Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Eight - Mustard Chicken

Dear all, 

I am advancing in the kitchen and today I decided to try something from the Master Jamie Oliver himself: Mustard Chicken! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jamies-30-Minute-Meals-Revolutionary-Approach/dp/0718154770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338472235&sr=8-1

I started off with picking a sprig of Rosemary from our Rosemary 'tree'. 

I then put 4 chicken breasts in a bowl and smeared a spoon of mustard over each breast, a large slug of olive oil, as well as sprinkling on rosemary and salt and pepper. 

I cut up some leeks into quarters while the chicken was marinating in the mustard. 

I then placed the chicken in a frying pan and cooked one side until pale brown. 

In the meantime, I had made up Darren's mum's wonderful scalloped potatoes which were bubbling away nicely in the oven ( check out my multi-tasking!!). 

I then flipped the chicken, added more mustard, a large slug of white wine and the 'leeks'. However, it turns out that I hadn't read the recipe properly and the 'stalks' of leeks in the chicken were very much an erroneous move on my part. After about 5 minutes of feeling very strange about the leek-trees in the sauce, I looked at the recipe... and realised that they needed to be chopped...

So I pulled the soggy, mustard soaked leeks out of the pan and managed to dice them as per the recipe. Ahh.... that's better!

Once the chicken was cooked, I added a dollop of cream and a little more mustard and covered aluminium foil for a few minutes to bubble down. 

It was delicious and felt very advanced -I am getting better in the kitchen! Darren was full of praise, hurray!

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Seven - Azzurra

Dear all,

Today was hot and stormy day in Collingwood but the clouds had a glorious silver lining in the form of Lunch with lovely Anne. Azzurra in Collingwood has just started doing lunches so we decided to head there for our snack. http://www.azzurra.ca/

Azzurra is a lovely restaurant nestled in the heart of down town CWood. They have a great reputation and I was very excited to try their lunch menu. I was feeling extremely over heated after my 34oC run this morning (!@!@!), so the cool, sophisticated atmosphere inside was a treat. As we were celebrating Anne's birthday, we decided a sneaky lunchtime glass of wine was in order; I chose a crisp Pinot Grigio which was delicious. The menu presented a more challenging decision making process ( I tend to linger for many minutes over menus... and get distracted easily). In the end, I went for the first thing that jumped out to me: the quinoa, feta, spinach and artichoke salad. Anne chose the grilled veg panini. 

Both were fantastic! I would have taken more pics but the restaurant was fairly quiet (apart from us, I am sure) and I decided not to bring out the flash.. but take it from me, the lunches at Azzurra are wonderful, well priced and delicious, I would highly recommend it!

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Seven - Stuffed Peppers with Beef and Rice

Dear all, 

Today, I was feeling experimental in the kitchen and decided to try my hand at Stuffed Peppers! I found a recipe on line that involved 'beef' and 'rice' two ingredients we had in the pantry... so off I went!

I realised, whilst scanning the recipe and chatting to my brother on skype simultaneously , that the recipe actually 'hours' to prepare. I cut short the convo and dived straight in, nervous about my hunger levels as Karla and I had completely 4 1/2 hours of exercise earlier in the day *no joke*. 

So, I picked out the peppers, cut off the tops and boiled the bottom section ( pith etc removed) in salty water for about 5 minutes ( then drain) . I cut up the top bits to use later on. 

I then sauteed onion in olive oil whilst rinsing and cooking up some yummy sticky rice ( see far saucepan). 

I then added the diced pepper from the tops of the veg and some diced celery to the onion and cooked under tender. 

I added tomatoes and also dried oregano, basil, garlic and some real garlic to the mix and let it bubble away along with salt and pepper to season. 

In another pan (serious kitchen based multi-tasking), I added one egg, salt pepper and Worcester sauce. 

I then added the ground beef to the egg mix and then some rice ( after it had cooled a little). I then added about one cup of the tomato sauce and mixed in gently. 

I grabbed the peppers and began to stuff them with the mixture. 

Here is the re-cooked pepper... 

And here is the after shot! I added some cheese to the top in the last 5 minutes - they took around 65 minutes in all to cook. Darren loved them and we are having them again tomorrow ( I made WAAAY too much stuffing). 

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Six - www.Zip.ca

Dear all, 

As I am now having to watch many films as part of my new responsibilities, I decided to sign up to www.Zip.ca an online DVD service similar to the epic, Love film in the UK http://www.lovefilm.com/

It's an awesome concept: pay a small fee each month and Zip will send you movie after movie, that you watch and then return to them in a cycle. I have my 'ziplist' which comprised of me searching through their online library ( of about a billion films) and selecting which I would like to see. Then I wait... and our first film is currently being shipped: Chronicle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593/


I am pretty excited... I still miss Blockbuster.. *sigh*.. but onto pastures new! I will keep everyone posted on any new movies I find via The Georgian Eye! http://georgianeye.com/2012/05/13/movie-review-dark-shadows/

In the meantime, Darren and I stopped by Phil and Bill's Video Emporium in Owen Sound to pick up a couple of movies I needed to review before Zip kicked in. It's an epic video store - I loved it - they literally had everything! Shame it's an hour drive but worth popping in if we are in the area. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Phil-Bills-Video-Emporium/120983441344990

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Five - Raclette Dinner

Dear all,

Summer is here and today we had yet another fabulous evening up in Owen Sound with Vince and Kerry and the kids. Patio season is in full swing, yippee! 

Todd and Christie were hosting dinner, using their fabulous Raclette. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette. After the sun started to set, everyone started furiously cutting up various different pieces of meat, scallops, shrimp *prawns*, cheese, bread: it was a feast to behold.

The temperature was so balmy, that we were able to eat outside - check out the prep table (FULL of food). 

Here are the (very delicious looking)  beef tenderloin, chicken, shrimp and scallops all ready for cooking.. 

Oh, and Kerry's amazing freshly roasted garlic was part of the mix too. 

The raclette is a grill which sits in the middle of the table and allows everyone to cook the meat right there and then. It's an extremely social form of eating, not to mention delicious. The grill comes with small spoons that slot in under the grill, which can be used to melt cheese *on bread* simultaneously. It's a mountain of goodness. 

Here is the raclette in action!

Darren was very good at loading up the grill - it's important not to run out of meat!

It was a fabulous evening, as always and we ate and drank to our heart's desire.. I love summer! 

And in other news:

1. Check out our Rhondedendron!

2. And the columbine.. (picked up last year in Loblaws for 20cents per plant!)

2. Today's movie review: http://georgianeye.com/2012/05/26/movie-review-this-means-war/

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Four - Georgian Eye Blog

Dear all,

I am officially a grown up - I have a proper job as a blogger-Hurray! I am blogging for the Georgian Eye - Georgian College's blog... I am SO EXCITED! I plan to focus on movie reviews *yay*, so many trips to the cinema await. Darren and Karla are officially enlisted on the cinema-team!

So, here are a few of my posts, they will come thick and fast so I will post a link on this blog to the Georgian Eye blog... so many blogs... so little time!

http://georgianeye.com/2012/05/24/movie-review-wall-street-money-never-sleeps/
http://georgianeye.com/2012/05/22/movie-review-an-education/
http://georgianeye.com/2012/05/10/movie-review-the-avengers/

And of course, I pledge to try and keep up with my unusual tasks..

And in other news:
1. My horse painting is coming along... still needs work, but it's getting there!

2. Dan and Col - (having a staring contest)

3. Such a little dear. Check out the arms - classic sun bathing pose. 

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Three - Gardening at Darren's Office

Dear all, 

With this spectacular weather we are having, today, I decided to do a spot of gardening! Darren's office seemed like a wonderful place to get started - an empty canvas let's say.. so with my gardening gloves and water on stand by ( It was 32oC), I got digging. 

Here is my first before and after shot:  The front walkway is looking a lot smarter after a good stint of digging. 

I forgot to take a full-frontal 'before' shot for the back 'garden' area - but I started on the worse section where the weeds were, in places, around 1 metre high.. 

As you can see, I have also taken on ornamental 'rock' work with storm. 

It's getting there! I need to get everything dig over before we start planting, but I think it will look great! I love gardening!

Year Two Day One Hundred and Sixty Two - Joe Fresh Baby Clothes

Dear all, 

Dan is getting more and more gorgeous!! Here are some more pics ( I get a daily pictorial update via email and skype). 

1. Hmmm what's over there...?

2. Do you have milk? 

 3. Oh, it's all so exhausting

 4. Asleep on Mama.

I couldn't resist discussing my find today... a little delayed as I had to wait for them to arrive in the UK! I took a little trip to the wondrous Joe Fresh situated in Loblaws, Collingwood. http://www.joefresh.com/

Dan is a now officially a little Canadian! I sent over a full set of Canadian clothing including two plaid shirts and two baby grows.

Check out these beauties! What baby wouldn't want to wear a red baby grow complete with hockey-skating bear? 

Joe Fresh is such a fantastic store, especially if you are shopping for little ones. I would highly recommend it: great quality, gorgeous designs and super-great value! 

And in other news:

1. I am making some cards! Inspired by Karen who makes beautiful gift cards! Here are my first attempts... I am planning to mount them on card stock once the shops open again on Tuesday! Acrylic on posh paper.  I'll keep you posted!