Follow along as "Us" (Hugo, Tania, and Byron) try to document moments and events in our life.
Saturday 30 March 2013
Friday 29 March 2013
13/52 - Bubbles ...
It was interesting watching his reaction and observing him trying to figure them out. He was so focused ...
The above template is one of five free Project Life templates from Sherelle Christensen's Blog - My Crazy Life As A Farmers Wife. I am so happy she shared these with her readers. She is amazing! The templates are great if you know the basics of Photoshop. The above template can be found HERE.
On a side note ... I'm super excited! My stamp has arrived and things are slowly coming together for my small business adventure. I ordered the stamp from Vistaprint and am happy with how it turned out. I am still working on getting things sorted and organized, plus I have a couple projects on the go. However, I am happy with the progress so far. My amazing and talented Husband is doing a great job with the website and I am so lucky to have such an awesome Hubby!! I couldn't stop trying out my stamp. Here it is (photo taken with my ipod so it is a bit grainy)...
Hope everyone has an Egg-stra wonderful Easter!
Thursday 28 March 2013
Quick Easter Treat
You make them like you do regular rice krispie squares and then you just shape them to look like eggs or a nest and put the little surprise treat inside. You can also add food colouring to make the eggs different colours.
They were a hit. Whenever people bit into the eggs they seemed to enjoy their little surprise. Here is a photo of the inside surprise (this is a photo I found online since I didn't get a chance to take one)
When I was looking for the above picture I found some of Hugo's 1st Easter (aka our little Easter Bunny from 2012).
What a difference a year makes.
Wednesday 27 March 2013
Seedling Update - Week of March 25, 2013
The pepper plants started to appear this past weekend.
Tuesday 26 March 2013
When Dad Makes Dinner
Here's proof - Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding ...
Prime Rib with bone- Roast Beef |
Here's Dad's view of the end product ...
Here's Mom's view (I apologise for the mess and the picture quality as it was taken with my ipod). I wish I had a photo of the kitchen before Dad made dinner, but I don't. The counters and sinks were empty with no dishes at all and clean.
When Dad makes dinner = Mom is in the kitchen for hours cleaning. You should see the mess he created in the oven this day (oh my, my poor oven). But this is why dad usually only cooks 1 day a week. I would never ever leave the kitchen if he was in there more often making dinner!
Mashed Red Potatoes With Garlic And Parmesan from food.com
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs red potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
Drain well.
Mash with the butter, milk, and salt.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
In all fairness though he does always prepare a fabulous meal. We just need to hire a cleaning fairy for the days he cooks and all would be good!
Thursday 21 March 2013
12/52- Happy St. Patty's Day
Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day! On St. Patty's day at our house we wear green. It's kind of become a tradition.
Hope everyone is having a good week!
Wednesday 20 March 2013
1 2 3 GROW
Last week (March Break), I finally got around to planting our seeds for our garden this year. This is the first year we are planting our own seeds. In past years we have just gone to the green house and bought the little plants the weekend before May 2 - 4 and away we went. Last year though, it seemed to add up really quick so we thought why not try our own seedlings this year. We also figure when Hugo is a bit older, it will be a good learning experience for him to see the entire process of how veggies grow. I may or may not have planted the seeds to early. I am aiming to plant things in the veggie garden the week of May 2 - 4. I followed the recommended dates on the packages for planting indoors, but my Mother-in-law informed me this week that I planted them to soon, she always plants hers the first week of April. We shall see how they do.
Here are some of the seeds we planted ...
Monday 18 March 2013
Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar & Thyme
[Makes 4 servings]
1 tbsp unsalted butter [I had a bit of salted butter that need to be used, so I used that instead]
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 celery stalks, chopped [I added this in]
1 small carrot, chopped [I added this in]
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt [I omitted the salt- as butter already has salt]
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves [only had dried – used ¼ tsp dried]
1 quart (4 cups) chicken or veggie stock
2 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower florets (should be the same size as the potatoes) [I had a small head of cauliflower and used it all]
2/3 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion or standing blender. Stir in half of the cheddar cheese and the mustard. Taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed. Serve in individual bowls, topped with the remaining cheese.
This was my very first time making a cauliflower soup. It's not really a type of soup I thought I would enjoy, but it did turn out good. Have you made Cauliflower soup before? If so, what recipe do you use?
Saturday 16 March 2013
Boler reno day 2
So it was a much easier and faster day today. I had a buddy come over to help out. Now the frame is fully out from under the body. All nicely supported and safe. Taking a good look at the frame makes me happy I have decided to go this route. Will have to go to a steel shop and place a nice big order this week.
I put up a tarp to protect the egg, cause the grinding, welding, and sandblasting is about to start.
Thursday 14 March 2013
Real Whip Cream from Scratch
If you're in a pinch, like I was with the frosting recipe or if you need it for - potato soup, alfredo sauce, etc., this recipe works as a substitution for MOST recipes, (keep in mind it's not that great for simple recipes were cream is a main ingredient).
The recipe for Heavy Cream Substitute is from - CDKitchen
Heavy Cream Substitute
Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
Directions:
Use in place of one cup heavy cream.
Heat together over low heat until the butter is melted into the milk. Do not boil. Blend. Refrigerate for 24 hours or longer. Whip it as you would cream. If you need to thicken up the cream due to using low fat milk, add about 1 tablespoon of flour!
Wednesday 13 March 2013
11/52 - New Activity
His new exercise while he watches TV. He is obviously very against becoming a couch potato, so he exercises while watching Curious George.
Tuesday 12 March 2013
Cesar Dressing - Opps I Forgot
Byron quickly went searching for a homemade recipe and found so many, however, they all called for anchovy fillets which we do not have in our pantry. We found the following one for perfect cesar dressing and we had everything at home to make it so it won.
Overall it was not a bad recipe [we only made 1/2 the recipe though]. Next time we make it, we will make some slight changes -- add a bit more garlic [we like things garlicky], cut back on the lemon juice, and omit the salt [we really can't handle salt any more], and then I think it will be perfect for our liking.
- 2 tbsp mayo
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 large garlic cloves, pressed
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1½ cups mild olive oil
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Place 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tsp Dijon, 2 pressed garlic cloves, ½ cup lemon juice 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper in the bowl of an electric food processor. (Press garlic and squeeze juice right into the food processor; think dish factor),
- Process until smooth and well blended. While the food processor is still on, very slowly pour in the 1½ cups olive oil. Process until thick and creamy.
- Add Parmesan cheese and pulse 5 or 6 times, and, it’s done!
Monday 11 March 2013
Productivity = A+
When we got up Saturday morning, this was our view off our back deck ...
the fog had rolled in overnight. It looked a little eerie but also so beautiful and I just had to snap a photo.
I figured what better way to end our nice weekend, than with a freshly baked homemade peach pie (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law for making it in advance for us. All I had to do was bake it).
It was delicious! Thank you! Hope we have some more beautiful days like that this week!
Saturday 9 March 2013
Boler Reno - Full Day 1
So I just finished my first full day of boler reno work and got the frame off. It is not out from under the body but I should be able to get that done tomorrow, or next weekend. I had a couple hiccups, but that was due to the previous owner. I don't know if I am getting over my head with this project, but it's going to be fun. I am super sore after today so here are a couple pictures that show the problems and the progress I was able accomplish.
Friday 8 March 2013
Boler Work after work
So after doing a 10 hour shift at work I was feeling ok and figure I should start working on the boler. So I took out the two rear benches and the water tank. Only took a hour or so but makes progress to the project. Snapped a quick picture just so I remember how bad or good this boler really is. Hope to start and work on getting the frame off over the next couple weekends.
Got to get ready to camp this summer.