what's cooking wednesday - chicken alfredo

This so happens to be a home made version of my favourite thing to order at my favourite restaurant. Turns out I can make a fairly good imitation in my own kitchen. Which is great for a couple of reasons -- first we don't go out to eat all that often and secondly, when we do now I'm free to try out the rest of the menu.



Chicken Alfredo

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tomato, diced
1 jar alfredo sauce
cooked spaghetti

Dice chicken and brown in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil. Toss in mushrooms and cook until chicken is cooked through and the mushroom are soft. Add the jar of alfredo sauce and the diced tomatoes and cook until heated through. Serve over cooked spaghetti.

Recipe Notes: I, of course, love this, but I was surprised to find Mike did as well. I did use a jarred alfredo sauce, but if you want to make your own, go for it. It's a pretty quick easy week night meal.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

giveaway - always infinity

A while ago I was contacted by those lovely people at that PR firm I've been dealing with. This time they wondered if I'd be willing to try a new maxi pad that was not yet out of the market. While I was saying yes, in the back of my head I was thinking what in the heck could they possibly do to a maxi pad? I mean it's a maxi pad. Oh I should pause here to say -- boys, you may want to move along for this post. If, in fact, any boys actually read this.

Okay so where was I?

Oh yes -- it's a maxi pad for crying out loud. Sticky stuff on one side, absorbent stuff on the other. It's not rocket science.

Except it kinda is because these maxi pads -- the new Always Infinity -- are kinda space age.

They are made with a new absorbent material called Infinicel that pulls fluid from the surface to the core and it can hold ten times it's weight while staying dry and light. The pad itself has perforations and channels like nothing you've ever seen before. Sounds like a lofty goal doesn't it? Well let me tell you, that's no empty promise - it delivers.

Having had the opportunity to take these for a test drive I was surprised at how dry it felt until the time came to dispose of it. Unbelievably dry. How ever dry you are imagining it to be, it was likely drier. At no time - even over night - did I ever feel less than confident that it could handle the job. I'm not sure what kind of voodoo magic they used, but wow! Excellent work Always Infinity team.

I think this is such an incredible product I have been telling everyone I know about it. Insisting they must start buying it now that it's available here in Canada. And to celebrate that (very happy news) I am giving away a package of the new Always Infinity.

Entering is easy, just leave me a comment either here or for those of you reading this via facebook leave a comment over there and I'll draw a winner from all the commenters (blog or facebook) on Wednesday evening at 9 PM EST. And then you'll love the new Always Infinity as much as I do.

Good Luck all!

attending open house was a bad idea

I love my house. I love my neighbourhood. I have zero interest in moving. And then this beautiful old house up the street went up for sale. It is way out of my price range and the taxes are double what we pay here. I'm not even allowing myself to think about what the utilities would run me.

Even knowing all that I still went to the open house today and of course fell in love with it. Even though I realize it's not meant to be I still uttered the following statements -- out loud -- to my pal Jenni.

Oh the Christmas tree could go right there.

My girls would have bedrooms that were larger than a closet.

With all this counter space think of all the cookies I could bake.

There'd be a guest room for Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel.

This is the house I need.

Jen! Think of the movie nights we could have here!

Also in my head I was planning out where I'd put my furniture and which bedroom would belong to which kid. I am in for certain heartbreak when this place actually sells.

pool fail

Last week was hot! Really hot. The humidex was through the roof. Temperatures were up into the 30's. It was hot.

This coming week temperatures are predicted to be much cooler. Like ten degrees cooler. And rainy. A whole week of rain.

So yesterday, on the last day of this heat wave, we did the only the only sensible thing we could do and finally had the pool filled with water fresh from the Arctic. Water so cold, even penguins would refuse to swim in it.

We're hoping it warms up by August.

friday high five - what's under your bed?

Earlier this week I had the idea in my head that I should rearrange our bedroom furniture while Mike was out farming. I'm going to pause here for a moment to let my Mother finish laughing her head off because this exactly the type of thing she would do when my Dad was on nights. He'd go to work, we'd go to bed and she'd stay up all night rearranging and in the morning none of us could find the couch.

So I moved our bed from the south wall to the west wall and our tv/dresser from the north wall to the east wall. This will allow me to move my Grandpa's old rocker/recliner up to our bedroom so Mike can start watching the Jays games up there and I can use the living room TV for such important viewings as I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here (Just kidding - I have yet to watch a single episode of that -- apparently I do have reality TV standards, who knew?)

So for this week's Friday High Five -- What I found under my bed......

1. Four empty water bottles. I have mentioned before that I avoid making single use purchases when I can. That means no juice boxes or bottled water. Goodness only knows how long they've been under there.

2. Countless odd socks that have long since been consumed by dust bunnies. Either that or I lost a lot of single gray fuzzy socks.

3. A barbie doll leg. Yep, just one single leg. I'm not sure who it belongs too. I haven't noticed any of the girls Barbies on crutches recently.

4. Mr. Potato Head feet and an arm.

And finally the best one of them all........

5. A single newborn diaper! Umm I don't know if y'all have heard, but my baby My Pie is three years and 5 months old. So if you understand basic math, that diaper's been under there for 3+ years. (ps. it was all kinds of tiny. Made me want another baby for half a second)

Yeah I'm all kinds of awesome!

mistaken identity

My kids have a lot of matching jammies. Which means you'll find two pairs of the same jammers in the laundry basket -- an Abby sized set and a Maya sized set.

Tonight Abby came to find me in the office after getting ready for bed.

Abby: Mom, look at these pyjamas. They're like capris now.
Me: That's because they're your sister's.

wordless wednesday - eye of the tiger

How about a little wordless wednesday?

what's cooking wednesday - bacon wrapped tenderloin

I love love love my barbecue. We bought it a couple of years ago and it's definitely an improvement over our old one. It's far from the top of the line, but it's fancy enough that's it still inspiring me to try new things. One day while I was engaged in one of those mindless internet surfing sessions. You know the kind -- you start out at a web page you like and you click a link and you click a link and you click a link and so on until you're out in uncharted (for you) internet waters. Sometimes you can end up at a really great site with no idea how you got there. Well the day I found this recipe was one of those days.

I am not a fan of pork chops really. I mean they're okay and I used to eat them, but then I got pregnant and I was just done with them. You ladies know how that can happen. Well 7 years later I'm still not over being done with them. I do love pork tenderloin though. Mmmm. I may actually love it too much since Michael is now officially done with the tenderloin, but I do the meal planning -- so it sucks to be him.



Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
bacon

Spread out a piece of tinfoil on your counter. Spread the cup pf sugar and the pepper on top. Lay your tenderloin on top of the sugar/pepper mixture and roll the tenderloin around until it's coated. Move your tenderloin off to the side of the tinfoil and lay out your bacon on top of any leftover sugar/pepper mixture. Overlap the strips of bacon until it's as wide as the tenderloin. Place the tenderloin on top of the bacon and roll it up in the bacon -- jelly roll style. Use the tinfoil to help you. Wrap the tenderloin up in the tinfoil and let it rest in the fridge for an hour or more.

Cook this seam side down, on a pre-heated grill, for 3 - 4 minutes per side until the bacon is nearly cooked. Then turn off the burner directly under the tenderloin and continue cooking via indirect heat for 30-ish minutes or until the pork is cooked through.

Recipe Notes: Okay this was delicious, but a tad labour intensive. It's not the easiest thing to be moving around the grill. Oh and it's not a weekday recipe. Nope, save it for the weekend when you have time to fuss over it. If you are a fan of tenderloin I really do recommend it. It's a nice sweet spicy balance.





What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

for the record -- i won

Sunday found Maya and I playing our favourite game -- who's going to give in first. And My Little My Pie is an Olympic caliber player.

You see we'd just come home from church, the girls were in their lovely white and black sundresses. Abby is seven and knows the drill. She raced upstairs to change out of her fancy dress and into clothes she could play in. Maya, still in her dress was attempting to follow her into the backyard.

Me: Hold up there, Miss. You need to change your clothes first.
Maya; No. I going outside.
Me: You can go outside, after you change your clothes.
Maya: I don't wanna change my clothes. Wanna play wif Abbers.
Me: After you change your clothes.

And at this point she's so angry with me she just has to ask --

Maya: Are you going crazy about this?

why i love my husband - reason #61

It's Father's Day and what a better time than today to give you one more reason I love that man of mine.

He's the father of my girls and that's a huge all on it's own, but it's so much bigger than that. He's a good Dad. He loves me and he loves them. He thinks I'm a good Mom. He likes to tell people I'm a good Mom. He likes to tell me. I really couldn't imagine a better partner to be sharing this whole crazy parenthood ride with.

Happy Father's Day Baby!!

jammie movie night

Tonight marked the third edition of Jammie Movie Night. I have to say I'm still surprised that I had this idea and then actually went through with it. I have a lot of those kinds of ideas, but never see them through to fruition. I know a lot of people like to start book clubs. I'm going to start lobbying heavily for ladies to start their own jammie movie night.

Now you may be thinking -- why jammies? I mean obviously I love my jammies, you all know that. Bigger than that I think we're all hard working ladies. We work in and/or outside of our homes. We have families to look after. This is a night set aside for relaxing. And what better to relax in than jammies? There's no "outfit" to worry about. Just come as you are, grab a piece of couch and put your feet up. Every month I pick a date and that's it. There's no pressure to attend. If you can make it -- great, if not we'll see you next month.

So far we've been keeping the movies on the lighter side. I doubt very much you'll be seeing a flick like Slumdog Millionaire on the docket. That's just my personal preference though. I want to hang with my besties and have a chuckle. What I don't want to do is to be weeping into my kleenex over an abducted child. The first two movies were definitely from the chick flick files -- Sex and the City & Bride Wars. Tonight we dipped into some comedy and watched Role Models -- very funny. I imagine we'll bounce between the two genres each month.

I can't tell you how much I look forward to this evening every month. Abby and Maya look forward to it too -- I think that has something to do with them getting to stay up way past their bedtime while they watch their own movie in my bed. Oh and 'cause Heather brings them chocolate. And the ladies seem to enjoy it as well. I hope we can continue this for a long long time. Long enough to become one of those human interest stories you read about in the paper. I can see the headlines already -- Local Ladies celebrate 25 Years of Movie Nights.

friday high five - busy saturday

Saturday is a busy busy day 'round here tomorrow. Here are the five things I hope to have accomplished by the end of the day.

1. Sleep in. It's just Mike, Maya and I tonight. Abby is off for a sleepover with Papa and Grandma Linda. Now, I say sleep in, but it's likely Maya will be up with the sun. And really I just get annoyed about all the wasted time the odd time I do get a chance to sleep in.

2. Enjoy a very yummy dinner at the church. With strawberries for dessert! I love strawberries. There is no better fruit on the planet.

3. Visit with Auntie Yoli!!! Remember her? I vaguely do. Seems to me she's Maya's Godmother and our best friend all rolled into one. And she moved three hours away (like my shiftless brother) and abandoned me. I hate when people do that. Anyway she is back in town on holidays this week. Yay for us.

4. Oh and I'll probably squeeze in a gazillion loads of laundry too!

5. And movie night with the Jersey Girls!! It's the best night of the month, if you ask me. And I'm not just saying that because I get to wear my jammies for it. Seriously -- get your girlfriends together and start one, you won't be disappointed.

you capture - emotion

I live in a house with a three year old and a seven year -- girls. Yep, there is a lot of emotion in this house. A lot of three year old drama. A lot of seven year old angst. And I could have taken pictures of that for this week's You Capture, but to be honest I'm usually up to my eyeballs diffusing all the drama and the angst and the camera never gets a second thought. Luckily for all of us that live here there are many more smiles than there are anything else.









You Capture -- hosted by

wordless wednesday - swim star

How about a little Wordless Wednesday?

what's cooking wednesday - peanut butter fudge

I love fudge, but I have never made it. I just buy some at the fair every year and I'm good to go. I was under the impression it wasn't the easiest thing to make, so I never bothered looking at a recipe. Then I accidentally bought a jar of that marshmallow fluff. I thought I needed it in a recipe, turns out I didn't, but I still had the fluff. So I did an ingredient search on allrecipes.com and ended up with this fudge recipe.



Peanut Butter Fudge

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
• 1 1/3 cups peanut butter

Boil milk and sugar in a medium saucepan for three minutes over medium-high heat. Immediately stir in the marshmallow creme and peanut butter. Pour and spread into a 9x9 inch glass baking dish. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.

Recipe Notes: This turned out great! It is incredibly smooth and yummy. I did make a a couple of little changes. First I used chocolate milk instead of white and just before pouring it into the pan I threw in a handful or so of chocolate chips and swirled them around a bit. So it gave it a bit of a marbled look. Also have all your stuff ready to go before you start -- peanut butter measured out, lid off the fluff jar and so on. It just makes the whole process a lot easier.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

night out at the farm

Last night we were lucky enough to get an invite to dinner at ML & T's house. The kids were beyond excited because they live on a farm and there is just so much to see! and do! and oh my the excitement. So we had a lovely dinner and conversation, interrupted though it was by our two girls and their two boys. Then it was outside to explore. Not that we got much further than the pond.



Mike and I are still both surprised that Maya was willing to put on a life jacket never mind get in the boat and head out for a little paddle. Once she was out there ML had a hard time convincing her that they should head back in.



Then there was baby cows to look at and a trampoline to jump on. And a slide and monkey bars. I'm sure you can imagine the struggle it was when it was time to go home. Luckily ML bribed them with beautiful peonies to take home and promises that they could come again very soon.

peanut, peanut butter....

Today I made my first attempt at canning and cooked me up some grape jelly. Why, you ask when there is perfectly good Welch's grape jelly available on my supermarket shelf? Well I guess "you" didn't really ask, but my pal Jenni did via facebook. Well my reasons are threefold --

Number 1 - I love grape jelly.

B - I have an interest in learning how to can. I have the canning pot and everything.

#4 - I have heard that grape jelly is an easy beginner project.

So I followed the instructions the best I could and now I have several jars setting up on my counter in the kitchen. I guess I'll know better this time tomorrow if the whole experiment was successful or not. I have to admit I'm not feeling very confident. Probably because I have zero canning experience. I've never actually seen anybody can anything before in my life. And on top of that all the information I read seemed to contradict the last thing I read by just a tiny bit.

But as of right now this is what I know for sure about canning.

• Reread and reread and reread again the recipe you're using to make sure you have a firm grasp on the task at hand. Oh and it's probably a good idea to just read the one recipe. Reading several will really muck things up for you.
• While not necessary a canning funnel is worth every penny. I currently don't have one, but I will be amending that ASAP.
• Ditto that magnetic thingy that helps you pick up the hot lids when it's time to seal the jars up.
• Also a jar lifter for when the time comes to take you hot jars out of the canning bath. I managed without any of those items, but it would have been so much easier if I'd had them.

So keep your fingers crossed that this turns out to be a success. If so there's a grape jelly category at the fair one of these jars may be destined for.

one last party

Today we had our final birthday celebration to mark Miss Abby turning seven. We invited a few of her little friends over for some lunch and cupcakes. Usually I like to keep this party at around 5 kids, but this year Mike thought we should let Abby double it and have 10 plus Abby. After the invitations had been sent he agreed to do some farming work for our friend T.

I'll wait for a second while you process that.

Leaving me by myself to manage eleven, seven year olds and my own holy terror of a three year old. For various reasons I didn't feel comfortable asking any of the grandmas for help. What was I going to do?

Luckily I managed to trade our friend T, my husband for his wife. And I am telling you folks if you are ever considering having a birthday party for the seven year old set you should hire her immediately. I have no idea why I ever had a party without her. Going in her favour she is our Parent's Council co-chair (with my Michael) and she has spent countless hours at the school volunteering her time. So because of that she knew all the kids and all the kids knew her and bonus -- view her as an authority figure. That left me free to run the behind the scenes stuff like lunch, gifts, cupcakes, drinks and handing out the take home goodie.

And now the behind the scenes stuff -- could not have run as smoothly as it did if not for the unexpected surprise of Grandma Linda. Normally Grandma Linda is one of my go-to people when I'm in need of an extra hand, but she is currently going through some medical issues in relation to one of her eyes. She has a short list of things she's not supposed to be doing, but like many of us ladies she probably should be taking it easier than she is. Even still she showed up here an hour before party time and said -- I'm here to help what can I do. Which was fantastic because I was in desperate need of a shower for starters. And I had suffered a series of little setbacks that morning that had really compromised my ability to get the take home goodie (little cookie bouquets - i didn't get a picture snapped before they were all gone) complete. So while I showered she took over cookie wrapping for me. Then she stayed through lunch and helped us get the kids fed and back out playing.

I honestly could not have managed this all without ML and Grandma Linda. I owe them both huge!!



And now a very quick party recap. I made cupcakes. Are they not totally adorable? I'm not usually one to gush (too much) over my own work, but I love these cupcakes. And they were a huge hit with the "not-so-littles-anymore" too.

Can you indulge me while I brag on my amazing little girl for a moment. About a month ago I made a suggestion to Abby that perhaps she would consider accepting donations of canned goods for Wesley Centre instead of birthday gifts. We discussed how lucky we are and how others don't have as much as we do, but ultimately the decision was entirely hers to make. I was only a tiny bit surprised that it was something she not only wanted to do, but was very excited about as well.

What I was not expecting was how emotional I got as parents started arriving with their kids and bags of canned goods in hand. Some of them came with a little gift for Abby as well and all had a nice word to say about what a sweet girl I have. It was the kind of day that fills a Mommy's heart to near bursting.



The final leg of this journey will have Abby taking these items down to Wesley Centre to hand over the donations herself.

Thanks to all the parents who so generously donated.

friday high five - vacation

Mike and I have been on holidays this past week and it's been a pretty laid back low key kind of week. Just the kind I like. So this week's high five is all about my favourite parts of last week.



1. Having lunch with ML and our wonderful husbands at a perfectly charming gift store/nursery/tea room. Too bad it started to pour rain before we could explore outside.

2. The Hangover. Mike and I snuck off Thursday to see this at 11:55 am and laughed our butts off. So very funny and well worth the gift certificate we spent on it. And now I have a huge crush on Bradley Cooper. Good news is I hear there may just be a Hangover 2.

3. Playing Scrabble. Even if I did get my ass handed to me by the Scrabble Queen of the family.

4. Sleeping in. Oh so much sleeping in. Luckily Abby was around to remind us to get up and get her to school.

5. Organizing and planning two birthday parties for Abby. One at the beginning of vacation for the grandparents etc. One the end of vacation for her friends from school.

you capture - nature

There was a time in my life -- think way way back a million years ago -- when I thought I'd like to be a photographer. I had my Grandpa's old Pentax SLR that had no automatic setting. I loved that camera. I took photography in school and knew how to develop my own film and print from my own negatives. In an actual darkroom. There was no such thing as digital back then.

So why didn't I become a photographer? Well, I'm just not that good. I don't have the eye. I have long since forgotten all that I learned in photography class about the f stops and aperture and shutter speed. I now shoot in full automatic mode and I don't edit my pictures. That last one is probably because I lack photoshop. I do still enjoy taking pictures and sometimes I get lucky and snap a great one. It is usually of my girls. Last year I was daring and entered a couple of my favourite pictures in the fair. I managed to score a couple of seconds and I was thrilled. I plan on entering again this year. I'd like to try and shoot a picture for every category, but I'm not sure how realistic that will be for me time wise when you factor in some of the categories are a bit obscure. Like skipping stones and owner and pet look-a-like, for example.

I've already shot a few categories and so far I'm happy with what I have. I like having an assignment, so I thought I'd start playing You Capture hosted by:




Each week you get a photo prompt and this week's was Nature. Good thing because not too long ago I was in Jenni's backyard taking pictures of her ferns (another fair category) and now I can't decide which one I want to enter. What do you think?





I know which one I'm leaning towards.

wordless wednesday - little diva star

Why not a little Wordless Wednesday?

what's cooking wednesday - chocolate sour cream icing

Now I have to say I am in no way "knowledgeable" about this whole cake decorating thing. I'm sort of picking it up as I go. Sometimes it all comes together and sometimes it's almost there and there has been a time or two I chucked the whole lot in the green cart. Lucky for me Lynn asked me one question I could answer...

Technical question -- when you're working with the fondant, you put a layer of icing underneath? Buttercream type icing, or just icing sugar/water type glaze? And why?

Yes, you do put a thin layer of frosting underneath. It can be homemade buttercream or the stuff you buy in a can. It's basically just a glue. Something to adhere the fondant to the cake. Now I have read that some folks will brush their cakes with a simple syrup glaze because apparently fondant can draw moisture out of a cake, but my chocolate cake is pretty moist and I haven't had an issue with dryness so I don't do that.

Now you have to imagine my mixer was working overtime making all that fondant and the last thing I wanted to do was make more icing and I didn't have any canned stuff tucked away in the cupboard so this is what I did....

Chocolate Sour Cream Icing

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups of confectioner's sugar

Melt chocolate and the butter together over low heat. Let cool and blend in the sour cream, vanilla and salt. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar beating well until the frosting is of spreading consistency.

Recipe Notes: With my mixer tied up making fondant I just whipped this up by hand. So the result was more like a thick pudding that a traditional icing. It was perfect for what I was using it for. It was easy to spread a nice thin layer of it on the cake and it was wet enough to have some real sticking power. I would certainly use it again when working with fondant.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

abby's cake

This past weekend Abby celebrated her birthday with our extended family. Just a big little barbecue with the Grandparents, Godparents, some cousins and an Uncle and an Aunt or two. The food was yummy and for once I didn't have two tonnes too much. Something that caused me to panic for a full 15 minutes, but I eventually got a hold of myself.

I, of course, made her cake. Still playing around with fondant. I liked the way it turned out, but -- and I can hear you already telling me I'm crazy -- I was not completely happy with it. My fondant ripped after I had it on the cake and I couldn't take it off without losing the most of the icing that went under neath it as well as the fondant itself. So I had to piece it together.



Abby was thrilled with it and everyone else thought it was lovely. But I can't wait to make another one to get some more time with the fondant. I think it needs more icing sugar. When I watch them using fondant on Cake Boss or Ace of Cakes there's does not seem to be in constant danger of ripping like mine was. Yep, there is more playing to be done.



Mike is just wishing I'd switch back to buttercream -- he is not a huge fondant fan. So I'll have to throw a little buttercream his way on my next few cakes to keep the grumbling to a minimum.

seriously -- where?

My Mom has a natural affinity for massage -- a talent I admit I take full advantage of. Which I did this week by conning a nice long foot massage out of her. Problem is those girls of mine have clued in to how awesome getting a massage is. So while I'm sitting there trying to bliss right out, Abby is under my elbow with a stop watch telling me my turn is over.

Cutest thing though -- after Abby was finished getting her massage she offered to return the favour to Granny. Which was great for me. It kept her and her birthday party excitement out of my hair while I tried to put the final touches on the party preparations.

So they were sitting there, Abby "massaging" my Mom's feet and Granny asks her --

So Abby, are you going to be a massage therapist when you grow up?

And Abby says --

Yeah, but you'll be dead by then.

Where do they come up with this stuff? Umm isn't that the kind of scene they'd write in a Steve Carrell or a Will Ferrell movie? Luckily Granny is full of good humour.

knowing me, knowing you - june

Well this seems to have gotten a little bit backed up this month, I do apologize. It is time again for that fun little interview project I started. I hope you'll play along either on your blog or here in the comments.

1. Do you have any pets?

We have one cat. Maya's "best friend" Zebby. He is a good cat, but visitors beware -- he will hop in your lap for snuggles the second you sit down. We also have Goldie Big Tail -- I think that's his name this week -- the fighting fish we've owned for over a year now! That's centuries in fish years. He lives in a small glass vase on our microwave.

2. What's your favourite dessert?

Easy -- it's a tie between chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and cheesecake (almost any kind -- no nuts ever and cherry will do if that's my only option).

3. For my fellow bloggers out there - are you a stats checker?

I admit when I first started blogging I used to check every single day. Now I can't remember the last time I looked at them. When I do look I tend to glance at the bigger picture links like monthly & weekly stats.

4. Do you have a gaming system?

Two actually. Mike has and Xbox 360 because of the Halo franchise. We also play Guitar Hero on that. I'm trying to talk him into Rockband. So far it's a no go. We also own a Wii. Which is a family system. We haven't been playing it much since the weather's been nice. Which is a good thing, but we loved playing as a family in the winter.

5. What is your beverage of choice?

No question -- anyone who knows me knows -- water. Ice cold and lots of it. Iced trea is a somewhat distant second. Specifically Nestea Zero.




So now the rules, they're pretty simple. Post your answers to these questions on your own blog in the next few days. Remember to link back here in your post and sign the Mr. Linky too, so we can all see what you have to say. Please make sure you link to your actual KMKY post and not your blog's front page. Any front page links will be deleted. And most importantly, have fun! Have suggestions for next months questions? Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know.

friday high five - more you didn't know

I was just thinking there may be one or two or five things you still don't know about me. So for this week's Friday High Five -- Five things you have yet to learn about me...



1. I HATE peeling potatoes and I really don't think I've stressed that enough. It's a chore I despise so much that I just refuse to do it. So if you're here for dinner please expect all of your potatoes in whatever manner I choose to serve them -- roasted, mashed, scalloped, salad, etc -- will have their skins on. Thank you very much for your co-operation.

2. Apparently the mere sight of a small mouse nearing the end of it's life on my basement floor will send me screaming up the stairs. Yep, happened this morning. My ever loving husband took care of it for me, but not before I had a freak out of epic proportions. I'm pretty sure The Mommy Project heard me at her place.

3. For the past month I have gone veggie for "66%" of the day. In terms of my life that means no meat until dinner time. I am definitely eating way more veggies/fruit than I ever have before. Shockingly it was a very easy transition. Every now and then I miss having a sandwich for lunch, but not enough to actually have one.

4. I'll take an ice cream cone over a freezie or a popsicle any day of the week.

5. I am the very proud owner of a drumstick that Keith Urban tossed out into the crowd at a very small show he played in Toronto. I wish I could say I caught it myself, but my galpal ML had the very good fortune to attend the show and caught it. Lucky for me she loves me more than she loves Keith Urban.

dear abby

I swear I only blinked and now you're turning seven. It seems like it's been going in slow motion and fast forward all at the same time. You started this past school year as a little kid and now it doesn't seem that way at all. You're my big grown up girl.

As much as I've been teasing you the past month. Saying today was the day I was going to grab you and squish you back down to six -- seven is pretty good. You can get your own juice. And make your own sandwiches. And Daddy's been teaching how to safely use the toaster. You take the recycling out each week and mop the floors. You're in charge of getting your own laundry together and now you're putting your clean clothes away as well. Yeah I think seven and I are going to get along okay.

By and large you still enjoy school. You are not a fan of math, but love science, art and music. You tell me you want to be an artiste or a science teacher when you grow up. For you to be doing something in the arts would not surprise me at all. You are always creating something. You'll pick up an empty toilet paper roll and say you're going to make it into a pig. Next thing the construction paper, tape and markers are out and you're turning a paper tube into Wilbur.

You, my sweet baby girl, are such a loving kid. Always ready with some encouragement or a compliment. I have to admit, I love hearing I'm the best Mommy ever. You have a firm grasp on the importance of family beyond Daddy, Maya and I. You have close relationships with all your grandparents and your Aunts and Uncles. There is just no such thing as too much family time as far as you're concerned. I wish I could say that you and Maya never fight, but that's just not true. Even still they barely cause a ripple. You enjoy each other too much to stay mad for long. I sometimes have to remind you to be patient with her, she's still small, but you're a really wonderful big sister.

They say things happen when they are supposed to. I'm not sure I ever believed that until you. For so many years I wanted to have a baby and I was heartbroken that it was taking so long. I just didn't know I was waiting for you. I love you more than you can know. Happy birthday baby girl.

Love
Mom xo

what's cooking wednesday - rolled buttercream fondant

I apologize for the delay!

I love the look of cakes wrapped in fondant. They are so pretty, but fondant tastes like ass -- more or less -- and it's not convenient for me to get my hands on the pre-made stuff you buy, if I wanted to use it. Then while chatting with someone as equally baking/decorating crazy as myself, I found out you can make it yourself. Which you would think I would already know, but surprisingly not. She had actually suggested Marshmallow Fondant, but I didn't have any marshmallows in the house, so I went with a buttercream one.

So this past weekend was Jammie Movie night with some of my girl friends. The movie we picked this month was Bride Wars. So it made perfect sense for me to make a wedding cake. Well it made perfect sense to me. That's just how I roll.



Rolled Butter Cream Fondant

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners sugar

In a large bowl stir together the shortening and the corn syrup. Mix in the salt and vanilla, then gradually mix in the confectioners sugar until it is a stiff dough. If you are using a stand mixer use your dough hook. Otherwise knead by hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in more confectioners sugar until it is smooth. Store in an air tight container at room temperature.

To use, roll out on a clean surface that has been dusted with confectioners sugar until it is 1/8 inch thick or thinner, if you can. Drape over frosted and chilled cakes and smooth the sides down.

Recipe Notes: This was very easy to work with and it tasted pretty good compared to most fondants. I managed to get my cake covered with nary a tear. Mike helped me with the draping bit. If you're a beginner an extra pair of hands is a big help. I don't think I would attempt this without a stand mixer. That seems like insanity. It wasn't a difficult process, but mixing all that confectioners sugar in little bits did take a while. I will absolutely be doing this again. It makes the cake look so pretty.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday