalade Cake: To DIE For as posted by Pioneer Woman. I don't know that I would go quite so far as to die for it, but it IS like lemony heaven in my mouth and if you don't make it soon, well, then, shame on you for depriving your tastebuds of such excellent lemony goodness!

Make sure to stop by next week because it'll be an extra-special WIU Challenge week for me. Mr. J.'s sister is getting married on the 16th and I'm in charge of the wedding cake. I've made a wedding cake only once before (see here) so that's not the new recipe. The new recipe will be the pastry cream that's going in the top layer of the cake. If it turns out well, it'll be perfect for adding to all kinds of things....like, um, PASTRY. See you then!

* Okay, not really at all, but a girl can dream, right? RIGHT?!
** Yes, that's right, I called them "squares" and you can be darn thankful I didn't go all out and call them "dainties" because I sure could've. Dangit, I'm Canadian and I don't know a single Canadian who actually calls them "bars." "Bars" are where you go to drink or what you're always supposed to set so high, or things you pass to become a filthy-rich lawyer. "Squares," among other things, are sweet little squares of sugary delectability. So there!

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Maureen (of no fixed bloggy address), the proud (at least I hope so) new owner of her very own snowcone machine!

It was a hard battle folks. I had to disqualify several entries because either a) the entrant didn't answer the question or b) the entrant left no way for me to contact them.

Thanks to everybody that entered. I wish I could afford enough snowcone makers for all of you...but, alas, and *sigh*..... What I really wish I could afford is to send you all to the chiropractor because gee whiz! You guys have messed up joints! Out of joint fingers, toes, elbows, knees, and other bizarre bendy abilities ten times weirder than my own.

Hope you all can find a way to continue to keep cool this summer.
Have a great weekend!

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 4

We've tried three new recipes this week - one of our own invention, one that we haven't actually tasted yet (it's a salad that's chilling overnight in the fridge) and the one I'll post here today, the Absolute Best Pork Loin Chops We've Ever Eaten.( Or some sort of pork cut with no bone.) Boo for me, I don't even have a picture to show you because I didn't decide I was going to post this recipe until all the meat was down the hatch. (And also, yes, I realize the theme for this week is vegetarian. Sorry about that. The original recipe I was going to post was in fact, quite vegetarian, but this one was too good not to share this week - and the rules do say the theme is but a guideline/suggestion!)

Essentially we were trying one new 'recipe' and one new 'technique.' The new technique was brining. Here's what Allrecipes.com says about Brining. We made one mistake in that we didn't rinse the meat, but it didn't occur to either of us to do that anyway.

We used three pork loin chops that were about 3 inches wide and 6 inches long. I microwaved two teaspoons of salt with 3/4 cup water until the salt was dissolved. I poured that over the pork (which was sitting in a pie plate) and then covered it with cold water and plastic wrap and let it refrigerate for about four hours. We read somewhere that you can refrigerate it for three hours or overnight.

Once we were ready to cook the pork, we put it on a plate and used a spice rub on it. We are huge fans of spice rubs because they add flavour without all the extra calories and preservatives of store-bought sauce.

Our favourite and most-used spice rub recipes come from the July/August 2004 issue of Everyday Food (if you can swing the subscription price, it's quite a nifty little mag that usually contains some very excellent recipes). We've used the Chile Rub (which I couldn't find a link for) and the Curry Rub which you can find here.*/** Anyway, there are two rub recipes we hadn't tried yet and one was recommended for pork so we gave it a go.

Behold, the recipe for Whip it Up Challenge, Week Four:

Spicy Paprika Rub (as found in Everyday Food, July/August 2004, p. 52)
(Makes 9 teaspoons - but we mixed up a 1/2 recipe and still had some leftover)

Ingredients:
4 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. Store in an airtight container (an empty spice jar works great!)

Now, The Q & A:

Was the recipe easy to follow? Um, yeah. Look at it! The brining needs a little tweaking and we need to remember to rinse the meat next time. It was a bit salty, but...

...Did it taste good? Oh my goodness - yes! It was amazing. Kind of a sweet/spicy taste with a hint of something....foreign, and the meat was perfectly tender.

Would we make it again? A resounding yes! I went through a phase in life where I refused to eat any pork except ham and the tastiest meat in the world, Pioneer Farmers Sausage. (You may have heard of other farmers sausages, but unless it's Pioneer, you're wasting your time and I mean that from the bottom of my gullet.) I only recently started eating pork again because we came across a) some cheap meat and b) some tasty recipes for preparing it. Using a rub made this a relatively 'light' meat and making it on the barbecue meant it was really easy to prepare. Again, the only thing we would do differently is rinse the meat before we use the rub - oh and we might try letting it sit in the brine for even longer. So go! Eat! Enjoy!

* The Curry Rub is amazing on barbecued chicken; chop up leftovers and mix with Miracle Whip (we use MW light), chopped celery, and a smidgen of S&P for one super chicken salad!

** I always get so distracted when I visit the MS website but this time in a very good way. I think I found a recipe which may be the culmination of the WIU Challenge for us this summer. Check this out!

"You Should Go Join a Circus!" (Bloggy Giveaway Post)

This Bloggy Giveaway is now closed.
Thanks for stopping by,
I'll be announcing the winner shortly!

That there is verbatim what Mr. J. said to me last night after I showed him this:

Yes, I can walk like that too.

You may not realize this, but I have lived all 29 years of my life thinking that EVERYBODY could do that with their toes? My response to him was "Hey, at least you'll still be walking on your own feet when you're 70 instead of needing to be pushed in a wheel chair because your feet are so crippled from rheumatoid arthritis!"

I am rather double-jointed, it's true. I'm no contortionist, but I can do a couple of neat party tricks, I guess.

I can also do this:



and this (which I think is less unusual):

Anyway, you know it's time for the summer edition of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and my fingers are ready for typing copious amounts of entries. Last time, I won two giveaways and let's face it, to quell the tedium of hot summer days, there are few things more exciting than winning a contest! So in honour of it being summer and it being - for most of us - hot outside, I present you with The Prize:

And I say: Nevermind snowcones - break out the margarita glasses, my friends!

Now you know there's no way I'm going to just give away a prize without making you work for it. After all, the most satisfying rewards are the ones you have to work for - or something like that, so, if you'd like to enter for a chance to win this drool-inducing machine, tell me something unique or unusual about yourself. Have you got a 'party trick'? If so, what is it?

"Official Rules":
1. This giveaway is open to anybody with a US or Canadian mailing address. You don't have to be a blogger, but you must leave me a way to contact you if you win.

2. The contest closes at noon on Saturday, 2 August. The winner will be notified on Saturday evening and you only have until Tuesday night to get back to me. We are going on holidays at the end of next week and I'd like to have the prize in the mail before we go.

3. Only one entry per person please, UNLESS you are one of my regular readers.*

For more contests, click the picture.


*This means you - Beck, Beth, Brenda, EG, Erin K., Jenn, Jess, Jodie, Kellan, MinnesotaMom, NoMotherEarth and RA. (Just leave three separate comments, okay?)

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 3

This weeks recipe is nearly beyond the epitome of easy but it's been a busy week for some weird reason and - alas - my Great Amazing Meal Plan of the Century failed me. *gasp* I know! It's craziness, isn't it? It turned out that we didn't have all the ingredients we needed for one recipe and it also turned out that on Tuesday, not even a feat as incredible as a month-long meal plan could entice me to the kitchen to prepare something.

You might remember from the last post, that we spent some time exploring the various booths at the Local Festival last weekend. You may also remember that I exclaimed over the (virgin) Lime Rickey we consumed with lunch. We watched the pastor (it was a fundraiser for a local church) mix our drink so we had a pretty good idea what all was in it so we decided to try to replicate it at home. Now, beyond the usual assortment of snobby beer, we don't have any alcohol to speak of in the house at the moment, so our version of the Lime Rickey remains non-alcoholic. According to Drinksmixer.com, the appropriate alcohol to use is Angostura bitters, so if you're inclined then go ahead and add "3 dashes."

Otherwise, here is the recipe for the WIU Challenge, Week 3:
Lime Rickey:
Ingredients:
4 ice cubes or more if you're inclined
juice from 1/2 of one lime
2 ounces simple syrup - more or less to taste*
soda water

Directions: In a large glass, deposit the ice cubes, lime juice and simple syrup. Add enough soda water to fill the glass. Stir with your straw and enjoy. Makes: one.

The Q & A:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Well we made it up, so yeah, it wasn't too bad - just guessing until we got it right.

Did it taste good? It was brilliant! Just perfect for a humid summer day such as last Saturday, or Sunday, or Tuesday, or today. It's kind of like making lemonade, only with soda water which makes me think we should try making lemonade with soda water. Hm.

Would we make it again? I think you'll notice from the answer to the last question that it's already been made several times.

*To make simple syrup, which I'd never made before, measure equal parts water and sugar in a measuring cup and microwave 1-2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.

The Lime Rickey: Sweet, sweet summer satisfaction.

What's Going On Around Here.

As it turns out, something got messed up, numbers-wise, and that picture post wasn't my 200th post. Oh well. So much for that.

Firstly I should mention that ever since that one cry-it-out night last week, bedtime has not been a problem at all. One or two nights the Little Goat was probably just too exhausted to fight sleep. Anyway, that's been great so thanks for all your input/opinions about that. She's still getting up at night, but at least she's okay with going back to sleep. Naptime on the other hand.....

This past week/end was the Local Festival. On Thursday we went and participated in this scavenger hunt sponsored by a local hospital (Mr. J.'s competition). We walked around to all these different booths and picked up information about various things related (sometimes remotely) to healthier living and at the end got to enter our names in a draw for various prizes including a Wii Fit. *sigh* *sigh* *sigh* We did not win. Woe is us and alas, there is no new addition we'll call Wii. We did, however, finally discover the hours for the new community pool which is actually a very nice pool. They offer Red Cross affiliated swimming lessons for all ages but unfortunately, we'll be away for the two weeks they offer the parent/child class which costs a whopping FIVE DOLLARS. Oh well, Mr. J. (the Designated Swimming Lesson Parent) wouldn't have been able to participate anyway because the lessons were right over the lunch hour which is also the LG's naptime, incidentally.

Moving along. On Saturday we were hoping to go strawberry-picking in the morning but it had rained all night and we weren't interested in trying to wrestle the LG out of the mud for two hours, let alone keeping ourselves clean. We did a grocery run to pick up some things for a barbecue later that afternoon, came home and did some prep for said barbecue, then went back downtown to see a few exhibits. Mr. J. met two ladies who were busy spinning their own wool and now he thinks he knows what he wants for Christmas. We stopped for a sausage on a bun and a lime rickey (it was a church fundraiser so no, we weren't wandering the streets of ______ even remotely inebriated). Chris and Holly made it over just in time for the parade at one o'clock.

It was an okay parade except that there was only one pipe band and one marching band and WAY too many politically-inspired floats. Well, hm. Okay. Scratch that. It wasn't really that great of a parade at all but it was everything we've come to expect from a parade around here. You get the good floats that give out food (chips and vitamin water this year) and handily enough the parade route runs right by the end of our street.....but then there are way too many redundant floats. How many Miss ___ or Little Miss ___ or Junior Miss ___ or Little Miss Petite ___ floats do we really need? And for real?What, if any, is the logic behind a contest for little girls younger than 2?! And the political floats? GACK! Make them stop!

Our barbecue dinner on the other hand, was excellent thanks to the mad barbecuing skillz of none other than Mr. J. himself. After we ate, we went back downtown to look at more booths, but most of them were already cleaning up and it looked like we were in for some crazy downpour, so C&H went home and so did we. We spent pretty much all of that evening trying to watch a movie with the radio on in the background because there were either severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings practically every five minutes - most of them were for areas miles away from us, but I was still Freaking. Out. Fortunately, the worst we got was a heavy downpour. Phew!

In unrelated news, I'm considering entering some goodies in the county fair this weekend but I'm just not sure what to enter and how much I should try to do since I just got the premium book and all entries are due on Friday and Mr. J. is working a double on Friday so he will have to escape during his lunch minutes to go drop off our entries. Yes, I said "our" entries though I'm still trying to convince Mr. J. to enter his recently completed scarf in the "Knitting: Scarf" category. And also, at the fair, there will be tigers. From Germany. Last year, they had camels so tigers are a bit of a regression as far as I'm concerned, but still, they're tigers and they're going to leap through flaming hoops! Flaming hoops! If I can, I will post pictures. Also, THANKFULLY, the LG is not old enough for the pig scramble. This year, if you win the scramble, you actually get to KEEP the pig. KEEP. THE. PIG.

This has turned random and updatey and if I had some main point it's forgotten already. These next couple weeks are going to be busy ones for us. The fair and (still) painting (still!) and trying to get packed and ready to go on holidays.....I'm horribly far behind on reading/commenting on blogs, responding to emails, and returning messages on Facebook but I'm trying so stay with me people. Otherwise, have a great week and come back in the next couple days to see the recipe for Week Three of the WIU Challenge.

Our Little Wiseacre

Ahh, my 200th post.*




*Yes it is maybe just a little bit ironic that my 200th blog post would be a picture.

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 2

Well this week we actually ended up trying three new recipes because that's what was on our July Menu, and I'm in the process of prepping for another new one for tomorrow because the local festival is going on this week and the parade and fireworks are tomorrow and we're having company for a chicken barbecue. Yippee! I'll include all three recipes here because I did mention them a few posts ago and I don't want to disappoint anyone who may (or may not) have been waiting for pictures of the results.

Officially, however, I present to you - for the WIU Challenge, Week 3 - Citrus-Pineapple Salsa. Here's the recipe which was adapted from one my Mom found somewhere several years ago:

Ingredients:
1 red grapefruit, peeled & chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 orange, peeled & chopped
8 ounces crushed pineapple with juice
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped
3-4 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
Juice from one lime (or about ¼ cup)

Directions: 1) Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl. Serve immediately or chill first.

Serving Suggestions: Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or over grilled chicken or fish.

The Q & A:
Was the recipe easy to follow? This recipe could NOT have been easier to prepare. I didn't use a whole jalapeno, just the parts from one serano pepper that hadn't yet gone bad.

Did it taste good? It was great! Mr. J. would've liked a LOT more spiciness, but that's just like his Non-Taster self. I found it just about perfect. It was so light and fresh - and hello! - NO FAT and lots of citrusy nutrients. What could be better? We sampled it with Ritz crackers and some multi-grain saltines because we didn't have have tortilla chips, but we officially served it with chunks of barbecued chicken (coated with a spice rub something like this) and rice.

Would we make it again? Yup. In fact the ingredients are on this weeks grocery list. Only this time we'll get some tortilla chips to have with it.


(Sorry for the poor lighting in the pics.)


********************
Now, the other two recipes:
Easy Peasy Orzo Salad: After I cooked all the pasta I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like this salad. There was just so much PASTA! But it turned out pretty well and Mr. J. loved it and said he would definitely eat/make it again. It's better the day after when the flavours have had time to mingle and it makes enough to be a good (and reasonably cheap/easy) potluck contribution.
Ingredients:
Dressing:
1/3 cup Italian dressing
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salad:
2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
½ cup orange or yellow bell pepper, diced
½ cup frozen green peas, thawed
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
¼ cup black olives, chopped (Optional) <-we omitted these, because - ugh - olives! *shudder*
2-3 Tablespoon fresh mint leaves, minced
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Directions:

For dressing: Whisk together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl; set aside. For salad: Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Mix together orzo and all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Cover and chill overnight for best flavour.Here's a newer, better picture. That last picture was just ugly.

The last recipe we tried was Bacon, Cheese & Tomato Crescents which were SO GOOD! Ours didn't look much like the picture and we didn't have any red pepper but we will totally be making these again. They didn't require much effort at all and would be a great appetizer. We did bake them in the oven, but it wasn't too hot out that day. In the interest of keeping most of our summer cooking outdoors we may try them on the barbecue next time.

Dear Universe,

Please conspire to make my child sleep at night. Please.

Thanks.

-Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*********

For real, bloggy friends, God must be trying to teach us just heinous amounts of patience because we haven't had a decent nights sleep in a week and it's a good thing our house is so clean which requires me to actually DO very little around here during the day because my ability to produce anything more constructive than a run-on sentence right now is nil. Nil!

Also, feel free to judge the depths of my exhaustion by that previous, grammatical terror of a paragraph.

We can't even figure out when this started....maybe it's because Mr. J. has been working a lot of doubles lately and hasn't been home at bedtime. Our Little Goat will go down to sleep reasonably well at her regular bedtime which is anywhere from 7:30-8, right after bathtime, but will wake up 2-3 hours later and will NOT go back to sleep. I nurse her, then try to put her down when she seems really sleepy, but she wakes up pretty much right away and just starts screaming. (Clean diaper, not teething....) Argh! So I lay her back down and rub her back and she seems pretty relaxed. As long as I'm rubbing her back or at the very least, standing where she can see me, she's fine, but the second I step out the door - WAHHHHHHHHHHH! WAHHHHHH! MAHHHHHHHHHHH! Etc.

The other night we thought we'd let her cry herself to sleep, but (beware: possible bad parenting moment ahead!) after 25 minutes of crying, we couldn't take it anymore and Mr. J. went in there. I want to do the whole 'cry it out' thing because I don't see what else will work right now, but I don't know if I'm really 'ready' for it. But then, will I ever be? Do I really just need to bite the bullet and get over it?

We're just so tired. Help!

Whip it Up Challenge: Week 1

As I mentioned, uh, I think it was yesterday, summer is the perfect time for trying out recipes that require little to no effort. Not only because we have this hungry little mouth around now - who hasn't quite mastered the art of self-feeding - but also because we have to hurry to eat so we can go back to parking our roasting sticky selves on the couch after bathtime and bedtime. (Less movement, less sweat, as you know.)


It's not unusual for us to try more than one new recipe in a week around here and this week was no different. I made quite a stellar variation of this key lime pie a few nights ago but decided not to submit that as my recipe this week because I never managed to get one 'perfect' piece of pie out of the plate without one of us inhaling it five seconds later.

So for Week One, I submit to you: Pizza Pasta Salad.

Was the recipe easy to follow? Quite, but we made ours with the following 'alterations': We didn't use penne because we didn't have enough, so you'll notice from the pictures that we used fiori; we used one and a half big tomatoes, seeded; we only used three relatively thick slices of some sort of pepperoni or salami that Mr. J. picked out and it was perfectly spicy; and finally, we didn't use the mozzarella crumbles, we used about 1/3 cup of fresh mozzarella cut into cubes.

Did it taste good? Yup. Really good. So good that I'm not sending the rest of the leftovers to work with Mr. J. tomorrow. It didn't taste exactly like pizza, but that's okay. It was a hearty pasta salad, definitely good enough for a meal with a side of fresh veggies.

Would we make it again? It's very, very likely. Yum! Here's a couple pictures because I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

Because We Have to Eat...and Have a Wee Contest

This week is the beginning of the Whip it Up Challenge and if you aren't participating, well, my sympathies to you. It's going to be great and we're excited.


First I will tell you of my major accomplishment for the month of July - and no it's not that I actually finished all my painting. *sigh* We sat down on Sunday, June 29th and made a menu/meal plan. And not just for the week, but for the ENTIRE month of July plus the first two days of August! (There are only two repeat meals.) I have wanted to do that for a long time because it means I don't have to devote useless time in my day to determining what we will be eating for dinner. I can look ahead the day before, see what we're having, thaw the requisite meat or chop the veggies or otherwise prepare ingredients all ahead of time. It is also saving us money because this way we are buying groceries for a very specific purpose and we will use exactly what we buy and will hopefully waste next to nothing. Of course, this major menu feat has become a bit of an obsession now. I might actually spend MORE time thinking about what we're going to eat because we have so many exciting things on the menu and new recipes I can't wait to try.

Now getting back to the WIU challenge. The idea is to try one new recipe each week for the next eight weeks. (We will be away for two weeks in August, but will probably be eating new things while we're away and will probably also have our computer along so I will attempt to post during those weeks too. ) I thought I would give you a sneak preview of the recipes we're planning to try. These aren't set in stone and we tried to choose a variety, but it's summer and summer is for light easy foods that don't require much effort so that's primarily what we will be attempting. In no specific order, the recipe experiments will be:

1. Pizza Pasta Salad.
2. Easy Peasy Orzo Salad. (This is from an old issue of Reader's Digest and I will write out the recipe when I post about it.)
3. Apple Dumplings - maybe
or Key Lime Pie.
4. Southwestern Bean Salad.
5. Cottage Cheese (yes, from scratch).
6. Lemon Pudding Souffle.
7. Bacon, Cheese, & Tomato Crescents.
8. Citrus-Pineapple Salsa.

The only problem is that six of the eight recipes are all on the menu plan in the next three weeks which means we need more recipe ideas. So, give me some suggestions - if I try your recipe (and love it!) your prize will be my gratitude....or maybe something a little more tangible. Okay, for real something a little more tangible because I just made one of what I think the prize can be and it was easy enough to do again. So yes, there will be a PRIZE. And no, this contest will be in no way related to the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival which is a mere three weeks away. THREE WEEKS!

Picnics and Cake

Yesterday was almost fabulous. We were actually on time (I know, I know....we can't figure out what went wrong) for church. The sermon was good, the hymns were nice (except for the patriotic ones - sorry, but I'm all anti-patriotic songs in church; without going into it further, I just find it irritating), and communion was meaningful. We stopped by the Wal*mart on the way home to pick up some pictures and a few other things we needed for a present we're working on (and one we are super-excited about), stopped by K-mart to check out front-facing (!) car seats because we can't seem to decide on one but I am REALLY ready to be able to recline my seat again, and then went to Lowe's to return a couple of boards.

Sidebar: We now have 'everything' needed to create the platform for and install our new pellet stove which will hopefully be the source of some much-needed financial relief this winter, not to mention significant coziness. Mr. J. is going to build the platform and will learn the new skill of laying tile and such and then a friend from work is going to come over and help him install the actual stove and chimney thing. There will be pictures (and probably cuss-words) involved.

After we got home, we made lunch which consisted of some incredible barbecued pizza, some beverage, and an ice cream sandwich for Mr. J. We made one pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil and one with feta and bacon. We have since decided that for the duration of the season, we will no longer be baking pizza indoors. Barbecued pizza is genius! And it takes half the time of oven-baked. Plus, our 'no-fail' dough was even MORE perfect in its grilled form.

Our pizza was the perfect treat for our first backyard picnic of the year - ants be darned! The Little Goat had her walker wagon, some toys and many cheerios to keep her occupied while we ate and lazed around for almost three hours. It was blissful.

The only major hitch in our fabulous day began when the LG missed her afternoon nap since we got home late and she foiled our plot to nap outside on the picnic blanket and then by 5:30 she was falling asleep eating her yogurt and applesauce (not mixed - yuck!). So we gave her a bath and put her to bed just after 6. She ended up waking up at around 9 and didn't go back to sleep until - GACK! - just after 1 AM!!! I laid on the floor blocking the doorway in her room and dozed while she played, in the dark, with her books and shoes and whatever else she could find to amuse herself. Needless to say, I am more than a little tired today. I was going to have a nap while she napped this afternoon, but the Painting Project that Will Not End required attention and then there was lunch to eat and this post to write and blogs to read.....

Today it's hot outside but just cool enough in the house. My water glass has condensation on it because it's that time of year when we actually keep cold water in the fridge (yes, Mom, for REAL) and I'm wearing lovely summery clothes. Also today I am thinking about cake. Mr. J.'s sister is getting married in exactly six Saturdays and my cake-baking expertise (har!) has been called into service. I've only made one other wedding cake and that was....I think three years ago for Mr. J.'s cousin. It tasted really good, and didn't look too bad. It made the bride yell at me and cry, but that is another story......and everyone said it tasted great.

This is the cake I made. I deliberately chose a picture that was NOT a close-up because I'm still unhappy with how rough the icing looked. I didn't make the sheet cakes. They were extras in case there wasn't enough (which there was - oh my goodness!) and came from Costco.

This time around, the cake will be better. I have a friend who has much more experience making wedding cakes than I and she has filled me in on the best kind of cake (from a mix - phew!) to make and some decorating techniques. I've also discovered a new icing recipe that I think will be perfect and some ideas for decorating tools that are making me really excited about this project.

When we got married, we made our own wedding cake. It was just two layered sheet cakes laid side by side and the icing did NOT go according to plan. The icing, in actual fact, when so awry - three of my best friends who were there will tell you - that it drove me to drink. Truly. Trish, my Flower Shop Manager friend who also did all the other wedding flowers, came to the rescue by decorating the top of the cake with leftover flowers. It was festooned with gerbs, white daisies, tulips, freesia and some greenery and it looked amazing. We loved it!

As for this upcoming cake, I don't know nearly enough of the details yet, but the cake will be round (I think) and have ribbon (I think) and two orchids on it. The cake itself will be white and will very likely have raspberry filling. In my head, it looks amazing. Tell me about your wedding cake - or your dream wedding cake if yours also drove you to drink.

Gramas Makin' Babies

It's Saturday morning and while we were standing around feeding the Little Goat and making some tasty yogurty pancakes, we heard about this on the news.

Which also brought to mind this and this.

We think it's disgusting and irresponsible. What do you guys think?