Cake Post....

I spent yesterday making cakes...

This one was for Lainey's 2nd birthday!! Time flies I can't believe she is two already!!!!

For another birthday party...

I just have to make Caleb's now... talking of time flying he is 5 on Tuesday!!! And he wants a Batman cake... surprise surprise...... :)

Meatless Monday - But on a Tuesday....

Krissy wasn't kidding when she said these were good! Yummy! I made zucchini fritters (except mine had zucchini and summer squash (from Gypsy Family Farms) that I had to use up in my fridge.) They have feta, fresh mint, dill, lemon zest, garlic... I made my mixture then went to get the kids and when I came back the house smelt amazing! Like garlic, lemon and fresh herbs!

I was a little worried about them falling apart when I fried them after the falafel incident but they turned out pretty good! I wish I had some time to make homemade coleslaw to go with my tomato salad and fritters but out of time so packaged it is :(

I am definitely getting more adventurous in my vegetarian cooking. I bought some quinoa at the health food store yesterday.. oh and some tofu! I had never heard of quinoa let alone ate it before I started eating at Island Chill. So I am ready to take on a few different recipies and try some more of it. I kind of scares me though because it is like cooking rice and I am HORRIBLE at cooking rice. It always turns out like rice pudding... pudding quinoa won't be so good for my salad!

Meatless Mondays I am back!!

Totally inspired today but my yummy lunch at Island Chill (maple ginger tofu wrap & quinoa salad - yes I am getting more adventurous in my choice off the menu!), my girlfriend had a spicy Thai tofu stir fry that looked so good.... so stir fry for supper it is! I decided to stay on the veggie track for Meatless Monday!

It really shouldn't be hard to do with all the veggies I have from Gypsy Family Farms in my fridge. I made a stir fry with the giant summer squash as the 'meat' of the dish... my kids think they look like spaceships so they are always excited to eat them. Threw in some other veggie and over the top of noodles... again a kid favorite, kids LOVE noodles! Of course I got the usual grunting from my poor dirty husband who has been on a roof all day 'is this a meatless Monday thing? humph... would be good with some meat'... I don't think he is going to be turning vegetarian any time soon!

Now for something creative for next week......

Summertime cooking...

I love cooking in the summer!!! Pitchers of Farquhars lemonade with fresh fruit and ice, BBQ's and of course all the fresh produce!! I love going to the farmers market and coming back with armfuls of fresh locally grown produce. The stuff you buy in the supermarket doesn't even compare! I have been getting excited every meal over which veggie we are going to try today (so has Caleb)... Paired with my Jamie Oliver cook book... watch out!! This meal was super easy it was from my JO cook book... I changed a few things.

I used white-fish fresh from the Purvis fish truck on Fridays in Gore Bay, multi coloured beans (green, yellow, purple, speckled) from gypsy farms, the pesto was from the grocery store (next time I will make my own but the PC one is pretty good) and I added baby Parmesan... my kids love cheese they will eat almost anything if you put cheese on it! All fresh local produce and so very yummy and super easy to make!!!

If I could bake cakes all day I would be happy...

I love making cakes.... So when C asked me to make a cake for a stag and doe that she was organizing I agreed to do it for her... she figured it would be the perfect gift for the bride and groom and I figured it would be a great opportunity to get to do a cake with fondant. I figured it wouldn't be that hard... I mean I have made a ton of cakes... and I watch 'Ace of Cakes' and 'Cake Boss' all the time... They just roll out the fondant and just smooth it on. Easy! This is what I was going to attempt...
Ok I was wrong. It was not easy at all.... The baking was easy.. but the fondant was stressful!! Getting the right texture. Kneading it enough but not too much..... And the cracking!! Oh the cracking!!!! How they get it on smooth with no cracking or tearing...?? More practice needed!!!! Luckily I had my friend (and expert cake maker) Hilary on speed dial for help and coaching over the phone in emergencies and Lisabeth on standby in case I ran out of fondant!!! I love the decorating.. making all the little flowers, dusting them with pearl dust... the piping although I do wish that I had an easier time with the icing I made. I would have liked to have used a smaller tip but due to time constraints and my icing already bagged it came out a little less delicate than I would have liked. I also decided to do 2 tiers to make it look a little less weddingy. I couldn't believe how heavy it was! It took two of us to carry it to the car! All in all I was pretty proud of my effort... it looked pretty impressive and I managed to cover up the bad spots with flowers and piping... now I am dying to perfect and want to make a 'real' wedding cake that looks perfect!!!!


My stress was some what heightened as I had 3 cakes to make for Saturday.... the stag & doe, Ironman and a Cinderella cake for Mason & Alexandra's 3rd birthday party!

Joining the 30's club....

July 9th. 1980. That's my birth date which means I turned 30 this year! 30!!! I had to fill out a form the other day and it asked for your age and I wrote 30 for the first time. I squealed as I wrote it... and then had to explain to everyone around why!

My actual birthday (apart from turning 30) was lots of fun... a few weekends prior my friend Leeann organized a surprise birthday party! We went for dinner at Todd and Perry's...... Here is a picture of the boys comparing their pipes before dinner....

... came home to 30 people in my house.... I was definitely surprised and had NO IDEA!! Last crazy night of my 20's.... Check out the cake that Lisabeth made for me! If you know me you know I LOVE shoes! Leeann apparently knows me very well!!


And I even had some friends from across the other end of the Island come for the surprise!

My actual birthday was a lot more low key!! I am 30 now you know!!.. drinks with a few friends.. beautiful flowers from my hubby and my sis.... I got some really thoughtful presents.. a Thai massage from my hubby (20 hours of bliss), a cook book from my friend C... which I have read like a novel! I love Jamie Oliver!!!

Some Pajama Pj's from Audrey... They are so comfy... I want to live in them. Oh and did I mention a Tiffany's bracelet from my sister???

Do I not have the best sister in the world???

How spoilt am I????

I AM Canadian!!

It's official. After 10 years of living here, two Canadian children... I am now Canadian! Just in time for Canada Day! My dear friend Audrey came with me to Sudbury for the ceremony and of course followed by a major shopping trip to celebrate! It was pretty exciting when we finally got there... of course I had the stress of my car being broken right before and leaving all my documents in my safety deposit box at the bank! There were two ceremonies that day and two islanders with me in the first one and Lynne & Kevin in the second one. It would have been so nice to have been all together and had a picture of the newest Manitoulin Canadians!


We went to an amazing Thai restaurant to celebrate... and I had to have one of these....


It is a key lime pie cocktail.. and if you know me you know I LOVE key lime pie!!!! I can't remember the exact name but malibu, lim cordial, pina colada mix, cream and coconut to finish it all off.... SO GOOD!!! Alcoholic liquid pudding in a glass! Yummy! Need to try and re-create that one! Followed by.... just a few of the dishes... we really pigged out!

BUT!!! The most exciting part of the day... well ok it was a very exciting day (citizenship, completely indulgent I am now broke shopping, alcoholic liquid pudding, yummy food) but....

COLD STONE CREAMERY!!!!!!!!

Just the best ice cream place IN THE WORLD! NOW IN CANADA!! And in Sudbury! I thought I saw a sign the last time I was in Sudbury but soon as Audrey and I were having a great day spending money and stuffing our faces with anything yummy we had to investigate!!! When I lived in Windsor my friend Meredith introduced me to Coldstone Creamery. We drove across the border (a few times at lightening speed) to get some before they closed!

Basically they have all these base flavours which you can try and then add whatever you like to.. they make it in front of you on a cold marble slab. Just the best ice cream EVER!!!!

So to finish.... I am now Canadian, more overweight (sigh) and broke!

Pencil Test

I went to Sudbury on Tuesday with my mother in law and she said the funniest thing to me that made me laugh. We were talking about getting older - I am having a huge issue with turning 30 and she was telling me about Joan Rivers on TV talking about her boobs being down by her ankles..... anyway, she told me to do the 'pencil test'.

Basically if you put a pencil under your boob and you can hold it there then you are definitely 'past it'. And as you get older it gets worse, forget the pencil do the test with your cell phone, day planner and your purse!!! Man did I laugh out loud! And yes I did come home and try the pencil test not with a pencil but with a sharpie marker and I failed miserably!!! One more thing to share with you....

Dinner at Rocky Racoon!!

I am so excited that Robin decided to come back this year and open the Rocky Raccoon Cafe in Gore Bay. As much as I love to drive to Providence Bay to The School house or to Tehkummah to Garden's Gate, we were really missing a fine dining place in town to eat. Nothing like being able to sit in the 'red roof' overlooking the Bay and enjoy a good meal! Robin's menu is different from what you will get anywhere else on the Island.. he makes a mean curry and great samosas and maple spiced bread. Last night (I meant to take a picture of the menu) he was preparing two curries.. a chicken one and a venison curry, a veggie stir-fry with tofu, chicken stuffed with goats cheese and wild boar bacon & whitefish. I might have missed a few things.... The only thing I was disapointment about what that some friends went there last night and had wild boar steaks.... It wasn't on the menu last night, I was really excited to try it! But I did try the venison curry. I have only ever had venison in the form of a sausage or a pepperette so I finally got to eat 'real' venison meat!

I had a mango lassi to drink... so yummy. It was like having dessert first! I also had the Thai coconut chicken soup to start... It was a little spicy for me but so good that I ate it anyway! Robin will make everything to your taste so whether you want something super spicy or really mild he will make it just how you like it!!!

So I totally broke my diet to have dinner tonight, not only did I have a starter, a huge curry, a dessert drink I also had two desserts... Total pig. We went for dinner because it was a friends birthday and the cake they bought out was AMAZING! Girls, I have found what I want for my birthday cake.... It was like a frozen key lime pie but on meringues, topped with a blackberry compote and frozen blackberries. So yummy!!!!!!


And because one desert wasn't enough I had the Rocky Raccoon balls.... yummy cream puffs!


Now that I have consumed all my calories for one week in one sitting I guess I will have to starve myself for the rest of the week! If you would like to get an idea of the menu here is a link to his Owen Sound restaurant, and if you are in Gore Bay make sure you stop in for lunch or dinner! It's too good to miss!

The Meatless Monday posts I forgot to post!

So I missed two of them I think...??

Ok one day I made a mushroom pasta with sour cream and smoked paprika... hmmm....

As you can tell the boys loved it...!!!

The other meal I made was a spinach and mushroom lasagna... I don't have any pictures because my camera battery was dead. The recipe was from cooks illustrated. Someone bought me the magazine to read while I was in hospital and I thought to myself 'hmm I should try this for Meatless Monday'!

Eat, Pray, Love.

I was just reading through my blog and I can't believe I never wrote about this book! I felt certain I had, unless I am just missing it... I guess I should start using the labels may be easier to find things after a few hundred posts...

Julia Roberts was on Oprah today talking about the movie 'Eat, Pray, Love' in which she plays Elizabeth Gilbert. Read the book first! They say that they stay really true to the book and I hope they do because I LOVED this book. Although her journey is so personal I felt so connected and really understood the emotions Elizabeth Gilbert felt on her year long journey; and I think if you have had your heart broken, felt completely lost in the world, gone through a divorce or just have dreams that you would love to turn into reality then you'll feel connected to her too. Her message personal yet so universal. I laughed when I read this book and I also cried understanding her pain and wishing that I could hop on the next plane to start a journey of my own... (Definitely eating in Spain and learning Spanish would be my 'Eat'.)

When I read this book I felt like I wasn't alone in the personal journey I went through after my divorce. My husband walked out on me. It's something you never think will happen... when you get married you don't exactly plan the divorce. I never expected that my marriage would end. It was something that I struggled with. I felt lost, a failure, big failure.... I wasn't sure who I was, or if I ever knew who I was. I was ridiculously young and emotionally fragile when I got married not exactly the best foundation but I still said 'I do' to forever. So what next? How do you carry on and look ahead when you feel so hopeless?

As horrible as my marriage ending was I learnt so much from it. So much about relationships, people and most importantly myself. I think for the first time I started to discover who I am and have realized that I will keep learning that. I learnt for the first time to have faith not only in myself but to let myself believe in God. It taught me that I have to be able to set boundaries within my family, marriage, friendships; sometimes I have to lower the expectations I have of people around me.

I am excited to see this movie like I said I loved the book and I also am a huge Julia Roberts fan. Also I wanted to mention that Elizabeth Gilbert has a new book out - 'Committed'. I haven't read it yet and I went to buy it in Chapters the other day but as desperate as I am to read it I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the hardcover.... I am cheap and will wait for them to get the paperback in.

Anyways something to think about.... What is your eat, love and pray??? (Something Oprah asked Julia) Here are mine below.

My Eat - Surf & Turf... this is why meatless mondays are so hard for me! I love a big juicy steak and I also love shrimp, lobster, crab... whatever you want to put on the side that you pulled from the ocean and is covered in garlic! Yummmy!

My Pray - ...... I need to get back to you on that one still trying to figure out what I got goin' on spiritually.... Let's just say it's still a learning experience for me.

My Love - Hand down my boys.... There is nothing that compares to the love you have for your children and they love they have for you. I can't even describe how I feel when I look in their eyes or when I see them sleeping so peacefully. They are my life, my family and they will always be a part of me. They are truly the loves of my life.