Upset Apple Cart

Spring is in the Air... and on My Balcony Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 May 2014 17:00:00 +0000

It's that time of year! The long weekend came and went with a little bit of rain but a lot of sun that just made it so wonderful to be outside.

For the last few years I've been living in the city I've wanted to have a 'garden' on my balcony. Not having a garden or a lawn or green space is hard in the city, even though I do live in a fairly green neighbourhood. I think it's that there is something lovely about making from scratch, getting your hands dirty and making it grow.

I may have caught this itch from my grandmother on my father's side, my Nan, who was an impeccable gardener. She could make just about anything grow and had the most beautiful gardens when I was a girl, and kept great gardens up until she died. I best remember her cascading lawn garden with levels upon levels of fruits, flowers and vegetables. It felt like they were growing from nothing they always brought around the best birds and insects. My grandparents home in St. Catherines was like a secret garden, but I have a feeling I may be remembering it with rose coloured glasses.

Either way I've always wished I had an ounce of the talent she did with plants, but sadly there is a point I must confess; I do not have the greenest thumbs and in turn kill quite a few of my plants. Even the ones that are guaranteed to not die. I'm that good. So with the coming of warm weather I began a plan and plot for grander, though probably not truly 'grande' designs.

This is part one, of two parts (I think). Now as much as I love pretty flowers and plants I love cooking more and thought I'd try my hand at herbs and vegetables.

First thing I did was grab the essentials.

Soil

I had a bit of a time finding out how much I needed, 30L ending up being a large amount but it led t a two part project so I can't complain. That and Zach was a joy to help carry this back home as we do not have a car. It's organic, which I wouldn't normally bother with except for the fact that we'll be eating what comes out of this dirt. The nursery suggested going with this one and since it only cost a dollar or two more than the 20L non-organic I thought 'what the hell'.

Planter

I went with a longer planter so that maybe I could hang it later or it could sit outside on the table. It came with a solid bottom which was not what I needed so out came the drill!

These are the small but effective holes Zach drilled in the bottom of my planter that will allow for proper drainage. Which, again getting a little convessiony, is important as I overwater like a champ and must have that drainage to keep from smothering my lovely new veg with all the water.

Plants.... and Pommies

I guess something for the dirt would be smart? And what better to plant than onions, hot portugal peppers and 'comedy third option' (as Zach calls it) leeks! Not to mention we all need a drink here and there while gardening, especially on a nice, warm and sunny day in early spring.

I'm always a fan of all kinds of onions so I gravitate towards onions and leeks. I might not be getting huge yield on these vegetables but as the other half keeps reminding me, this is for fun! So what if they die.

A Touch of Spring

And there we have it! A small box happily filled (pun intended) with some hopefully tasty vegetables. It's still a little on the cold side right now so I don't think they'll be living outside in the evenings (I'll truck them in to my kitchen table, where all my other plants live).

I'm generally pleased with the progress on the weekend, was able to get a bit of part two started and can't wait to do more.

On a side note, remember to keep your plants up high enough, or have a squirt bottle ready.

This is what happens when your cats, who don't like onions, but like the stems of onions get near your newly potter plants. Bad Oscar.

GTFU F&V Challenge: Rutabega

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 May 2014 17:19:00 +0000

Last week I set up a challenge. By last week I mean maybe five minutes ago to me time but through the power of blogging I am both then and now and tomorrow!

Okay I'll admit that was strange, moving on.

Rootabegga.
Rutevega.
Rombegarootvut... ga.

RUTABEGA

Image copyright gridphilly.com

It's a 'rut' vegetable. Get it?
I know nothing about it other than the fact that it looks like a dirty smushed colourless radish. What does one do when they know nothing?
WIKIPEDIA.
Or google. Whatever. Shut up and listen to my mad research skillz.

The rutabega is a cabbage turnip abomination of mad science or crazy silly nature with both edible roots and leaves. Livestock eat it so I guess it's cool for people too. Something about Swedish turnips... and I'm done. That's enough of that. Thanks Wikipedia. You've been most helpful.

Shop

How does one buy said magical cabnip baby? (Way better name if you ask me but rutabaga is so much fun to say.
According to the internet at RealSimple.com "Select rutabagas that are 3 to 5 inches in diameter—the smaller, the sweeter—and that feel firm, smooth, and heavy, with no cracks or soft spots. They may have a wax coating that prevents moisture loss."

I wish I had paid more attention to this when picking up my rutabaga.

Cook

Now I don't promise this each time but I decided to cook it two ways!

Mashed Rutabaga

Image copyright UpsetAppleCart 2014

Ingredients

Milk
Water
Rutabaga
salt
heavy cream
garlic
butter

Directions (loosely based on recipe from FoodNetwork.com)

Peel and roughly chop rutabaga.
Place in a pot and cover with equal parts milk and water; add a pinch of salt.
Bring to a simmer and cook until soft.
Drain.
Puree (using food processor or immersion blender) with cup heavy cream and butter.
Cook a few sliced garlic cloves.

Rutabaga Fries

(from the NoviceHouseWife.com)

Ingredients

Rutabaga
Olive oil
Seasoning (cajun for me)
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

I suggesting going over to the NoviceHouseWife.com to get the full directions.

Verdict

Sadly there aren't any reaction pictures because it turns out, I can't take my own pictures and the other half is working. Boo hoo.

Mashed

Taste summary: Eh. It tasted like cauliflower but the texture was.... not what I liked. I added butter and salt, more than what was requested and then it tasted like fluffy, almost grainy butter. I don't think I liked it. It wasn't terrible though, just not my cup of tea in mashed form. The illusion of it looking like a potato threw me off, I was expecting something other than cauliflower tasting mush. I can see it working well with some green or an onion but it's missing something.
I did not finish it. Consistency of baby food. That might not be the fault of the vegetable but my cooking skillz.

Fries

Taste summary: THEY TOOK TOO LONG TO COOK! OMG. Some parboiling probably should have happened. My only fear was that I'd boil boil them and then BAM you'd have mush fries. So I'm still waiting while they cook. It's taking a while...

I burned them. No more Rutabaga.

Sigh.

Grow the Fuck Up and Eat Your Damn Fruits and Vegetables... Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 May 2014 19:51:00 +0000

I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. There is no long of this short and crappy fact. In this age of processed poop where I am brainwashed into feeling good about eating a macaroni and cheese that 'contains one serving of vegetables' in their not so cheesy tasting "cheese" sauce, something is obviously very wrong.

There are some truths about my eating habits I have to admit.

I over eat like a champ. That's probably not something to be proud of but if it was I would be.
I love the shit out of carbs. Carbs and I have a long standing love hate relationship. It's mostly based on me loving them and then hating the handles of love we've built together. Such mighty mighty handles. Also, typing carbs instead of crabs is really hard. That sentence would have had a totally different context if I didn't reread what I wrote.
Sugar is sweetest when in my mouth. This was more true the younger I was, or said less awkwardly the older I get the less I like sugar.
Salt is the nectar of the gods and of my probably high as hell blood pressure-y veins.
I look good in red (meat). I mean I'm sure I do. I don't wear meat often, or ever unless you count your body as meat, then we're all wearing meat but... I like red meat.
Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. No explanation required.

Notice how in all that mess not a fruit or vegetable made an appearance. This is a problem.

Now I can't blame macaroni and cheese, the government, my mom, that guy outside New York Fries giving out free samples or the... weather for not eating what I should.

That shit is entirely on me.

I'm less inclined to make the right decision on food habits due to pressure from a million and a half places but everyone deals with shit so today I'm telling myself to grow the fuck up and eat your damn fruits and vegetables.

The GTFU F&V Challenge

One day a week I will try a new fruit or vegetable. I will start with, but is not exclusive to, fruits and vegetables I have either never tried before or have not tried in years because 'I'm sure I don't like it'. It may also include trying F&V I'm sure I don't like because why the hell not! Or you know, eating fruits and vegetables I already like.

Rules

I dunno. Let's see...

I have to eat it. I can't drink or juice it. Lemons are going to suck so hard.
It must be a fruit or vegetable. No magical bacontato here. Man... if that existed though I would eat the hell out of it.
If it's in my grocery store(s) I have to try it. Well has it in an edible condition.
Try it both raw and cooked (if it can be eaten raw).
Will take suggestions from commenters on what to try next if available in my area.
Reaction photo's are required where possible because I make hilarious faces.

If you think of cooler rules tell me. Can't hurt to make it interesting. The first step will be to keep it with the season and try to stay local (to keep the costs down) until I run out of local selections. I'm going to use this Availability Guide for Ontario produce from www.ontario.ca to guide me each month.

Point/Prize

Why the hell am I doing this? For a healthier outlook and a wider pallet for F&V to incorporate into my regular diet? A range of hilarious photo's of me making faces while eating? A sense of understanding in what I do and don't like? A list of what F&V work with bacon? Because bacon.

Who the hell knows if I'll keep up with it or not. Maybe I'm slightly inspired by watching Julie and Julia but tempered with less aspirations for a book or movie deal.

I aim to start this on Monday by picking a vegetable from the grocery store. There is a great chance I'm a giant wuss and will pick something simple I'm sure will be good but everyone starts somewhere and I like to be kind to me.

Any suggestions?

Mother's Day Carding 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 May 2014 15:00:00 +0000

Last year I made some lovely cards for Mothers Day. It didn't take much in the way of supplies or skill but certainly made more than a few smiles because it did take some time. This can be a simple DIY project you do each year, I could link you to a million resources online for how to so I will try to keep it brief. These cards go well with DIY gift baskets of some things you know they'll love.

Supplies you'll need:

Card stock in varying colours and patterns
Scissors
Sewing needle
Thread
Tape (double sided) or glue

One thing to remember, or that I like to, is that it's all about layers.

In this "MOM' card I've layered behind the 'MOM' enough that the letters really pop. Which they do in being another print as well. Playing around, it's a lot of fun. In doing your own cards you can't really go wrong. No one will throw it in your face and scream 'DO IT AGAIN BUT BETTER'. That'd just be mean as all hell.

I like to layer card stock on card stock to great an embossed look that just feels nice in your hands.

Like the hearts in this card. Not just one layer, but two layers of them, with a bit of tape beneath to give the look like the hover. I had to be particularily careful putting them in an envelope but they looked really nice.

Dots: I love using a needle to create shapes in the card.

This leads well to embossing if you are so inclined, but the cards look nice just with a little poking too.

As posts go this is a pretty tame one but had some cute ideas that I used for last year. Maybe I'll do the same this year for the Mom's and Gma's out there.

Indigo Fall Preview 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:43:00 +0000

Last Thursday I attended the 2014 Indigo Fall Preview. The organizer was fantastic and certainly offered of help while I walked around and snapped my photos. This was my first 'preview' and somewhat more 'official' blogging event so I may have been a little on the quiet side but hey, it was fun! I wish I'd stayed a little longer but I didn't know anyone else attending and felt a little out of place. Most people had just come from work and looked fabulous while I was a little... more comfortable looking. Totally my own isms there but I know what to expect now.

I took a lot of photos and if anyone has a question about any please let me know in the comments. I want to point out a few things I loved and want to share though! So... Where do I start?

The Big Book

National Geographic: Around the World in 125 Years. This is a beautiful volume of photographs from various places around the world. When I say huge, I mean huge. It is a three volume collection of fantastic photos that will leave you in awe. The quality of the printing is exceptional and because of that so is the price($450+). From what we were told at the preview only a select number of copies will be printed (I want to say somewhere around three thousand) which means there is certainly one hell of a demand on these. I could go on for a while about this collection but I think hearing it from their webpage would be best. You can read more about it on Chapters.Indigo.ca, but really it was so beautiful. Photo's don't do it justice.

Journals

I may have a small obsession with writing journals and stationary accessories. And by may I mean I do. With that said there are a few lovely new items coming out this fall that I would love to have! And would probably be too afraid to write in once I do have them.

All of them are adorable but I am absolutely drawn to the tree. Sadly it was on the top most shelf and my camera phone does not do it justice. Something neat to note as well, I'm not sure it's all their journals, but some of the new journal lines Indigo will be releasing this year will actually be branded with 'Indigo' on the back. Something I didn't know was new and not tried before.

The Grand Table

I loved this table set up and thought it was a wonderful way to feature so many beautiful new products they're launching. I will get into the details of my favourite items but it's really worth a look through all the photos to see the fantastic angles, products, colours and options you can get. Not to mention the bread looked delish!

Love that Jug

I couldn't get enough of the porcelain dish ware they had there! I really couldn't. It was a lovely matt finish and seemed so rustic (I see what you're doing with the country chic there Indigo!). I went a little crazy on the adorable scale with photos when it came to the beautiful little collections around the space.

This spoon killed me! It's shaped like a branch and was beautifully made. not to mention little cute porcelain cup? Yup. I died. I just like small little adorable things.

Oh hey look, it's the jug again. Coupled with copped mugs? Cutting boards? Yup. I would buy each and everyone of these had I the money or place to put them.

The inclusion of wood to definitely go crazy on the 'fall' theme was actually quite pleasant. I've always be partial to wood finish vs paint and seeing so much of it was nice. The Fall preview was probably the one I'll like the most (hoping I'm invited to more of course).

Mason Jar's

I get it internet, Mason jars are cool again. Hipsters are obsessed (I have a cupboard full because jam jars, or mason jars, are cheap as all hell and I bought a dozen or two for like 10$) and I get it. Now I have to give Indigo credit on this because my love for the mason jar coupled for my love of little things is like a double 'BUY THIS' whammy. But what is it for? Shots? I like my shots a little larger... so maybe for cute little things to go in cute little glass mason jar mugs. Either way, I loved these. Even if I don't see their point aside from making me go 'ZOMG That's adorable!' and get strange stares from the rest of the room.

Swag

Can you say no to swag? Indigo was awesome and sent me home with some great little neat things. Going around, we have:

Mother's Day Mag (good timing on that one)
Home/Garden mag/book/thingy that had some fantastic ideas
lotion (those little green and pink containers)
Pluck Tea that Indigo will be stocking in the fall. I haven't tried it yet, maybe I'll reserve my opinions until after. I tend to be a little pick with tea.
A DIY snow-globe. It seemed a little out of place with the fall preview but hey, free is free!
Note book
candle in holder
'But First, Coffee' mug

All in all it was a nice event for a first timer and I enjoyed myself. I am bringing the nice camera next time because the angles you have to get with a regular phone are just ridiculous.

Slideshow

The Secret Stomp

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 17:42:00 +0000

There are few things in life that are better than a well made burger on a nice summer day.

This week has been absolute hell in Toronto for weather, meaning it's been cold as balls for spring. So if I can't have one, why not the other?

Allow me to introduce you to, one of the many versions that this special beast can take:

The Secret Stomp

Photo Copyright Lisa-Marie Wilson 2014 and yeah, that's all cheese.

This is a burger of obscene proportions from Burger Stomper Gourmet Burger and Milkshake Bar (yeah, the name's a mouthful too).

On this beast of a burger:

Two onion rings
lettuce
two thick slices of tomato
a burger wrap with beef, sauteed mushrooms and onions in a BBQ sauce
at least 4 slices of bacon
a round mound of baked cheese
their regular beef burger patty
sesame bun

I like this place, Zach and I go there not too often to feel ridiculous, but every once in a while when we want a good burger with all, and I mean, ALL the toppings. The Secret Stomp is a custom over the top burger that is different every time. Zach has ordered them before, all you say is what you don't like and the rest of their toppings are fair game. We've seen hot dogs, chicken burgers, french fries, gravy, a tower of sweet potatoe fries and more -- and those are just the extra throw ins. They can come with one, two, hell probably three beef patties. Who knows! It's a great treat, and like Zach says they are never the same twice. Never.

I know I spend, or am trying to spend a great deal of time on making food from scratch and healthy and fresh and awesome... the list could go on. Eating out, though a lovely pleasure, isn't one of those ways to you know, cut down on spending but sometimes you just have to! This is one of those places.

Are these the best burgers on the Danforth? I don't know, I don't eat that many Burgers. I have to say the next best contender (a mere stones throw away from Burger Stomper) is The Auld Spot Pub.

Photo credit: The Auld Spot Pub Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/auldspot)

Image Credit:
PommiesDry.com

They have Pommies dry cider on tap (thank you!) and some amazing food. Fried chicken and colecannon? Hells yes. Muscles? If I'm in the mood. Baked Macaroni and Cheese with double smoked bacon? You had me at Bacon! But I'm talking about their burgers today, wasn't I? Holy crap are they good. They have a fantastic ground meat blend that can be served pink and so juicy. Delish! But they don't have a towering secret stomp and sometimes a burger that dwarfs others makes you feel powerful.

Now let me first say, I'm no true connoisseur of the burger, but these places are great ones to check out. I know they've both been featured up the wazzoo by Toronto Local papers, magazines and all the blogs in the world. But both The Auld Spot Pub and the Burger Stomper are worth the trek to the Danforth.

So good! Man does this make me hungry...

Credit Where It's Due

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 15:00:00 +0000

This is a rant. I will not apologize for it though I do hope that if you don't take a lesson from it you're at least mildly entertained for a time. If you don't like rants, running is acceptable.

Credit where it's due. It might seem simple and almost meaningless but this is something that is so important these days on the internet. Where information is travelling faster and faster attribution and credit are sometimes essential to people's livelihood.

Okay, sure those are just words. What am I actually pissed off about?

Stealing. Reposting. Claiming something cool and unique as your own original content when you stole it. When you know you stole it. When no attempt is made at all to find the original creator or source of the information you are peddling as yours.

This happens all the damn time on sites like Reddit, Imgur, Pinterest, Facebook, blogs, etc. I mean I can't think of anywhere this isn't happening. Now I'm not going to try and tackle a whole system. But it's something that as a blogger I always have in the back of my mind and would hope that others have too. If anything, I hope those who do create their own content can understand how terrible reposting without attributions can be. Repost away if you credit, but if you won't bother to say where you got it from then don't post about it.

If you see something cool on the internet give it the due credit. What sparked this was a picture that's been floating around since March 11th this year. A competent blogger had a host on her blog with a DIY Cookie basket idea.

Image source: OneGoodThingByJillee.com
See how easy that was??

I don't know if this is an original idea, it was probably thought of by some lady in 1954 but the image was originally taken and posted on OneGoodThingByJillee.com (March 11th, 2014 post). The author was not Jillee but by a guest blogger from It'sAlwaysAutumn.com (Follow up April 7th, 2014 post). The author reposted the content and I started seeing it hit social media.

Pinterest exploded, Twitter tweeted and then it got to Facebook. Not ONCE in all the linking did I see an attribution to the original content on either of those blogs. No links, nothing. The Pinterest links went to a static image page.

When it hit my Facebook posted by a loving and wonderful family member, who was sharing Getting Healthy & Staying Healthy's Facebook image post, I thought 'THAT DOES IT!' and like all internet children I went to google images.
It took one search and the image was on the top line with a link to the original blog source.

Less than five seconds. It took less than five seconds to find the original poster. I commented on the Facebook post, crediting the content back because the original poster on Facebook never bothered too. In fact their post was reading like pure 'favourite me' propaganda that the internet is littered with these. Reposting for Up votes.

It's just one image. It's just a stupid DIY thing. It's not a big deal.

IT IS A BIG DEAL. I have never had my content stolen (knock on wood) but that could be someone's livelihood. When it comes to those who are making it work on the 'net' it's not about the money, it's about the page views that could help fund their blogging experience. It's about the recognition that could lead to a freelance, part time or full time job for their skills.

Sharing has it's place and is essential in our digital world but does it hurt to take the time to say 'I saw this on this blog.' Not just 'Hey look at this cool idea' or even worse 'Aren't I brilliant for posting this?'

When you don't attribute you are allowing misconceptions to thrive that it is your original content.
It is not your content. It is not your photography or DIY skills that found that.
It is not your cool unique and individual thought process that brought that to life.
You stole it, perhaps unwittingly, perhaps maliciously.

Take the goddamn five seconds to think and try to help someone out. They worked hard, they deserve at the very least the recognition for their hard work. Especially if you love their idea so damn much.

Now, deep breath, all is well I hope. If you made it through with me without offence thank you. If you are offended please let me know. I may not sympathize but hell, for conversations sake I'm not always right and I'm sure there are many sides to this, and many other issues.

As a final aside, I know that sometimes information comes without context. You see an image or had a text sent to you from a friend who heard it from some other person. If you don't know where it came from, have tried to attribute it, but still need to use the content state your intent to find the original content poster. If only for legal reason it will save you trouble down the road and if the original poster finds you using their information give them attribution. If they want it removed, remove it. But make the effort. You'll feel better, the internet will be a happier place and you'll have to hear me rant less.

What more could you want?

Cooking Catch-up: Roasted Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 13:03:00 +0000

I haven't forgotten about blogging. I swear! I'm reaching a bit far back on this one though, because why not blog about all those random photos of stuff I've taken in the past?

Now, what do you do when you take photo's of your food because you're proud that you didn't set the kitchen on fire? Other than eating the food of course. Because if you just made it and then walked away that would be all kinds of uncool.

Well, what I do when I take photo's of food is then put those photo's online. It's a lovely process known as 'showing-off-your-ability-to-eat-nice-looking-things' and is drawn from that place where people post about the new game you scored well in that no one really cares about or that awesome new purse that you really couldn't or shouldn't have been able to afford.

I digress. I roasted a chicken once (It was a while ago but I've since roasted different chickens in the same way for a while). It was delish. I recommend roasting your own instead of buying those 10$ pre roasted chickens at the grocery. It takes very little effort.

Here's what I did.

Roasted Chicken

Not going to lie, I was tempted just to show the chicken and be done with it. Would have been funny.

Roasting a chicken isn't hard. You need some basic tools and ingredients but it's flexible most of the time. As long as you have, you know, the chicken you should be able to pull this off with whatever tools or scraps are in your kitchen. For my glorious method here are the tips.

Please note I give credit where it's due, and generally follow the loose directions from Epicurious.com's My First Simple Roast Chicken

Preheat your oven. 450F I believe.

Pat down your bird. Some people like to wash it first (always remove your giblets or the 'bag of guts' that came with your bird, if it came with your bird). If you have it try it crackles up nicely after you salt and or butter that hen.

Salt and pepper inside the bird and out. Be generous, it's just salt. And the flavour is awesome.

Halve one lemon and shove it in the cavity. I say shove because sometimes the lemon is large. either way, stuff it in there. The juices get all nice and, well, juicy and makes the chicken super moist.

Can we take a moment to reflect on how horrible sounding the word 'moist' is? I think I make a face whenever I say it, but sitting alone and writing right now I can't quite tell. Moist...

Truss your bird. If you don't know how to truss there are dozens of youTube videos, diagrams, instructions online. I don't think you have to truss a bird, I've done it both ways, but find that the thighs stay a bit juicers and the drumsticks more tender when trussed. Less crispy, more tender. It's a trade off.

Chop some vegetables and toss them in the baking dish. You can use just about anything for this: casserole dish, large frying pan with tall side, crock pot without the lid, roasting pan: it's your choice. Just make sure you use a high pan as the juices will overflow a cookie sheet. For veggies I used onion, celery, carrot and garlic. I didn't plan on eating the celery after but the rest oh yes. The celery adds some flavour to the vegetables. Remember to cut them thick enough not to burn while cooking with your chicken. (I learned that from watching Gordon Ramsay cooking something once).

Plop your trussed, stuffed and salted chicken on top of your veg. Or not. You can do this without the veggies just as well. But I like the small platform they give the bird. The bottom of it gets less... swampy from the juices.

Pop it into the oven for about an hour. I'm not so exact on this. At about 45 minutes I stab her with a thermometer to see how done she is and go from there. Before I had a thermometer I had the misfortune of cutting the chicken open, finding out it was raw after cut, and putting it back in. All lovely presentation was lost and I went to the dollars store to buy a thermometer. Not required but handy. I did learn some old school tricks for telling if your bird meat is done: when skewered the juice runs clear, the legs are pushing away from the body of the chicken (best noticed is untrussed), and a few others I will probably only remember when cooking again.

You can baste if you like, I rarely bother to remember. With the lemon I've never had to worry about moist meat and fine basting more trouble than rewarding. But for the fussy chef GO FOR IT! BASTE HER LIKE ONE OF YOUR FRENCH GIRLS!

Once done, remove chicken from oven and pan.

Let rest on cutting board for 10-15 minutes to cool and de juice (I remove the lemon first and cut off my twine to have less mess for this process).

Now the veg can sometimes get a little 'soupy' if you used a big lemon so I tend to pop them back in the over to finish off if they are still a little under done. This can happen with smaller birds. Otherwise, drain them and enjoy with your chicken!

I like to cut the chicken up right then and there and portion it out, some people like to carve at the table. Tis your choice, my friend. But either way, juicy chicken is juicy.

You can take that to the bank. They probably won't 'cash' it but I assure you your banker will enjoy the chicken.

The Cooking Cure: Day 19

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 16:20:00 +0000

Day 19: Make a Plan for Your Leftovers

Thursday March 27th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 19 on TheKitckn.com

The only leftovers I have right now are in the fridge at work with me for lunch! Aside from some lettuce, that has started to brown so it might be gone.

Now although I can't really take advantage of this particular challenge I am happy to see the focus on using every bit in your fridge if possible. After so much cooking and experimenting the last thing you want is a fridge full of food you're letting go bad.

I'm pleased I was ready to incorporate this into my already existing plan of awesome food. So this will be a short update! Simple, sweet and brief. Ps. My lunch is AWESOME.

The Cooking Cure: Day 16-18

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:45:00 +0000

I have accepted my fate of failure in this Cooking Cure, but not feeling so much defeated about it as laughing at how much it takes to keep on track.

Day 16: Get Yourself a Treat to Have with Dinner

Monday March 24th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 16 on TheKitckn.com

The post for this challenge begins with a big ol' Congratulations! And you know what? I'm going to take it! I'm going to celebrate that not only have I been cooking a lot, and thinking more about what I do when I cook, I have totally made a blogging comeback. I haven't posted this much in years and feel that this fact alone is enough to celebrate.

Now what did I treat myself to? ICE CREAM! Not homemade, but good quality Haagen-Dazs is always a nice treat.

Day 17: Take 5 Minutes to Think Through the Rest of Your Meals This Week

Tuesday March 25th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 12 on TheKitckn.com

Take 5 minutes to take stock: My week is going alright. Monday night I made a HUGE dinner that was actually also my week's worth of lunches. Chicken Burrito Bowls! Zach and I had burrito's for dinner and then packed up the rest of the food for lunches. It's not Wednesday (yes I'm posting late) and I still have lunch for today and hopefully tomorrow. My breakfasts are a disaster, but lunch is taken care of and I'm happy about that.
Adjust your plans: Breakfasts need some more attention but in the mornings I'm so uninterested in cooking. I think making a batch of bagels again on the weekend and using them just for breakfasts might be a good plan. Midway through the week I think I'll refrain from going crazy, but it's a good plan for Sunday night.
Share your week: Uh, heyo Twitter and FB. I always post to social media!

Day 18: Make "Stuff I like to Eat" List

Wednesday March 16th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 18 on TheKitckn.com

Zach loves fruit, something he's trying to get me involved in. It's not really a 'cooking thing' but it's definitely something he loves to eat and wants more of in the house. I think this is more about changing where we shop as some of our local grocery stores are either too pricey or have crap stock. To the little asian groceries on the corner!
Homemade Tuna Casserole: Zach loves it, I love it. Easy, I could do it in my sleep and makes for great leftovers. And did I mention it's cheap?
Baked chicken enchiladas: because gooey with cheese and sauce is always welcomed.
Pot Stickers: Sometimes it's nice to just relax and make dumplings. It's not hard, takes a lot of time thought but the results are always wonderful and if done in large batches can last you a while.
A good, from scratch, tomato sauce: It has so many possibilities like fresh pasta, amazing pizza, a dipping sauce for monkey bread. Making it in a large batch means more for later and less work. Plus Zach is a pro-star at making a good sauce.
Bread: I have a few simple recipes that make the apartment smell amazing and we always love fresh bread. Who doesn't? Again, it's a process that I almost find soothing now and look forward to doing.
Great damn sandwiches: I make a good sandwich. No bragging here, I have lots of supporters on this one. Stack them high, lots of meat, deli style fixings and a good homemade sauce or two, on some of the best bread ever. I love making them, take a pride in it, and Zach loves them too.

We're nearly at the end, only two days left in the cure. I'm wondering what more we could do, but we shall see! Either way I'm glad of how this whole month turned out for my blogger revival.

The Cooking Cure: Day 12-15 ...sigh...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:52:00 +0000

Are you shocked? I'm not shocked. I think I'm starting to think about whether I really need to change all of my habits (well at least breakfast). Here we go, week three catch up! Maybe it was a bit much to assume I could blog every day of the week for a month...

Day 12: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About your Dinner Habits

Tuesday March 18th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 12 on TheKitckn.com

What am I tired of eating? Pasta. I love pasta, but boxed pasta as often as I do have it is not a good idea.
What do I love eating? Like all my other answers: FRESH. And mexican.
What would I like to eat more often? From scratch homemade with more vegetables included.

Did I rush through that? Felt like I did. I guess it's because I've answered it almost the same way twice already!

Day 13: Find 5 New Recipes for Dinner

Wednesday March 19th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 13 on TheKitckn.com

Vietnamese-Style Summer Rolls from chow.com: I like the freshness of these ingredients and the veg to protein ratio. Plus, who can say no to a nice peanut sauce for dipping?
Quiche how to on thekitchn.com: So this isn't really a direct recipe so to speak but a basic how to. Now I've made quiche before, a few times, but what I want to do is the entire thing from scratch (save growing the damn veg myself). This means pie crust, my biggest fear in cooking.
Zesty Fish Curry with Coconut Milk from playfulcooking.com: This looks amazing and I love the idea of learning how to make a good curry recipe since I love indian so damn much. It doesn't look too complicated but I imagine it could get a little dicey working with chilies but I want to try it.
Korean Barbecue Pork Lettuce Wraps from userealbutter.com: I might not go pork, but the recipes this blogger goes through (with detailed instructions and pictures) inspires me to cook. This is one of those lovely recipe's.
Creamy Baked Orzo with Ham, Peas and Leeks from thekitchn.com: Yet another theKitchn.com recipe but I like the traditional feel of a dish like this. Something I could make, or would find my mother or grandmother making in their own kitchens. I see it as something I can learn to substitute with and make my own which is the best part of a good recipe. That and it has superior leftovers potential!

Day 14: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Dinner

Thursday March 20th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 14 on TheKitckn.com

You know it's funny, I seem to be able to do these challenges when I'm not really thinking about doing the challenges. I'll blog about it later but I made a big ol' batch of bagels from scratch, something I wanted to do for my breakfasts (and in turn made some nice lunches) for this entire week.
Wednesday night, after looking at the cooking cure and talking to the fiance, I decided we were going to have the Vietnamese-Style Summer Rolls. So we had those for dinner Wednesday and again for dinner Thursday night.

So am I really doing the cure? I'm not following the method exactly, it's more 'Oh hey, we should have that' and I go out that day and get it. Perhaps I need to incorporate less about doing new recipes (that doesn't appear to be the problem) and concentrate on the planning of the meals a little bit more. So I'm not doing it all the night of?

Or maybe that's just not my style. Maybe spur of the moment cooking is how I'll develop my pallet, my routine and my repertoire of recipes. I like the sound of that. Repertoire of Recipes. Who knows! I'll do my best to keep up but I might just end up doing this my own way.

Day 15: Make Dinner Tonight & PLan Next Week's Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Friday March 21st, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 15 on TheKitckn.com

Yeah, I'm probably not going to go all too crazy on the meal planning this weekend. I have a feeling that's more my Monday gig. But some ideas I'm running through my head:

Another batch of bagels or english muffins for breakfast
buy a juicer for breakfast infusion of vitamins
buy veggies for lunch time snacking and possible sandwich toppings. I'm liking shredding veggies with a peeling for a thin but still crisp snack at home. Could lead to some really cool lunches.
Casserole on Monday night for leftovers through at least part of the week
Maybe tackle a quiche crust on wednesday if I'm feeling ambitious

So much of these things depend on more than just my availability in the week. How I feel physically, now that I've finally kicked the cold I don't want to wear myself down too much. Need for a break: hard weeks at work zap my energy for creativity in the kitchen. If something, like a new recipe or a new gadget (I might be getting a stand mixer or a juicer this weekend fingers crossed) might tip the scales in favour of one thing or another.

I like to remain flexible. I'll make that my plan for the next week but ultimately I'm avoiding at least two or three things:

No Subway sammy's
No cereal in the morning
No take-out

Yeah, I'll start with that.

The Cooking Cure Day 10+11: Aww, shit...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 14:22:00 +0000

Crap, am I bad at this.

I guess it comes as no real shocker that I'm falling behind again. Not only am I missing days, I'm not completing tasks. Crap on a stick. Well anyhoo, here's my catch-up.

Day 10: Make lunch Today and Plan Next Week's Breakfasts and Lunches

Thursday March 14th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 10 on TheKitckn.com

Well, I may have kind done this one but on Saturday instead of Friday. It was an egg salad, not as awesome as I'd hoped for but it was from scratch. Chives, lettuce, egg, mayo on pita bread (not homemade). It was like an egg salad pizza. Sadly, no picture, but it was nice and fresh. So we'll call this one a win?

As for a plan? I plan to cook something. Breakfast and lunch were a bust today with a Sunday night out until about 11 commuting back from Pickering. There was no plan this morning aside from tea, which means I bailed on this day almost entirely. I end up being pretty busy on the weekends so this cure structure might not work. Most of my meal planning happens on Monday at or after work so I'm thinking of doing the rest of it today. My sort of 'cure' for the Monday blues?

Day 11: Make a List of Everything You ate for Dinner Last Week

Thursday March 17th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 11 on TheKitckn.com

First off,

HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S DAY!

I was recently correcting by an Irish friend that it's a Paddy's day not Patty's, that's a girls name. Now, back to the cooking cure.

First I should explain that my week was not a normal sample. normally I don't eat out so much or go out all weekend, but it was my birthday last week so this weekend was extravagant. And awesome.

Monday: Pasta. I think?
Tuesday: My birthday. We had indian and cheesecake. It was wonderful.
Wednesday: Leftovers, ie. Indian and cheesecake.
Thursday: Asparagus and some bread. I wasn't feel great so I kept it simple.
Friday: Sushi. I don't know why but we decided it was important so we had more take out. Sushi, of course, was awesome.
Saturday: Dinner at my moms (homemade swedish meatballs, rice, salad, and cake!)
Sunday: Dinner at brother in-laws (pork and beef tenderloin, beans, potatoes, cucumber salad and a tonne of jelly beans).

Yeah, I don't normally eat like that. But there you go.

The Cooking Cure: Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 18:36:00 +0000

Day 9: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Lunch

Thursday March 13th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 9 on TheKitckn.com

Alright, here we go. I'm going to pick the easiest of the lunches I mentioned because quite frankly I'm not 100% better yet and could use a break when it comes to prepping. That and snow-pocolypse has returned to Toronto. So what do I think is the 'easiest'?

EGG SALAD SAMIDGE!

Random Google image from a website that I can't seem to access that pretty much depicts what I'd like to end up with.
In no way did I take this photo. I would love to credit the owner if they ever stumble upon my blog.

Ingredients

eggs, hardboiled (1-2)
bread or bun
mayo
chives
mustard or dijon
lettuce
salt and pepper

This is a loose recipe, which I like so I can change it up if I need to, so I don't think I need much of an actual recipe to go ahead with this. I'll be picking up what I don't have after work and making the egg salad part tonight to eat tomorrow. Hurray!

Maybe this time I can remember to stay on the ball for the project.

The Cooking Cure: Day 8

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:32:00 +0000

I should note first that YESTERDAY I TURNED 28! I'm cool like that. There was a divine blueberry topped cheesecake, a wonderful cast iron chinese style tea pot with two adorable mugs (I'll post about those soon) and indian for dinner! Butter chicken, chicken curry, beef vindaloo, garlic naan, chicken samosa, chicken biryani and mango shake for me, lassi for Zach.

IT WAS AWESOME! Despite still being a little under the weather Zach treated me like a princess and I had a great night. I might do a recap of the gift, at the very least, at some point down the road but with the Cooking Cure I've got a schedule to keep and I intend to keep it.

But why is this all relevant? Guess what I have for leftovers!

That's right, butter chicken and biryani. It was awesome.

Day 8: Find 5 New Recipes for Lunch

Wednesday March 12th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 8 on TheKitckn.com

Pretty easy and to the point, five recipe's that make me excited about preparing lunch. To Pinterest! To The internet!

Lemon Orzo Salad with Asparagus, Spinach, and Feta from TwoPeasAndTheirPod: I have all these ingredients at home and might cheat and make this for tonight (leftovers for lunch tomorrow) because I should eat more veggies and I could use the green.
Old School Egg Salad: I'll make my own 'from scratch' recipe here (thanks Anisa for the push to choose a classic!) Good bread, like a nice fat kaiser bun, egg bun or fresh homemade bread. I could pull that off right? Hard boiled eggs, mayo, a bit of mustard (maybe dijon), salt, pepper, maybe chives and a touch of Srirracha sauce. Yup, this is a good idea.
Ploughman's Lunch from theKitchn.com: Multiple entendre's aside I love the idea of this ploughman's lunch. Simple but amazing ingredients that you pick at. I don't know how well this works for a work lunch, but I would like to try it. The 'mash-ups' suggested on TheKitchn.com are great and really worth a try.
Japaleno + Bagel + Cream cheese +Cucumber : I'm noticing a trend of just naming foods I'd like to eat together. I like lunches that do this, very therapeutic I think? And leaves room for fudging, mixing and substituting. In this case I'm lookin' at making some Jalapeno Bagels from BiscuitsAndSuch.com. Yeah. This looks good.
Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Avocado from LunchBoxBunch.com: Meat is amazing but every once in a while it's nice to a veggie lunch. They can be protein packed without leaving you feeling sluggish and I could see myself making these ahead of time and maybe freezing? Don't know how well they would freeze but maybe I'll find out soon.

That took a LOT longer than I thought, but I really like these ideas. Am I caught up yet?

The Cooking Cure: Day 2 to 7 (Yeah, I screwed up)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:37:00 +0000

I may have screwed up and totally missed a few days of the cure. Although my breakfasts surely could use some form of help it looks like it'll have to wait because I am not backtracking now.

To keep you up-to-date, I was sick all last week. At home sick, the real kind. Not fun coughing, not hearing, no use of nose kind of sick and it was unpleasant. But I'm getting better, or at least that's what I'm telling myself at this point and I expect you'll all agree that mind over matter has it's place. Whether we agree where that is debatable, but nevertheless I am alive.

I'll give you a quick list of what I missed (and you if this is your Cooking Cure source of info, which is mad if you ask me.)

Day 2: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About Your Breakfast Habits

Tuesday March 4th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 2 on TheKitckn.com

What am I tired of eating? Cereal. I like the connivence but I know I eat it too much and I feel like it's not the kind of breakfast I should be having. It's not the 'power-packed-first-thing-starter' it once was, or at least not the brands I like. Those of course contain all the sugar in the world. Not bad until you hit about 10am and feel exhausted.
What do I love eating? Fresh. I love fresh when I remember to do it. I love eggs, I love good bread and perfect little things. Yes, I like eating lots of little food. If I could eat finger appetizers for the rest of my very short lived like I would.
What would I like to eat more often? Real and homemade. I like knowing what goes into my food and I'm starting to really enjoy the process of cooking and creating. If I can see exactly what went into it: a fruit, how much butter, what kind of flour, the amount of salt, I feel better about what I'm eating. I end up feeling proud. This is in part what I think 'real' food is. Not processed or filled with ingredients you can't pronounce, real food. But I'm not crazy obsessed or rich, so maybe this goal is a little high.

Day 3: Find 5 New Recipe's for Breakfast

Wednesday March 5th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 3 on TheKitckn.com

This one is pretty easy to start. I love breakfast and would always love to try new things. Whether or not I'll ever get to trying these is up to the cosmos but I will remember them (I'm an avid pinner, if you must know). But I want to keep in mind about my questions last week; what do I love and what do I want to eat more of.

Smoothies: Now I know I should be thinking of one specific recipe, but smoothies are so diverse I want to really get into the habit of making them for a breakfast. Like a staple I can transition from what I have. I like starting simple so why not a Mango Yogurt Smoothie from theKitchn.com.
English Muffins from theKitchn.com: I always like a good english muffin. I thank my mother for that breakfast treat, but the store bought ones are just 'eh'. Not bad but I look at the ingredients and cringe. If I could make these puppies, or a way to have one fresh in the morning, I would be soooooo happy.
Huevos Rancheros from foodnetwork.com: Love mexican cuisine, love eggs why not put them puppies together? My only fear is I'm not sure how I feel about hot sauce on my eggs. That being said, I've been corrected by the fiance that 'it's awesome' so I think so far this is the most likely subject for a breakfast cook day.
Cheddar and Leek Muffins from theKitchn.com: Portable, tasty I'm sure and I feel like I should try my hand at baking more.
Ham and Egg Crepe Squares from FramedCooks.com: Bacon, or salty ham as a healthier substitute, couldn't escape this list. I love bacon but I want to find new ways on twisting the ever loved bacon and egg sandwich. This crepe square recipe is kinda cool and something I think I'd enjoy trying.

Day 4: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Breakfast

Thursday March 6th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 4 on TheKitckn.com

Haha, go shopping. While I was sick as a dog? You bet your ass I didn't step outside all week. The weather was craptastic and I was even more shitty. The last thing I wanted to do was put real clothing on and leave my blankets. So no, I didn't stock up for anything.

Day 5: Make Breakfast Today and Plan for Next Week's Breakfasts

Friday March 7th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 5 on TheKitckn.com

We we all know this didn't happen. Being home sick, no cooking really happened over the course of last week. I did, I'll tell you, make myself some homemade mac and cheese but I can do that with my eyes closed. It wasn't healthy, but damn was it tasty and when you're sick all you care about is being a little bit satisfied. There was also all the orange juice drinking that could happen. I've been a little obsessed about it lately. Planning to ask the fiance to get me more OJ was the extent of 'planning' that went into my breakfasts for this week. Guess what? I already drank the OJ.

Day 6: Make a List of Everything You Ate for Lunch Last Week

Monday March 10th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 6 on TheKitckn.com

Does OJ count? I didn't really eat much other than Macaroni and cheese, toasted english muffins and take out, I think. I can't remember all too well because most of it was surrounded by 'I WANT ICE CREAM' and the fiance saying 'No'. I remember not eating ice cream (until the weekend). Does that count?

Day 7: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About Your Lunch Habits

Tuesday March 11th, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 7 on TheKitckn.com

Oh I see what you're doing! This is just like the breakfast Q's. Sneaky theKitchn.com. Thought you'd trick me there.

What am I tired of eating? Goddamn Subway. Screw me sideways I eat there way too much. Forgot lunch? Have some Subway. Brought lunch but it's gross? How about Subway? Feeling bad about yourself? Eat some more GODDAMN SUBWAY! I can't blame them, I keep going back. Maybe because my 'take-out' lunch choices are between 'healthy' subway sandwiches and the over priced grocery store next door where something of far less quality (and that's saying something) costs three time's as much.
What do I love eating? Apparently fucking Subway. I think it's the fake-bacon. I love salty food and well, it's easy and I don't have to make it. I do love sandwiches, fresh fat happy sandwiches, deli style with all the pickles. But what do I really love eating? New things. I get bored with the same old. I can't eat the same thing every day for lunch for a week. I've tried, I get bored and disillusioned by Thursday and end up going to Subway. That is depressing.
What would I like to eat more often? Leftovers from good dinners that keep and healthier lunches. When at work I don't really have the time to prepare a nice lunch even though I'm lucky enough to have a stove. Just don't think the bosses would approve of me spending an hour cooking and filling the office with my food stench, even if it's good. Or maybe they would... Either way, I want to try and eat healthier, prepare more satisfying lunches so that I'm not starving when I head home and gorge on an over indulgent dinner.

So there, caught up. Not really doing the more 'active' cure's but hey, I'm trying right?

The Cooking Cure: Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 19:05:00 +0000

This March theKitchn.com is having a 'cure' or a monthly challenge it poses to their followers and readers, this one designed to "get you cooking at home every day, starting with 5-minute baby steps and culminating in a week of 21 home-cooked meals."

It's similar to the very popular 'January Cure' on ApartmentTherapy.com, where you spruce up your place with some simple tips over the course of a month to take you out of any new years blues you might be suffering. As a messy home-body the January Cure was too much but as a cook, maybe not a great one, but an aspiring one I like the idea of the Cooking Cure.

You can sign up if you'd like on their main page for the Cooking Cure. Don't be shy, there's no real obligation here.

Day 1: Make a list of everything you ate for breakfast last week

Monday March 3rd, 2014
Cooking Cure's task for Day 1 on TheKitckn.com

The basics, write everything you ate for breakfast last week on paper. Now I know I should do it on paper paper, but I'll lose it so I figure the blog is a good place to start.

Monday: Subway BLT footlong with cheese, mayo, pickles and onions.
Tuesday: Honey Nut Cheerios with milk.
Wednesday: Honey Nut Cheerios with milk.
Thursday: Honey Nut Cheerios with milk.
Friday: Latte and croissant.
Saturday: Leftover beef Pad Thai.
Sunday: English muffin with strawberry jam and half a glass of orange juice.
Monday (Today): Honey Nut Cheerios with milk.

Probably not the best of breakfasts this last week. So much for my 'eating from scratch'. But in the morning I am so uninterested in cooking.

Now the extra credit portion of today is tracking my lunches and dinners.
Monday (today): Subway BLT footlong with cheese, mayo, pickles and onions. Granola bar and a ginger ale.

So I guess that's done for today!

Dont' forget, if you're doing the cooking cure to tag with your posts with #cookingcure

Giant Pig in a Blanket

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 20:14:00 +0000

Valentines day is a holiday that really doesn't have much of a meaning for me or those I care about. The past few years I haven't been able to spend it with Zach (he works nights) but this year, this glorious 14th of February in the year of 2014, he didn't have to work.

Now you'd think we'd go on some grand romantic adventure. Dinner, desert, wine pairings at a fancy restaurant (which he did our first year dating; gold star to that fellow. He knows how to treat a lady.) but we are home-bodies now that we have our own home. What does that mean? We like our bodies to stay at home. With a relationship based on honesty and blatant mockery of most traditional customs we decided to have a Valentines Day Adventure!

This is where the pig comes in. And by pig I mean pork tenderloin. And by blanket I mean Pillsbury crescent rolls.

Yup.

This happened.

Giant Pig in a Blanket

A Valentines Day Aventure Recipe

Ingredients

Pork tenderloin
1 package crescent rolls or homemade roll dough pre-prepared
Rub, marinade or seasoning

Prepare your rub or marinade. We used a combination of a grainy dijon mustard with a cute German man smiling on it with some salt and pepper. You could use just about anything with pork: a homemade bbq sauce, a jerk spice or go simple and just salt and pepper the sucker.
Lather, sprinkle, cover and/or soak your pork loin. For a deeper flavour marinade in the fridge over night.
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
While oven is preheating heat a bit of oil (I don't measure much) in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the pork tenderloin to hot pan, turning occasionally until all sides are browned.
Transfer tenderloin to roasting pan or baking sheet (if you're uncluky enough not to have a roasting pan). Cover again with more marinade or another sprinkle of salt and pepper. This is where you can be a bit more creative.
Roast in oven for 8-10 minutes or until you reach an internal temperature of 130 degrees F. ***THIS IS UNDERCOOKED PORK, DO NOT EAT AS IT IS. You are putting it back in the oven so you want to be sure you're not overcooking it.***
Let pork rest while you unroll your crescent roll dough. Be sure to keep it in one large sheet.
Reduce Oven to 375 degrees F (as per packaging). After resting place pork loin on rolled out dough. Wrap dough around loin roast trimming off additional roll dough from ends. We did not trim our dough and it was undercooked inside so this is a minor adjustment. Your pig might have a little less blanket but don't throw away that extra dough! Make a few extra rolls on the side to have with your dinner.
Place Pig in Blanket in the oven on a baking sheet (preferably a clean one) for 10-12 minutes or until dough is a golden brown.
Enjoy! Well take it out of the oven first, but then enjoy!

It was wonderful, but like I said remember to trim off excess dough. Our adventure became a little bit more laughable when we peeled it apart and rebaked parts of the dough. The meat, hoooboy, it was perfectly cooked. Still juicy and the bit of a dijon marinade really added an extra umpth. We liked it so much we ended up dipping it in some more spicy dijon.

You could try this with some cheese in the last stage of blanket wrapping on top, or some cooking bacon to make it extra piggy. Either way this Valentine's day was officially awesome. I think an adventure in cooking is right down our alley for a commercially romantic holiday that now is more about hiding from the crowds and spending time together instead of getting expensive reservations at restaurants we'll never go to again. Boy, am I living the life!

Something is stuck on my finger

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Ikea is an obsession

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:42:00 +0000

I have accepted it, I embrace it and despite my post on trying not to do it all I can’t stop looking at the Ikea catalogue for the 2013 season. It’s official, I’m a Swedish décor-whore. (That’s fun to say!)

Now putting aside the point that in nearly every post I make I mention the word ‘whore’ out of appropriate context, I think it’s time to share why I love Ikea.

1. It’s empowering.

Not only do you not need some designer to tell you ‘it all works’, because we all know Ikea furniture and accessories work with ALL Ikea furniture and accessories, but you put it together yourself. For the DIY’er it’s a happy wet dream with instructions. Not only do I get to put it together properly but I can say ‘I built that’ when someone compliments my tack-tacular Ikea shelving units. (IVAR all the way).

2. Neutral as shit.

90% (I made up that number in my head) of Ikea furniture is white, grey, black, ‘wood’ or ‘cream’. This means it goes with everything but brown. And even then I’d probably still put it together. If you have that one random orange pot you spray painted on an off DIY day it’s okay! IT’LL WORK! In fact I have such a lovely bright orange pot sitting on an IVAR shelving unit AS WE SPEAK. I can tell you, it ‘goes’.

3. I’m cheap as shit.

Furniture is expensive. I probably didn’t need to tell you that but I’m going to say it again.
It’s muthafukin’ expensive! With that note sinking in Ikea often offers a relatively cheap alternative to muthafuckin’ expensive shit out there. Sure you get what you pay for (Except in IVAR, I think I might want to be buried in it because that shit never stops being awesome) but as a young, cheap-ass woman living in a cheap apartment, I’m gonna go with Ikea to make me feel like ‘Yeah, I decked our my place in under $500 with awesome shit people probably think costs me $1000. BOOYA SUCKA’S!” Please note my friends are normally in the room when I say this shit. To their faces.

4. It’s like dollar store shopping but with couches.

I’m not trying to belittle Ikea, my apartment after all is filled with it, but the cost vs quality ratio makes it feel like the most epic Dollar store with the most amazing stuff ever. Rarely can you find similar products for cheaper (and by ‘you’ I mean ‘me’ and by ‘find’ I mean I don’t look elsewhere). So when you go it’s always a “Omg you have no idea how much I got for so cheap, look at these adorable trays I don’t even need but totally bought because they were like $3 dolla’s and I was like ‘Bitch I don’t pass up $3 dolla trays!” But seriously, I want those trays.

5. The catalogue.

I worked at the bay, their catalogue sucked. Sears was like the anti-christ and I’ve never touched anything of theirs (I know you bought that duvet set for First year res there Mom. I’ll never forget.) Walmart doesn’t have one and quite frankly anyone else who does can’t possible beat an Ikea catalogue. They’re pretty, well organized and filled with more than just 'hey here's our crap'. They know their market at try to cater to the DIY'ers, the trendy 'I think I'll have an orange couch cover this week and switch back to white when the rents come over' and the obsessors of organizational things. I love looking through them to find stuff I don’t need but totally want and then slowly boil that list down until it reaches the perfect ratio of cheap vs. cute-as-sin. It’s a fine art with lots of maths that you’re jealous you don’t have. I’m sure of it.

6. THE LIST.

I like lists. This is a list that I already like. Why? Because I made it, that’s why. And I love making lists of things I want. Love love love. It’s an addiction that no program can fix and today I will share with you my current ‘MUTHER OF GAWD I WANTS TO BUY THESE IKEA THINGS!’ list.

RATIONELLVARIERA
Pot lid organizer, stainless steel
$12.99
I am SOOO tired of hunting for the right pot lid because they'd disorganized and messed up in a random cupboard. This would make my life easier. Or so I tell myself.

DVALA

Sheet set, beige

$27.99

My cats like their nails. And my bed sheets. The first nice set we had was shredded (unintentionally) and because we like the cats more than the sheets I need a new set. In fact I should probably buy two...

MALIN BAND

Throw, multicolor

$19.99

DUDE THIS THROW IS GREEN! I love green, and Orange so this could only be better if it was orange. But since I'm cold in my apartment NOW I would like this. Today. Give it to me.

BÄRBAR

Tray, lilac, white

$3.99

Goddam I can't resist these trays!

PORTIS --- PURCHASED AND USED DAILY!!

Hat and coat stand, black

$39.99
Zach wants a hat stand even though we don't really have hats. I of course agree thoroughly and want one too. A good landing strip at the front door is one thing that I truly believe is essential. Plus, coat/hat racks are classy.

NORDEN
Bench, birch
$119.00
Again with the front door landing pad essentialness: I have a plan one day to build the most amazing stacked bench wall front entrance way. The plan requires this bench. Why? Birch is bitch'n, I could always paint it a lovely shade of orange, and solid wood furniture lasts.

EKTORP
Sofa, Svanby gray
$549.00
It's their famous couch, costs less than $600 with an lovely grey couch cover. Now this is more important on the list of things to do as the couch my mom helped buy for my birthday what... two years ago now? Yeah, it's deflated. And by deflated I mean the cushions have lost their cush. No cush is hard on my toosh. And the springs are making for a great escape. I can't have that so this sofa, approved by Zach, is the one!

BENZY LAND

Cushion, beige

$14.99
Map Cushion ='s happiness for a history nerd. Why? Because I said so and I think Zach agrees. Mostly he just nod's but I take that as consent.
Swivel Chair with armrests, black

VILGOT/NOMINELL
Swivel Chair with armrests, black
$99.99
This chair is tits. I mean that. I love it. I sat in it and made those happy noises cats make and started wiggling in to get comfortable and it didn't take very long. My bum loved it and we tend to agree on things. Plus the price is great too. $100? Oh hells yes.

RÅSKOG
Kitchen card, dark grey
$59.99
This is a purchase totally based on my friend Casey, over at WafflingDesign.Blogspot.ca., because she has one. I love it, I secretly want to steal hers but I'm sure she'd probably just prefer me to buy my own. And I like it in the dark grey.

KNODD

Bin with lid, galvanized

$19.99
I don't know about you but my trash goes out in style. Well this would be for recycling but still, you get the idea. Awesome bin for recycling is awesome. That or we could use it to store the coal for the BBQ. Whateves. I'll find a use!

ERIK
Drawer unity with 2 drawers on casters, silver colour
$89.99
I have files. They should be filed in something other than an old plastic unit I use as a footrest. Should is the key word here, I love this but can't really justify spending the moolah quite yet.

So there you have it. Why I love Ikea.

On a side note, I'm back. I could write a lovely post filled with apologies but you've heard it all before. Lets skip that step and get right back into the swing of things.

I’m thinking about an experiment.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:53:00 +0000

I’m a plan-30-things-get-2-done-and-then-stress-about-the-list-left-over kinda gal. It’s obsessive and self destructive but not the worst habit out there I’ll admit. I find it fills me with purpose and satisfaction when I finally finish that list but sadly the list continues to grow and now I have décor, cooking and personal development plans most people don’t bother tackling in a life time. And thats just this week.

It’s a lot to look forward to and I’ve been thinking I am stressing myself out.

Sure I could use to loose a few pounds.
Sure my apartment isn’t a stunning image of modern décor and organization.

Sure my cats bum hairs need to be clipped because he’s catching poop on his pants.

Sure I like to cook and spend way too much money finding new gadgets and ingredients to cook (I highly recommend truffle oil my friends, it’s to die for!)

Sure I write obsessively, have a full time job and take on all this other stuff on the side.

Sure I might be driving the BF crazy when I message him saying ‘Gonna pick something up after work. Love yoouuuu!!’ and bring home more junk.

Apartment Therapy's Pic:
Yeah pets are an awesome happy place.

All that aside I also like to read blogs and today it may have actually helped me. Apartment Therapy, a design and life blog that I can’t stop reading and constantly yoinking design ides from, posted an interesting article this week: Your Weekly Retreat: How to Relax & Eliminate Stress at Home.

I’m of course thinking ‘Awesome new project!’ and true this probably feeds the obsession but it brought up some serious points.

PC all the way, fuck Macs.

I am a techwhore. I love my laptop, my desktop and all my social connectivity programs and websites (strangely though not a big phone person…). One of the more important notes in the articles was finding an hour to ‘switch off’

“Unplug completely from all of your devices. Turn off your phone, power down the computer, and turn the TV off.”

This is a foreign concept to me. My first thougt was sure, I can turn off the computer and watch tv for a while. But then it said TV an dI thought, okay sure I can turn off the TV and play on my comp a while.

So then I started thinking,

Do NOT know where this comes from but hot Damn
that's a scary ass TV.

DEAR GOD I AM UNABLE TO DISCONNECT!

Tonight I am making a plan. It won’t necessarily be super ‘me’ time as I have a boyfriend I live with and I like spending time with him, but I’m thinking we need to disconnect for a few hours tonight. Maybe read a book, turn off all the devices and just listen to the sounds of the city and my loud ass neighbors that I probably never hear because the TV is on when I do absolutely EVERYTING. Maybe I’ll brainstorm some story idea’s for NaNoWriMo? Or doodle like I used to. Maybe read up on my Tarot skills and practice or sand that motherfuckin’ magazine stand I’ve been meaning to refinish and purpose into a nightstand.

But that sounds like work and this hour is specifically a no work zone.

This could be my hardest project yet…. Wait I’m already thinking of it wrong.

Oh well, maybe I’ll feel some sort of satisfaction in just trying. I did clean the kitchen top to bottom last night and although I hated it and it’s dirty again already, goddamn did it feel good to see it clean.

/rant.

Liebster Award's are for cool people

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:47:00 +0000

Good morning and happy Tuesday!

I'll have you know I personally HATE Tuesdays because they don't even have the 'rested off the weekend' feel that Mondays can have, just 'the week has only started and I am soo willing to cut off my left foot to go home early' jive.

But this morning I received a lovely surprise in the nomination of a Liebster Award from Casey over at Waffling!

Liebster: German word that means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

Long story long:
Nessa over at Isle Style Living nominated Casey at Waffling for the Liebster Award along with four other blogs asking 11 questions that the nominees must answer. Casey then had to nominate 5 other blogs with under 200 followers and ask 11 questions. Casey's nominee's?

Helen at Seaside Interiors
Linda at My Crafty Home Life
Nette at This Dusty House
Mrs. GI at The Great Indoors
Lisa at Upset Apple Cart <--- That's me in case you were wondering.

Now I have answers to those questions and if I knew any blogs with under 200 followers I'd totally harass them but I don't so here are the questions!

1. Why do you blog?

To get this shit out of my head. It’s the same reason I write fiction; if I don’t clear up the jumble sometimes I think I would go insane or start talking to myself in public about painting using string of the return of Bad News Bears. Although a great story for everyone else that I encounter I don’t know if it would gain me any lasting friendships.

2. What is your ideal first date?

Before Zach is was having one and the standard ended there. I didn’t date a lot. With Zach it’s going out for dinner, a long walk home, a few hours playing some fun co-op video game followed by sexy time. So like, my average Tuesday is the best date day ever every week.

3. What is your favourite childhood memory?

Walking down the road with my mom when I was about 4ish I think? It was a dirt road then, in Ajax where my parents had their first house, but I couldn't tell you the street now. Just a very happy walk, kicking stones and pretending I could skip while my mother kept me from falling. Simple but happy.

4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Australia/New Zealand. It’s just so damn far and like alien world. Have you SEEN the animals that live there? Their rodents are like the size of our freaking dogs! Kangaroos are to them what raccoons are to us. BUT ENORMOUS AND HAVE POUCHES! It’s like going into space without all the space stuff.

Next would be the Amazon (not the online-market filled with buyable things but the forest with dangerous will kill you at any second things). EVERYTHING IS HUGE!! (Are you noticing a trend here?)

5. What was the last thing you bought for the home?
The kittens. I could live in cardboard boxes with a tarp as my bed sheet as long as I had the goddamn cats. Pets make me a better person, but the couch is a close second.

6. If you could be more knowledgeable in one subject, what would it be?
Science. Because I know so little about it I don’t even know how to subcategorize it further but if I could know more it would be science. All the science.

7. What would you say is your biggest weakness?
Self-control. Be it food, shopping, gaming, feeding cat nip to the kittens, procrastinating I am constantly battling my inner ‘MOAR’ monster for balance. The moster often wins (as evidence by this being written at my job)

8. What is your favourite food and when did you last eat it?
Crab meat and if we’re talking about fake Pollock it’s been like 2 days but the real stuff out of the legs of a crustacean…. It’s been a while. Maybe 6 months? It brings me to tears to think of the parting that brought about such sweet sorrow.

9. What is your leave favourite household chore?
Organizing. Or rather shopping for organizational tools that I can implement to make my life better. I don’t often actually get around to implementing but I love the shopping and planning for it.

10. Do you have any fears?
Clowns. Spiders. Bees. Heights. Awkward situations. Accidentally eating olives on pizza or in pasta.

11. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

DIY: All you need is string?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:44:00 +0000

I have been at the art-attack again. Well not really but I've been using my special powers of concept thievery to bring colour to a bland bedroom lined with oversized furniture and void of sunlight.

Originally I had planned for some picture to canvas transfers with two large canvas' I picked up months ago. When that didn't happen and I was devoid of something to fill the empty space on my bedroom wall I became antsy.

Zach had been painting a lovely table we found on the side of the road for our balcony (pics of that to come as well) and we had some blue paint leftover. Combined with my theivery of the DIY Idea from Apartment Therapy's post '10 DIY Wall Art Ideas That Anyone Can Do' which I'm very sure was inspired by some real abstract art (Birds on a wire 37, abstract oil painting) by Maria Kitano, I made this!

I love, love, love this blue. It's soo electric and I should really go find the name of it (there's still half a half gallon can left after these suckers and Zach's table) but for now it is my electric blue. It's one of those colours that jumps out at you and I'm pleased to say I now have a bathing suit in this wonderful shade.

I know in most of the 'Bird on a Wire' paintings the birds are hand painted along with the wire lines but I am not skilled with a paintbrush when it comes to details. Sculptures maybe, but pure paint on a canvas? I do NOT have the dexterity for that. So what did I do?

Here's my 'recipe' Bird on the Wire for the crafter how-to.

Supplies

Canvas (you could do this with 1, 2 or 10)
Paint for your background (optional, I used indoor wall paint matte. Glossy would be bad since you're painting your birds on top of your background)
Paint for your birds
Stiff paper or thin cardboard about 4"x4"
pencil
scissors (of good freaking quality)
1x Large paint brush (background)
1x Small paintbrush (birds)
String/Twine (thicker the better)
Paint tray small
Paint tray large
Drop clothes (or newspaper)

Estimated Time
1 Day (includes Dry times and multiple coats)

Directions
I didn't exactly do this with a lot of forethought so I'll try and keep it simple.

1. You need to paint your canvas base that takes only a minute or two per canvas with a dry time of 15-50 minutes depening on the type of paint you're using. Remember to paint the sides of your canvas, even though it's a little awkward to do so when it's wet. You'll appreciate it when you 'round a corner and see a clean line.

2. Plan out where your 'wires' will fall and approx. how large your birds will be. Then draw a loose design of your bird facing front on one 4x4 stiff paper and then another with your bird looking left or right (to keep symmetry I used one stencil for my left and right by just flipping it to paint the bird in a different direction.) Do your best to keep the size of the bird stencils as close as possible.

3. Cut the birds out leaving a complete and smoothed stencil. If yours has rough inside edges use the sharp edge of your scissors to smooth them out. You don't want strange shapes in your birds.

4. Pour your black paint in your large paint tray. Measure the length of the twine you'll need for your wire by pulling it along your dry canvas. Leave an extra few inches on either side so you can grab your twine.

5. Dip your twine (not 'handles') into paint and coat well, but be sure it's not dripping. With a steady hand pull the twine taut and then lay it down on the canvas without moving. I wanted a broken line look so I was gentle on letting it touch the canvas but if you want to go crazy otherwise for a solid line push it down hard.

6. Create a second line and then discard twine. Wait for 'wires' to dry.

7. Place stencil of bird on wire and paint. Let both stencil and bird dry before attempting another bird on the wire. This was by far the most time consuming process. But it led to a consistant size among all the birds.

9. Dry then hang!

Here are the individual paintings so you can see the differences and similarities. All made from 2 stencils of my little bird.

I know, maybe not the best way to DIY but I loved this art project and the outcome.

If you try it yourself send me a link! I'd love to take a look and see how many birds on wires are infesting the homes of the DIY world.

DIY: Chalkboard and Chalk Holder

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:15:00 +0000

DIY TIME!

So home alone last night as the BF was at work doing his teaching thing. I was terribly bored and so I continued working on a few DIY projects I finally picked things up for last week. First was some spray painting totally unrelated to this DIY post so I'll just leave you worrying about what I'm spray painting.
(insert maniacal laughter here!)

The final product:

The how to wil be much more complicated than you'd think...

(P.S. Pardon the white space.)

Saturday I picked up some stick on chalkboard.

HUZZAH! So after flattening it under some RPG books for a few days I was finally able to get this show going.

Here's what came in the box.(RIGHT) Nothing too special. From here it was deciding where the hell to put this stuff.

I decided on the front door. It's blank and we could use a note service of some kind here so we don't forget things like hugs and feeding the cats.

It should be noted that Chewie (one of my fantastic cats) feel the desire to help by standing behind me on the couch.

Adorable little sucker.

Attaching the chalkboard was easy (peel and stick I love you) but I needed a holder for the chalk. Because it's the front door I wanted something pretty flush and aside from being a lazy ass and just tacking the plastic bag to the wall I looked at what I had lying around the apartment.

So, MacGiver time: I had a sewing kit, hooks, a piece of fabric that was awesome orange.

What does one do with all these supplies??

MAKE SOMETHING ALMOST ENTIRELY USELESS!!

Now I've never mentioned it before but I'm a terrible sewer. Not having a sewing machine compounds this issue so bare with me as I probably make some of the worst mistakes EVAR. With that in mind I started making a cute little chalk holder with my scraps.

This was the original plan, un-sewen and during day light. This project took forever because I did it all wrong but still turned out 'useable'. Key was a cone-like shape with tap for attaching to the wall. How it would attach hadn't been devised at this point. so onward with the sewing!

First I folded my edges and pinned them down for sewing. Not too hard unless you're much better at stabbing yourself than sewing. Which I am.

My fingers still hurt a little.

Next I wanted to make a straight edge for the pocket. To do so meant some folding. Once I found where my important edge was. I have it a snip snip.

SNIP SNIP!

Then it was time to start sewing by knotting on the edge I would be hiding under another flap. Makes for easy crappy-sewing to make it all pretty.

I was using a lovely pink thread (terrible quality) because it blended very well with the orange. After a few stitches things seemed to be going well.

Not so much actually.
Stupid crappy dollar store thread snapped, knotted and ripped after half the project was done. So I had to snip it off and start again.

This very nice quality but bright white thread was the only option after balck. I figure the chalk would be white and the stitching small enough no one would notice. Anyhoo, I stitched all along the edge (poorly as you can see until I met the folder corner. Here I stitched once in the corner, remove all my pins and folded the un-sewn flap over.

Ta-da! like that. After a pin's put in I was have to sewing, this time connecting the two flaps.

Like so! Once connected with a tight seam I needed to work on the back.

Now lazyness and my terrible cutting skills are to blame for this randomly sewn back. I needed to fold it up so it was supportive but also avoid weird edges seen from the front What to dp?

More Ta-Da-ing! keeping a loose fold along this flap and sweaing it to the back of the holding pocket make it tight, and I tucked in the edged behind the flap. Sew south and more south until the entire back is solid.

But I needed to measure my chalk height first before sewing the bottom half. So putting the chalk in it's holder, I then flipped and continued with a general idea of where to sew.

Pin's make it all better and easier and after some crafty inside of the holder sewing you get....

THIS! It's not perfect, or what I had set out to do really, but it's nice enough for a piece of chalk. I had thought about it being big enough for two but ultimately that wasn't going to happen. A piece would fall, or break and that's bad news bears. This was for one piece as we're not going to be storing oodles in one spot.
But it needed something else.

BUTTONS! After finishing my masterpiece of button art I've had a ton of random coloured buttons left over. A fan of green (with green accents all over my dishevelled apartment) I figured it would look cute with the orange and it also broached the subject of how the hell the holder would hang from the wall.
Solution?

PICTURE FRAME WIRE! Using the wire, I cut it into a strip long enough to create a hanging loop for the button to latch on to. But wire is gross so with some extra orange I started wrapping the fabric around the wire. The key to making it stick? Picture wire is made of tinier wires twisted together . By seperating the end a little I was able to weave pieces of the wire through the fabric to 'snag' the ends on on and keeping my wrap nice and tight.

Twist the extra wire ends, make a spot for the nail and button and you have an instand, cheaply made decorative hook. Would I pay for this? Hells no, but it's functional and kinda cute.

Putting them together and stepping back shows an adorable little button hook for my chalk! it's not the bucket I wanted but it's nice.

All in all I think this worked out. A cute message board, grocery list and 'to-do' spot that Zach has already put 'Hugs' on. It's all flush enough to have at the front door and thankfully not low enough for the cats to toy with.

I felt productive last night.

I hate you Bruce Scanner

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:49:00 +0000

Warning: This Post contains copious amounts of rage and thus lots of F-bombs. If you're not a fan, well... read the post anyways. If you are, Happy reading!!

I have finally named my printer/scanner of 8 years and I sure as hell hope it's offended because I'm pissed.

Bruce Scanner was a reliable device until about 2 weeks before I moved. I came across some comics I'd drawn as a child. Well teenager is more accurate and comics is a stretch. More doodles with horrible jokes and commentary on strange things like chicken. All in all it was good fun! I was excited to find them and even more excited to share the insanity of my youth with the world.

It was then Bruce Scanner became involved.

For some HORRIFIC reason he decided to Scanner Hulk out on me and screw up every other scanned page. Out of like 15 (sure, I know it's not that many but COME ON) less than half were salvageable.

Now I had no idea that Bruce Scanner had transformed into the horrible mis-scanning monster of mild intelligence and carelessly did not pack these amazing horrible and questionably tasteless comics in the move. Thus, they are gone.

Forever.

FUCK YOU BRUCE SCANNER!!!

Sure I know I should have checked the scanner but this one has never missscanned a page before and since all the comics were drawn on 8.5x11 and were all placed on the scanner the same way I assumed it wasn't being a dick.

I was foolish.

The first few pages seemed okay.

Only the sides seemed to be cut off on Page 1 and page 2 looks perfect! But page three...

But page three...

WHAT THE FUCK BRUCE SCANNER?!?

It's like he decided oh no, you only get to see the worst part of this page, ruin the entire joke and cause incomprehensible comics to become even MORE incomprehensible.

I'm so mad now I feel like I might Hulk out.

But wait, just when you think it's okay to throw Bruce Scanner out the window he goes and does this...

Back to fucking normal. Why? Because Bruce Scanner hates me. He hates my life and all my insanity. Some of you might think he's doing something good, attempting to help the world and save you all from Stick Man comics of bad taste but do not be fooled. He's just a hulked out retarded shell of Bruce Scanner: Bane of my existence.

BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER !

Why bother ending the joke when you can just assume the reader has an idea what was going on in your head?!!! Oh Bruce Scanner, you prankster, you JACKASS! You ruin the punchline and THEN you ruin the "happy" ending. What a dick...

So the moral of the story? Never trust your scanner, least of all Bruce Scanner. He's a prick that hulks out when you need him most and smashes your dreams with incomprehensible scans leaving you first with a false sense of security.

Fuck you Bruce Scanner.

Shopping Adventures!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Saturday I went shopping with Casey over at Waffling on the Danforth. The weather was pretty crappy, windy and cold as hell after a nice warm wave earlier in the week. But, we had a great time without nice weather.

How you might ask?
We were shopping fool. And Shopping is fun.

First stop was Moss after meeting at Pape Station. Actually, after the fact I realized we should have met at Chester, but anyways. Moss! It's a nice little store that specializes in outdoor and garden stuffs like furniture, some plants, decorative elements. Everything in this store I would put in my apartment so we went to look at awesome things and so I could share with Casey the greatness that is Moss.

First of which, that both Zach and I adore, is this pretty freaking awesome pillow. Now neither of us are sailors and I can't stand Moby Dick (still haven't finished it after years upon years of trying...) so you might think it's strange but this pillow is awesome. All grey and canvas-y and it's got a big-ass whale on it. It would go great with the new couch too, but something tells me that $34 for a pillow is beyond my spending habits so all I have is this photo of the original plankster.
Yeah.
I went there.

Then there's this little guy who would be wonderful anywhere. Functional? Of course not! But an orange silly aligator is necessary and important to the image of my home. I want this sucker, but alas I can't justify the spending at this time. There are multiples of this guy in different sizes so I'm not too worried that he'll disappear, plus the artist is canadian! I'll go back and find it sometime.

So Zach, the awesome boyfriend, is a history nerd. Despite my distaste for politics I love this history geekyness about him and all the nerdy stuff he likes. Example: globes. Awesome, old fashioned and pretty freaking cool globes. Downfall: he has such good taste that it's too damn expensive to purchase. But I'm on the lookout, Craigslist and Kijiji alike looking for something that will fit our sense of nerdy+globe+inexpensive. So far, nada. But it's only been a few days.

Now this cat needed some attention because... lets me honest this is ridiculous!!! I love seeing people who have those porcelain/steel/bronze animals on their porches and windows and mantles. Normally they're cute or majestic.

This? WHAT THE HELL CAT!

If I wanted to see a frowning cat I can just spray mine in the face with water. But it was a good price.

Did I buy it?
No. I'm not THAT silly.

Gloom Cat.

After some much needed shopping Casey and I stopped off for some gelato. In her words "I always eat gelato when in Europe. All three times!"

I love you Casey but I did prefer my tiramisu gelato to your combo of cookies and cream and something else. Sooo good with the tasting of alcohol... Just what I needed at noon on a saturday after a coffee.

Sexiest gelato eating faces EVAR

Then, TO CHESTER STATION!
No there aren't any pictures of the subway station. I'm not like that. But on the way this adorableness happened.

I love random street art, especially this variety. On the door to a upstairs apartment above a little old grocery store where I purchased noms.

We made our way over to Woodbine for some arting and thrifting supplies. DeSerres was stop number one and it was fun! Crafts, craft supplies, painting stuff and things I can't afford. Nothing like a shopping trip to remind you how broke you really are.

I just picked up two small things to cover some projects I've had in mind for a while: Canvas transfers and Chalkboard wall. Well not a whole wall, but a part of one. I'll get something up about it this week (hopefully) but right now I'm flattening the chalkboard so that might take some time.

Gotta love DIY projects, even the really easy peel and stick variety.

Casey also noted a poster for the One of a Kinda craft show in Toronto. Show hours:
WEDNESDAY TO SATURDAY 10AM-9PM

SUNDAY 10AM-6PM

OPEN LATE THURSDAY MARCH 29 10AM TO 11PM

It's only $8 and it would be great to go and get some awesome craft ideas and unique things (funds permitting). I think we'll keep you posted on if this trip is a reality later in the week. As much as I want to go, I always want a weekend to clean the apartment: a chore I've put off for sometime now.

But I have to admit that the doll on the poster, although frightening, looks fun to make. Think of all the fun and twisted ways to use your imagination to create!!

From there it was a frenzy of thrifting at Value Village.

Pots, silly things and other stuffs. I can only share in images.

POTS POTS POTS! I needed pots to plant my lovely plants in. Since I need things to keep me busy I picked up a few that need work. This one, Reoona as I like to call it, needs new paint. It's the right shape for my Jade plant (shallow but wide) so I can throw some stones in the bottom for draining, get some paint and viola; new and perfect pot! I'll DIY my way through that one later.

This sucker will be for the christmas cactus I was gifted when moving in to the apartment. It's the same dark green as the plant so this sucker is getting a makeover with Reoona above. Right shape means colour change!!

Pot for the new crocus bulbs I have! It's just perfect for them, and all shiny.

I did buy this pot to plant my Jade but after consideration it's going to house the African violet. Why? Because the jade needs more space. Le sigh. it is pretty awesome though. The violet should be super pleased.

I didn't buy this, but I probably would have if the damn button worked. And here I thought Casey was insane when she went on and on about a talking lobster...

So there you have it. A good day of shopping that led to strange adventures on the Danforth with Casey.

Upset Apple Cart

Spring is in the Air... and on My Balcony Part 1

Soil

Planter

Plants.... and Pommies

A Touch of Spring

GTFU F&V Challenge: Rutabega

RUTABEGA

Shop

Cook

Mashed Rutabaga

Rutabaga Fries

Verdict

Grow the Fuck Up and Eat Your Damn Fruits and Vegetables... Challenge

The GTFU F&V Challenge

Rules

Point/Prize

Mother's Day Carding 2013

Indigo Fall Preview 2014

The Big Book

Journals

The Grand Table

Love that Jug

Mason Jar's

Swag

Slideshow

The Secret Stomp

The Secret Stomp

Credit Where It's Due

Cooking Catch-up: Roasted Chicken

Roasted Chicken

The Cooking Cure: Day 19

Day 19: Make a Plan for Your Leftovers

The Cooking Cure: Day 16-18

Day 16: Get Yourself a Treat to Have with Dinner

Day 17: Take 5 Minutes to Think Through the Rest of Your Meals This Week

Day 18: Make "Stuff I like to Eat" List

The Cooking Cure: Day 12-15 ...sigh...

Day 12: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About your Dinner Habits

Day 13: Find 5 New Recipes for Dinner

Day 14: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Dinner

Day 15: Make Dinner Tonight & PLan Next Week's Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

The Cooking Cure Day 10+11: Aww, shit...

Day 10: Make lunch Today and Plan Next Week's Breakfasts and Lunches

Day 11: Make a List of Everything You ate for Dinner Last Week

The Cooking Cure: Day 9

Day 9: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Lunch

EGG SALAD SAMIDGE!

The Cooking Cure: Day 8

Day 8: Find 5 New Recipes for Lunch

The Cooking Cure: Day 2 to 7 (Yeah, I screwed up)

Day 2: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About Your Breakfast Habits

Day 3: Find 5 New Recipe's for Breakfast

Day 4: Stock Your Kitchen for One New Breakfast

Day 5: Make Breakfast Today and Plan for Next Week's Breakfasts

Day 6: Make a List of Everything You Ate for Lunch Last Week

Day 7: Ask Yourself 3 Questions About Your Lunch Habits

The Cooking Cure: Day 1

Day 1: Make a list of everything you ate for breakfast last week

Giant Pig in a Blanket

Yup.

This happened.

Giant Pig in a Blanket

A Valentines Day Aventure Recipe

Ingredients

Something is stuck on my finger

Ikea is an obsession

1. It’s empowering.

2. Neutral as shit.

3. I’m cheap as shit.

4. It’s like dollar store shopping but with couches.

5. The catalogue.

6. THE LIST.

I’m thinking about an experiment.

DEAR GOD I AM UNABLE TO DISCONNECT!

Liebster Award's are for cool people

DIY: All you need is string?

DIY: Chalkboard and Chalk Holder

I hate you Bruce Scanner

**Warning: This Post contains copious amounts of rage and thus lots of F-bombs. If you're not a fan, well... read the post anyways. If you are, Happy reading!!**

Warning: This Post contains copious amounts of rage and thus lots of F-bombs. If you're not a fan, well... read the post anyways. If you are, Happy reading!!