winter warmth

pizza day

since we live a block from an Italian deli, 

 one of the quickest and most satisfying last minute meals is literally right around the corner.

I just need to head to tony's, pick up two balls of pre-made dough, roll 'em out, throw on sauce and cheese, into a 500 degree oven and, BINGO!

I mean, PIZZA!

sometimes, though, I am too darn lazy, 

so I leave the legwork to the bread machine.

spruce street pizza dough,

bread machine version.

place ingredients in machine like so:

1 1/4 C warm water

3 T olive oil

3 C all-purpose or 00 flour

(this batch is 2 C all-purpose, 1 C whole wheat)

1 t salt

1 T quick rise yeast

hit dough function.

in the meantime

grate some cheese,

pop open some sauce,

dig around in the fridge for random toppings,

preheat oven to 500

roll, top, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

mmmmmmm.

(of course this dough can also be made by hand,

just mix the instant yeast well with the flour before combining with the wet stuff,

and allow it a nice cosy rising time.)

cake day # 6

seems like the boy has been 6 forever...

 i guess it has been a couple of months since his birthday.

i finally found some shots from the celebration; it is after all, primarily about the cake!

grandma killed with her cake prowess once again,

this time featuring, as requested,  the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

she staged them in a chocolate training facility.

the guests were truly awed.

 and, in true little kid style, odd.
by that, i mean they were so immature!
(there were many toilet humour and barf stories volleyed around the table.)

the girl held court and organized the games that followed.

the cake and games were followed by much goofiness outside,

and as it was still early in the season, no-one was tired of the snow yet.
  frost turned into steam, which was blown off in no time.

happy (belated) birthday, edgar.
you will always be the king of my snow hill.

presto, pesto

the final garden harvest saw us toting home a great deal of kale, and owing to the hardy nature of this veggie, I have procrastinated on 'putting it by'.  i had every intention of freezing, canning, drying, chipping and otherwise preparing vast amounts of kale for the winter.  instead, i have been giving it away, (a pleasure of the gardener) or eating it outright, cooked and in salads.  this morning, however, I tackled the last stalks of kale by whizzing together a pesto.   this reduced my huge pile of greens into five small vacpacs, destined for the freezer.

kale pesto:

Into the bowl of food processor, place lots of washed kale, 

torn from its ribs.

Whirr it down to fine confettii, then dump contents into a large bowl.

Repeat with more kale, but also add 2-3 cloves of garlic,
and about 1/2 cup natural almonds.

Whizz until there are no weird chunks remaining.
 Dump this into the mixing bowl.

Shred up one more batch of kale, this time adding the oil and flavourings

(I used cilantro olive oil and homemade pepper vinegar, but any acid/oil and flavour booster would work well, I think.  Some fresh basil and lemon would be nice,
or cilantro and lime, or maybe simply balsamic vinegar and olive oil.)
Whirr the kale, herb (if using),  about 1/3 C vinegar and a spoon of salt,
then add the oil while the processor is running.
( enough oil to make a good saucy mix.)

dump this into the bowl also.
mix well, take a few nibbles, adjust oil and seasonings.
 i like the bitterness of kale, but a hint of something sweet could be added at this time if desired.
~
cook up your favourite pasta, dollop on some pesto,
 top with fresh pepper and grated parmesan or peccorino to taste!

Potions and toast

A rainy day brings out the sorcerer in some people...

 

 

 so i opened up the pantry, and brought out the eye of newt, toe of toad, and powdered zombie teeth.

(as well as several plates of cinnamon toast!)

 

 

 

 the apprentices went wild,

mixing, grinding, and smelling until each concoction was perfected.

 

The resulting delights were labeled and admired:

parfum

turns you into a werewolf

zombie potion

good potion

frog potion

and one simply marked with a

skull and crossbones.

 

(overheard during the production: 'this one turns anything into a frog...'

'anything?  even santa claus?  even a FROG?')

 

very powerful stuff.

toi et moi, malgre tous.

 

a couple of months ago, david was approached by a 'locations' guy,

asking if he would be interested in renting out his studio for taping a few scenes of

an upcoming Quebec prime-time romantic comedy.

why ever not!!?

day one of taping saw 40 men and women sporting earpiece communication devices swarm our backyard, filling the space with flight-cases, tables, lights, cameras and action!

 

the editing van was parked right outside of, and butted right up to, our front/side window. 

 (with a metre between us, the techie and I politely ignored each other through the two panes of glass the entire evening.)

 

 

esther was up to the excitement, though. days before she had devised a plan that would keep her right in the soup of things;  the tried and true Lemonade Stand! 
we have done a few lemonade based activities in the past,  so right after school she took to the kitchen, and with total confidence proceeded to direct the citrus squeezing.
I was in charge of simple syrup and ice.

she was unphased by the hustle, set up her station right outside of the studio entrance,

 served ice cold, fresh squeezed lemonade to any comer,

and got a good gander at the proceedings. 
at one point I glanced out of the window to see her pink hoodied self loping in step behind a tall thin grey hoodied gaffer, like she'd rented the place.

 

she proved to be a very dedicated entrepreneur, and even placed a 'back in 10 minutes' sign on the

table when I called her in to dinner.

and although she made a few $$$,

 her real reward was jotted upon the corner of her shingle at the end of the evening. 

 the whole gang comes back to tape another episode in November...

perhaps a hot cocoa shack next time.

bursting with fun

I spy with my little eye:

 

 

 

trouble!!!

 

there are times when I LOVE the children's conspiracies.

this? 

 one of those times.

 

 



because after all...

summer is for ambushes.

valentine's, christmas AND easter in july?

the blackboard looks like this....

 

the table looks like this,

 

the egg looks like this,

 

and the kid looks like this.

'guess-the-theme' theme day

seriously, it's time to face summer

some summer fun so far:

 

 

edgar fashioned himself rose-colured glasses, which he then taped to his head,

 

esther contemplated a thing or two,

 

and today, they compared species dimorphism in the common canine.

the guinea pig definitely outweighs this little feller.

dog breath

 

 

a rainy day after many rainy days...

 

already we have made so many cookies,

muffins, and human treats...

time for doggie snacks.

(a great way to use up a few odd ingredients in the pantry also.)

 

(and no, we don't have a dog.)

 

Dog Biscuits:

mix up in bowl:

1 C oats

3 C whole wheat flour

1/2 cup ground nuts

(whatever is on hand...I used toasted pumpkin seeds, hull on)

1/4 C wheat or oat germ

1/4 C flax seeds

~

cut in:

1/3 C fat

(I used bacon drippings...yum!)

1 beaten egg

1/2 C milk

~

when that looks like the mix is in even chunks, stir in 1 C boiling water.

 then when cool enough,

knead until a nice elastic ball of dough.

(add flour as required.)

~

roll out about 1/2 inch thick,

cut out with your favourite ironic cookie shape,

pop onto a cookie sheet and

bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

to let them get nice and hard,

leave the snax in the oven after you turn it off.

pack in paper bags, and

deliver to dog households around your 'hood.

~

enjoy the love that love brings.

 



summah time

nothing like having a couple of the girls over for a splash in the driveway....

lemonade redux

it was summer-enough to break out the entrepreneurial spirit this weekend...

the kids had so much fun with last year's lemonade stand,

that at 8:00 a.m. of the second warm-enough day, the poster paints were out.

 

 



edgar filled-in the bubble letters, and disagreed with me about the price.

he figured a glass should cost $5.00, not 50 cents.

 



 

i figure no lemonade stand should ever offer the canned stuff, so we squeezed and squeezed!

i made up a simple syrup and mixed the juice up with that, plenty of ice, and cool H2O.

 

the resulting beverage drew good-sport neighbours and passer-by;

we met at least a dozen people from up and down the street,

and one couple who had just happened to take a wrong turn...

we were soon offering up our small kiddie ikea stools

 for rest and conversation while the sippers sipped.

the whole project took up a lovely portion of the day;

the street was reclaimed for commerce and camaraderie,

esther sang out her lemonade hawking song, even when there was not a soul in sight, and

edgar decided we should do this EVERY weekend.

 



photo op

 

 

grandpa and grandma swain recently had all of their grandchildren

in the same place at the same time,

and even managed to have them all seated in the same area at once!

esther, julian, alexia, lily-anna and edgar.

we missed having all of the of the uncles there though...

 



bubbles

as long as it has nothing to do with a bath,

the children find soap a very interesting substance...

 

 

bubbles are considered to be such fun, in fact, that some rainy-day times 

 I just fill a very soapy sink

and let the kids scoop out handfuls of foam

for free-form art projects, disguises, or just plain hurling about.

 

the best place to enjoy the world's best toy,

 though, is out in the street, where they shimmer and float like feathers,

and invite passers-by to stretch out a finger and pop a few along their way.

safety first

scene yesterday:

the family is in the van, racing to the girl's dance class.

daddy is driving.

 chaos reigns in the back seats;

cheerful, rowdy, pain and suffering exchanges between the two siblings.

a bellow from the driver is issued:

"HEY!!!   settle down back there!!!!  i could have an accident!!"

silence, then a small voice replies:

"you mean pee your pants?"

~~~

i almost peed my pants.

permission impossible?

 

a friday evening, a stray ball of yarn and two

inspired and conspiring  kittens resulted in this obstacle course...

how could i possibly discourage someting so outrageously fun?

i just sat back, and enjoyed the mayhem.

constructing the thing seemed to be painstaking and exhilarating team work,

and clambering through?  priceless.

days later, i am still finding wool knotted around chair-legs and posts...

i think i might leave one or two tied on, as furniture friendship bracelets.

sew what now?

i should have taken a 'before' photo,

as i imagine this still looks chaotic to the untrained eye,

but many hours of committment

have turned my sewing/etc. nook from stash-pile to comfort zone once again.

i'm now prepared for my next project;

 i just need to find the next block of 'hours of committment'.

punkin'

edgar is turning out to be a little whizz in the kitchen...as long as he gets to use a gadget.

although he feels that the ice cream scoop really should be used for ice cream,

he took to my muffin batter fillin' system quickly. 

i use the scoop beacuse it makes filling the tins quicker and tidier. him? 

same tool, opposite result.

'course he also likes to use the stem of a silicone whisk as a flag/microphone, so who am i to judge?



they got a bit overdone, but we managed to turn the frozen innards (thanks to my mother-in-law for converting them to pulp!) of our hallowe'en pumpins into tasty treats. 
we used our innovative tools, and the
hembruff pumpkin loaf recipe:
(this is enough batter for three small loaves, or 24 muffins...
prepare bakeware accordingly.)
now,
preheat oven to 350.
using the "muffin method" sift together into one bowl:
3 1/2 C flour
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
3 C sugar

in bowl number two mix:
1 C oil
4 eggs
2/3 C water
2 C pumpkin
1 C of nuts, or not.

pour bowl # two into bowl #1,
fold mixture together, do not over mix.
dole out into tins.

bake for 45ish minutes for loaves
20ish for muffins.
note above picture?  more than 20ish.

my puppies

it is aways nice to be greeted by someone when i return home...

either in the street, or at the door.

what took me so long?