For Dads Everywhere.
They say that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. When I think of my dad certain smells indicative of dads everywhere come to mind. Cedar sawdust, freshly mowed grass, crisp soap, gunpowder, campfire smoke, soft leather, pine trees and BBQ. Especially BBQ.
Instead of making a dessert to celebrate Father's Day this year I decided to make something that dads appreciate most. Meat and lots of it. A quarter pound of beef mixed with fresh pesto and grilled to perfection. A dinner any dad would be happy to eat.
Just a little way to say thank you for all the wheelbarrow rides and movie nights. Photography advice and piggy back rides. Butter and sugar on soda crackers. Guitar solos and surround sound. Blueberries and Carnation milk. For patiently sitting through makeovers complete with hair gel and bobby pins. Target practice at the gun club. Grapefruit and Led Zeppelin. Extra rare filet mignon and Lipton noodle packages. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.
I love you dad! Happy Father's Day!
Love Muffin: Maple Bacon Cheddar Cornmeal.
There's about two feet of snow carpeting the ground. Icicles decorate the eaves troughs. The evergreens slouch under the new weight. The streets haven't been plowed all Winter. A single Autumn leaf clings stubbornly to the frozen ground. The temperature has plummeted to uncomfortable depths.
There's only one thing to do when the weather turns this chilly. Make Chili! The natural partner for a steaming hot bowl of Chili is, of course, Cornmeal Muffins. These aren't your average Cornmeal Muffins, folks. They're Maple Bacon Cheddar Cornmeal Muffins.
A little sweet to compliment the spice. A little hot inside to contrast the cold outside.
How else are you going to work up the nerve to shovel the driveway? Or scrape ice off the windshield? Or risk frostbite to check the mailbox? I suppose you could always just stay toasty warm inside and eat muffins for dinner. Like I did.
That’s Amore!
I am so grateful to have advanced to the fifth round of Project Food Blog! Thank you everyone who voted for me! I appreciate the support of my loyal readers and new friends.
“One recipe, 100 variations! We're challenging each of you to put your own spin on the same recipe. How you do it is up to you. Will you try out some molecular gastronomy techniques? Share a super-secret trick? Or re-envision the dish from a different perspective? You'll be asked to put your own spin on pizza. For the purpose of this contest and challenge, we are defining pizza as having a solid base, a sauce and at least one topping.”
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie... That's amore!
Everyone knows that song. It's about finding love in the unlikeliest of places. It's about being suddenly seized by love. Some people find love in a darkened movie theatre, at the bottom of a box of chocolates, between intertwined fingers or in a perfect slice of pizza.
Some people might not consider pizza classy or romantic like flowers, chocolates, jewelry or fancy dates. Don't get me wrong. I love roses, cordial cherries, diamonds and filet mignon as much as the next girl. But it's pizza that holds a special place in my heart.
When my boyfriend and I were separated by 3,373 km (2096 miles) the telephone was our only connection. One evening after a long day of work, tired and just a little lonesome, I was talking to my honey over the distance when there was a knock at my door. I wasn't expecting anyone. Intrigued, I swung open the door.
There in my doorway was a pizza delivery guy holding a pizza. For me. My pizza. Free of charge. Lee had called my favourite pizza place and ordered my favourite pizza. Even two provinces away he was still doing such sweet and thoughtful things for me.
Now that miles have shrunk to inches and everyday is filled with reasons to fall deeper in love, I thought I'd learn to make his favourite pizza.
This is my first attempt at making pizza. Oh sure, I've had a lot of experience eating them. Ordering them. Burning them. Even accidentally baking a frozen one with the cardboard still under it then proceeding to violently and vehemently slice through it. Gives a whole new meaning to cardboard crust, doesn't it?
This time I had motivation. This time it was perfect. I love that man, he loves me and we both love this Chicken Pesto Pizza.
Apples and Cranberries and Pears! Oh My!
I must have The Wizard of Oz on the brain or something. Imagine if Dorothy, Scarecrow and the Tin Man had encountered these fearsome fruits on their journey along the yellow brick road. I'd say that's preferable to lions, tigers and bears.
But then again, that would probably make for a pretty lame movie. More like Veggie Tales than the story we all know and love.
Maybe if Dorothy could have tasted this Pear Walnut Salad or this Apple Cranberry Chicken she wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get back to Kansas. I'm betting Auntie Em didn't know how to make Apple Cheese and Potato Cakes like me. Just saying...
As promised here are my recipes for the entrée of my Autumn Dinner Party. I could have separated them into three different posts, but why leave you in suspense? I'm not a cruel person. Also they're best enjoyed altogether, so here you go!
Enlightenment.
It's back to school time. Summer break seems to have gone by so quickly. Being a lady of leisure, I spent this Summer with Lee's daughter, Sable. There was a lot of Mario Kart, cookies, and Mr. Noodle. Oh and high fives, Pictureka and peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Living in close quarters with a ten year old girl over the Summer break has enlightened me about some interesting life facts that I was not previously aware of...
Like the names of all the main and supporting characters on Suite Life on Deck. I'm sure that information will come in handy some day right?
Or that Mylie Cyrus is actually Hannah Montana. Either that's a revelation or I'm a bit slow on the uptake.
And that Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are together in real life. Well good for them. Must make their on-screen romance that much more believable.
Also if you stamp as hard as you can on a trampoline right before your partner bounces you can actually make them jump even higher. Scary high. Whole body over the fence panicky kind of high.
This Summer has also offered up some insights about myself that I never would have realized...
Like the fact that I find myself on Team Edward and I have also incidentally read all four books in the Twilight Saga. But that's neither here nor there...
Or that my fifth favourite colour is actually yellow. Who knew?
And, if made to choose between the life of a vampire, zombie or werewolf, I would prefer that of a werewolf.
On a related topic, in the event of a zombie attack I would seek refuge at Wal-Mart for their extensive gun selection and non-perishable food supplies.
Or that I can eat ten Cheese Nips in under a minute. I know. Impressive right?
Speaking of Cheese Nips, this Alfredo Mac and Cheese is made of them. I'm down with the kids. Cheese is so in. This Mac and Cheese looks all adult with the parsley and sun dried tomatoes, but the kid in you will love it too. Or the kid sitting next to you. Whatever.
Good Fences Make Good Neighbours.
You know it's true. Don't deny it. Ok, yes there is the odd neighbour here and there that's not so bad. Maybe you make small talk with them across the street or exchange passing comments about the weather. Maybe they made too many peanut butter cookies one afternoon and delivered some extra to you. Maybe they agreed to pick up your mail while you were gone on vacation and even sorted the bills apart from the flyers.
And maybe, just maybe they really suck. I mean rake their leaves onto your lawn kind of suck. Or park in your reserved space kind of suck. Or even keep their irregular garbage piling up in the back alley that no trash collector will ever touch with a ten foot pole kind of suck. Those neighbours are the kind we build fences for.
Really though, is it so hard to dispose of your old broken mattresses at the dump? Is it too much to ask for people not to pour broken pieces of cement directly onto the road where you have no other option than to drive over it hoping all the while that your tires don't pop? Is it so difficult to refrain from revving your tired and obviously sick Mustang engine for all the neighbourhood to hear right before you peel out of your driveway? That's not very neighbourly.
Since when did common courtesy stop being so common? It's so frustrating because I go out of my way not to offend a perfect stranger even going so far as to inconvenience myself. I'm the person at the grocery store that will wait patiently and without complaint while the person ahead of me takes forever to bag their groceries all the while not moving their cart two inches so that I can get through to bag my own. I'm the person grinding her teeth in her backyard while my neighbours laugh and carry on in their yard with their inebriated friends until 6am. I'm the person that would glare through the peephole at my neighbours while they repeatedly slam the outside door that only needs to be pushed and clicked in place.
Some people really need to consider the piece of mind of others more often before they do something that would disrupt just that. It's selfish. It's mean. It's just plain ignorant. Let's all try and be a little more enlightened, shall we?
And on that note here are some Cheddar Biscuits that could mend fences.
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