Cooking Chronicles cont.

The madness continues this weekend... I blame it on the Food Network  (particularly the wednesday evening line-up) and all those darn food blogs I read... how am I suppose to sit by and watch such delicious and amazing things and not try to make them for myself?  What I really need to do is have my very own kitchen and make these things everyday instead of blitzing the kitchen on the weekend and salivating my way through the week.   So, what's on the menu for this weekend??

First up:

Stuffed Zucchini from a random Sobey's inspiration magazine.  I changed a few things around, added some nutritional yeast instead of cheese and added a shake of cayenne pepper- they were a wee bit bland but I am sure that can be fixed.  After dinner I whipped up a batch of Jenna's Cinnamon Walnut Bread (with a splash of vanilla and a bit of nutmeg for fun).  It was ridiculously easy to make - she promised 45 minutes tops (including the 40 minute baking time) and she didn't steer me wrong.  The bread is delicious, and even makes for a mighty tasty slice of toast the next morning too!   I think I'll bake another loaf tomorrow for the office crew back at base.

Tonight:

Fish tacos with guacamole ala Alton Brown at Good Eats.  Both were fantastic, I've never done the fish version of taco, and this did not disappoint. My mother in law pronounced it be to amazing and I left the dinner table rather pleased with my progress.

Tomorrow:

I'm thinking something yummy I can bring back to base with me (can you tell I'm avoiding the galley?).  Since perusing Jenna's blog daily, I see her eating her homemade Channa Masala quite often and I think it will make an excellent après yoga meal!  Now I just have to get something green to complete the meal - Jamie's special green monster smoothy maybe (amazing grass powder, spinach, frozen mango pieces, orange juice and pasteurized egg whites), yes I do think so!

In other news, Pete and I have decided to sign up for the Resolution Run put on by the Running Room.  It sounds like great fun on New Years, and we even get a snazzy jacket out of it!  Score!  That being said, I really should start a real training plan though, my runs these days have been up to 6 km and either hill sprints or proper sprints.  I have also - ahem -  "agreed" to do a triathlon sometime next year - I blame Frayed Laces and her amazing finish at last weekend's Ironman. For those who know me, know I CANNOT swim.  I somehow faked my way through many many levels of swimming, mysteriously got my SCUBA license and passed the swim test in the military without actually physically being able to swim.  What I do in water cannot be called swimming, nor can I keep it up for enough time to make it a proper distance consistent with a triathlon.   Pete seems to think that we can work on this and improve if we do it together.  That, however, remains to be seen.  Maybe once we move to Ottawa I will magically find my groove and not drown in the pool - fingers crossed!

Alright, it's saturday night, almost 10pm and I am beat - night!

All things Pumpkin

Hi, my name is Linda and I have a problem.... I can't stop baking... or cooking for that matter - especially anything that involves Pumpkins ;)

Way back in high school I discovered cooking, and baking - I won the Food Studies award from my high school and cooked my way through my time in Switzerland and France - my kids in Geneva had never eaten peanut butter cookies before I made them - bizarre, I know.  After I came back to Canada  and eventually had my own kitchen, I began reading food blogs and started collecting cookbooks (today however, they remain in a box, in someone's garage waiting for me).  I officially have 10 weeks until I finally get to live in my own place again and can cook for myself and my husband.   In the meantime, I'm doing my best to save money for the wedding, house and move to Ottawa and by doing so I end up gyming it up quite often and either reading borrowed books (yay for friends and base libraries) or watching TV (you've got to love recession TV, it's so much better during a downswing in the market!).  My TV of choice these days???  The Food Network.  Now living in barracks makes it rather difficult to cook for myself - however, I do have these wonderful in-laws that invite me over on the weekends.  My repayment for the lovely hospitality??  Cooking dinner, and snacks, and dessert as often as they'll let me.

Now for the rundown:

• The weekend before last it was the Pumpkin Spice Bars and pumpkin spice overnight oats.   
• Last weekend I went all out, No-Butter Chicken,  Spaghetti Squash, Wedding Bliss Soft Ginger Cookies, and Pumpkin Pie Brownie Cupcakes - the last two from Angela at Oh She Glows (her granola bars are really that good!).
•  Yesterday's meal inspiration was courtesy of Emily over at The Front Burner Blog  and Angela - Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chilli in Pumpkin Bowls and Cornbread Muffins.  The chilli was amazing, the bowls were awesome, but to be honest the cornbread muffins could have used more flavour - next time I'll add a lot more green chillies!  (

  Jalapeños 

  were tough to find).  In preparation for tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast at the Aunt & Uncle in-law's I (with the help of the fabulous sister-in-law) whipped up a couple of lemon meringue pies.  
• Tomorrow I might do up another round of chilli - I've taken to bringing some leftovers up to the base with me - not eating at the mess does wonders to lift the spirits.

Although I am by no means Vegan (being from Alberta and having cattle ranching in my blood I love me a good steak) Angela and Emily both write a vegan geared blog -  their recipes are awesome and it truly is nice to be full from a meal without meat and help out the environment a bit.  When I finally do have a kitchen full-time I might go crazy with the freedom to create, but for now I'll have to settle for being a weekend kitchen warrior.

Source : Angela @ Oh She Glows

Hibernation

So it seems as though I've been in somewhat of a hibernation these past few months..... Perhaps I should update on what's been going on - lets start with where I left off.

Love the Dad glasses

June: From all accounts it was a tough month - From finishing my Logistic qualifications, having our promotions delayed, and then the toughest part of course, was losing my father.  At the funeral we had an amazing slideshow with pictures from when my father was young, to when we were all really young and then the last chapter of his life.  It was a sentimental trip down memory lane that made us all laugh and cry.  My husband, who was able to fly in from CFB Shilo for the day, was grateful to see how I grew up.  Since then I've thought a lot about my childhood and all the fun times we had and have come to terms with the loss.  It still makes me sad some days but I can always be happy that I do have the memories.

July:  I went back to work in Ontario, back in Borden for another few months working away doing neat Log stuff.  Pete was back in Shilo finishing his course - firing big guns and blowing stuff up.   I met a great friend in Borden at work, and got to see another fellow Calgarian as well.  My weekend trips to my in-laws resumed and I was feeling pretty good.

August: Pete finished up on course and we both took 2 weeks off for leave.  As per usual, our leave was filled with driving.  First a birthday party for Pete's Uncle, and a belated birthday party for him, then a few days at the cottage (so wonderful) and then off to Ottawa for round 1 of interviews for Pete.  That weekend was in London for a friend's wedding, and then back to Sharon for some much needed downtown, only to go right back to Ottawa for more interviews, and to meet this darling little girl...

September: Pete is back in Gagetown, I am still in Borden - this time my office was moved and I am now a Company Commander... in charge of 180 recruits and their staff - craziness... I have a lot of ruck sack marches coming up and some teaching to do, plus all my Logistic bits - I think life is going to get rather busy real soon...

Future: Pete should be home within a few months, and then off to School again for 3 months.  I've decided however, that I'll be in Ottawa beginning in Jan, with or without a job - enough is enough and it's time to live with a kitchen again.

So there we go, all caught up, feels better to be back. Ciao

Sad News

Dad

1945-2010

Monty Python in Iraq

Everybody loves Betty White....

My new favourite commercial....

Demotivational

Because procrastinating with a Starbucks on a sunny evening in old Quebec City is just what I need to distract me from the amount of homework I have left to do......

Quebec- Part Deux

Yesterday I said my goodbyes (still not good at that) and hopped on a plane eastwards to the land of winding cobblestone roads and sun soaked boardwalks.

  I was the first of the group to arrive, was able to check in early, catch up with one of our instructors from last year and unpack everything before my roomie arrived.   Luckily we pulled some strings and Francesca and I were able to book our room together.  We had thought that it was a 3 person room and had wanted Sarah with us, but instead Fran and I are together and Sarah is next door - not too bad :)  After a few more people arrived we headed out for dinner - it was so nice to see everyone again.  Most of them I haven't seen since last year!

Luckily when 10 o'clock rolled around the bizzarr-o movie from last summer was not up and running, so we watched The Young Victoria before bed - just like last year :)

This morning was breakfast and a walk through the old town before we laced up and headed out for our regular run - along the boardwalk, past the cruise ships, along the river, up the muderous stairs, through the plains of abraham, down through the old towne and back (see the pics below).  It was so so so beautiful - I can't believe I am lucky enough to get to stay here.

Gettin' Antsy

Yep, I feel like it's just about that time again - time to travel.  Although I have a trip in a few days, it isn't really the trip that I need.... I'm feeling the need to explore internationally and I'm not sure I can do that for another year (boo!)   I have this fantastic map of Europe that I bought way back in France.... it is full of little pink highlights of all the places I have visited thus far, but there are some very serious gaps - The Iberic peninsula for example - despite having a degree in one of the languages spoken there, it only has a tiny highlight on Barcelona, not acceptable!  Also, the northern bit, I've been to Copenhagen, and Edinburgh but thats as far as I've ventured north of Amsterdam.  I seem to have an addiction to Europe and should really consider going elsewhere.

Pete and I toyed with the possibility of going down to Peru with the Eye Exam Mission people in August - sadly his course isn't finished in time and I don't have a guaranteed contract for that time = uncertain leave. Oh well, maybe I'll fell better this weekend once I get to QC.  The old city feels very France-like and perhaps that will be enough to tide me over until next April.

Ok, I've procrastinated enough - back to that essay.

Jamie's Food Revolution

I'm holed up in my room for a few days writing my last essay (hooray!), thus I've been preparing myself for the self -imposed isolation by reading through my daily blog tour.... I happened across this post, and to answer to the question, have you seen it?... YES!

I try to catch each episode of Jamie's Food Revolution.  I've watched almost all of Jamie's shows, from the his cook shows on the Food Network to his School Lunches... awesome stuff!

In other news, I had my last round of French exams yesterday.  This time it was the Oral Exam... I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't study very much.  Besides the few hours leading up to the exam (I watched French Food at Home) I didn't speak to anyone in French, I didn't watch any French TV, I didn't review my verb tenses, I basically winged it.... and I think it showed :( Despite understanding everything (thank goodness I haven't lost my comprehension) my vocabulary was pretty trash.  I passed, that much I know, but by home much?  Originally I was hoping for an exempt status, but that was before I wrote the other 2 parts... after that I was going for the next level down "C".  I can thankfully take the test again in 30 days, and after my time in Quebec City I am sure I will do much better.

Ok, time to get going on the essay - Au revoir!

What a week...

Late last night we got news that Pete's sister and her BF of almost 8 years were engaged!  How exciting!  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love my in laws, I love my new sister in law and I love her now husband to be.  They are such a sweet couple and after just finishing their first home renovation, I think this  is a perfect way to celebrate everything!

No word yet when the wedding will be, but I wonder if the family will have 2 weddings in 2011 (ours is scheduled for April next year) - in any case, she will make a lovely bride and he a handsome groom - I can't wait :)

Luckily, I might have a chance to spend some more time with her if I get another contract back in Borden after my course.  Seeing how whenever we are posted we will be in Pet, Gagetown or Shilo,  it will be so nice to spend more time in this area and hang with my new family.

So there caps off the week, taxes done, an eye exam, an exempt status on the expres test, a final day at work, a dinner with the command team, a date night to the movies, a family announcement and now I'm stuck indoors all day wrapping up my homework - thank goodness for tiny coffee makers and a lovely picture window - at least it stopped snowing, Pete is on the range today.

Happy Weekend

Expres Friday

Just got back to my room after my expres test (read: fitness test, military style).... Halelujah, it is over and I passed, I even reached the incentive level and am now exempt from doing it again until 2012.. Hooray!

Last night we had our Graduation Dinner with the Command Team.  Our current CO and his Cox'n as well as the new CO were there and the whole command hallway from the unit, plus all the junior officers.  We had reservations at a cute italian restaurant in Barrie, turned out to be quite yummy, although my Beef Carpaccio was VERY oily and not as pleasant as I had hoped for.  My Penne a la Vodka was delicious and I thought a carb loading meal would be a good thing to eat before my test this morning.  Pete had nice roasted red pepper salad and yummy salmon dish, and both skipped out on Tiramisu (it's a sugar free month). Unlike all the fantastic food blogs that I scroll through daily, I did not photograph the meals (didn't want to try that out in front of the bosses).  We have another graduation next week, I'm technically on leave tuesday onwards and m not sure if I want to go out with all the same people to another long dinner - we'll see where we decide to go and if I want to subject myself to more schmoozing,  I know Pete doesn't.

In an hour I have an appointment at the Base Clothing Stores to return all my green army gear... I fly out to QC in one week and will not be donning any green kit between now and the end of the year.  Now, all that is left is to pack up my room and move for 2 months...  I think I will be back to Borden for another 6 month contract after QC so it's a bit annoying to pack up everything only to come back to it.  Oh well, at least I won't have to drive 4 days across country again :)

Happy Friday to all!

Passions

I wrote this a few days ago after Ange over at OSG asked her readers what their passions were, I guess I should post this.

What are YOUR passions in life? If you could nail them down to 5-10 
what would they be? Most importantly are you ACTING on them?  

 * Running - although I am no where near as good or as dedicated as I think I should be. As K says, the head games are not fun and I need a better strategy for getting past them. My next half marathon in Quebec City is less than a month away, and my 10km was suppose to be 2 months away - that one has been postponed due to military stuff but I'll try to do an unofficial one in it's place and see how that goes.

* Nutrition- this is a toughie lately, I've said this a few times but eating at a military mess can be a challenge and when the desert is so close all the time it is difficult to ignore. I at least have a little blender in my room that I can use to make green monsters (ala Jamie), but I am counting down the time to when I have my very own kitchen - yay!

* Travelling - lately I've been back and forth across the country visiting Pete and taking contracts, Victoria, Calgary, Borden, Toronto, New Brunswick, Quebec City. All fun in their own right but I crave international travel. I had to write a bio this morning and it just reminded me how much I used to use my passport and how neglected it has

* Learning - After university I've managed to study continuously. First it was Land Admin at SAIT with KQ, then the military which has kicked it into overdrive. I've even started up the Officer Professional Military Education Courses... 2 almost finished, 4 left to go - and they can be used for university credit later on, and will only help with promotions. I've also been thinking of doing an accounting diploma to round out my Logistics career and these extra courses could help it to become a degree... 

I could only think of 4 big ones but I think they'll do.  

Days when I wish I had an iPhone instead of a Crackberry

This might just be the neatest app I've ever heard of.... well, that and the one that tells you where the nearest Starbucks is.  Damn you Crackberry and your inferior web browsing capabilities!

16

Last tuesday I experienced an epic failure at the gym, I was set to run 16km - not a new thing to my legs - but for the entire time I was running I felt awful.  My legs were tired, my calves were burning, my lungs were unhappy... WTF?! I stumbled off the treadmill with only 7.5km completed... it was crap, I was pissed off and I moped for the rest of the evening.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I had originally planned on running outside, the weather was amazing all week and I was looking forward to the sun shine.  Saturday rolled around and it was cold and windy, so I opted to try the treadmill again.  This time I rocked my 16km.  My legs were awesome until about 13 kms in when they started to get a bit fatigued, and my lungs were great... quite the difference from tuesday I would say!

Today was suppose to be a quick recovery run but I decided some power cardio-burn yoga would be better for my hamstrings - and I was right, it felt wonderful.

This week I have some more 6.5 km runs scheduled and a great big french test on thursday - yikes!  I've had the test on my goals list for ages and I really would like to get an "exempt" (meaning I scored high enough that my bilingual status will be good forever).  However, my french has been,- how you say - non-existant since I graduated so I may not get that E.... oh well, anything would be beneficial from a job standpoint so off I go.

34 days until I leave Borden for Quebec City!!!  Although leaving my cosy private room, my car and the closeness of my awesome in-laws is not ideal,  I will be finally completing my training and getting a promotion - another stripe, and a pay raise!  Hooray!!

Back to studying I go, night.

The return

Way back in University I worked 2 jobs and had a full time class load.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep a lot and was pretty hooked on caffeine... These days I sleep more and only have 1 job, but I still like my caffeine.  


Where was I going with this, oh yeah - Second Cup.  


Because I worked at an Opto office near a large outlet mall type area in Calgary that also had numerous coffee shop options, I would often stop at Second Cup and grab a crème brulée ristretto before heading to my night class - it was delicious and it was my first foray into the world of coffee. But sadly, one day I found out that they had discontinued the creamy cinnamon syrup used in the ristretto :(  and I had to get a new drink.  I was pretty upset when I found out and then switched over to Starbucks because it just seemed easier somehow (not really sure how that makes sense).  Later after we graduated when I lived with Heather, we had a great supply from Starbucks, so I continued to drink their coffee.  Then I moved to Victoria for the military and as there are ZERO second cup stores on the island I remained dedicated to Starbucks.  Now however, I am in Ontario and there are some Second Cup stores but besides the Maple Latte I didn't have a real reason to go.  A few weekends ago I was visiting Pete in Fredericton and we popped into a Second Cup for my coffee (didn't see any Starbucks in the vicinity) and they had a new drink feature - The Cinnamon Spice Latte.  I tried it, and I am amazed at how similar it tastes to my beloved crème brulée ristretto - hooray!


So in short, I have my drink back,  it makes me very happy, and it helps me to get through my crap essays- ughh, I've been struggling with this one all weekend, good thing it isn't due until Tuesday ;)


Short training / weather update - it's been grey and dreary all weekend.  I was suppose to run 16.5 km today but I have a severe dislike for running in the rain so I've decided to change it to a 5 km easy run on the treadmill on base tonight and the 16.5 km tomorrow after work. OK back to the essay :)

Happenings

After a good amount of research P and I decided to take the plunge and sponsor a child through Plan Canada.  He picked South America as our preferred location and I sent in the request.  Now all we have to do is wait 2-4 weeks for the picture and profile of our child and voila- we are foster parents!  I'm amazed it took me this long to sign up,  $35 / month is not a lot of money, and with all the perks we get from being in the military we are quite certain it won't even change my budget.

The neat thing is that now I can write letters in Spanish again.  It's been a while since I actually used my languages, and with my upcoming french profile test ( 12 days from now - yikes!) I guess this marks my return to my languages - thank goodness. 

I've also been course loaded on my next course in Quebec City... I'm rather excited to get back to the 400 and the gorgeous atmosphere that is QC... I'll be (hopefully) driving home and staying for a day or two before flying out east and then back home for a week or so afterwards.  P has his course in Shilo in May and then back to Gagetown in september.  We are trying to arrange a stay in Ontario at the cottage for a week or so in August - wish us luck ;)

Due to schedule changes this year we have also decided that 30 April 2011 will - barring any new  training schedule changes - be our wedding date.  I have a shopping trip booked in 2 weeks with an Aunt to the garment district of T.O. for my dress material and if I have enough time in April when I am home I will consult with my dressmaker.  I do have a year to actually plan this thing so I'm taking it slowly.  I have a pretty good idea of how this wedding will pan out and I don't see it taking up much of my time to plan, logistics are my speciality these days after all.

 

I should get back to the books though, I have an essay due on tuesday and I have a lot of work to do.  I'm hanging out at the in-laws' this weekend, I'm on duty next week (including the weekend) so I'm stuck on base, or very close to it - boo!

New Security Threats

My MBFF sent this to me the other day... I shared it around the office, we all laughed, now it's your turn

  NEW SECURITY THREAT LEVELS

 

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards" They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the frontline in the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA!". Due to continuing defence cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "Shit, I hope Australia will come and rescue us".

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be right, mate". Two more escalation levels remain, "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Stuck

Last night on my drive back to base I was flipping through the radio stations and caught the tail end of this song... and now it's stuck in my head... Ridiculous!

Today's Motivation

I've been chillin' at the in-laws this weekend... as I said on facebook, it is BLISS being off base... Not that the base isn't a happening place (oh boy it is!) but eating at the mess, hanging in my room, and at the gym doesn't make for a happy Linda. She needs to spread her wings and see some non-military folk every once and a while so off I drive to my in-laws. Life here is SOOO nice... they have real food, and a dog :) and a whole house that I can lounge around in. Plus, they take me on outings to visit the extended in-law family... AWESOME! (I'm being serious, my in-laws - all the extended in-laws included - are amazing and lovely and everything fantastic) YAY!
Anyhoo, I've been able to run around a neighbourhood in the out of doors which is a welcome change to the treadmill at the base gym (although it is nice that I can watch the Olympics while running) . But I digress, the actual reason for this post is because I saw this over on Happy Go Lucky Alex, and it made me laugh... well done!