Friday 22 June 2012

Chicken stir-fry wraps a la Martha

I bought a cook book a while back, Great Food Fast, with Martha Stewart's recipes. I must admit I did not know who she was until she was arrested, but now that I have this book I am truly beginning to appreciate what she does. This book is fantastic for someone like me. The recipes are easy and most of the time I have the ingredients in my pantry, and when I don't it is not all that hard to find them.

I have tried quite a few of the recipes and just did a search on the internet and found the link to Martha's website. Some of the recipes from the book are on it. But the chicken stir-fry isn't. The book suggested serving it as a wrap with Boston lettuce. But I know that will not go down well with my boys so I served it with rice and green beans.


I think I will work my way through this book. I am glad I have the book because I find that way easier than looking things up on the internet. I guess I have a long way to go before I start reading e-books...or whatever those books on computers are called. Books are bit like food for me, I have to be able to smell them as I read them.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Lemon drop cheesecake

I love cheesecake. My favorite would be a regular cheesecake with blueberry sauce. Lemon cheesecake however is a new idea. Since I love the citrus flavors I thought this might be worth a try, especially since recipes from Canadian Living have almost always turned out great (when I follow instructions).

This recipe in the magazine had lots of pictures and I was so excited when the candied lemon peels turned out perfectly. They were yummy. I imagine they would be great to add to a lot of other recipes. I just lack the know how to begin pairing it with other foods. Although I love orange and chocolate.


For the cheesecake, the batter itself was a wee bit tricky for no other reason than that my brain just fries itself every now and then and fails me when I need commonsense. I unpacked and washed a food processor we have had for nearly six years to make this cake. I saw a line that said liquids should not go over that point. I thought to myself that it can't be a big deal. So I added the ingredients and kept going. When it got time to lift the cup and pour the batter out that line seemed pretty important. Well, lets just say that I managed to get most of the batter into the cake pan.

The other thing was that I just could not find graham crackers for the crust at two super markets. Now where on earth do you find it. I looked in the baking foods aisle and the cracker/snacks aisle. So I just went with some random cracker I had in the pantry. Not a good idea, I had a very soggy crust. And the cake cracked a bit, not sure why. The light frosting however,, helped cover the crack prefectly and the candied lemon made it look so darned pretty. If you didn't get it yet, the candied lemon was my favorite part of the whole cooking process.

The cake itself was too big for a family of two and a half (Offspring does not count as a whole person yet when it comes to factoring in serving sizes). So I distributed it to the neighborhood. It even earned me a few surprise compliments. So all in all, a keeper, I would make this again.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Got hit by shit

I just realised I have not posted in a ridiculously long time. I also realised I was beginning to get anxious and twitchy. That's when it hit my that I have not been sharing the sordid details of my life with how many ever anonymous readers there are.

So the reason for my absence is pretty much explained in the post title. It has been raining crap for the last two months. It all started with having my wisdom teeth out. While I had hyped myself no end, the whole process was so simple and brief. However, for anyone who has had their teeth taken out you probably know that the real trouble is not with having them out. It is just like having a baby. The labour and delivery seemed like a walk in the park for me compared to when we got home with my little bundle of screams. It was a similar experience, I ended up with something called a dry socket. Well, there are easy fixes, it was taken care of.

Just as I was getting over this nonsense, I met with an accident while driving to work. The other driver just drove into me. Yeah right! That's what everybody says right. I didn't say that initially. I thought it was totally my fault for having made the left turn when this woman on the right turn only lane t-boned me. I refused to move the car. I was too stunned, because in the corner of my eye I was looking for the car that ought to pull up alongside me, because that it what people do when they get on the goddamn right turn only lanes. So the crash was totally unexpected. Scary, but my immediate reaction, "oh no, I crashed my Hubby's dear old car." He has been driving this lady for nearly twelve years and she was in ace condition. No exaggeration.

The last I saw of the trusty old Girl

After waiting two hours for the cop, and another two hours of statements and time in the cop car I got a ticket for turning when it was not safe. I don't know what happened to the other woman. It was one of those days, pouring rain and wind and just a crappy day in all. I am now waiting on a court date to contest the ticket because I am convinced it was not my fault. I have had to make the same maneuver a couple of times since then and I have been fine. Hubby pointed out why it was not my fault because when you look at the intersection from the direction in which this woman came at me (picture below), it is impossible to hit me unless she was trying to get on to the far left lane, which is what I was turning on to, or she lost control of the vehicle. So now we wait, not sure what will happen to the insurance, hopefully we can sort this out before it comes up for renewal.

I was where the red car is when I got hit...sigh.
On the same day this happened a cousin of mine, 42 years old, had a stroke. She is still in a coma after two surgeries and cerebral edema that never went down. She has two boys who are convinced their mother will be well and a husband who is sitting by her everyday, completely in touch with reality yet hoping for a miracle.

So I go forward, praying for this beautiful woman and thanking the power beyond all comprehension for sparing my life, yet again. I only hope I am still here for good reason and that I learn what it is, sooner than later.

On that note I best be off and do some serious work. Stay tuned, I will keep up with some regular rambling from now on.