Alyson

I leave for Africa today. 
New adventures await.
Not sure if I'll have enough internet to post here or not.  Most likely, I'll send out mass emails.
See you April 18th!

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago.  Here is Mary-Jane, my niece.  In a funny pink tutu.  And sparkly shoes.  I wish I could get away with outfits like this one!

And maybe this one:

How is it that chicken soup always makes me feel better when I have a cold?  I'm getting on a plane on Sunday and I'm trying absolutely everything to shake this cold before then.  I've been drinking cups and cups of mint tea, I went and bought some coldFX pills, I took some naps, got lots of sleep, drank lots of water, ate a whole package of halls, and this cold is still hanging on!!!  So, today I'm eating vitamin C pills and making some packaged chicken noodle soup.  At least it makes me feel cozy and warm.  I guess if all else fails, I'll take a lot of anti-cold pills before I get on the plane.  I'll be the one making everyone else sick, and I'll feel so guilty!!  I'm mostly worried that with a stuffy nose, I'll have a hard time popping my ears.  Ack!

I'm going to go watch Fawlty Towers and eat my soup.

Think healthy thoughts for me

Hey!  Check out the crazy thing that I made.  It's for my  brother and sister-in-laws soon to be born baby.  I'll be in Africa when it's born, so I figured I better do something extra special.  And what's more special than making a turtle with a shell that you can take off???

This would be the turtle in it's natural climate - hanging out in a banana tree.

Merry Christmas!!

Pumpernickel bread and roasted butternut squash curry soup.
Wow.  May be the best lunch I have ever made.  Both recipes are from allrecipes.com  which is a fabulous site.  I have never once had to look else where for a recipe.
The bread has a bit of a strong mollases flavour - I'll probably cut back on that in the future.  And I didn't have any caraway seeds, so I left those out.  It's still good and the combo of that with the soup is simply fabulous.  No pics today, though, 'cause after all that great cooking, I need to run off to work!

Here's a picture of my cool new coffee maker!!!

Hmm.  It's somehow sideways, but that's too late to fix now!!
Here's another

This has absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but more to do with awsomeness.
Yesterday, I got to meet Stuart Mclean!!! If you're not familiar with Stuart, you should check out this website
Stuart is a fabulous story teller and entertainer.  He can be heard on CBC radio 1 (that's 90.5 fm in Victoria) at 12:00 every Sunday morning (I always think of Sunday morning as lasting until at least 1:00....)  The show is called the Vinyl Cafe
He was here in Victoria last Christmas and I went to see his show.  I laughed for all 2 1/2 hours!  It was the best entertainment I'd seen in a long time.
Back to yesterday.
I got up early yesterday morning 'cause I had class at 9:30 and hadn't done the readings yet.  I turned on CBC as I ate some breakfast and made coffee, and who should I hear but Stuart!!!  I did a double take and thought to myself "This isn't a Vinyl Cafe morning!"  I listened to his story, and then the regular anouncer came back and said that Stuart was going to be at Munro's signing books from 12 -2!!  So, I went back to bed and slept in because there was no way I was going to miss meeting Stuart Mclean!  I kind of regret skipping my 3 hour class because apparantly my prof decided to give us two quizes instead of the usual one.  (Which I think is totally unfair.  If you plan a quiz per week, you should stick to it!!)  Anyhow, Stuart was awsome.  He shook our hands (Peter came with me), signed my book, asked us what we did, and told Peter how he could send his band's music into his show.  One thing about the Vinyl cafe is that they often play music by up and coming musicians.  And it's almost always fabulous.
One thing lead to another and soon Peter and I were headed for lunch at Pho Vy.  After all that standing in line, we were hungry, hungry hippos.  At Pho Vy, I ordered the iced coffee which was incredible!!!!!  Peter and I went to get the crazy coffee making devices after lunch so that we could make our own incredible coffee.  Which is what we did this morning.  So, I guess in a way, this does have to do with cooking because I tried out a whole new way of making coffee! 

So, after much slacking, various cooking attempts (most of them successful) and a lack of writing, I am back. Midterm season is lousy for the reason that it keeps me from the things I'd rather be doing.

Fortunately, yesterday I celebrated my birthday. I'd finished writing a paper in the morning, then Lindsay came over and we made cake. We then drank martinis all afternoon. At one point we decided we were hungry but it was pouring with rain, so it was not likely that we would walk the twenty minutes to get to Thrifty's. So, we decided to make crackers. This isn't totally out of the blue because I had been thinking about trying them, but hadn't gotten around to it. But, no better time than when you're drunk and hungry! It took is no time at all and they were so good!!! I highly recommend making your own crackers. I might even make them again tomorrow. I don't know why store bought crackers cost so much. The ones we made were only flour, wheat germ, margarine, salt and water. I also sprinkled flax seeds on them for no better reason than I like flax and I was drunk.

I give my self five stars for drunken crackers. Linds made hummus to go with them. I love hummus, but never make it enough. It's so easy - so why don't I make it more??? I ask myself the same thing every time. So good, so easy, yet so rare in my house.

Yay! New colours! I was getting tired of all that green and brown. The yellow's a little hard to read, but I still like it. I also like the little foxes. Changed from penguins, I decided foxes were better. We'll see how long it lasts!

The crescent rolls turned out SO WELL that we kind of ate 1/2 a dozen of them. I'm just hoping that my cousins aren't coming to thanksgiving dinner 'cause there won't be enough buns with just the 1 1/2 dozen that are left! Mmmm. Tasty and delicious.

Watched the first Battlestar Galactica of the season yesterday - talk abou political! They had suicide bombers that you felt sympathetic for and bad guys holding people without charge! Can you believe it?? Talk about sketchy (but awesome). I wonder if the American government knows about this. I was a little worried that it would be predictable, but it's gone back to its same delightful unexpectedness.

Turns out that this weekend is a weekend full of cooking! And only a little bit of it was planned. I'm housesitting with Peter at his parent's house while they're in Europe for the next three weeks. They have a pear tree (no partridge) and grapes and tomatoes! The pears are all ripe, so I had to do something with them. I can't let delicious fruit go to waste! So, I'm making some fruit leather. I've never made it before, and I don't really have a recipe, but after a quick internet search, I decided I'd blend it up with some honey and just stick it on the dehydrator like that.

I've got some dough rising - I've been given the task of making bread for thanksgiving dinner. I decided to try crescent shaped butter rolls. I had to get Peter's help 'cause my arms were soooo tired from stiring in all that flour. Peter's strong arms came in handy :) He even did most of the kneading too!! It's time to roll it out into crescents. I hope it tastes good, otherwise I'll end up bringing store bought buns to dinner tomorrow...

In other news - I get to book my ticket to Chad on Wednesday. It's also the day when I get a gagillion immunizations. Ugh. I don't know if it's a better idea to get them all over with in one day, or have it spread out. I don't mind needles - I donate blood on a sort-of-regular basis, but I cannot look at the needles. I'm kind of working my way up to it. The other day when I gave blood (last time before I get back from Africa, and even then, I don't know if they'll let me) I actually looked at the needle before they put it in my arm. IT WAS HUGE! That may be the last time I look at it.

This week's cooking experiment was pierogi.  I tried making the recipe from the Rebar Cookbook - Wanda's Roasted Yam Pierogi.  Turns out they are fabulous.  I went and bought a pasta maker from some one  through Used Victoria, 'cause the cook book recommends using one to roll the dough thin enough.  Thank goodness we had it 'cause it would have taken FOREVER if we hadn't!  As it was, Lindsay, Kim, Shannon and I spent 2 hours making pierogi.  And that's just shaping them!  I made the filling the night before and the dough this morning.  The filling was sooooooo good.  I roasted some yams in the oven, caramelized some leeks and grated some mild gouda (it called for smoked, but that was way more expensive).  I mixed those things together and it was divine!  The dough needed more water than the recipe called for.  And Bah to the instructions about mixing with a wooden spoon to get a smooth dough.  It was all crumbly and not sticking together.  So, I added some more water, and dumped it on the counter so I could knead it.  That worked way better.  Kim is the pro at forming pierogi.  I don't know where she learned it, but I'm hoping the next time I make them she'll come help again.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing board games while Lindsay watched Grey's Anatomy.  As soon as we could reasonably call it dinner time (aka 5:00), we went and got some bacon and sour cream.  We fried some onions, and the bacon, boiled the pierogi, then fried them too.  And had a salad.  We decided we didn't actually want our hearts to stop.

But Damn.  Those were good pierogi.  I highly recommend them.

So, Lindsay came over today and we canned Nectarines.  I've never canned whole fruit before, just jams and spreads and stuff like that.  It was kind of fun.  And sticky.  The sugar water kind of got everywhere.  Oh well.  Things are sticky, but the jars look so pretty!  It reminds me of when I was little and my mom canned peaches, cherries and pears.  I'm going to do way more next year!!!
And cooking without pictures:

The bread turned out beautifully!!!
When I first took the dough out of the fridge, I was a little afraid.  It was so hard!!!  The recipe said to "gently deflate" it, but there was no deflating going on today.  So, a little trepedatiously, I cut the dough in 2 and started rolling.  My sister came by with her baby and they watched as I dolloped and cut and folded.  Looking gorgeous, I set them on the counter to rise for 45 mins.  Then, one at a time, I put them in the oven.  The first one I let cook too long.  The recipe said 40-50 minutes, but I think it would have been done after 30.  I took it out about 35 minutes and the bottom was a little crispy.  The second loaf, I got the timing down just right, and it is beautifully golden brown!

Peter couldn't wait, and after letting it sit for 25 minutes (the recipe says for 30 mins) he cut into it while I was in the other room!  Bah!  He did let me have the first bite.  Then we took pictures for your viewing pleasure.

and then we ate 1/2 the loaf.  yum.

All in all, I'd say it was a resounding success!!

Next week:  Perogi!!

So, the adventure in baking this week: a blueberry cream cheese braid.
(you can find the recipe here)
So, this is a delicious looking (I hope it's actually delicious too) sweet bread rolled out, mounded with creamcheese and blueberries then, you're supposed to crisscross the dough over top of the bread so that it looks braided.  That part happens tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.
Today, I made the dough.  You're supposed to let it rise over night in the fridge.  I keep checking on it.  It's still in there, and it hasn't turned black yet.  I figured this one would be a relatively easy challenge 'cause I've made a good amount of bread in my life.  So, the process was one I knew.  Make the sponge (sort of like a pre-bread) then add the sugar, and all the flour.  This recipe called for eggs...  that was interesting.  I've never done that before.  I did what the recipe said and added the eggs, sugar, salt and flour at the same time, and ended up with egg lumps.  I assume they clumped with the flour.  It took me a while to work those out.  In fact, I had to pull out my electric mixer and use the bread hook.  That's the first time I've used THAT attachment!!!  It worked pretty well and made my arms way less tired.  But then comes the part when you add the flour handful by handful.  So, I pulled out a wooden spoon, put on some family guy, and brought my bread to the living room.  Trying not to spill TOO much flour, I managed to incorporate as much as possible.  Then, after kneading it for a while, the dough was ready for the fridge.  It looked good.  We'll see how it looks in the morning...

Anybody want to come over for delicious bread??  It's going in the oven after I get back from class at 12:30

Well, because I'm bored about writing about my not so interesting life, I was thinking I might make this something new.
I was thinking of starting to do a lot more cooking/baking - maybe a couple of times a week and writing about my adventrues.
Any thoughts?  I'd have to try a lot of crazy recipes, which would be good (and potentially bad) for those of you near by that get to sample my experiments, but it could result in some interesting discoveries.
I don't think there's time to start today, but maybe I'll think up a great recipe to try and go grocery shopping and give it a stab tomorrow.
Any recipes out there that people have wanted to try but just haven't gotten around to it?  Send them my way.

Crazy cookery - coming soon

There's a new member to my family.  I am totally in love.  Her name is Mary Jane and she was born early one morning a couple of weeks ago.  Here's a picture!
That was the day she was born.  BC day!!  August 7th.  The hospital gave my sister a little card that says that "The baby is a true BC baby".  That made me laugh.
She's already getting big.  I was visiting this morning, and she has a little belly.  She's getting chubbier, which is good 'cause she was so skinny!

And now I'm off to bed.

Well, as my sister oh so kindly reminded me, it's been a long, long time since I last wrote here. And now I have a Beatles song in my head.

My summer has been full. Mostly full of work. I've been working down in the inner harbour. It's been good, but I've been working too much and now school seems like it will be a vacation.

My plans are in full swing to leave for Chad mid January. I've got the paper work in, and I'm booking my flight on September 6th. It's what my whole year has been leading up to.

Peter's band, the Insignificant Figures are playing on September 1st. They'll be playing at the Black Stilt Coffee House on hillside, right close to hillside mall. The concert starts at 8:00, but doors open at 7:30. It's a good little coffee house where they have coffee and beer and music all together.

If you want to check out their music, you can hear it here
I'm excited to hear them finally play.  They are very talented musicians.  You should come here them play too.  There's no cover, so you should also bring your friends!

I'm so tired of work.  Just another month to go.  I'll be done at the end of September.  For now, it's just another night of work.

I was at work today, and we were talking about strange animals going trough customs and we eventually got onto the topic of my fear and loathing of snakes. I said that they just give me the willies, and a guy at my table (there are 4 of us) asked me if the willies are kind of like cooties. And out of my mouth popped, "Well, there's no willy protection!" Half way through saying protection, my mind got to the end of the sentence and I realized how rediculous it was!! I laughed until there were tears streaming down my face. The rest of the afternoon, my friend Amy and I couldn't even look at each other. Willy protection. Sheesh.

Training for customs - there's so much to know!
Who knew that I would have to memorize so many policy numbers!!
Blah.
Thursday or Friday I get to go on a tour of a cruise ship! That should be exciting.

In other news, my orchid now has 5 flowers!!