Glass Half Full

So we have a new kitten.  Yes, that means Brian and I have THREE cats now.  I’ll introduce you to Olive in a separate post.    But first I wanted to post this snippet of conversation we had this AM.

[We had kept Olive in the front foyer with her own litterbox and sleeping area until she got used to us, the house and Kiwi & Mango.  Yesterday Brian decided to take down the cardboard fence and litterbox because she seemed to be used to the other cats and the rest of the house.]

This morning we woke up to find out that Olive had peed and pooped on the floor right where her old litterbox was.

Erin: [laughing]
Brian: You’re being the good cop again!
Erin: She’s 6 weeks old and has only lived here for a week!  Plus look at her!  How can you be mad at that adorable little face??  Besides, it could have been worse.  She could have peed in the plant like Kiwi.
Brian: Good point.  All the plants are alive and the floor’s not damaged.
Erin: See!  Now your glass is half full!
Brian: Yeah, of cat pee.

Tags: cats, convos

Mexican Taco Stoup

Yes, I stole a Rachel Ray word there. This meal can only be described at Stoup, even though I’ve been known to call it stew. It’s thinner than stew but thicker than soup, so stoup fits like an oven mitt.

This is the second time I’ve made this meal and this one differed a tiny amount from the first one (which I don’t have a decent photo of, sorry). I got the recipe from Whole Foods (here) and made some slight modifications as I’m known for not really following recipes exactly. While Michael Smith would approve of this process, I feel like this is the reason why my baking doesn’t turn out exactly as I’d planned. (Brerin Fun Fact: Brian is an amazing baker. And we don’t even own a mixer!)

Mexican Taco Stoup

Ingredients:
- package of extra lean ground turkey (around 450ish grams or 1lb for any Americans reading this)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (we LOVE garlic)
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (we got ours from Bulk Barn)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili flakes
- 2 cups Blue Menu No-Salt-Added Chicken Broth (from Superstore)
- 1 can of Blue Menu No-Salt-Added 6 Bean Medley (from Superstore)
- 1 can of Blue Menu No-Salt-Added diced tomatoes (from Superstore)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup medium salsa

Brown turkey in a large pot over medium heat. Once browned, remove turkey and set aside. In the same pot, saute onion, red pepper and garlic until onion are transluscent. Add the turkey back to the pot. Add the chicken broth, can of beans, diced tomatoes, corn and salsa. Stir to combine. Add taco seasoning, paprika, and chili flakes. Simmer on low for 20ish minutes.

Top with a dollop of sour cream, chopped green onion and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Now, this is usually where the recipe says how many servings it makes. I’m wary to say because if you’ve got big eaters coming for supper, it might only serve 6. But if you’re serving something else with it, like salad and buns, you could probably feed 8-10. Since the meal is so inexpensive (the ground turkey is the most expensive part and even then it’s usually less than 11$/kg), if you’re serving it for more than 6 people, I would recommend doubling it. Worst case: you have just enough. Best case: you have leftovers that you can freeze!

The first time I made this, I added chopped yams. I like it both ways, so feel free to add some yams in there! If you do, you might want to increase the simmer time to make sure the yams are cooked all the way through.

Now I haven’t made this without turkey, but I’m assuming you could easily replace the ground turkey with the veggie-friendly equivalent. It might up the cost of the meal but I can’t imagine it would be that much more expensive. Brian and I are hosting a veggie friend of ours for dinner on Saturday. Perhaps I should test this stoup out on her using my suggestion!

With autumn fast approaching us here in Edmonton, this stoup will be finding its way onto our menu board at least bi-weekly. Since this stoup freezes so well, you can portion out the leftovers into smaller containers and have quick lunches for those chilly autumn days! I know we will be!

Tags: brerin fun fact, photos, recipes

On This Day

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now. This is the beautiful speech Deb told at our wedding. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when she was finished!

Good evening everyone and welcome! As the MOB it is my privilege to welcome Brian to our family….which seems a little strange because I’ve thought of him and his family as part of our family for quite a while now! Once we all started choosing to spending holidays together in my books that makes us a family and once we became Facebook friends well that sealed the deal! Never the less, it is my pleasure to officially welcome Brian to our family!!

To Brian’s family I would like to thank you for inviting both Erin & I into your family! Karen, Dave and their family made me feel welcome from the first time I met them! Whether we are discussing one of the many versions of Brerin’s wedding plans (and there have been many, many versions), world events, home improvements & the cool tools we can justify buying to complete them, we have laughed and enjoyed each others company, thank you again for including us in your family!

And now I would like to talk a little bit about the circumstances that cause me to be standing in front of you today…I apologize in advance if I switch to just reading this, but throughout the writing process I couldn’t create a version that said what I need to say and didn’t make me cry…but I will try to push through it!

When Erin was 10 years old, our family was faced with a terrible truth, my only sister, Erin & Jason’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer…at the beginning there was hope as she took on the challenge of rigorous treatment. It was a difficult journey, my sister and I spent many hours at the Cross Cancer Institute, together we went to every doctor’s appointment, every chemo treatment and then through the horrors of radiation, always with the thought that we were a strong team and we were going to beat this terrible disease! During all those hours together we had many, conversations sharing things that only sisters can…we found solace in each others strength and it was amazing. We wiled away the hours talking about the triumphs we had enjoyed and the failures we had suffered in our lives and how, given the opportunity, the changes we would make if only we could go back in time! It was a cool fall day in 1994 as my sister & I sat listening to the prognosis that neither of us wanted to believe and wanted even less to hear spoken out loud. My sister, Erin & Jason mother was not destined to be a cancer survivor. Through the hugs and tears we made out pact…that I would take her place and serve as replacement mom to her baby girl, provide Erin a good home, an education but above all else love her, keep her safe and make her happy!

And so our newly created family sets off…the road we traveled was sometimes difficult, but we persevered and somehow we survived! I am happy to say that today my relationship with Erin is stronger than it has ever been. I believe that all of our life experiences help shape us into the people we are destined to become, so even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change one second of our time together!

So today I fulfill the most important promise I have ever made…to see Erin grow up into a fantastic adult!! I know that your mom would be so proud of you Erin because I know that I am more proud of you than words can adequately describe! You are the best, I love you with all my heart and it has been an incredible honour to fulfill my promise and be your 2nd mom…you are not only my family and my number 1 Facebook friend, you are my BFF today and forever!!

Thank you!

Isn’t that beautiful?! Months later it still makes me smile and cry, in the best way possible!

Tags: Deb, family

Jewelry Box Disguised as a Painting

I’m not sure if y’all know this about me but here it goes: I’m not a jewelry girl. Most days I can be found wearing the earrings Brian proposed with (they only come out for cleaning) and the silver heart necklace he bought me just before we got married. My wedding ring should probably be resized (again) so I only wear it every once in awhile (like Heather Armstrong, I sometimes wear big fake wedding rings). And every now and then I’ll bust out a pair of hoop earrings (I have two holes in each ear) or a funky necklace. I just don’t have enough style to really wear jewelry. I’m working on it though!

My lack of style has meant that I have absolutely zero way of organizing the few necklaces and earrings that I do own. Most of the time I would shove them into a drawer or my purse or leave them on my nightstand. Leaving them on my nightstand meant that little kitty paws would snatch the shiny objects and they would disappear into the depths underneath the bed where Mango would play with them all night. So in the interest of trying to treat my necklaces better so that I can find them easier, I came up with a creative way to organize my jewelry while not spending a lot of cash! Organizing on the cheap? My two favourite things! (After Doritos and Glee, that is.)

My supplies:

1. Two 16×20 canvases that are about ³/₄” deep. I got mine at Michaels in a 2 pack on sale
2. Roll of white wrapping paper
3. Cork
4. Hinges
5. Small magnets, nothing fancy like Rare Earth magnets
6. Paint and paintbrushes (1″ foam and a tiny detailing paintbrush)
7. Glue (my photo shows superglue but I really used my hotglue gun)
8. Scissors
9. Exacto knife and cutting board
10. Stencil

Now the steps!

1. 

   Carefully cut out your stencil. If your stencil has sections where there’ll be painted parts inside of a hole, make sure to leave a bridge, so your stencil is all in one piece. You can fill in these lines later. Set stencil aside

2. 
   Wrap your canvases in the paper, giving them neat edges. NOTE: The reason I wrapped my canvases in paper is because they were damaged. I’d had them for years and they had two small tears in them that I couldn’t fix. If you can, I’d recommend painting the stencil right onto the canvas.
3. 
   Position your stencil onto the canvas and either tape the stencil to the canvas or use weighted objects (like I did) to hold it in place.
4. 
   Grab your paint and foam brush and start stenciling in. Use a light amount of paint and dab it on evenly. I used acrylic craft paint that I had kickin’ around.
5. 
   When you’re finished stenciling, peel back the stencil so you don’t smudge. You’ll notice that there are lines missing in my design. That’s where I had bridged the stencil so the middle pieces would be attached.
6. 
   Grab your fine/small paintbrush and start filling in the lines using short even strokes.
7. 
   If needed, cut your cork to size. I bought 4 packs of 6 squares of corks from Dollarama and they had curved edges. I used a ruler and eyeballed it so the curved edges were even and then sliced ‘em off! NOTE: I tucked my cork under the frame of the canvas, so I only cut the curves off the visible edges.
8. 
   Line up your cork pieces in one row so they’re as even as possible. Glue them down with hot glue. Do the same for the opposite row. Start filling in the rows in between by cutting the cork and gluing it down until the whole board is covered.
9. 
   Now grab your hinges. When I couldn’t find hinges at Dollarama, Brian reminded me that he’d bought a wood treasure chest from there and I could take the hinges from that. Problem solved!

   Put your canvases on the floor so the insides are facing up. Make sure you position the frames so the door opens in the right direction. IE: if you want the door to open from the left, the canvas with the cork should be on the left and the hinges will attach to the right side of the corked frame and the left side of the uncorked frame. And vice versa if you want the door to open from the right.

   

   
   Line up your hinges and poke pilot holes. I used a thumbtack since my hinge was super small. If you used a bigger hinge, you should probably use an awl. NOTE: a bigger hinge usually requires bigger screws. Make sure the screws aren’t too long for your canvas frames. Screw in your hinges.

10. 
    Attach your frame to the wall. Now there are a few different ways to do this. You could attach a picture hanging wire at the back and hang it from that. You could get a couple of small D hooks and hang it from those. Or you could do what I did and that was to nail the sucker to the wall in the four corners! I went into the corners where the cork is but if your nails are long enough, you could go right through the frame. Entirely up to you.
11. 
    Now this is the point where I said to Brian, “Oh crap! How is going to stay closed?” And upon seeing the look of laughter on his face, I said, “For some reason I thought gravity would help me out there.” Well! Luckily I had some magnets kicking around. So we grabbed two and hot glued one to each frame to hold the frames closed. Crisis averted! And as a bonus, they make the tiniest *click* noise, so I can hear that it’s closed properly. NOTE: I wouldn’t use Rare Earth magnets or anything super strong for this. You don’t want to have to yank on the door in order to open it! I got my pack of magnets for Dollarama and they’re just strong enough to hold the lightweight door closed.
12. 
    As a sewer, I have amassed a huge amount of dressmaker pins. To the point where I have two pincushions and they’re overflowing. So I thought what better way to use some of those pins up, than by sticking them into the cork to hang my jewelry off of? I stuck the pins in at a slight angle and then hung all the shiny objects on them! None of my necklaces are super heavy but if you have some that are, you might want to use two pins or even dab a bit of hot glue where the pin meets the cork, to secure it in there.

Step back and admire your handiwork! Once all your baubles are hung safely inside, you just flip the front part closed and it looks like a cool piece of artwork on your wall!

The dollars and cents:

1. Canvas frames – 0$ (I already had these on hand from years ago. I got mine at Michaels for something like 8.99$ on sale for a 2-pack. If they’re not on sale, use a 40% off coupon!)
2. Roll of white wrapping paper – 0$ (already on hand but I bought it at Dollarama)
3. Cork – 4$ (4 packages of 6 squares from Dollarama)
4. Hinges – 0$ (already had the chest on hand but these are usually anywhere from 1-3$ from Dollarama or Home Depot)
5. Small magnets – 0$ (already on hand but I did get mine at Dollarama)
6. Paint and paintbrushes – 0$ (already on hand, but Dollarama sells paint and brushes for a buck a piece)
7. Hot glue – 0$ (alread on hand)
8. Stencil – 0$ (I printed it at home on my printer)
9. Dressmaker pins – 0$ (already on hand)
10. Total cost: 4.20$ (with tax)

I’ve never looked for them there, but I’m sure you can also find dressmaker pins at Dollarama. If not, any store with a fabric section should carry them for a couple of bucks. You could use pushpins but make sure they aren’t too long for your cork. My cork was fairly thin so the dressmaker pins being pushed in at an angle worked out well.

So there you have it! That’s how my jewelry went from being cat toys to having its own secret spot on the wall of our bedroom. And for less than a fiver! Can’t go wrong with that.

Tags: Dollarama, organization

French Toast Chef John Style

Yesterday was Labour Day, which means long weekend! After having all-day things on Saturday and Sunday, B & I decided to spend the extra weekend day having a nice brunch and then getting some chores done around the house.

For brunch we decided to make french toast, Chef John style. Now for anyone who has never heard of Chef John, lemme say this: the man is AMAZING. Like so amazing that I worship the kitchen he cooks in. Heck, I even worship the utensils he cooks with. He makes me laugh while inspiring me to improve my culinary skills and I am forever rewatching his video recipes and quoting his lines. One of my favourites is during the chicken parmesan video where he pours tomato sauce straight from the jar into the casserole dish. He says you’ll need two cups of sauce and no, he didn’t use a measuring cup because why would he want to dirty an extra dish? The jar has three cups and he poured in two-thirds. I laugh every single time. Without fail.

Anyway, enough fangirling. You should check him out ASAP and I can guarantee his recipes will change your life (but not necessarily your waistline).

And just so you can drool over the french toast Brian made on Monday morning, here is a photo of the deliciousness! We used Mexican vanilla a coworker of Brian’s brought back from Mexico, as well as freshly shaved cinnamon. I like to think those two ingredients made a bit of difference in this dish.

Tags: Brian, Chef John, Erin, Holidays, meals, photos