Showing posts with label My Photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Photos. Show all posts

1/17/2013

yorkshire pudding


So for my mom's side of the family, our Christmas gatherings always have themes. One being the gift theme, and in the last 5ish years, we started meal themes. Last year was Hawaiian (truthfully, that one won't rank in my top favourites...). But this years meal theme was ENGLISH. Obviously I was over the moon. You see, I have this *cough*small*cough* obsession with the UK. I've only spent close to 9 days in the magical land, but it was enough for me to know that I could easily see myself living there (just the confirmation I needed for my fantasies prior to that trip).

Anyway, each family attending the gathering is in charge of bringing a dish. I placed myself in charge of making yorkshire puddings. I had only heard that they were a fussy little species of pastry. Like a soufflĂ©. But I knew I thoroughly enjoyed them and they were a British staple.

Long story short, I made two muffins tins worth (24). Enough for everyone to sop up the gravy on their plates (it went well with the rabbit my sister prepared). The first tin I trial-and-error'd on the timing of when to change the temperature halfway through and they fell a little too much after taking them out. But the second pan were fluffy little goddesses in their own right. They were perfect!

This isn't a cooking blog. No. I'm pretty stuck on my forté's (i.e., stir fry, simple pasta, and cereal). I just like showing off when something turns out well in the kitchen for me.

4/17/2012

ENGLAND

I haven't posted since I've been back in Canada from my trip!  Apologies for anyone who actually still follows my blog (Meghan!?)...  Here are a few pictures from the trip that I'm sure a number of you have already seen.  It was the best trip of my life!
Cheers!

2/27/2012

let the countdown begin

Tomorrow (Tuesday) marks exactly TWO WEEKS until we leave for Calgary en route to England!  Most of my down time is spent researching things to see.

I am totally guilty of imagining myself doing all of these stereotypical English things. I'm not ashamed.  I'm going to have tea.  I'm going to have biscuits.  (I'm going to have tea and biscuits at the same time).  I'm going to ride the train, the double-decker, and take some pictures of the red telephone booths (ok, that is a touristy thing).  I'm going to wear my trench.  And I am not going to wear runners no matter how much walking we do (#1 "don't" if you want to avoid looking like a tourist).  Yep, I am a tourist, but nobody has to know...

Cheers!

2/15/2012

lemon meringue

I'm no Martha Stewart (or a true Mennonite woman at that...), but I have spent some good quality time in the kitchen these last couple of days.

Since St. Valentine's Day was on Tuesday, I decided that on my day off on Monday I would bake my guy his favourite pie: Lemon Meringue.  I added a {super lame} little personal touch as per the photo above.  And since I had two pie shells (and because the first time I tried separating my eggs, the yoke broke...and fishing it out with my bare hand reactively didn't quite pan out the way I thought it would (weird) so I had a bowl of extra eggs) I decided to make a quiche.  A broccoli cheese quiche to be exact.  They both turned out!

That's two points.

I topped the day off with a loaf of bread in the bread maker (not as domestic since it's machine made).  It did not turn out as it didn't rise and settled into brick form.

That's minus one.

Today, I was un-busy enough and made a chicken broccoli pasta with sundried tomato alfredo sauce.  It turned out!  Roommate also liked it.

Plus two points (two points because I made enough to feed a family).

I'll go back to cereal, toast, and strawberry's with Nutella soon enough...as soon as the family sized pasta pack runs out.

2/06/2012

un peu

We definitely have not had a normal winter here in Manitoba this season.  It almost doesn't make me feel like a true Canadian of the North.  I am by no means going to complain about how sunny and mild it is considering I sleep in a hoodie and sweats now.  I do, however, miss how our winters look: pure white everywhere and not just muddy, dirty mush (I don't even bother washing my car while driving in the city...she's hideous already).  The hoar frost this past week was incredible though.  It really brought out the beauty of winter.  It was even better outside the city.

On a "random/cool" note, today on my way to work I happened into a young fellow who said to me in shy English, "Excuse me, do you speak French?"  Well, me having taken my second language course many moons ago until the tenth grade and wanting to help him out the best I could, said in a half confident/half wary way: "uhh...un peu".  He proceeded to ramble off in French and as I listened very intently I realized...I could totally understand him.  I don't know who was more excited, him- when I responded back in (broken) French what he needed, or me- who completely just had a tiny exchange in a second language (bare in mind, this is irregular).

This reminds me of my friend Danielle's and my conversation about her living in Germany and being able to converse in German and actually beginning to think in German.  Makes me really want to buffer up my second language skills.  I had a shining moment of glory and now I want more.

1/24/2012

one year

 Yesterday officially marked 1 year of dating this handsome man.  Despite the fact that we couldn't celebrate all day like we'd hoped, it was still a super day with a super fly guy.  He's even man enough to take me to see Beauty & The Beast 3D!  Yup, we watched that.  What a great movie...I mean guy.  Love you!