Enticing Food

Doesn't food look so much better in slow motion??? 

This was just my Friday night popcorn.... 

now it's sexxxxxyyy popcorn! Ha! 

Coconut Confusion

One day when I was 6 years old, my family went to visit my aunt. The boys were all running around outside, but I was happily drawing and writing away (probably pretending I was a teacher) on a chalkboard.

My aunt called us into the kitchen and as a special treat she gave us all some fresh coconut. Oh it was so delicious, coconut is one of my favourite flavours. We all resumed whatever we were doing, so there I was, a fresh chunk of white coconut in one hand and a piece of white chalk in the other drawing and

writing away at the chalkboard. Suddenly I had the most horrible taste in my mouth as I ran to the toilet to spit out chalk. I guess I was so busy playing and wasn't paying attention and I got my hands mixed up. It was definitely a very memorable moment.

So you can imagine what came to mind this afternoon as I grabbed a handful of almonds with my left hand and then a handful of dog kibble for Eco with my right hand as I headed into the garden today. I made a very strong mental note to NOT get my hands mixed up! Because although the chalk tasted pretty bad, I really have no desire to find out what the dog kibble tastes like!

Remember the Cheese

On Thursday I wanted to go out for dinner. We hadn't been out for a while and it was the night before payday and I had been craving sushi all day. I made the suggestion to Jp, and he immediately said "Subway". Right then and there the interest in sushi was gone (it's okay - we can't usually get out of a sushi restaurant for under $50 anyway). Then he mentioned Five Guys so I agreed. I knew that since he was driving we'd probably end there anyway. The nearest Five Guys is about a 40 minute drive but hey, we were out of the house and having a conversation and there wasn't any traffic.

We ordered our hot dogs with grilled mushrooms and onions and shelled our peanuts waiting in anticipation for our yummy hot dogs and fries-that-taste-so-good-but-aren't-good-for-you when the manager came over and asked how we're doing. Uh-oh, something was up.

Apparently our dogs jumped off the spatula and they had to make some more, he apologized and gave us some fries to keep us happy. No big deal, he handled it perfectly.

Everything was too delicious, except after we finished eating our hotdogs Jp remembered that we also usually ordered cheese on our hotdogs to make them even better. Dang! We only get to go to Five Guys about twice a year. Next time we'll remember the cheese.

Wet and cold and hungry

So I'm sitting in my living room around 7:30 last night when I hear the lid of my mailbox open. Odd, I think for a Friday night, and then a moment later I hear another clunk in my front yard so I fly the door open, and what do I see? Two bears in my yard! The big one grunts at me as it runs. In my carport are wet bear footprints all over the floor. They had knocked over an empty garbage container (if there's anything in them, they are locked up in a room at the end of my carport.

About 10:30 I hear some noises outside and go to investigate. Jp tells me it's nothing, just the neighbour's car doors but I decide to peak out my front window and what do I see?? Yup, the two bears again. The little  one hopped the fence, sat on the top rail for a bit and then slipped down bum first before disappearing in the neighbour's yard. Then I felt really sad for them. I think the little one, who's fur was very wet from the heavy rain was tired. It's probably tired and very hungry. I hope they're able to find some food soon - just not people food.

Jp thinks they should be killed, but I just can't agree with him. They're not doing anything wrong. They come to our neighbourhoods because many of us are sloppy and lazy and there's often something to eat in a container outside our houses. People don't pick up the apples from their trees and so the bears have to scavenge for meals - maybe even the odd stray cat? I don't know. If people were more diligent and there was no food to be found, I'm pretty sure the bears would look elsewhere. As usual, humans create the problem and the animals pay for it.

Adventures in Asian Cuisine

Jp and I took a little trip to Richmond to visit the Japanese Dollar store called Daiso because I needed to get something from there that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. It's a little over an hour to drive there and so we decided to enjoy the food court in the mall, Aberdeen Center.  This area has a large population of Asian people and there are many 'authentic' restaurants to choose from. Many store signs in this area are written in Chinese or Korean (or other) languages and is almost like a very large "chinatown' that is common is many large cities.

At the food court I decided to try a rice dish with beef  and Jp tried a bowl of congee (it's like a rice porridge). He had heard people refer to congee many times as comfort food.

Unfortunately my dish came with the parts of beef I don't like to eat - tripe, lung, liver etc. And Jp's bowl of  congee tasted like a big bowl of wall paper paste - we have no idea how that can be comfort food for anyone. Usually we are pretty open to new foods and do like a wide range of food but I suppose  this was just too "authentic" for us. I had to throw my bowl  away and bought a bowl of lemongrass chicken soup from the Vietnamese restaurant which was absolutely yummy.  We were both disappointed  that we chose so badly on the Chinese foods.

We did have a successful shopping trip at Daiso and then went home to have some good old fashioned American hot dogs - that's our comfort food.

Photo credit: congee

Things from Portland

Here are some of the items Jp brought back for me from his trip to Portland, Oregon (I still can't believe it's only a 5 hour drive from Vancouver-always thought it was farther):

1) This book bag from the well-known and very large Powell's Books:

He said he would've needed about 4 days in that store - which is pretty crazy when most people can do Disneyland in three!

2) Fabulously delicious coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

We did not save any of this, we drank it while it was fresh and tasty and boy howdy was it good! Holler Mountain was the coffee we had, roasted only 4 days prior.

3) He told me this was a Honey Badger, but I know it's a Wolverine:

If you're not familiar with a Honey Badger, then you must watch this informative video:

And just as a point of curiousity, when I googled "Wolverine" the majority of the searches turned up Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and hardly anything for the actually animal. My how things change over time don't they? 

4) And see this cast iron skillet? It's actually only 2 inches across

 - it's a spoon rest, isn't it cute?

It's actually from Cabela's which is in Washington state. Just seeing if you're still with me. 

5) And then a whole bunch of treats  - like Chex Mix because we don't have as many flavours here as there are available in the US and big bags of chips for cheap!

The same goes for Baked Beans, and peanut butter: 

Food Time

I have to admit that Jp is quite a good cook, he's definitely the King of Breakfast (along with the King of Sandwiches) This is what I had for dinner (well only 1 plate, of course):

and who needs to go to McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin when you can have this?

The Art of Food

Check out this lovely, well crafted sushi - aptly named the  Caterpillar Roll  - it has crab and avocado inside, BBQ eel for a tail, green onion antennae and octopus tentacles for eyes:

And it was very, very yummy too! 

The Spud Shack

Well based on a great review by food writer Sherman Chan on his blog, Sherman's Food Adventures, Jp took us to the Spud Shack in New Westminster yesterday. It was a surprise to the kid and I and as Jp drove we kept trying to figure out where we were going. Just when I thought I knew, he's pass the exit or turn off. And then when he parked at the River Market at the New Westminster Quay, I thought I knew and then when we started walking up the hill, I thought it was the Old Spaghetti Factory and then when he neared the skytrain station I thought we were going to board it and go for a ride. All guesses were wrong, and they couldn't be right since we went to a place I'd never heard of. And boy was it worth it, the batter on the fish was crispy - I can't remember the last time I've had crispy batter on fish (maybe never?) and yummy belgian french fries and delicious fresh made tartar sauce. It was all very good.

On our way out we ran into the owner/chef and had the opportunity to let him know how far we came for his food and how much we liked it. He seemed pleased to hear the good reviews and knowing that his efforts of hand cut fries and fresh daily tartar are appreciated - no restaurant supply house fries or sauces here!

And to top it off, we are having the most wonderful Spring weather. I can't remember a spring that was so fabulous with warmth and sunshine - it's weather like this that people fall in love with the Vancouver area, and then like a gambler who once made it big, they wait year after year for that once fabulous weather to return. This year it did not disappoint!

Today I will be cooking our Easter Turkey along with some nugget potatoes and brussels sprouts. The loaf of no-knead rustic sourdough will be in the oven in a couple of hours and the green jello with pineapple, cottage cheese and whipped cream was made last night so I can unmould it at the dinner table to reveal a surprise shape on the top of it. Happy Eating for us, and Happy Easter to you.

What if Animals Ate Fast Food?

I love how well done this is:

BC's First Family Day

Today is a statutory holiday in BC - for many years workers in this province asked for a day off between New Years and Easter, especially when other provinces in Canada had a holiday. This year is our first one. Somewhere along the way there was a vote on when it should be (no one I know knew anything about this vote) and it was decided that since we are unique people we should have it the week before the rest of the country. For many this probably doesn't make much difference, but if you're a national business you have potentially lost two business days in the shortest month of the year   - one for our holiday and one the rest of the country. As well, my family is in another province. Perhaps if we had the holiday on the same weekend one of us would have travelled to see family? Nope, not gonna happen. 

Today is also a special day here at Way Out Wear headquarters because it's the 7th Blogaversary. Yes, I have been writing to you for seven years. Reflecting on that time  one of the biggest things that has changed is my readers - not one person who was with me in the beginning is here with me now - except family. That's just part of being a grown-up isn't it? As the saying goes "people come into your life for reason, a season or a lifetime". I hope you are with me for a long time as I really do enjoy your comments and your company. 

Other things that have changed over the past seven years, just to name a few: 

1) Both my dogs, Maxx and Jazz are no longer with me but now I share my life with my wonderful chocolate lab, Eco. There were lots of stories about Maxx's epilepsy and lots of stories about Jazz's noise phobia, and lots of puppy raising stories

2) I got married

3) I started a business

4) I've changed my page layout and background at least 20 times

5) We replaced our old cars with new ones

6) countless knitting, crochet and embroidery projects

7) multiple thrift store adventures

8) too many stories about the weather

9) lots of cooking/baking stories 

10) and funny things about the family. 

So thank you readers for sharing my journey with me, I'm glad you're part of my family. 

Evil Cookies Lurking in My House

During the Christmas holidays I picked up a package of white chocolate chips as in impulse purchase and made a batch of cookies which was gone within days and more bags of white chocolate chips were bought for me with the request to make a double batch. Which I did. Which was eaten almost as fast.

This weekend, I set out once again and made a double batch but they were being eaten off the cooling rack almost as fast as I could put them. Personally I think they don't get flavour until they cool off but Jp and The Kid didn't seem to share my opinion.

Before I could clean up, I was asked to make another double batch - but I was out of white chocolate chips so I had to use Butterscotch chips. That didn't seem to slow anyone down. And a young boy hung around the kitchen table claiming he only ate cookies if he asked permission. I'm pretty sure some disappeared in between the requests.

I can't eat just one. As much as I try:

 "Only 1", I say. 

"Oh but just one more" 

"Okay last one" and ...

...so it goes. These cookies are so evil in fact, that when taking the above photo I put it back because I know I can't stop at one. Oh yeah, he looks so innocent over there in that photo, all  by himself - but that's the problem, he's never alone! And after 4 or 5 I don't feel so good, my head reeling from the sugar and my energy level crashing making it hard to finish the afternoon at work. I don't know how the others are surviving, they don't seem to have such an issue with their sugary goodness.

Four dozen cookies baked on Sunday - that's over 120 cookies.
Less than 50 remain 48 hours later.
Maybe it's not me that has to fear them....

Run for your lives little cookies, it's dangerous in this house! 

Turkey Soup and Rustic Bread

We had a belated Christmas dinner with Jp's family on Wednesday as everyone was somewhere else at Christmas this year. When it was announced that we'd be having a turkey dinner, Jp asked for the carcass (that doesn't sound very appetizing does it?) again for soup - in the past his sister has given us up to 15 pounds of bones and meat! She told us repeatedly that we couldn't have it because she was going to make soup with it.

We had an very enjoyable meal and at the end of the meal, his sister handed us a big container of meat and told us that we could have it for our soup as she had too many dinner plans for the upcoming days and wouldn't be able to make it for herself 

So here it is  - 

Yummy looking isn't it? It has gabazo beans, black beans,
yellow peas and lentils,  peas, carrots,
green beens,  lima beans and rice. 

Along with the soup I made of loaf of No Knead Bread which creates a very rustic loaf of bread. 

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And, I just had to capture this beautiful Christmas cactus that's been in bloom since just before Christmas. This is an off-shoot of a plant that my parents had going back the the 70's. They just keep going and going (just like our jade trees) 

Day 4

It's a good thing I don't make New Year's resolutions because I would have already broken them - we're only on day 4 and already I feel like time's whizzing by again. Same old, same old:

January 1 - hey, it's New Year's day, relax, don't do anything... so I didn't
January 2 - work day, walk dog, then family dinner *
January 3 - work day, walk dog, knit, dinner, knit, time for bed
January 4 - work day - probably repeat some of yesterday.

We had had a couple of dry days, including a couple of glorious sunny days with the most beautiful West Coast sunrises and sunsets for which I am very grateful for -  I think god/the universe/etc knows that we'd all go stark raving mad if we had rain and cloud for too long so at least every 5 weeks we get a reprieve long enough to restore our sanity and then back to rain again.

I was hoping to take advantage of the drier weather to get out there and take down the outside Christmas decorations but as I was knitting before dinner last night my attention was drawn to different sounds outside and I realized that it had started raining again. Drat! And now it's supposed to rain for a while which means I'll have to take down all those decorations but put them in my carport for a couple of days so they can dry before I put them away for 11 months. I was really hoping to get to my inflatable snowman before he got all wet. Now you know what I'll be doing tomorrow -up and down the ladder in the rain... I normally don't complain about our weather too much, but sometimes it has really bad timing!

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*(a belated Christmas dinner - with all the trimmings - including an aunt who tried a new recipe for candied yams with pecans forgetting completely about my stepson's allergy to nuts - it was touch and go there for a bit but he recovered pretty quickly. Being a teenager he didn't make a big deal about it, but the aunt couldn't let it go and about every 15 minutes kept brining up about how she almost killed him. Good times. Good times. )

Merry Christmas to you

Hope you're having a wonderful day and hope you spend it exactly the way you want it. So many people torture themselves (unless they secretly like it, but just want to complain) by filling their days with family commitments. I've heard many say they wished they could spend the day by themselves  - although to me that's pretty much what most of us do everyday and shouldn't Christmas be different?

For the past couple of years I've struggled with the Christmas season because it has changed so much from what I knew growing up. While contemplating this during a dog walk, I realized similar to the first rule of Fight Club,  my Christmas Tradition is no tradition (or non-traditional). You see my family doesn't live near me and Christmas traveling isn't always possible, and Jp's family always goes to their in-laws,  The Kid is always at his mom's for Christmas and Jp's not much of a Christmas guy.  This means that without those traditions, I have to find a way to make it meaningful and memorable on my own. I guess you wouldn't really be surprised to know that right now besides typing on my computer,  I'm doing the laundry because 1) it needs to be finished and 2) I don't know what else I'm supposed to be doing on Christmas morning. And later today I'll roast a chicken since a whole turkey is too big for us and I wanted more than just turkey breast this year.

I know not everyone celebrates (if they even celebrate at all) the way TV or the movies show it happening, at least I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen that way. How do you spend your Christmas day?

And now for some Trivia:

The first recorded celebration of this now biggest Christian holiday took place in Rome, Italy, in 336 A.D. The first Christ Mass was officiated by Pope Sixtus III in 435. The first three states to declare December 25 a legal holiday were Southern states: Louisiana (1831), Arkansas (1831) and Alabama (1836). Six other states would follow and by 1870, Christmas was declared a U.S. Federal holiday.

Okay so I hadn't finished shopping as I said in my last post - there were a couple of people I wanted to get things for -one was a little stocking stuffer for all the girls in my dance glass. That was kinda hard because I needed at least 8 items and I'm not exactly rich - it took days of hunting for something that wasn't too cheap but was still a cute little item and I needed to find multiples of them so just when I'd find something I'd realize they didn't have enough of them... I ended up finding a little box on a ribbon that looked like an ornament but had chocolate bells inside. I passed them out at the end of class and they seemed thrilled -Mission Accomplished.

I did get a couple more rows knit on my ripple/wave scarf - here's a quick snapshot of the progress.

It'll look better once it's finished and 

I've blocked it (that gets it wet and stretches it out) 

Continuing on our James Bond movie watching, we're now up to Licence to Kill (1989) with Timothy Dalton. While watching the Living Daylights (1987), the first movie with Timothy Dalton, I could see why many fans didn't like him that much but then I also didn't like that movie very much. Licence to Kill was actually pretty good. Being a bit of a Pierce Brosnan fan I'm kinda looking forward to Golden Eye(1995).

Winter in Vancouver isn't so fun. Oh sure it's mild and all that but we go for days with grey skies. I'd much rather have -19 degrees celsius and bright blue skies with the sun shining than have +8 degrees and the grey skies. And it's not the rain that gets me (lots of people complain about the rain) - for me, it's the darkness. All the lights have to be on in the house all day because it's dark. And some days it's been so dark my Christmas lights on dawn/dusk timers go off at 2:30 in the afternoon! See? It's not just me that thinks it's too dark, the electronic sensors do too!

So.. why am I telling you this, only because if you have the same type of weather, you'll appreciate this pick-me-up:

See that happy dish? That was our dinner last night  - Pina Colada Shrimp and Rice. YUM. It's shrimp and pineapple and coconut and yellow peppers and green onions. Not only is it yummy but it helps put a little summer into winter! Try it, you might like it!

A Ghost A Day?

Want to try something fun in October?

Check out this site - she gives 48 cute food ideas for ghosts - that gives you plenty of choice for the month. Wouldn't that be fun?

Let me know if you try it!

It never gets old

Recently we stopped into the only Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop in the Vancouver area, and Jp bought me this cute little cup:

what makes it even cuter as after you drink your coffee, you find a little joke - a donut in the bottom!

Ah ha ha - it never get's old ...

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...the donut and the joke ! 

the bees did a really good job

Many Saturday's we head out to our community and the neighbouring community's Farmer's Market - we have found some wonderful jams such as Strawberry Pineapple Jam and Rhubarb Jam, as well as beautiful bread and streudel and farm fresh sausage. But yesterday we tasted the most delicious  HONEY!!! Oh yeah! The jam lady also has her own honey and we bought a jar from the blackberry bushes - IT. IS. THE. BEST. HONEY. EVER!!

Now typically with many foods, you can not compare grocery store alternatives to home made and there's been stories in the news about our honey being mixed with poor quality Chinese honey (I don't know if that's true or not) but farm fresh honey, direct from the apiarist is the way to go.

I'm not normally much of a sweets person, and although I like honey, I don't remember to eat it daily, but I definitely want to eat this sweet and very flavourful honey every day.

So thank you little honey bees. The odds are always against you, but we really appreciate your tireless efforts. Our taste buds are thanking you every day.

Picture credit

straw - berry!

Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought it sounded really good but didn't seem to come together when you made it?

Well that's what happened to me when I made these roasted strawberry with browned butter pancakes:

Yup, they sounded good and looked good, but they weren't that remarkable. I think one of the biggest problems with fruit these days it how it comes to market and since it's being grown all over the world at all times of the year, sweetness and/or flavour is inconsistent if it's there at all. These strawberries were actually tart. They didn't taste like raw or I would've added sugar. In fact the recipe had me roast them in olive oil and salt but that didn't seem to help them at all.

The recipe also had me brown the butter first to be used instead of oil or plain old melted butter in the pancake batter. But we felt I that the browned butter couldn't be noticed and so my efforts were wasted. It probably would have been better to brown the butter to be poured on top of the finished pancakes just before serving.

I would consider remaking this with many variations - such as sweet strawberries and the change of use for the brown butter. Have you ever had a recipe go like this? Have you made something similar ? How did you make it better?