Boys Night

Not that we had any special night, it was just the wife was taking the pics and the daughter had already finished. So yeah just us boys.


I think we all look pretty much the same. Da Boys. Well onward and upward. Lets talk about dinner.

We made wraps this evening. There were two types of filling for the wraps. There was a curry tofu filling and a bean and pepper filling. The bean and pepper went better with salsa and guacamole. I had the tofu filling just with rice and cheese. They were gooey and a little sloppy and just great. I had three in total and am now feeling quite full. Although... when the wife offered up the idea of cracking open a bottle of red wine I was in. We also had two bags of chips this evening. Dill pickle for the boy, sea salt for the girl. I had a huge amount of both. Well after the fact, and with me quite oblivious as I was getting my blog up and listening to some "This American Life", the kids talked mom into making another set of "Mug Cakes." These are some crafty little cakes you make in a small mug in the microwave. We had some last night and they were tasty yet a little tough. This evenings fare however was springy, chocolaty and reminded one somewhat of pudding and somewhat of cake.

And the daughter managed to get in the show. You had to know she would.

It was a banner day here. Library, shopping, filling holes with drywall compound, talking to possible realtors, swimming at the pool, renting a wall paper steamer. I cannot be overly critical with the fact that I didn't get a run in. Tomorrow will be here soon enough. Moving to Japan in the Summer is starting to get pretty darn real.

Winter Show 2009

Well first off lets talk dinner. We had wraps this evening. They consisted of rice, bean and cauliflower sauce, fresh mozzarella, spinach and salsa. Quite a lovely mixture if I do say so myself. After dinner it was right out the door.
Because it is that Christmas season again and we were fortunate enough to have our daughter get a solo in her pageant at school. The video link is at the bottom. In the show she played Cupid. Here she is with the make up and antlers on. I think it works.Here is the full effect with brother doing his best to steal the scene.The best part of the night was right after being told not to take off her make up from the dress rehearsal this afternoon she walks back into the dining room with her face pristine. Apparently she wanted to get made up again. We put some fear into her that they weren't going to redo her make-up and even she was hard pressed to explain why she had cleaned her face when she was going right back out to do the show this evening. But in the end she got her make up done and had a great performance. The performance can be seen here. Along with some video of the boys playing at home.

Gratuitous Baby shot.

Home Cooking fo Sho.

Well we got our home cooking on this evening. The only really unfortunate part was I started to late and everyone had to snack before the main course.

So after the afternoon nap I got up to the idea of having steak fajitas wrapped in home made tortillas (the wife was egging me on). I tried to get the Mrs. to go for steak but she was not in the mood and told me to take out a can of beans instead. I'll give her this, at least she made the rice. I was in salsa mode as we had been to the local produce farm and had u-picked a bunch of tomatoes and peppers. So I started in making a batch of kids salsa (no hot peppers allowed) and then got to work kneading up some tortilla balls. These were then rolled and fried on the pan. One got way over done and surprisingly turned into Nan. Who knew. The other tortillas were nice. I whipped up some fried onions, pepper, zucchini and garlic to round out our wraps and voila.Wrap glory ala us. There is a little kids salsa and a few shots of hot sauce on there too. Very very nice.

With the wraps under wraps I started ladling kids salsa into jars and then it was into the water bath for them. And into the bath for the kids. Once all the bath times were over I got into adult salsa mode. Sultry and hot. Two giant jalapenos and four big chiles really added some punch. Then I put in one Habanero. As I was chopping it with some tomatoes in the food processor I actually had a moment where it was tough to breath. Man those are hot. So yeah this first batch of adult salsa should be pretty kick ass. Especially two or three months from now when the heat has seeped into every corner of the jar.Although I have already got two jars accounted for as I have to pay back some friends for some pretty good favours this summer. Damn friendly people liking salsa. Just once I want some favour doer to say, "no I don't like spicy food." Either that or I should start offering something else.

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.

It moves

Well with the daughter gone for a play day this afternoon the boys in the house had to entertain themselves. This picture here is us reading the son's pokedex. You know, what does a Ralts become and at what level does and Abra become a Kadabra. The really pressing questions in life. After we tired of that we decided to get out the jolly jumper. Now lets preface this with the fact that we have owned the jolly jumper for seven years and neither of the first two children enjoyed it. However, the smallest of our brood seems to have gotten off on the right foot, so to speak. Now if we can just keep the other son from violently swinging him things should be okay.



As for dinner we stir fried up some cubed chicken breasts in a ginger garlic honey sauce. Some other veggies were stir fried up afterwards and then we wrapped up the whole deal with some crispy noodles in some lettuce leaves. Mmmm good Sunday night victuals. (had to look up the spelling) Our first summer plan has fully fallen into place. We are going to Vancouver Island for a night or two. Yee haw. Which means I have to get on the registration for summer swimming lessons. Definitely going to do that tomorrow. Wednesday at the latest. Hold me to this.

Is it the weekend?

I mean when you have three options for your wrap filling things are looking pretty good. Orginally I was just planning to make a tuna salad and a salmon salad option for this evenings wraps. However, the daughter mentioned she would not eat either so I threw in a chick pea and green pea curry as a third option. The fish salads were made from canned tuna and salmon. I minced some onion and soaked it in vinegar to start off both salads. The tuna then had minced carrot and celery added with some mayonaise, salt and pepper. The salmon salad was minced red pepper with our home made yogurt. I also whipped up some guacamole to go along with the shredded romaine lettuce and the left over rice. I had three wraps and feel great about it. This is the kidlet and he looks like he is waving. He is sitting beside the home made bear he got yesterday. Gotta love people who go the extra distance.This is a story of fatigue. I managed to get some quality conk out time with the youngster too. All in all another great day.

Double Trouble

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..... That is the sound of first semester ending. Sure I still have three exams to prepare, invigilate and mark but that is peanuts. Sure we are down at the coast next weekend. Meh.. Its done. I get my preparatory block back this semester. I get to do Calculus this semester. Weeeee...Three levels of concious. Un, barely, overly. Which is who? You decide.

In celebration of this momentous day, I decided last night I would make dinner. I told the wife we would be having wraps with two types of filling. One was mexican style, just ground beef, onions, garlic and red pepper fried up with chilli powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, some vinegar and ketchup. The other filling was a chick pea, tofu, coconut curry mixture. It had onions, garlic, mushrooms and some frozen corn added to it. Usually I mess up one of the fillings and dinner is a lop sided affair but this evening they both turned out. I like the anticipation of working without a recipe. Its kind of like the trapeeze without a net. Only I am starting to take my failures harder. Maybe I should be writing these down so that when they turn out I can duplicate them. Nah, lets face it. I would never even read the recipe the next time. I guess it will just always be an adventure.

To fill up the wraps we also laid out, rice, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, guacamole, salsa, home made hot pickles, and some french fries but they didn't show up until after the picture was taken. I had two wraps, a tonne of french fries and a left over pop from Christmas. Uncomfortable would be an apt adjective for my bodies condition right now. Only, when one feels uncomfortable is it an adverb because it is a way of feeling. Probably not. If it were uncomfortably maybe but I am sure someone wiser than myself has the answer to this one.

As you can see from the top picture, the son crashed out early this evening. He is currently sawing logs. The wife and daughter just had their bath and apparently the daughter was doing lengths in the tub. Where does she get the energy? Well that is all for tonight. Hopefully we will have some guests and a real feast to show you tomorrow.

Later

Ps. On further reflection, I had three wraps. That might have been the tipping point.

Tortillas and tournaments

This evening my wife cooked up the turkey breasts that we had planned to use for dinner last night. We had our favourite wraps, only this evening it was fried turkey, with the green pepper, onion and mushroom stir fry. There was some reheated rice (the japanese version of refried beans), shredded cheddar and some hot salsa for yours truly to round out the wrap. I had two and it was just the right amount. We also had a cucumber lettuce and chive salad with the onion and vinegar dressing. Sappari is the word in Japanese. It is like tart and refreshing. We did not have candy or ice cream after dinner, as we pointed out to two very disappointed children this had been kind of a hedonistic weekend and the holiday season is about to get into full swing. Okay we just said not tonight but we were definitely thinking of a rationale should one of our children read this at a later date. In any case, the post dinner hijinx which ensued below more than made up for any missed dessert. After the hijinx I had a bath with the kids (first time in a long time)and we all decided there would be enough room in the tub for a third kid as long as it was small and I lay on my side in a semi fetal position. After all that I planned to go back in to work but I just couldn't pull myself away. Now that I have blogged I will read a few more pages of the pokemon guide and then me and Mrs. will sit down to a video. What to watch what to watch.... hmmmm.

Thursday Sept 4th.

Well with three days in the bag and only one to go things are looking good. Had a good run after school and came home to find another amazing dinner being made. I jumped in to help and made a bowl of fresh salsa. I also made fresh tomato juice once again to keep the salsa from being to soupy. I then add a sprinkle of salt to the tomato juice and it was awesome. It did seem to be missing something but I didn't have the rest of a bloody mary so I enjoyed it virgin. The soup was made with the last of the pumpkin from last year. When I say pumpkin I mean pumpkin, as in jack'o lantern type pumpkin, not squash. It was awesome. I don't know if it is cumin or nutmeg but just that hint of spice sets it off nicely. The salad was good on the side, feta cheese crumbled over carrots lettuce tomatoes and cucumber. It was also nice wrapped up with the pan fried/steamed pork, the stir fried veggies, the previously mentioned salsa and some very lemony guacamole. I don't know what I did in a previous life to enjoy this bounty but I ain't complaining.

Saturday, June 21st

So after arriving home, unpacking, taking oldest to birthday party, more unpacking and just kind of getting back into being at home, dinner was the last thing on anyone's mind. I did eventually come up with the idea of egg salad sandwiches and soup. Soup and sandwiches is my final fall back position. Usually more so in the summer, but any time of year, sandwiches and soup make a great dinner. Light fare if that is what you are into. Heavy duty if you make the soup and the sandwiches thick enough. So that was the original plan. I boiled the eggs. Went to pick up oldest from birthday party and came back to make egg salad. Now a number of my siblings are not great egg salad fans. However, I am a true believer. I make mine with minced veggies like carrots and celery. A little mustard, mayo and today we added in the ominpresent dill. There are also some red peppers. With some vinegar and salt (totally forgot about pepper) the salad was complete. Strangely it became a wrap with a bunch of lettuce thrown in. Really quite nice. As for the soup you will have to wait until Tuesday. Really lacking in enthusiasm tonight.

Wednesday, June 18th.

ut
We had wraps this evening. We also had to get out the door quick so that we could be at Ultimate for 6:30 but there is more about that below. The real feature of this evenings feast was the creamy dill dressing. Nothing like having an overabundance of dill to let yourself go crazy. The dressing was so rich and dilly. It actually went perfectly with the home pickled jalapenos. The base was made from pan fried ground beef and assorted vegetables along with rice. The dressing along with the green salad and jalapenos finished it off. I realise I could have eaten them all separately but then why have a wrap. Notice my wrap is actually wrapped whereas the son has a sort of open faced dinner. He isn't so into the wrap. More of a shovel it in using a fork or spoon sort. When he gets really hungry he just hammers away, often getting nothing in his mouth but thoroughly enjoying the motion. So that was Wednesday.

Ulti Update: numbers were up but we didn't quite make it to seven a side. The other members better start bring people in. I am getting angry looks and people crossing the street when they see me. The pro-ultimate harassment might need to be turned down a notch.

Don't forget the Pumpkin

Well lets start where I forgot. The potato salad was made with pumpkin, yam, mayonnaise, boiled egg, potato and a little feta cheese. You will not be able to see it on my plate as I totally forgot to have some the first time around. I had it on the second trip, right before the second wrap. Strangely enough I am uncomfortably full right now. Yup, potato salad for seconds seems to be a sort of kiss o' death for me. It could be the beer with dinner as well. More research is definitely necessary.

Aside: There is no food content in this next part.

Currently my wife is scaring my son with a the loud arabic souffi yell that we learned last night to cheer on the belly dancers. He is running away from the kitchen. When he comes near again she does the yell and he runs off laughing and screaming. He tanks head first into the couch and starts the process again. This may go on all night I will keep you posted.

Now back to our regularly (no comments required) scheduled Post

... The complete dinner this evening was vegetarian. A heavy garlic influence was noted in the chick pea and bell pepper stir fry. It was served in a wrap with rice and home made salsa. The miso soup was very rich this evening and practically overflowing with bok choy. A perfect compliment to the lighter flavours in the wrap. Our garden keeps producing and this evenings dressing, dijon mustard, honey and lemon was a perfect sweet yet sour accent to the evening meal. The dark rich flavour of the Guiness acted as a foundation from which the other dishes could spring. I should be paying rent here. Did I mention I have five non-teaching days in a row coming up. Who the hell am I? Dang.

PS. The kids have moved on to dressing a pillow in a cardigan. No idea where this is going. See you tomorrow.

Wrap it up I'll take it.

This evenings dinner was brought to us by the letter W. For wrap. We had, a bean dish, similar to chili but not quite there. A pasta salad with various veggies and some hard boiled eggs. There was some left over feta cheese and spinach from the weekend. You put it all together and voila, as the French apparently say, the fixings for a wrap. Not your standard wrap innards but tasty all the same. I had some chips with the last of the crazy hot salsa. Man is it ever crazy hot. I actually think I will have a beer now to settle my dinner. Oh yeah the daughter had her dress rehearsal for her big recital on next Monday. Talk about cute. Of course after watching all the other dances she now wants to do Irish dancing and Belly dancing as well as Tap. Its just money I guess.

Everything Mexican.

This evening my mom gets back from her second trip to Mexico this year. In a quasi celebration we have made our version of chicken fajitas. I do not claim to have any aspirations to making authentic Mexican food. I do really like our versions though. The chicken is sprinkled with salt and pepper, beaten with the back of the big knife and then cut into strips. It is fried with garlic, paprika, nutmeg, and chili powder. Then sliced red peppers and onions are added in and the whole mess is fried up till the onions go brown and the chicken starts to get little black spots. With fresh tomatoes, lettuce, our home made salsa (canned last august, only 9 litres but all five varieties remaining), the guacamole and shredded cheese rounding out things the wraps came out great. Chips, salsa and guacamole filled up the plate and my daughter and wife made lemon pudding in individual serving cups for dessert. Interestingly, I was the only one unenthusiastic about the salsa. The first batch I made last year I put peach in and didn't add many jalapenos. Well the kids loved it and my wife really enjoyed it. I was disappointed because there was no discernible heat. Can't please everyone. We have this weeks menu whipped up and though it was a bit of a mental hurdle we have not repeated anything from the first three weeks. Look at that, we can make at least 21 different entrees. Can you hear my sore elbow popping.

Tomorrow: Chili, with garlic toast. I promise to make it juicy enough to warrant the toast.