Double Bill

Well fearless reader, you have are about to receive the pleasure of not one but two dinner reviews. Hold on tight.

BUTTER CHICKEN

Well after the boarder had butter chicken on Tuesday night my wife and I discussed the pros and cons of making butter chicken. We internet searched a couple of recipes and it looked rather time consuming so I thought it was all for naught. Wasn't I wrong. After arriving home on wednesday evening from my dentist appointment what was a met with but a harried wife (three kids while trying to make a dish for the first time with no real instructions) and an amazing meal. I loved it and it was even better today at school for lunch. Turns out my better half had brought home a whole chicken, parts had been separated, and she decided that it was butter time. Here is what the rest of the tribe thought.


SMOKIES AND SALAD

Then this evening I arrive home to a classic weekend starter. Smokies and spaghetti salad. The coolest part of the dinner was that the son had made his own bun at preschool today. It was pretty good bread but I was later told that there were three tablespoons of sugar in the dough. That must have been what gave it that pastry quality. After dinner it was Peanut Buster Parfaits (2 dishes for the four of us, definitely shareable) and now we are at bath time.


Not wanting to jinx myself I have to say that the first week of this semester has been amazing. I know we are still in the honey moon phase but so far are I am not just staying above water but definitely swimming with the tide and catching the occasional wave. Not wanting fate to smite me I am trying to stay humble and appreciative. But things are pretty good.

TGIT

Well I made it. I think I am way way over tired because I am currently nursing one of my every other year, non hangover head aches. I even did a little yoga this morning but I just think the lack of sleep and long days has caught up with me. However, I have arrived at the beginning of my three day weekend so I should be all caught up by Sunday. As for dinner it was smokies and yam fries tonight. The Mrs. chipped in with a pasta salad. I am now thoroughly stuffed and other than pining for some beers life is good. I hope to be in bed and asleep by 8:00. Rots of ruck.

Remission.

In that I have been remiss in my blogging about dinner. First a quick strained smile. Interestingly, after downloading the pics I realised that two of the three meals I will present to you have the same guest in them, but first, more kid shots.The meal we will begin with is our almost thanksgiving dinner. This was last Monday. There was chicken roasted with assorted other stuffs. We had our local Japanese friend over. First there was a driving lesson (she passed her test on Thursday) and then there was some dinner. Good times had by all.Next up is my return dinner on Saturday night. It was yaki-soba grilled up on our teppan yaki. Big shout out for the wonderful wedding gift that keeps on giving. We grilled up a whole mess of noodles and vegetables. This was followed by some hot apple crumble with ice-cream and the jello and fruit mixture which the same guest provided. Gotta love guests.
This kid wasn't happy because all he got was breast milk and apples. Get used to it is all I can say.
So we finally make it to this evening. From conception to table there was a very short timeline on this evenings dinner. Basically at 3:30 we had no idea what we were going to have and by 5:00 everything was hot on the table. This included a shop for ingredients. The soup was a squash bisque (I saw bisque written somewhere recently and I liked the sound of it) with tomatoes and carrots. It was a little sweet for my taste but we served it with rice and the kids didn't complain for the most part. In my second bowl I added a few shots of tabasco sauce and the flavour literally exploded off the old flavo-meter. Definitely hit that nail on the head.We will see if my consistency stays spotty or if I turn things around on the old blog front. It seems my life has been a little too busy recently. I am sure it will calm down again soon. Say December 27th or there abouts. I won't hold my breath. Finally a shot of me and son. Serious, deadly serious.

Easy Party

Usually when we have people over for dinner we snow ourselves under with the entree. We make something that is time consuming and tricky and spend a lot of time after the guests arrive cooking. Last night we made the smart choice of having hot dogs and smokies as our main course. On the side we had a caesar salad, a bean salad, veggies and dip, nachos and guacamole. We accompanied our home made buns/mini loaves with some store bought buns and that definitely kept the younger set satisfied. We also barbecued some yam fries, onions and mushrooms to go with the smokies.The caesar salad was made from a recipe I picked up on the net and it was good. The bean salad with mint was great as usual. We had real sour cream in the veggie dip and that was tasty.

As well as a lovely meal we also had a great time with the people who came over. The kids played from 3:00 to 9:00 and were just awesome. They played outside and down stairs and for the most part we didn't even notice them as we chatted upstairs. Yes, other kids makes for a good time.

Here is the picture of me making hot dog buns last night. To my family I have to say, whoa. For the first time I see it. I do bear an uncanny resemblance to my father. To me it looks like someone has pasted his face onto my body.
I must be getting old.

Three Times the Fun

Well I have been a little remiss in my blogging so this evening you get not one, not two, not three, not four, okay actually it is three blogs. I just got carried away.

Lets go back to Thursday. It was a warm afternoon and I had a school function to attend starting at seven so we decided on something simple. Smokies. I have come to enjoy my smokies on a split cheese bun. Really the bun should be toasted but even just right out of the bag it is still good. Coincidentally, these were cheese smokies so it was a double cheese night. The kids aren't much into the buns. They are all about the smoky. Unbeknownst (first time typing that and boy it sure feels wrong to type) to them there were side dishes with this evenings meal. I whipped up some garlic mashed taters to ride side saddle with some pasta salad that had been featured in the lunch portion of Thursday's menu. A grand meal all around. However, with smokies in the mix it would take another day before the daughter managed a, "these mashed potatoes are so good."

As for Friday I was feeling much the worse for wear. Late nights and general festoonary tend to have that effect on me. I am sure other people had something else but I was more than satisfied chowing down on the wifes bean salad mixed with the last portion from the third to last jar of our homemade hot salsa. I have to say the mint and cilantro in the bean salad really take the salsa to a strange and wonderful place. Once again other people ate other stuff. It just isn't coming to me right now.

Today we spent a fair bit of time out side picking stuff. It started with the last of the Hoary Alyssum in the front lawn and ended with these bad boys. Now you might be thinking that they should be a little more red before we pick them.Well the birds don't wait so if you don't get them just as they are breaking into ripeness, you just plain don't get them. Also at this stage we have yet to come across any wormy cherries. Everyone keeps warning us and I did find a few cherry pests while in the tree but so far everything is looking cherry licious. And yes we are warning the kids about the possible side effects of eating too many. But that is probably something they just have to experience first hand.

As for dinner it was a pizza night this evening. I bought some hot "something something" salami. I know it will come to me.... Not yet. Anyways, I really need to stick to the chorizo sausage I bought last time. The salami is good but not great. We managed hold off on eating the third and fourth pizza for the most part so lunch or breakfast should be pretty good tomorrow.

This last picture is a testament to the satisfaction factor of my pizza. The came, they ate, they slept.

Fall Cookout

Just like every good cookout this one had sushi. I called up some friends yesterday morning and said something along the lines of lets have a wiener roast in our back yard tomorrow. And now today is tomorrow so we had a cook out. The wife decided to make salad and then late in the game decided to throw in some sushi. Gotta love it when she gets the feeling. Isn't she just lovely. I get luckier every day. Anyways, I was in charge of the fire and the smokies, the guests brought the smores ingredients and our neighbour next door dropped off some peanut butter chocolate drop cookies. Along with the beers I bought in the afternoon it was truly a feast. Unfortunately, neither the smores, the fire, the smokies, nor the cookies managed to make it into a picture before getting gobbled up. Hers is the sushi before it was sliced.
In other news the daughter lost her first tooth today. Now saying lost is probably putting it slightly incorrectly. Last night it was still quite firmly in place, I mean there was a good wiggle there but not much more. So she pushed it way back and got it half way there and spent the evening and night complaining about her sore tooth and agreeing that she should have listened to us. It turns out the possibility of getting money for the tooth from the tooth fairy was just to pressing. So this morning it was no longer sore and was hanging mostly off. So she got a tissue, a good grip and ripped it out. Sure hope the tooth fairy can find a loonie.
My final section tonight is because I am pissed off. It may end up having no point so read on at your own peril.

I read today that the American government is going to spend about a trillion dollars of taxpayers money to try and fix the financial mess that they are in. I heard a commentator maybe 3 months ago talking about a law that was introduced after the great depression. It meant that financial institutions couldn't invest in sketchy investments like the sub prime mortgages. Then in the nineties the law was repealed because it was seen as punishing the big institutions because they couldn't reap the benefits of investing in all these new investment schemes. And now the American economy is in the crapper and threatens to pull the rest of us down with it because people believed the market was all powerful. The same Free Market Capitolists who fought to get that law repealed so that the "market could take care of itself" now want a bail out so that they can get their market going again. I can't tell you how frustrated I am. I feel like I am taking crazy pills, to borrow someone elses words. Do people not see what is going on? Will people ever get over their desire to have more? Is greed just part of our nature? There are people out there who have made millions of dollars which now need to be paid out by the rest of us in taxes. Why aren't all the people who made money on the way up charged. It just seems so monumentally unfair that some can rape and pillage the market and leave the rest of us holding the bag. I have no idea what my piddly little mutual fund is valued at these days but I am sure I don't want to know. Of course this begs the questions, Should I even have a mutual fund. There has to be a better way.

On conclusion I don't think that was very coherent. But I am moving on. Tomorrow is another day.

Don't get the wrong impression

We really don't eat smokies at every other meal. We just had left overs and couldn't muster the strength to think of something more creative. We did barbecue some eggplant, no sauce, no oil, just straight dry barbecue. Afterwards we drizzled a little soy sauce on them and it was very nice. Quite Japanese tasting if you ask me. The coleslaw has made it from Giant bowl to a small bowl to a large sized tupperware and I think we are now into a small sized tupperware. Eventually it will be eaten and another giant bowl will be made for some festivity or another. The rice was cooked with peas and curry powder and was a nice change.

On a totally different note I am boycotting UPS at least until I order something else off the internet. The loot bags I sourced from some novelty place in the states had an original shipping fee of 18 dollars. Rather steep on a 26 dollar purchase but it still was within budget, had all the things I wanted and meant neither my wife nor I had to go searching for the stuff. However, when UPS left their little note today saying there as a 21 dollar brokerage fee -- $3.43 in taxes, the rest for doing the work -- i lost it. Talking with the novelty company on line they were unrepentant, "it says it in many places on our website" what is says is that there will be some duty, taxes or brokerage fees. No mention that UPS will stick their greasy mitt deep into your wallet and double their fee. The UPS lady was slightly more sympathetic though completely unapologetic. To top it off I was calling to arrange a better drop off time tomorrow, as no one is home when they plan to come by, and the service agent replies, "well I can't guarantee a drop off time as they will be there when they get there on their route." Service. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes it gets you. This kid better have one wicked ass time at her Birthday. My luck they will all end up playing with the boxes and I will be left with 13 x 7 novelty items and 13 bags to put them in. Should have left it all up to the wife. Saving money never felt so good.

June 19th and 20th

For the sake of brevity I will wrap up whole camp trip in one blog. Hope this works for you.

Ah the first camping trip of the year. We plan to go again pre-Japan. It should be out at Kettle River provincial park. Should be some good tubing. Some good marshmallow roasting. Everyone is welcome. No set date yet so if you want us to plan around you we can get it done. Just has to be in the next four weeks. This weekend Texas creek provincial park was great for us. Swimming, fishing, more swimming, more fishing, roasting marshmallows. Telling stories at bed time. (no ghost stories yet. We need the kids to sleep) We did not catch any fish but time spent at the river side/lake side with the kids messing around was awesome. Some day we will catch a fish and eat it and it will be great. I don't know when and am not willing to make a forecast but I am pretty sure it will happen. Had a bite that even jumped out of the water. It got away and was pretty small but it is a start. So that was camping, now for dinner.

Camp night one. The set up. Seeing as we arrived at 5:30 and it had been a regular work/school/home day I didn't think we would have it in us to cook after setting up. So the wife mentioned the roast chickens that you get at a local grocer. Still warm when we sat down to eat. I shredded and the children consumed. I think we had other food. Some veggies and dip. Some home made onigiri (rice balls). And of course the requisite beer. Can't have camping without beer.

Camp night two. We went all out and had the classic camp fare. The lipton instant noodles. They are called side kicks now but they still make great camp meals. All you need to bring is the milk and margarine and you have instant flavour. The daughter slurped up about 1/3 of all noodles made. Wifes comment, "she loves MSG." We also roasted smokies on the fire. These were the mozzarella filled smokies. The cheese dripping out and sizzling on the fire provided great amusement to the kids. Sliced and whole we went through six smokies. Most were eaten cut up into chunks. For dessert we had roasted and unroasted marshmallows with milk chocolate. We skipped the graham crackers. No big loss. The fire and my years of experience provided for some molten marshmallows that never got black. All in all a good weekend of camping. Two nights was good. We had to be back for a birthday party. I think we will stretch our next outing to three nights.

Invitation Night.

Well this evening was smokies and salad. I managed to score a DQ double cheeseburger for lunch on top of a fried egg sandwich for breakfast so I believe I had already met my caloric needs for the day. However, I still managed to make my way through two pan fried smokies. Now if you are starting to cringe at the unwholesomeness of today's fare then I will add that there was also a green salad as well as a bean salad. Our garden continues to produce an abundance and neighbours (with the u joey always with the u) are starting to bring us some of their extra produce. We will be drying our own dill this weekend and that should see us through another year. Upon further consultation my chef and I decided that the bean salad could have used a touch more vinegar but it still had a snazzy assortment of flavours. The post dinner family outing was dropping off birthday invitations to the friends that do not attend kindergarten with us. We will get the kindergarten friends as soon as we know all the addresses. Already have one no and one maybe. Have played charlie brown to a summer birthday's Lucy myself I shouldn't be surprised at the number of people going on vacation. Heck we are doing it ourselves. But it still hurts a little bringing back those memories of all the, "sorry we are going to be away then." Meh, more cake for me.

Saturday, June 14th

Just about a perfect day. We set up the tent trailer in the back yard this morning. The kids spent all day in and out of it. After that I spent three hours, thirty dollars, 15 curse words and lots of sweat to change the washers in 4 faucet handles. No more drips down stairs. Yeah. I also now own a brand new crescent wrench which still couldn't solve my problem. The ultimate solution was locking pliers and a hammer. Sure the piece is stripped but at least I could get it off. After that our daughters friend and his dad came over to enjoy a barbecue with us. They brought burgers, we had smokys and everyone had baked potatoes and coleslaw. Sitting outside in the shade of the camper we had a lovely evening. Then I made a fire and we roasted marshmallows. Smores were made as well but the kids seemed more into just eating the squishy insides of their burnt marshmallows and then tossing the burnt skins into the fire. After our friends went home we spent this night sleeping outside in our tent trailer. No complaints here.

Thursday, April 24th.

This evening we were very lucky to have some deer meat smokies. They were given to us by my good friend Jack Lucky. He has the luxury of no longer being tied to the school year and gets to go hunting and fishing at his semi-leisure. In any case these smokies were awesome. I know there are some who would scorn my use of ketchup on something as precious as homemade smokies. But I worship the read sauce and must pay homage whenever the opportunity arises. You, dear reader, may be wondering about the carrots. The were pickled with the jalapenos you also see on the bun. Spicy smoky greatness. The bun was a nice baggeute cut up into smoky sized buns. After a long (four day) work week I deserve this kind of glorious fare.