Early Start

Well lets start with dinner. After a busy day with early birds arriving to check out garage sale items (two day early, can you believe it -- more on this later), the pizza ended up coming out a little late so the Mrs. made veggies and dip to tide the crowd over. The crowd was pleased as you can see above they were vieing for optimal position in the bowl. Below our youngest diner is enjoying some of natures harvest.
The regular was up for pizza tonight although the Mrs. threw in a nice twist. She got the big green olives from extra foods. The kind you choose yourself and then put in a little plastic container. So salty and meaty. So good.
The kids had the usual ham and pineapple goodness.
This evenings dough is worth mentioning. I used one cup of whole wheat with two cups of white. Then prepared the dough two different ways. Two of the crusts were hand spread using the technique that sister R brought back from Italy with her. The other two were dusted then rolled with rolling pin. The rolled crusts were nice and uniform however the pulled crusts were fluffier and fuller. The rolling pin crusts made larger area pizzas but the thrown ones weren't that much smaller. I think the one whole to two white is the highest whole to white ratio I can do and still manage to throw it. Anything higher and if I throw the dough it ends up with rips. So we are still learning lots. I do need to add a third flavoured pizza to my rotation. I don't really want to cook a meat for it but I am also not a big lover of vegetarian pizza. I think the bacon cheeseburger pizza with ground beef, onions, cheddar and maybe some bacon might be the answer. Or we used to make a bbq chicken pizza which was pretty nice. Then again there is the feta, spinach and tomato pizza which we have done on occasion. I just need to work on one of these so when we have guests and have to make more than four pizzas I can add another flavour into the rotation.

Now we still have the garage sale update. As of close of business today we have sold the trampoline, ping pong table, rototiller, guitar case, tree sprayer, kids john deere tractor, wheel barrow, black couch, one dresser, various kitchen implements, five movies and possibly my golf clubs. Almost managed to sell the bedroom set but the guy backed out at the last minute. Apparently his wife didn't think they were dark enough to match the bed frame. Picky picky.

Did I mention the garage sale doesn't start until Saturday. Early birds have taken a lot of the good stuff but there is still lots to go. If you look at yesterdays blog you can see the difference a day makes. Things are starting to come together in the old garage.

There is still lots of organizing to do tomorrow but at least stuff is mostly in the right spot now and everything is accessible. I sure hope we get enough young families through here as the toys we are getting rid of are pretty awesome. I am definitely going to have my salesmans cap on come Saturday.

What I will not have to sell is our video collection.
Yes they are cassettes but if you double click the image and take a closer look you will see how many true gems there are in the collection. The guy who picked up the ping pong table today actually said, "you wouldn't happen to have adventures in babysitting would you?" and I said no because I recommended it to the people who bought the tiller and tractor this morning. However, as the daughter pointed out they took stuart little 2. So there it was and now it has found a new home. Videos are 2 for a dollar or 5 for two dollars. Can't go wrong at that price and I hope everyon takes home five. I will miss having them but I have to say there is something very cathartic about getting all your worldly belongings down to a 10 x 10 storage area.

Wish us luck for tomorrow.

ps. Does anyone want a set of Encyclopedia Brittanica circa 1980. Beautiful books, almost totally useless today. I wonder if they can be recycled.

Saturday Round Up.

Okay so technically it is Sunday morning but I am still not in bed so I am going with Saturday night. We have had a couple of dinners and some work done around here this weekend so let me catch you up.Friday night I got my pizza on. You can see here in the first photo that the kids were not happy about something. I think there was dissension over which movie should be watched or something along those lines. However, the post pizza politics were much more amicable and the evening went off pretty well. This Mrs and I dined or our classic salami (salsa salami this week) and vegetable pizza. Big chunks of zucchini were the star attraction.

Then this evening we had a plentitude of dishes cooked up for our gustatory pleasure. The first dish below was a noodle soup created by the daughter. We renewed the cook books from last week and she finally got to make something. She was a little disappointed at the lack of heartiness but she didn't fry the onions or mushrooms at the start and we didn't have any soup powder on hand. It was still nice. Very Japanesey in the subtleness of its flavours.

The Mrs. went to town with some panfried salmon in miso. This was a flavour revolution. From the soup to this was like dial up to high speed. Instead of a regular salad we had the family favourite veggies and dip. I am really starting to dig watching the kids with their own bowls of dip just powering down the veggies. The son had big love for the salmon too. The wife also cooked up the last squash from our fall harvest and put on some rice to close the deal. It was outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it. This is the youngest during preparation. He had had a big day crawling around and investigating things in the house. We are already getting ready for the sadness that the end of his crawling baby phase will bring.
However, life must go on. And on it went this weekend. I managed to get two coats of primer down in the entraceway and bathroom. White is bright. Both areas are so so much lighter than they were previously. And being done with the hideous salmon colour in the bathroom is truly a blessing. I only have to paint the bathroom door tomorrow and then phase two of home improvements will be done. For comparison I have brought back the before pictures. The after pictures are only after one coat of primer so things are looking even better now that we have two on. The question is whether to get a tint in the finishing coat or to just get some white and let the next owners decide on their colours. That is a tough call.

Final Supper

... of 2009. We decided to take the year out in style and went for ... can't stand the tension.... drum roll please.... Pizza! (shouted like the greek "Opa"). Yeah to put this year to bed it seemed like the obvious choice. We also had veggies and dip. Finger food or snacky food as the wife likes to call it. The kids enjoyed their final feast while watching a film. Notice the lack of eye contact with the camera.I got some hot chorizo sausage for the adult pizza tonight but the flavour didn't really come through. That said, the green peppers, mushrooms, olives and red onions brought a flavour tsunami crashing into this meal. So the meat was extraneous. Although it does add a nice touch to the picture.
Here is the Mrs. eating her dinner. Note the veggies and dip, a little runny this evening. I would love to add two or three tablespoons of sour cream to the dip but then you have most of a tub of sour cream left and it seems like it would go to waste.

On a blogging note it has been a pretty week couple of months here. Just haven't had the routine going. Weird nights and minimal motivation. I am pretty conflicted of how I will proceed with the blog in the new year. Haven't spent a lot of time thinking about possible options but I have definitely lost the thread on posting about dinner.

Well things are falling apart behind me. I have two kids in tears. As mom used to say, having to watch your kids fight is definitely the worst.

Happy 2010.

Santa Sunday

Well here is us hanging with Mr Claus. The kids all got scored some loot and got to watch "Cloudy with Meatballs" as part of the bargain. They had all seen the movie once or twice but still stayed in their seats enjoying it the whole time. I think they may have been giving away plot points to the patrons around them but I was at the back with the wife and baby so I can't say for sure. In any case it was a pretty special day as usual.

For dinner we had chicken strips with rice and veggies and dip. The Mrs. had to actually scold the son for not eating his chicken strips. He just wouldn't stop putting back the veggies. The Mrs. also made a version of humus only we added cilantro and probably didn't add very much salt. It was great with the veggies as well. With one week till winter vacation I am just trying to keep my nose above water. I think I can, I think I can.

Friday Night Pizza

Doesn't she look pleased. It must be the pizza. Once again 2 to 1 for white to whole wheat flour in the crust. Standard amounts. Sauce on first, then in the oven, then topped while sitting on the stone. The kids had crushed pineapple tonight. It was harder to put on but I think it still went well. The adults had olives, red pepper, mushrooms, onions and gypsy salami. I think we are going with gypsy salami as our featured processed topping. It has the heat, doesn't have that greasy oily salami feel which I don't like. Not to dry. It feels just about right.
The littlest kid is definitely a going concern. Getting around, eating anything he can find on the floor. He also likes to pull himself up and see what is going on at the higher elevations.As for me I had a pretty full and very satisfying day. Ate breakfast, marked tests, did yoga, ate lunch, went for run, had a dentist visit and made pizza. We are now going to watch the movie, "Caroline." No idea what it is about but the daughter has seen part of it and wants to see the rest. Lots of pizza leftovers. You'll need to be here before lunch to have a shot at them. Breakfast would probably be safer.

Double Dipping

Without the sauce. I couldn't get the blog to pick up a picture last night so here is yesterday and today. Last night we had some wicked awesome fish cakes. The Mrs. steamed the potato for mixing with the salmon and it was so good. The daughter was literally raving about them. Up top you can see some cheese buns that were whipped up while I worked. My favourite portion of the meal was the bean salad. The crispness of our beans is just crazy. Beans are my new garden food. If I forget please remind me the next time I am planting a garden. More beans. The other salad was also a garden gala. Tomatoes and cukes with a little bit of dressing. A fully satisfying Sunday supper.Below is what we were treated to this evening. The Mrs. got on it early today. She was working on the squash salad (similar to potato but with ... well you get it) as I left the house for work. I arrived home with the oldest to find meatballs in sauce sitting on the stove. After a hand off at the rink (Mondays two kids skate) I sat and froze while the pasta was boiled. Then we arrived home to this. Still hungry but I think I have had enough. Probably just need some water.
Well I'm busy busy. Lots to do before wednesday at lunch. Wish me luck.

Tough Times.

Well we have been off line for the last two days. Still eating well but just busy and the blog has taken a bit of a hit. First off we were dealing with this.If you go back a couple of days you can actually see the celery seeds that were used to season the chicken. It is now my belief that what we have here is an allergic reaction to celery seeds. It seems like an obvious choice because he ate a bunch of the chicken and we haven't had anything else out of the ordinary recently. He is feeling a whole lot better today and all the hives are gone. In a few more day I plan to do my own scratch test with some celery seeds to see if it was indeed the culprit.This is us enjoying dinner tonight. Kids are currently outside playing as the light slowly settles into a warm late summer dusk.This evening was barbecue pork with rice and finger food. The pork was done in a miso garlic paste and turned out very well. The salsa was made with store bought garlic so it was a little spicy. It also took up all of the lemon so the veggie dip was without. Both were noted by our oldest and it was a cause of some gustatory friction. However, with a little vinegar and some sweet talking a catastrophe was avoided and the kids are both now crunching on mint chocolate chip ice cream cones while the wife eats toblerone in the kitchen. My treat was beer.

Finally we have a little gaffer who can now play on his own. I am sure he is saying something really important. Just haven't decoded it yet.

Sorry the video never loaded. It is up on youtube however, check it out. Very cute.

Last Supper

Well with the school year starting tomorrow we whipped up a farewell to summer feast to be proud of. The Mrs. made a fish nimono. The critters in question were little white fish of some description. Frozen on the counter they definitely left something to be desired. However, after the wife worked her magic they were transformed into the lovely protein portion of this evenings meal. Her magic soup has fresh ginger, soy sauce, sake and sugar. The bok choy and fish were then simmered until totally immersed in the flavour.
I was in charge of the vegetable portion of this evenings meal and went with a stuffed zucchini ala net. Mushrooms, onions, eggplant, and garlic were sauteed with salt, pepper and thyme. The big zuccs were boiled for ten, sliced in half and then had their guts scooped out. The guts were mashed and strained for water content and then they were fried where the other ingredients had been. The sauteed goods were returned after a bit and then it was all transferred to a bowl to add in some grated cheese. This was then spooned into the empty shells, some more cheese was sprinkled over the top and it was baked at about 450 for 15 minutes, grilled for about two and then it was served. It must be Armageddon because the daughter had three helpings. Of zucchini, can you believe it.

Well the party is over now. But on the bright side I will start getting paid again.

Ducks for Dinner

No we didn't eat them. The daughter has been checking out the baby ducklings in a classroom down the hall from hers. So this weekend we are the proud parents to three little swimmers. I boldly signed on for all four nights but if it gets to be too much we can always back out. Here is some video.



I built the little duck run in the back yard using some second hand fencing and post material sourced from next door. Yes, the second hand stuff comes through again. Loving it. Should be a busy weekend, what with the ducks and possibly putting up the slide. I mean it could be a big time weekend. Or not. Time will tell.

We did eat dinner tonight. The Mrs. worked up a wonderfully light and lovely almost vegetarian meal. There was the spinach dip made with tofu, very garlicky and delicious this evening. Next there were the wraps with a little bit of fried mushroom and chicken. These were topped with the veggies and dip.

Maybe he is worried about wrinkles. This was all him by the way. Part lunatic. Good times. Now I am thinking of hitting up some ice cream. Everyone else is in bed so I will feel a little guilty. But I'll deal with it.

Here is a self taken shot. I think it turned out pretty well.

Honey Curry

In the sense that the wife said, "honey can you make some tofu chick pea curry." We passed at the intersection between the two schools. I was about to head home with the family when I found out they were going to play at a friends house. And I was going home to make dinner. As you can see it all worked out. The curry was good but next time, when I food process the chick peas I will add the apple chunks first. I think apple sauce is better than apple chunks for the flavour I am going for. The wife also put together some salad and I whipped up a snacking plate of cheese, carrots, cucumber and crackers. I guess it really should have been called a cnacking plate. Hee hee. Well one more work day this week. Lets see if I can make it.

Swine and Cheese

Well I know it is going to be a good day when the daughter manages to put together an outfit like the one she had on today. There was pink in the socks, and an orange design on her shirt. I actually asked her to pose for a couple of snaps before we headed out the door. I especially liked the necklace accessory. Unfortunately, this moment of grace and light was followed by one of utter exasperation. This guy was found for the second day running in the garden. One more of my precious yellow cherry tomato seedlings was unceremoniously toppled. Now all the remaining seedlings have tin foil wrapped around them. Strange days out in the garden. We have caught and killed more than a dozen of those little buggers. The real question is how many more lurk out there. It could be in the hundreds. In one little patch of dirt the daughter managed to rustle up six. Really kind of staggers the brain. Lets hope tinfoil does the trick.

As for dinner the wife said she was going to do something simple as I went running after school. Imagine my great delight to arrive home to steamed vegetables with a tangy sour cream topping. Also some perfectly fried porkchops and a healthy (both in size and content) serving of rice. After dinner we managed to get in some gardening time, didn't make it to puppy play group, did play some pokemon, and finally brushed teeth and sent everyone off to bed. Full day and I am bushed. Lets hope tomorrow goes well.

Summah

Waddling home with the three kids today it was hot. Like warm breeze in the face looking for shady spots to walk in hot. The thermometer was only at 27 but with the sun smothering us from above it felt way hotter. The reason I was walking home with all three was that the Mrs. had left them with me. We met at the elementary school and she took off for her run while I head home with the gang. Everything went smoothly until I woke on the living room floor to start of a "pick me up please" cry. However, mom was already back and catching a quick shower so I was not forced to provide a feed.
I was required to provide some feed for the other folk. This evening that came in the form of some barbecue chicken. Now that says summer. The kids actually ate outside. The grown ups enjoyed the more refined (this is a questionable claim) environs of our dining room. I hope you note the healthy spinach dip from yesterday. Also the last of the watermelon. Man is watermelon ever good. On the plate with the chicken you can also see some garlic pan fried green beans with the last of the red cabbage coleslaw. The plate at the top is not my salad. It was a communal veggie dipping plate.

So now that I am once again stuffed it is time to brush some teeth and watch bugsy malone. Hitting some nostalgic notes this week. Hope the kids like it.

We Got Chicken.

So they had to bulk packs of chicken on sale today. Buy one get one free. It worked out to about a buck a pound. They were big packs which means we had over 50 drumsticks in our house this afternoon. 13 have now been accounted for as we had a shake and bake night. The son powered down four drumsticks, two helpings of rice and a fair amount of boiled carrots, peas and corn (some peas were still cold, how long does one need to boil frozen peas? I just can't get it right). The daughter made short work of three and will be having one for lunch tomorrow. Me and the Mrs. took care of the rest. Good dinner and good start to the week. We have it planned all the way out to Sunday. Lets hope we manage to keep things on track.

In another nice turn of events we got an e-mail from the new Mrs. at the wedding we attended recently. Here are some pics of us turned out in our finest. Pretty weird to have the two shot. Those pesky kids are almost always messing any pictures that are being taken of us these days. I also like the black and white one below. We got two versions of it but in the other one my eyes are closed but you can really see my son.
I figured you would all like this one better.

Shake and Dip

Well the shake and bake chicken came back tonight. The main seasoning ingrediants were garlic powder, basil and chili powder. I think it turned out well but I would have liked to bake it for another 15 minutes. It was getting late and everyone was hungry but 40 minutes was a little border line. Chicken still scares me. As it is, I had the thicker pieces. I may try skinning some pieces next time as the wife never gets to eat the seasoning. I don't think it will be as juicy but the flavour will be there. I smell an experiment coming. The turnip was boiled forever and just wouldn't get all mooshy. Or we have a very weak masher. Veggies and dip to round things out and it was a nice night. The dip was a lemon, yogurt, dill affair with some crumbled soft tofu thrown in for good measure. Actually it was made from a recipe the wife found somewhere. It works.

This next pic is of the latest child playing with one of those baby amusers. He can actually bat the dog around now and make the thing bark. Now whether he is batting it or it is just some random arm motion we don't know. However, as always, I am thinking genius.

Except for the cross eyed fixation on the bumble bee. That is more Jerry Lewis than Albert Einstein.

Light eating.

Well with Miso soup and pan fried salmon you have to be feeling like a culinary king. Not to mention the steamed veggies. Yes I ate very well this evening. Only, I had most of a hollow chocolate Easter egg from my kids left over Easter candy right after getting in the door. Bad me.

Note to self. Next year buy the kids chocolate yourself and limit others to small gifts(under ten dollars per kid), not chocolate . Really though it was a great dinner. However, the picture could probably be recycled. I mean we have pan fried salmon with rice and miso, sometimes the veggies are steamed, sometimes stir fried, sometimes salad. The daughter was raving about the garlic slices that were fried up with the salmon. It was good. I'm just saying it wasn't inspiring. Maybe I am just feeling the second year blahs. Everything seems to be repeating. Didn't I already say that.

Pizza and Babies

No we didn't eat any babies for dinner. We just had a two month old come over and do some crying, feeding, napping and burping beside our one month old who did some crying, feeding, napping and burping. Sometimes they cried at the same time, sometimes they napped at the same time. Most of the time they didn't. Anyways it was a good night with the old pizza oven making its presence felt. The wife also whipped up some spinach dip and veggies but I didn't get any pictures. We used the mexican salami this evening and it worked out very well. Lots of veggies and I didn't forget the olives. I also made the dough well in advance and let a few of the crusts rise before adding the toppings. Very very nice.
Our guests brought chocolate smartie ice-cream. I guess you could say that the kids weren't too put out. Major fan favourite.

Actually this evenings dinner went quite smoothly as I did most of the prep before our guests arrived. In the end we had a pretty good service to conversation ratio. Nothing like little tiny oblivious babies bringing people closer together. I can't wait until they are at the stage where they will try and poke each other's eyes out. Baby savagery, not to be missed.

Finger feast.

Well we started making a new movie today. Its got a princess, a witch, a dragon and a parrot. If you want to know where it is on YouTube then drop me a comment and I will send you the URL once I have it edited and posted. Now on with dinner. Originally it was supposed to be a pork stir fry night but I never took out the pork this morning to thaw so at 4:30 as I was supposed to start making dinner it was still a solid block of ice. The wife had tried to save my butt and took it out around lunch time but it was too late. So instead we took out some chicken nuggets and the leftover french fries from the perogie night and that was dinner. That and the wicked awesome spinach dip the wife made. Now knowing the wife there was no cream cheese or sour cream in this bad boy. Instead there was tofu and homemade yogurt. But it still rocked. Not your classic spinach dip but it was still awesome with both nacho chips and raw veggies. I say next time add a little cream cheese and send it over the top. But it was still delish. So with some not hot salsa, this was a total finger food night. The wife mentioned as she looked over the dearth of dishes, "we didn't use a single fork." Nice.